Book Review: Black Wizards

Douglas Niles’ second book in the Moonshae Trilogy, Black Wizards, was first published in April 1988, as the third release of the Forgotten Realms novel line. It continued the story of the Prince of Corwell, Tristran Kendrick, and his friends. With the Darkwalker defeated, the relationship between Tristan and his father has returned to its natural state; that is, not a very good one. When … Continue reading Book Review: Black Wizards

RPG Supplement Review: 5 Questions

When you play role-playing games, it is generally the case that your PC comes from somewhere and has a personality and history. The character isn’t just a collection of numbers, except in the most basic of dungeon crawls. Not everyone is good at creating these personalities and backgrounds. 5th Edition D&D uses “Background” system to give some context to the character and explores a few … Continue reading RPG Supplement Review: 5 Questions

5E Adventure Review: If Looks Could Kill

Dan Coleman’s Dungeons on Demand series has produced a good number of excellent dungeons for DMs to use and players to enjoy. He is currently running a Kickstarter for the third volume of the series, and has sent me one of its five adventures to (p)review. If Looks Could Kill is an adventure for 6th-level characters and presents a single dungeon stocked with monsters, traps, … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: If Looks Could Kill

D&D Supplement Review: Underdark Enemies

Robert Adducci, best known as the Community Manager of the D&D Adventurers League and for his work with the Athas.org website, has released a small pdf through the DMs Guild that provides ten monsters for use in D&D. Entitled Underdark Enemies, it is particularly useful for providing additional threats when running the massive sandbox adventure, Out of the Abyss, but the demons and fire giants … Continue reading D&D Supplement Review: Underdark Enemies

D&D Adventure Review: Shadows of the Last War

I was recently asked if I had written reviews of the adventures set in the Eberron Campaign Setting. The answer is yes, I reviewed the original three adventures. This review was originally written in 2004; I’ve revised the original text to make it more applicable to today’s audience. Once upon a time, Wizards – and, before them, TSR – produced adventures on a regular basis … Continue reading D&D Adventure Review: Shadows of the Last War

5E Adventure Review: Secret of the Moon-Door

Rich Baker is no stranger to designing adventures –Lost Mine of Phandelver and Princes of the Apocalypse are two of his more recent works – but as one of the founders of Sasquatch Games, he’s spent a lot of time with Primeval Thule of late. And now we get to see how he writes adventures for the setting! Secret of the Moon-Door is an adventure … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Secret of the Moon-Door

5E Adventure Review: Temple of the Nightbringers

M.T. Black’s adventure, Temple of the Nightbringers has been released as a free pdf on the DMs Guild site. It’s designed to be played in a single session by first-level characters. The adventure is very elegantly presented, and is well-written. The plot is simple: after arriving in the town of Melton, the PCs are sent to deal with a goblin lair. It uses one of … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Temple of the Nightbringers

Planning for the next season of the D&D Adventurers League

One of the tasks many of us have to consider over the next couple of months is how we’ll run D&D Adventurers League games. There are more options than before: they can be run at home, online, in store, at conventions, or anywhere you can run a D&D game! In this article, I’m going to discuss how I’m planning to handle it at my store. … Continue reading Planning for the next season of the D&D Adventurers League

Book Review: The Crystal Shard

In March 1988, R.A. Salvatore’s first book of his many, many books about the dark elf ranger, Drizzt Do’urden, The Crystal Shard, was released. I read it a few days ago as part of my reread of all the Forgotten Realms novels. My impression? It was better written than Darkwalker on Moonshae. The dialogue, in particular, is much better. The story is told in three … Continue reading Book Review: The Crystal Shard

5E Adventure Review: The Five Temples of the Earthmother – Life and Moon

The Five Temples of the Earthmother, part 1: Life and Moon is a somewhat unwieldy title for an adventure. Thankfully, the adventure is a good one, well worth investigating. Written by Shawn Merwin and Christopher Sniezak, both of whom have written Organised Play adventures for Wizards of the Coast, as well as other adventures and supplements, the first instalment of Five Temples sets the player … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Five Temples of the Earthmother – Life and Moon