As an interesting and quite thought-provoking adventure, Gibbous Moon makes an attractive side-adventure to slot into an existing campaign, or indeed to run as a one-shot game (perhaps using the pre-generated characters suppied).

As usual, we begin with information on how to read a stat block and the anatomy of an encounter, classing Raging Swan masterclasses that feature in every adventure (after all, they don't know which one you'll pick up first!). Then we get on to the adventure background: a tragic tale of someone afflicted with lycanthropy who's quite horrified at what he has become and is trying to find ways to live with his affliction.

OK, so how do you bring the party into the mix? As the lycanthrope has been raiding the nearby village, it may just be that the villagers will take advantage of passing adventurers to ask them to investigate just why their cattle are being stolen a few days before the full moon each month. To get them to the village, called Barlow, it may just be on their way to someplace else or they may be on a trip to pick up the bones of a hermit who used to live in a hermitage not far from the settlement.

For most, the starting point will be Barlow itself, however they came to be there. The village and its inhabitants are described comprehensively, with details of demographics, notable people and locations and of course a map. There's plenty to find out here, for those characters who enjoy investigating and asking around. Most inhabitants are either humans or dwarves, and there are some tensions between them - the dwarves are relative newcomers and some of the 'old' residents do not care for their modern ways disturbing a pastoral idyll. With this wealth of information it will be easy to bring the place to life.

The second part deals with the hermitage at Clear Pool... with the hermit dead (else why might anyone be after her bones?) it has provided a refuge for the lycanthrope. Of course, the party has to get there first, and there just might be something lurking in the undergrowth... Once there, the hermitage itself is actually a series of natural caverns in a cliff-face that have been adapted into quite a nice residence. Again it is described in immense detail, making it all sound very 'real', something to bring to vivid life.

And here it becomes interesting. Of course, many parties will just want to fight... but if they are willing to try talking. It may be possible to persuade or intimidate the lycanthrope into changing his ways - and he, of course, would dearly love to be cured of his affliction.

With the neat twist of several ways of resolving the adventure and a few ideas for further exploits - even including taking over the hermitage as a base - this is a fascinating little side-adventure that should prove memorable.