The Fools Haven RPG Adventure Pack for 5e

Welcome to Fools Haven, City of Adventure, the Jewel of the Middenbight, and your new home. Adventurers from throughout the Vague World have braved the many dangers of the borderlands to seek their destiny as Free Traders within its mighty walls and some have even succeeded in making a little coin in the process. 

But the life of a Free Trader is a difficult one and many have abandoned the call to adventure or have given their lives following its siren song. But never fear, for where others have failed you shall surely succeed with the aid of these useful handbooks published by the Middenbight Midnight Mail!

The Fools Haven Adventure Pack is a set of supplements and handouts to run roleplaying adventures in the darkly comedic urban fantasy setting of Fools Haven. All materials in this pack are system and edition agnostic so you can use them for the RPG system of your preference. Or even the system that isn't your preference, but you use it because your friends do and getting them to consider anything else is an exercise in futility.

In Fools Haven, players take on the roles of Free Traders: adventurers, mercenaries, and entrepreneurs who have abandoned the simple life in favour of one of glory and great reward. But a Free Trader's life is a risky one filled with peril and misfortune, and not every employer cares about the well-being of their Free Trader freelancers.

The Fools Haven Adventure Pack consists of:

•  Fools Haven Free Traders Guide: An A5 zine booklet describing the city, its layout, and its history written by its most veteran reporter, Aron Quill.
•  Jewel Of The Middenbight: Another A5 zine booklet describing the people and culture of Fools Haven written by the famous socialite and gossip columnist Gilda Gladholme.
•  Fools Haven Adventures #1: Yet another A5 zine booklet filled with scenarios and missions to challenge the Free Traders of your acquaintance.
•  Middenbight Midnight Mail: An A3 player handout of the latest newspaper from Fools Haven, filled with potential adventure hooks and story seeds about town.

The Free Traders Guide is published by the Middenbight Midnight Mail offices in collaboration with several sponsors, including the Bizarre Bazaar, Coldburg Consultants, and the Henchman's Cabinet. It is primarily written by veteran reporter Aron Quill and its primary purpose is to appraise the reader of the layout of the town, the rights and responsibilities of a Free Trader, and other useful information relevant to the holder of a Free Trader's License. 

Details within the Free Traders Guide include:

• A description of your Free Traders License and the rights it grants the bearer.
• A brief on the city of Fools Haven and its enigmatic Overseer.
• Descriptions of the six districts of Fools Haven and important places within them.
• An introduction to the strange legal peculiarities of the Jewel of the Middenbight.
• A general guide to the Middenbight for those who have come from afar.
• A description of the currency of the Middenbight.
• Advice on gaining an agent to help in your adventuring career (what, you expect to hang around in a bar and wait for some wizard to just walk in and offer you a job? Those guys are totally unreliable!).
• Religions, guilds, festivals, magical towers, and much, much more!

Jewel of the Middenbight is a guide to the culture, customs, and celebrities of Fools Haven compiled by its most fabulous socialite and gossip columnist, Gilda Gladholme. This book discusses the various races in town as well as important people along with rumours as scintillating as they are scandalous! 

It contains:

• A look at the races and people who make Fools Haven the most cosmopolitan city in the Vague World.
• An interview with Dugg Goodfellow discussing his new endeavour, SCRYE Channel.
• Reviews and news on the latest entertainment trends, including a retrospective on the incomparable Melodica. Where are they now?
• An attempt to dive into the increasingly popular musical style known as 'warbeat' and its most iconic proponent, Warlord Rage. Is it more than just angry noise?
• A brief history of the Middenbight Bawll League and predictions for the current season. How will your team fare? 
• An expose on the elusive Prince Charming and the Six Queens who are determined to see him dead.
• Exalted chef Master Steel of the Epicurean Collective grants us a look into one of the secret recipes of the Gastronomicon.
• And more!

This booklet outlines a set of adventures to entice and excite even the most jaded of Free Traders, mostly taken from articles found in the Middenbight Midnight Mail. All adventures are system and edition neutral and can be scaled to suit both the newest and most seasoned of Free Traders.

Adventures include:

•  The Gate Job: In order to get a job, you'll need a Free Traders License. In order to get a License, you'll need money. But in order to get money, you'll need a job. It's a vicious cycle for a newcomer to town, but a local city watchman is willing to help you out...
•  Hunt For A Hero: Captain Kinnen is the noblest, kindest, and most respected of all the halfling heroes in Fools Haven. And you've been offered your weight in silver to kill him before dawn.
•  The Unicorn Dilemma: A group of Free Traders must act as brokers for a dragon who wishes to sell a baby unicorn. The rewards are exemplary, but can you wash the bad taste out of your mouth?
•  O Elusive Muse!: The operetta Glimmerwind promises to be the most exciting stage-show to grace the Garden District this season, but a series of troubles have plagued the production and with only two weeks until opening night the show is looking to become a disaster! Can a small group of talented Free Traders save Glimmerwind?  
•  Gash's Gauntlet: Gash Throatripper is the star forward rover for the Freiberg Bruisers and the greatest orc player ever to take to playing Bawll. But a lot of people want rival team the Freiberg Bloods to win and the likelihood of Gash making it to the game tomorrow are one in a hundred. You've taken those odds. 
•  A Pyramid Scheme: Dark magician Amet Hatehopeth has just started down the path of necromancy and hopes to become a mummy someday. He requires Free Traders to arrange for investors to help him build a mighty pyramid in his honour. Can you convince some of the most dangerous citizens of Fools Haven to become shareholders in his nefarious venture?
• And more... 

Though the Fools Haven Herald might be older, the Three Crown Review might have fancier words, and the Publican's Post might have more illustrations of naked people, the Middenbight Midnight Mail remains the most popular newscroll among Free Traders within the City of Adventure! But don't let us tell you why, find out for yourself as you read through your very own copy of the latest issue, straight from the streets of Fools Haven and into your hands (though you might want to wash those hands before you do anything else with them).

This A3 scroll is the perfect handout to give players who wish to discover the news and job opportunities within the Jewel of the Middenbight. Many of the articles also link into the missions contained within the pages of the Fools Haven Adventures #1 zine, making it the ideal way to introduce a party of Free Traders to their next step along the road to destiny. Or disaster...

The setting for Fools Haven takes place in The Middenbight, a land of magic, mayhem and adventure.  Built on the ruins of innumerable cities before it, Fools Haven is the largest free city in the Vague World and certainly the most cosmopolitan. In less than two centuries, it has forged a unique reputation as a trading hub, neutral state, and centre of learning. 

Situated amongst the terrifying Border Lands of the Middenbight and containing subterranean depths long untouched, the City of Adventure offers rich rewards to those brave souls who would seek their fortunes.

The Middenbight is also home to the small town of Tinderbox, the setting of Red Genie Games' tabletop game of fantasy firefighting: The Brigade. 

 Red Genie Games was released on the world to bring you original, thematic games and other magical pieces of creative collaboration. Red Genie Games was formed in Melbourne in 2015 at a local board game design incubator. 

The Brigade was our first published game as Red Genie and it was during its development that we were blessed to make the acquaintance of Ivan Nevill. A longstanding active member of Australia's RPG community, Ivan can be found writing scenarios for RPGs, hosting trivia, demoing food-based wargames, and wherever games and puns can be combined for the betterment of humanity. He also was co-creator of another zine project, Stubby Buddy, which celebrated beer and friendship.

It was Ivan's wit and imagination that gave life to Tinderbox: the setting for The Brigade. His creativity has influenced all the locations, stories and characters in the game, which in turn has been recognised as a key strength of The Brigade in almost every review. 

Little did we know at the time we were creating Tinderbox, but there was a city of adventure that Ivan had been running campaigns in for many years before Red Genie Games even existed. When Ivan shared the original Fools Haven Zine and we realised what a big influence it had on the fantasy feel and humour of Tinderbox, we knew we had the foundations of a fantasy world on our hands. So the Vague World was born. 

When Kickstarter announced Zine Quest, we knew the stars had aligned and it was time to introduce Fools Haven to the world. 

All profits from this campaign go to Ivan for his tireless contributions to the success of The Brigade and the extensive writing he has contributed towards the 'Tinderbox Tales' series of games.

Click to read an extended interview with Ivan on The Brigade website.