Review: Quests of the Leprechaun

The requirements for Quests of the Leprechaun are level 1-3 humanoids, but no "damn dirty centaurs". Although I'm not sure what writer Max Power's beef with horse-men is (did he get his name from a hairdryer?), but it's safe to say that 'Quests' is another light-hearted solo romp.

Trollhallan purists will no doubt wince when I say that this book was originally released by the notorious Outlaw Press, but let's put this to the side and take on its own merits.

Quests is the first in a series of 'pocket adventures' for use with the 5th edition rules. Like Deathtrap Equalizer, this is a teleport solo, where travel is mostly done by teleporting from one area to another. You arrive in the town of Gnawbone seeking adventure and riches. You are soon pointed to a brewery on the outskirts of Gnawbone where two leprechauns, a boy and his father, who offer to magically send you on an adventure if you give them a gold piece, which they change to 100 copper. Presumably this is to stop you wasting all your money but also have a limited amount of attempts at being zapped somewhere, so in this respect the method works. Once you've changed your shiny piece you must roll 3d6 and consult the book to see which paragraph you end up at. Obviously there are 18 different paragraphs you can end up on and each is very different. One may zap you to a seductive elf looking for a night of passion and another turns you into a mouse, forcing you to avoid owls in the forest. The variety makes for a fun adventure, but because of the length it's unlikely you will be going back to this solo again and again but you'll get a few laughs when you play through it the first time.

The cover art of a confused goblin by Levi Simpson is not bad, but it's pretty bland, as is the block font. The artwork on the interior is mostly good and I especially like the inside cover image of a pipe-smoking man in a turban speaking to a spindly leprechaun sat on a rock.

If you like off-the-wall adventures that don't make a lick of sense, then try Quests of the Leprechauns. Although it's not one that you'll frequent, the adventure nonetheless has some interesting and creative moments that are worth exploring.

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