5E Adventure Review: Tower of the Mad Mage

Tower of the Mad Mage is an adventure set in the Forgotten Realms for 1st-level characters by M.T. Black. It should take about 4-6 hours to play. The adventure begins when an injured goblin bursts into the inn the player characters are staying in, and declares that he can make them rich! All they need to do is help him… The bulk of the adventure … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Tower of the Mad Mage

Inspiration and Designing an Adventure

A few weeks ago, I was listening to Jeff Greiner, Sam Dillon, Mike Shea and Wolfgang Baur discuss designing adventures for the DMs Guild on the Tome Show. One of the many interesting comments they made was that there was a need for very short side treks that could be dropped into campaigns. That was the starting point. I’ve been interested in writing and publishing … Continue reading Inspiration and Designing an Adventure

5E Supplement Review: To Serve

Black Hill Games’ To Serve is a supplement that focuses on characters who were once or are currently slaves. It provides players and DMs with a short discussion on the historical context of slavery and its use in a D&D campaign, before introducing the Slave background and a new monk subclass. One of the troubles with this take on the background is that it is … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: To Serve

5E Supplement Review: Vani Swiftbottom’s Guide to Advanced Player Options

Did the title of this review fit on one line? Huh. How about that! Vani Swiftbottom’s Guide to Advanced Player’s Option is a supplement that offers a number of new races, classes, spells and other features for D&D 5E games. It’s 113 pages long and available on the DM’s Guild. It’s obvious a lot of effort has gone into it: it’s nicely formatted, with a … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: Vani Swiftbottom’s Guide to Advanced Player Options

5E Adventure Review: The Horror Under the Mountain

Brian McKenzie’s The Horror Under the Mountain is an ambitious product. Presented as a 42-page pdf, it presents an adventure for characters of levels 14-16 that takes them from the remote human settlement of Ice Reach to the depths of the mind-flayer city of Bal Crek in an attempt to stop the mind flayers from unleashing the tarrasque on the surface world. It’s a great … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Horror Under the Mountain

5E Adventure Review: Journey Through the Center of the Underdark

Tony Petrecca’s Journey Through the Center of the Underdark is a collection of seven encounters designed to make Underdark travelling more exciting. They would be particularly valuable to any DM running Out of the Abyss, and several are written with that adventure in mind, but all could be easily adapted for use in other adventures set in the underworld. After all, it certainly has a … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Journey Through the Center of the Underdark

5E Supplement Review – Ravenloft Archetypes: Nightmares of Barovia

Ravenloft Archetypes: Nightmares of Barovia is a supplement by Jeremy Forbing for players and Dungeon Masters who have their games set in the Ravenloft campaign setting. It contains new archetypes for several character classes, a selection of new races and spells, and a number of new monsters that the DM can employ against the characters. It’s hard writing good rules material. It’s even harder writing … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review – Ravenloft Archetypes: Nightmares of Barovia

5E Adventure Review: The Ghost and the Peddler

The Ghost and the Peddler is a short adventure by Benoit de Bernady for three to five characters of levels 3 to 5. It’s a charming adventure, which sees the players travel with a young apothecary through orc-infested lands, whilst a mysterious “ghost” plagues the travellers. I very much appreciate adventures that have good characters, and The Ghost and the Peddler has several of them. … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Ghost and the Peddler

5E Adventure Review: The Mystery at Dreary’s Well

The Mystery at Dreary’s Well is a nicely-constructed adventure for 1st and 2nd level characters set in the Forgotten Realms. The player characters are sent to the small hamlet of Dreary’s Well in order to discover what has happened to a diamond that was stolen from a courier passing through the place a few nights ago. However, with a few additional opportunities for adventure (and … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Mystery at Dreary’s Well