Ynn Review

This is an impressions post about the Gardens of Ynn, by Emmy Allen/Cavegirl. If you're not familiar, then you should do yourself a favor and get the 5$ pdf and give it a read. Its follow-up Stygian Library got an Ennie award this year, so the praise is there.

Credentials: I've run 5 sessions in Ynn. So take this write-up with my impressive curriculum into consideration.

Generation Mechanics

Ynn is a pointcrawl, where you focus on distinct locations, and throw away precise dungeon mapping.
This is refreshing, and has a lot of great potential and replay value.

If the intent is generation at the table, on the fly, I can see several problems. The most pressing one is the number of rolls and consultations (= page flipping) necessary for every time the PCs decide to "Go Deeper". You would need to do:

1. Roll d20 for Location + consult entry (= page flipping)
2. ... some Location entries require extra rolls
3. Roll d20 for Details + consult entry (= page flipping)
4. ... some Details entries require extra rolls
5. Roll d20/d12 for Events
6. ... several Events require a d20 roll on the Daytime Encounters or Night-time Encounters + consult monster entry (= page flipping) 

That's between 3 and 5 rolls, flipping to at least 3 different pages, and parsing that information. A Referee skilled in improvisation, or one that is very quick in parsing information and flipping pages might succeed. I suppose it's possible to just give the Location and Details names to the players to chew on, whilst you start eyeing the entries. Or have color-coded dice and roll for Location, Details, and Encounter all at once. But this seems gimmicky.

Rolling some entries before the session seems advisable, but kind of kills the beauty of the Gardens, where everyone at the table, including the Referee, are surprised by each delve into Ynn. Not to speak of characters actions having consequences on the Depth to be applied to the rolls.

Thankfully, there are some useful online rollers for the generation that can help to simplify the process at the table. You should bookmark the links, or try to create your own if you plan to add your own table entries. I've personally used these on sessions to generate content as we go, and can vouch for them as a necessary resource.

Layout & Art

Art was taken from public domain and  added to the text. It sells the eerie atmosphere and its serviceable. At some pieces the art seems pixelated, and I would've liked some extra appearances for the monsters section. Both for my own inspiration, and to show to my players.

Hermit Bottle Crab anyone?

Layout works, and I like page numbers referenced in the tables. Tables are separated and can be found in two parts of the book, and I would've liked to see them all together at the beginning. But that's a minor quibble, and a nitpick. Nothing that can't be solved with a couple post-its, or printing the right pages.

Rumor has it that a "premium" version of the book, with refined layout & art is on the works. So I would hold off on getting a physical copy to snatch that upcoming treasure.

Content

• The Locations+Details tables are very evocative of a Fae-Land, reminiscent of unattended magical gardens where everything seems familiar but not quite. Think Alice in Wonderland and Narnia, but sprinkle it with a good measure of alcoholism and artistic abandon. So far my players have wanted to explore more of the Gardens.
• Bestiary entries are mainly animals and constructs, unless the players go really deep into Ynn. This is not a huge problem, but means that your PCs will have less chances to parley or talk with Ynn inhabitants.
  Consider adding more humanoids or at least talking creatures into the Bestiary.
• Also noticed that the stats for some monsters are wrong (the Emerald Serpent has 65HP); so keep an eye out for these kind of obvious typos.
• There are useful tables of Treasure, I search the body and I search the flowerbed. This is a nice addition and touch, and I thank the author for putting them in. They won't work in a gp=xp game, the rewards seem a bit too low for that. Consider changing your advancement system to reward exploration, or changing the tables reward quantities.
• The Events table has already ingrained the monster's reactions. Your usage of that will vary, depending on if you prefer use reaction rolls or weigh more the influence your players have on the situation.
• There is a new class in the book, The Stranded Changeling. To be completely frank I can't see myself using it.

Conclusions

• Even though I own the softcover copy already, I would in a moment's notice drop the cash for the premium/reworked version with better referencing, layout and premium art.
• The entries and feel of the setting are evocative and interesting, for both me and the players. The generation mechanics greatly assist achieving that.
• Generation mechanics can be tough to do "on the fly", so either you use online rollers, or the Referee has to roll locations and prepare the exploration of Ynn in advance (including encounters, etc), which kind of detracts from the beauty of the module.