Adventures from the Potbellied Kobold is a collection of 15 adventures for 5E, designed by people who have done a lot of work in the industry. Clocking in at 172 pages, it presents adventures from level 2 to 9. Usefully, each adventure has a suggested run-time. The shortest is 60 minutes, the longest 4 hours, with most sitting at about 2 hours about right for a shorter session or an interlude in a longer one.
The book is attractively decorated and laid out, with good maps and artwork. My one caveat here is that the grid is occasionally hard to make out on the maps included in the book. A collection of VTT maps comes with the adventure.
A framing story involving the eponymous Potbellied Kobold allows you to link the adventures with the Kobold acting as a patron. Still, I expect many will use them as stand-alone adventures.
With fifteen adventures, I could either do a quick overview of the product in a single blog post or dive deeper into the adventures over several. I have chosen to do the latter, even if it takes some time. I will be pleased if I finish this run!
So, I’m looking at three adventures for this first post, all from the lower level ranges.
PLEASE BE AWARE – THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW!
Tinker, Tailor, Goblin, Die
Designer: Kat Kruger. Level: 2nd. Play time: 60-90 minutes. Features: Social Interaction, Exploration, and Combat.
A goblin tailor has recently bought the deed to an old manor from a halfling. She wants the characters to investigate the estate to determine if it is dangerous before she moves in.
Of course, the manor is not just an empty manor – friends of the old owner still live there. The friends are unusual, and the interest in the adventure comes from how the players deal with them.
Tinker, Tailor, Goblin, Die puts me in mind of the first two Saltmarsh adventures: The investigation of a haunted house that is more than it seems and the expedition to the lizardfolk lair that subverts the expectations of the lizardfolk being foes. It is its own story, though.
The adventure presents a few normally unintelligent monsters as intelligent. I believe in presenting a consistent world to the players, which feels like a “gotcha”. It is not like Danger at Dunwater, where you learn that a tribe of lizardfolk have better intentions than you assumed. Instead, it suspends the lore of D&D. This is a personal dislike: you may not have this issue. I think you can do this, but you need to sell it better. Finding these creatures in a wizard’s laboratory, who has performed magic to give them intelligence helps the gap; finding them in a merchant’s residence, with no extra explanation, does not.
Of the friends, only one speaks Common. The order in which the characters encounter these creatures greatly affects how the adventure plays. Meet the mimic first, and it is almost certainly going to turn into a fight. Meet the awakened tree first – which I consider most likely – and you are in what I believe is a more interesting adventure. I appreciate having someone with which to interact – and awakened armour using sign language or a gargoyle using grunts allows enjoyable interactions.
Despite my reservations about how the monsters act, I think this is a charming adventure that could play very well.
Into the Clouds
Designer: JVC Parry. Level 3. Play Time: 1-2 hours. Features: Kidnapping, Giants.
A priest asks the characters to rescue the town’s carpenter, kidnapped by a cloud giant. Along the way, they fight a satyr before flying up to the giant’s castle and finding a way to find the carpenter.
Into the Clouds is a fun little adventure with an engaging premise – the carpenter can make magical carvings, the giant has a lost his arm, and together they can help each other. Well, the giant can get a replacement arm, and then return the carpenter to her home uneaten. Surely, that’s a win-win situation?
The fun nature of the encounters obscures that they do not always make much sense. A trap in the main entrance requires fiddling with an enchanted carving to disable (it is a puzzle). What happens when the giant leaves? How does he get back to the door to deactivate it?
An early encounter with crazed satyrs and a magical podium does not fit with the rest of the adventure. In a short scenario, I think it’s essential to link all encounters to the primary theme. While it’s nice, it feels out of place. (I note that one of the adventure hooks suggests omitting it). Also, the magical podium in the encounter is underdetailed for something that reads as more significant.
The characters can reach the scenario’s conclusion by several means – not all require to fight the giant. It should prove a lot of fun to run and play – my issues are with the logic behind encounters, not with how entertaining it is.
Redeemed with Fire
Designer: Shawn Merwin. Level 3. Play Time: 60-90 minutes. Features: Social Interaction, Exploration, and Combat
A gnome criminal mastermind decides the characters are a threat and lures them to a location where she can eliminate them.
However, the characters think they are helping rescue a noble’s daughter from an unsavoury crowd!
I very much admire how the adventure works. The characters are not deceived directly by a villain. The noble who hires the adventurers has herself has been deceived, which means that the PCs are given their mission by someone who believes what they are saying. It is often the case that you wonder why the characters do not use Insight or something else to avoid the situation. In this case, they do not get the chance!
The rest of the adventure works well. It is an entertaining tale, with plenty of action to keep the players happy. And yes, if they are clever and skilful, they can get out of the trap and even rescue the noble’s daughter!
I have no real problems here. This adventure looks like a lot of fun.
Those are my thoughts on the first three adventures in the collection – with luck, I’ll be back with more in the new future!