This is a module aimed at very young children - the creator author says it was created for a five year old girl. As such, in order to be kid friendly at that age it concerns itself very much with a colourful world full of interesting things to pick up. There is no combat in it which makes it a hard play for adults and maybe older kids but there is still plenty to admire. This is no quick module. The author has creator seems to have put a lot of work into it, resulting in around 20 or so areas ( many interiors of course) and a quick look in the toolset confirms that.
The main character is called Fiona ( although you can play any character you like). As such all the items in Fiona's room are names after her. Interestingly, the author . Full instructions can be found on the Vault project page from the author about the different options and versions of the PC available to you for customisation. Interestingly, the author also provides an RTF file with detailed instructions on how to change the module in the toolset to accommodate whatever your own child is called. A nice touch !
After collecting all the colourful baubles and some dresses from Fiona's cupboards ( not all of which suited my male barbarian Orc PC as you can see from the screenshots !) you visit some rooms in her house adding to your collection of pretty things. This area, as indeed the first few areas, was beautifully thought out and filled with colourful items which would appeal especially to kids around 5-7 I think. The area outside Fiona's house is well decorated with gardens and you can see that this seems to have been a bit of a was a labour of love for the author and to great effect. The array of colours is impressive and just what a young child might like to look at.
The final surprise for me on Fiona's farm was the availability of horse riding! I'm always a sucker for riding a horse in RPGs although it seldom seems to make sense after a while. It is handled cleverly in this module without having to use the radial menu by allowing to you to mount through a conversation while also employing a dismount token to step down from the horse. You can also buy a new horse at the stables in the village. This worked nicely. Anyway, nothing much else seemed to happen in this area so I headed off to the next , ; the village.
The village is filled with quite a few buildings, most of them shops of various kinds where Fiona can pick up some more interesting baubles. None of them the stores offer magical items or armour because it isn't needed with no combat so I found myself buying rather than selling. Here you can pick up a quest, which is probably the main one, to search for a lost son which I did but after exploring every corner of the area I became baffled as to where the young lad I was looking for could be.
For a first quest aimed at a five year old, which would usually be very simple, it made me feel totally incompetent. Having finally found the young lad concerned MUCH later I can see that I was wrong to assume the first quest would be simply solved ("he's hiding behind the barn" sort of thing ) to give me some confidence. It might have been an idea better to let the youngster see that the idea of quests is that they can solve them then , before gradually make making them more challenging.
On my first play, frustrated by not being able to find the young lad in the village area I decided to go back to the garden and investigate the other exit.
And that is pretty much that. A confession at this point. I went into this module trying to think as a 5 yr old and reckoned it was too hard for such a youngster. Having replayed it I can now see the answers and, as usual, they are obvious once you know them.
On my first play, having really enjoyed getting the feel of this module and the care with which it was built, I began to feel it starting to lag. once I had left the village my enthusiasm waned a little as I visited another four or five areas, none of which were built as fully and picked , while picking up another three or four quests none of which I could solve. A good example was the unicorn who came running up to me saying he could hear sounds of somebody crying in the dragons' den. Having, I thought, thoroughly investigated the aforementioned den, I heard nothing and could find nobody in distress. So, about three areas later I gave up, little not realising that my clue with which I had missed was only about three inches tall! Again, possibly my haste to get on was at fault here. . .
Eventually all the stories come together quite nicely with a lot of having to find something for A, take it to B who wants something else etc. resulting in a lot of running around. I found myself thinking that maybe quick waypoints or something else might have been an idea.
Having eventually solved everything, I suffered the ultimate indignity on my return home. It had taken me so long to figure everything out it was the middle of the night, my house was locked up and I couldn't get in!
Positives - The The first ten minutes of this module were without doubt among the most interesting I have seen in any module. Beautifully built areas with some small assets I hadn't seen before built made a very good impression. I liked the attempt by the author to explain in the separate file how anyone could customise it to suit the names of their children and I'm sure youngsters would like that. Colours have been used very well. I also loved the horse system, stopping off in the village to buy myself a new black horse. Incidentally, the tea room in the village is a must see. Lovely arrangement with paintings on the walls and a curtained door I spent a while in there looking at the detail. This might also be all that a 5 year old girl needs in a module. After all, it wasn't intended for me. . .
Less so - About 20 minutes into my first play I began to wonder where the story was and why I didn't feel I was any further towards solving any of the quests. So, eventually I was left moving to area after area really pretty aimlessly. It wasn't until my second play through that I realised I was in this for the long haul and that something in one area might have an answer three areas hence.
Once I realised that it all made sense and came together well. I was left wondering, however, if a five year old, who would have the adult with them controlling the mouse and movement (I'm assuming) would have the patience to wait while the adult figured it out. With my own granddaughter playing my own module I took the controls the first few times while she was content with making decisions. That was different as I had a little combat ( she was 8 going on 9) but if I'd had her beside my me on my first play through this I'd have had to bring a better A game than I did this time or I'd have felt her wrath wrath!
Not that my opinion matters but would I recommend this module? Probably, if only for the beautiful layout of the house interiors, garden and, yes, the tea room. However, as with all kids' modules I feel it would be a good idea to give a heads up to the adult in the room who might be busy and doesn't want to run about aimlessly with a younger youngster beside them would be a good idea. A PDF for busy adults (rough walkthrough), so to speak, which they could ignore or use to keep the kid from any frustration or prepare them for an upcoming tussle.
However, do 5 yr olds who presumably won't be doing the pointing and clicking themselves with a mouse need anything more than a well-built new world to look at and explore anyway? Possibly not. I know that it wouldn't satisfy my 9yr old granddaughter - but then maybe she'd be better at resolving the quests than I am!
This module was last updated in 2016 and is available on the Vault here.