Vormestrand’s Scroll is a DDAL-legal adventure for level 1-2 characters set in the Forgotten Realms. It’s an unusual adventure, allowing up to four tables to co-operate to solve the situation together, making it one of the few multi-table D&D experiences available to everyone.

The basic set-up is that Vormestrand, a retired adventurer turned brewer, is kidnapped and his brewery is set on fire. The bands of adventurers who were present are sent to gather the ingredients required to make the next batch of beer, while various forces try to stop them.

The adventure is made up of five one-hour scenarios and one two-hour scenario. The first covers the kidnapping and fire, the next four the quests for the ingredients, and the last, taking two hours, is the brewing of the beer (which is interrupted by lots of monsters). If you’re playing in a four-hour slot, you play only one of the quests for the ingredients and assume that other adventurers get the rest. In multi-table play, each table recovers a separate ingredient.

The situations are inventive and enjoyable. There’s a good mix of combat and role-playing. Due to the use of the Season 8 format, a few areas are slightly unclear on the first read-through, and you’ll probably need to do more preparation than otherwise. Occasionally, the use of the “three pillars” format causes problems – the adventure suggests that a DC 11 Persuasion check will get some pixies to return to work; otherwise you need to fight a harpy. However, as the fight against the harpy forms the bulk of that quest, the difficulty and time used don’t line up that well. If you feel confident running a significant role-playing encounter that doesn’t rely on a single die roll, use that option. Otherwise go with the fight.

There is, unfortunately, one major issue with the adventure: the opening chapter make it seem that “We have to rescue Vormestrand!” is the point of the adventure. You’re following the arsonists and kidnappers, and you’re getting clues about who sent them. However, in the next chapter, you need to be finding ingredients for beer. Why is the beer more important than Vormestrand? This problem is exacerbated by the fact that there isn’t a leader figure present who can tell the characters what to do next. There’s no obvious reason for the transition from “rescue Vormestrand” to “brew beer”.

And, indeed, Vormestrand isn’t rescued by the end of the adventure. My assumption was that there was a brewing competition or something that made it important to brew the beer before setting out to rescue the brewer, but this isn’t the case. Rather, Vormestrand had been planning an epic brew, and you’re fulfilling his plans despite his kidnapping. It doesn’t play as smoothly as I’d like.

However, once you get past that transition, the adventure works and provides a lot of entertaining play. While not everything is perfect, I’d love to see four tables of brand-new players working together to complete the adventure. It’s an ambitious tale, and mostly succeeds in its ambitions. Recommended.