The Mines of Chult is a collection of nine short adventures set in – wait for it – Chult! Written by three of my favourite D&D designers, Shawn Merwin, Tony Petrecca and Jeff C. Stevens, the nine adventures provide challenges for your adventurers to face when they discover one of the mines hidden away in the jungle. As these mines are not described in the full Tomb of Annihilation book, this is a welcome product. Each of its adventures takes two hours or less to play.

Most the adventures are designed for Tier 2 adventurers, that is, levels 6-10. There are two mines for Tier 1 and one for Tier 3.

The following adventures are included:

The Mine of Sorrow (Shawn Merwin). This is a level 11-15 adventure where the characters must deal with a feuding pit fiend and ultraloth. To complicate matters, a tributary of the River Lethe also flows through the mine, altering the environment with its magic. This is the highest-level adventure in the book, and there are several challenging encounters, most notably with a Roper infused with power from the Lethe. Although the situation is interesting, I don’t feel it’s explored in enough detail. The ultraloth doesn’t have a personality apart from “kill!”. I find this disappointing, considering that it has charmed the miners. The adventurers can negotiate with the pit fiend’s servants, but not with the final villain.

The Time of Our Lives (Shawn Merwin). A low-level adventure where the adventurers get trapped in a time loop. As a long-time fan of Doctor Who, this is something I think excellent. The time loop resets the situation each time the adventurers fail so that they can try again. Suggested running time is 60-90 minutes, but your party could be trapped for eternity! It’s a difficult adventure. Thus the ability to reset and retry becomes relevant.

The Desperation of the Drow (Tony Petrecca). This level 5-10 adventure describes a mine that has been claimed by a group of ambitious drow. However, the drow have enemies, and the drow and adventurers might develop a desperate alliance to stave off an attack of demons. After that fight, the adventurers will still have to deal with the drow, who are responsible for the deaths of the miners.

Neogi Nights (Tony Petrecca). This is a level 5-10 adventure, with the potential of being used for level 1-4 characters if they approach it stealthily and avoid fights. Neogi slavers have taken over the mine and are using it a base to hold slaves until they return home. The interest in this adventure comes from the use of the neogi – a race that debuted as part of the Spelljammer setting – but otherwise, it is not particularly noteworthy.

The Wounded Earth (Tony Petrecca). The adventurers must deal with an ancient guardian of this mine, which is now possibly insane, in an adventure for level 5-10 characters. This features many earth-based creatures assaulting the party as they delve into the mine, but the ultimate resolution can be peaceful. I rather like this one, as presenting the power of nature is often neglected in adventures, and this presents it well.

Big Gorge Mine (Jeff C. Stevens). This delve into a mine that is infested by diseased bats is likely best used at the lower tiers, despite being advertised for characters of any level. I didn’t find it a particularly interesting adventure and is the weakest in the collection.

The Hanscoff Gold Mine (Jeff C. Stevens). Written for five characters of levels 1-12, this adventure is effectively just one combat encounter with a group of zombie dragon wyrmlings. Other encounters provide flavour. I like the concept of this adventure, but there is a significant amount of text for not much adventure.

The Jaded Bear (Jeff C. Stevens). Level 5-9 adventurers must deal with bugbear kidnappers. Here’s something important when writing backgrounds for an adventure: Include everything. Don’t forget to explain that the bugbears have become slavers. The DM needs to know details like that up front, rather than having to search for them in the text. And what’s an Aldani? There are some interesting encounters in this adventure, but the presentation could be better.

The Library of Xer’Stan
(Jeff C. Stevens). This is a level 10-12 adventure in which the adventurers must deal with an undead mind-flayer, an Alhoon. It also features the mighty dagger, a weapon that is superior to any other weapon ever devised, or so says its wielder. It is, of course, a cursed item. The adventure features several areas to explore before the final battle; as with several of the adventures, it’s more an exploration scenario than a combat scenario. I’m amused that the Alhoon fights while sitting down; he’s very confident he can defeat the party!

Those are the nine adventures that The Mines of Chult presents. As usual with collections of this sort, I like some of the adventures more than others.

One niggle I have with the adventures is that, for the most part, they have only minor links to Chult. I suppose there aren’t many differences between a mine in Chult and one in the Sword Coast, but I would have preferred to see more of the feel of Chult presented. The Jaded Bear manages to do this, and I’m very pleased to see bugbears having problems with the hot Chultan climate! However, you could place The Desperation of the Drow in any mine in any part of the world. You may prefer this approach, as you’ll likely find more use for the adventures outside of Chult, but I’d have preferred the adventures imbued with more elements of the Chultan environment.

The layout is basic and, on occasions, poor. A heading should not be alone on the page with all the description on the next page! The editing is haphazard, with occasional typographic errors and several poorly phrased passages that should have been reworked. I would also have preferred to see the adventures arranged by tier of play, rather than arranged alphabetically by author.

Overall, there is a lot of good material in this product, and the best adventures are very much worth investigating. It presents intriguing situations, and some excellent individual encounters. However, the problems I highlight above stop it from being a great product. Some of the adventures need more development and the presentation needs work. Recommended, with reservations.