For those of you that follow along, I am a huge fan of Mausritter. Though since the original release of Mausritter and a highly successful Kickstarter for a Boxset and a ton of adventures I have not seen any type of campaign level releases outside of other adventures. This was until I came across Kiwi Acres - a campaign setting based in the lands of New Zealand. Once I saw it, I had to get my hands on it and see what it was all about. I do not think I have reviewed an adventure before so I am going to see if I am able to do this any justice.
Disclaimer: I was given a copy of the PDF for review purposes.
Presentation: The PDF clocks in at 33 pages plus the covers and and a GM notes page. The layout is clean and simple with whimsical fonts and a calming color scheme of black, green, and blue tables/font colors/splashes. Kiwi Acres also sports a handful of full colored art pieces that mostly relate to maps and locations. One of the first pages you read immediately puts you in the mindset of the setting and creates ideas before another page is turned. I am also impressed with how the author uses New Zealand terms and provides a handy pronunciation guide in the back.
Character Creation/Resolution: Uses the Mausritter system which is based off of Into the Odd/Cairn. I am not going to rehash it here as I linked my Masuritter review in my opening comments.
Setting Information/Locations: The campaign setting is focused on a farm located in New Zealand. The farm is set against a hex map with 19 locations. Each of the locations has something interesting and something going else going on. The locations are as follows:
- Scarecrow Stand
- Crossroads
- Sheep Pen
- Stoney Bridge
- Whawhai Pond
- Campsite
- Grain Silos
- Farmhouse
- Craggy Rock
- Vegetable Garden
- Road to Town
- Hayfield
- Kakariki Orchard
- Solitary Hut
- Rockridge
- Mushroom Grove
- Dark Cave
- Fernwood Forest
- Forgotten Shed
There are rumor tables, encounter tables, factions, connection tables, hook tables, treasure tables, items, creatures, adventure items, new spells, different communities, and a host of colorful NPC's - some friendly, some not so much, and all with their own motives. All of this blends together and creates a living, breathing, setting that moves on its own.
There are a few vague hints that talks about the lands behind the farm and the human city down the road where you could expand the setting and the adventures the characters can have.
Kiwi Acres also includes an introductory adventure called the Lawnmower Menace! This adventure provides a serious problem that has various clever ways the characters can solve the problem and some unlikely allies.
Final Thoughts: This is a well put together campaign setting that provides a ton of inspiration. One of my favorite things about it are the factions and how there are different communities scattered throughout the farm. The factions and the different communities really make it feel like a living area where the characters interventions (or lack of) will effect the landscape. The three factions are the Thieves Guild, Possum Gang, and Night Creepers. These factions each have two core goals that they are working towards and as progress is made towards the goals or if the goals are realized it can change the entire landscape of the campaign.
I am also a fan of the author's attitude towards the games and has designed them to be printed at home!
I think it is also great that the author has also written 10! more adventures for this setting and each adventure deals with a specific hex on the farm map. Each adventure appears to expand on lore of the area and various NPCs plus the usual hooks/rumors and the adventure itself.
I felt like the only thing that Kiwi Acres is missing is descriptions of how the different native New Zealand creatures look. I did not recognize a lot of the species or types of animals and I had to rely on ye olde google. In addition, the author talks about (and uses them as part of plot hooks) two magical creatures known as the Patupaiarehe and Ponaturi without any description outside of a state block. I think this is a miss opportunity to elaborate on these creatures and create some interesting lore for them. Another quick google search explains the Ponaturi as mischievous goblin like creatures and the Patupaiarehe as New Zealand Fae.
All in all, it is worth getting your hands on. You can find the books and the author here:
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