Using one format for all types of adventures unchangingly is a problem. You want to adapt the format according to the style of adventure (investigation, exploration, combat-heavy, event-driven, etc.) When I look to describing a particular scene or encounter, I think there are a few key areas that should be present. I look for the following: An opening paragraph or boxed text that sets out … Continue reading Formatting Encounters
The Wizard’s Egg is an OGL product set in an arcane-punk setting; I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if you could easily adapt it to Eberron. It’s an adventure for level 1 characters, which begins with the characters in their office, waiting for someone to hire them. Does it feel like the start of a noir novel? Absolutely! There’s a lot of background in the adventure; … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Wizard’s Egg
One of the challenges in any Organised Play system is to see how series of adventures work after the rules change… In 2018, the D&D Adventurers League moved from awarding Experience Points (XP) to awarding Advancement Checkpoints. For older adventures, each hour played gives 1 ACP (to the maximum playing time). The Curse of Strahd season is particularly challenging to run, because all the adventures … Continue reading Running the Curse of Strahd season under Season 8 DDAL rules
Handful of Heists is a collection of five short adventures for third-level characters, potentially set during Chapter 3 of Dragon Heist, but adaptable for use elsewhere. Each adventure, as indicated in the title, is a “heist” of some sort, where the characters are sent to retrieve something valuable. In Cavern of the Sunken Queen, the characters venture underwater into a temple of Umberlee, the evil … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Handful of Heists
The third part of the Tenets of Bane series, Tyrant of the Forgotten Forge, is a two-hour adventure for level 1-4 characters. Set in an old dwarven mine, the adventure features oppressed kobolds, tyrannical derro, and some traps and puzzles for the party to navigate. There is a nice mix of challenges in the adventure, with some role-playing opportunities and quite a bit of puzzle-solving. … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Tyrant of the Forgotten Forge
I have no idea who the “Black Road Report” is for. Here’s the blurb: Ever wonder why the Harpers can’t seem to quash the Zhentarim? It’s because the Zhents keep excellent notes. Think I’m kidding? Check out this edition the first ever unearthed notes from the Zhentarim’s Black Road Report, Faerun’s only glimpse into the inner workings of the Zhentarim spy network. This edition is … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: Black Road Report: The Night Shift
Dark Waters of Hate is the second adventure in the Tenets of Bane quadrology for level 1-4 characters. It’s a D&D Adventurers League-legal adventure. The task for the characters is simple: Retrieve the second platinum disk created by Bane that embodies Hate. To do this, all they have to do is descend into the depths of the Moonsea, fight underwater creatures, meet merfolk, enter the … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Dark Waters of Hate
Into the Dark (DDAL08-07) is the first of the Tier 2 adventures of Season 8 of the D&D Adventurers League. In it, Artor Morlin, the Vampire Lord of Waterdeep, recruits the characters to remove a vampire nest in Undermountain. It’s very definitely aimed at characters that have played the first Tier 1 trilogy of this season, but it works with other characters as well. This … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Into the Dark
The finale of the Folded Time trilogy, Purging the Blood, manages to provide a conclusion to the overall story of the trilogy while being an entertaining adventure in its own right. This time, the adventurers are sent back to the newly formed Waterdeep as the citizens vote on the names of the various wards, while the nobles pursue a new fashion craze: having their blood … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Purging the Blood
Some of my favourite Dungeons & Dragons encounters have consisted of a very simple challenge, but, because the adventurers didn’t have the right tools available to them, they needed to improvise and come up with another solution. Give me a stream with a slippery log over it or an open pit just too wide for all the characters to jump and I have a situation … Continue reading Exploration and Making the Mind Work
