The latest adventure compilation by Jeff C. Stevens, Encounters in the Savage Jungles, is now available on the DMs Guild. It’s a collection of short adventures and encounters to use in any jungle-based campaign, such as Tomb of Annihilation.

It’s not D&D Adventurers League legal, but that shouldn’t bother most of you.

It’s also a product I can’t review. Why? Because I contributed to the book: a short encounter in a ruin where the adventurers discover a lost adventurer.

I’m very fond of the encounter, although I’d be very wary of using it while the Death Curse is in effect. It can very easily kill one or more adventurers, although that might not be immediately apparent to the players. The threat amuses my old school sensibilities; and is something for which the players will likely need to find help to overcome.

One of the tricks I like to use in world-building is to present situations where the players need to gain help from NPCs. It allows additional roleplaying and world-building opportunities. With enough visits to the local sage or temple, the non-player characters you use to populate the world become familiar and more real to the players. Repeatedly using the same NPCs is the best way to make them real to the players. An entire line of one-shot NPCs is easily forgotten, but one NPC who appears in every session? That’s someone that can be remembered, although you still need to give them a memorable personality.

There’s one other aspect about the adventure: it provides a hook for further adventures. One decision made by the players can have additional ramifications.

I hope you enjoy the adventure – and the numerous other adventures also in the product, written by some very worthy authors!