The wonderful James Introcaso recently wrote a blog post in which he discussed the situation where a player primarily engaged with the game through the mechanics. One example he gave was this: A player tries to buy a suit of armour from a merchant. The player says, “Can I roll a Persuasion check to see if this lady will give me a deal on the … Continue reading How Immersive is Your Game?
It’s tricky writing adventures that are easy to prepare. M. T. Black recently posted on Twitter that he wanted to allow DMs to prepare DDAL09-04 in as little as 15 minutes. While most DMs should spend an hour or more prepping a four-hour adventure before they run it, the reality of running adventures in a convention or store setting often means that the DM is … Continue reading On the Importance of Clarity
Back in 1984, Conan was hot. The Arnold Schwarzenegger movies had come out to the general acclaim of – well – fantasy fans. (The first movie found a more general audience, but the second did not). And TSR somehow gained the license to do Conan-based RPGs. There was an actual Conan RPG, plus three AD&D adventures – two Conan adventures and one Red Sonja adventure … Continue reading AD&D Adventure Review: Conan Unchained!
The Absent-Minded Alchemist is a one-session adventure for first- or second-level characters in an urban setting. The players are hired to deal with rats in a cellar. Unfortunately, they’re not told that the alchemist whose cellar it is has been pouring his failed concoctions down the drain, and that the rats have been magically mutated! The idea of dealing with giant rats in a cellar … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Absent-Minded Alchemist
Precious Cargo is a four-hour adventure set in the Moonshae Isles for characters level 1 to 4. It is a DDAL-legal adventure produced by Baldman Games. In the adventure, the characters are asked to help deal with fey bandits active on the High King’s Road. After repulsing the initial attack, the characters travel into the nearby forest, where they must face the hag responsible for … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Precious Cargo
Rise of the Sea Dragon is a sea-based adventure set in the Forgotten Realms for level 5-10 characters, taking two to four hours to play. The adventure begins with the characters’ ship being wrecked by an attack from some monster, and – upon being rescued – seeking the identity of that monster so they can stop it from further preying on the ships of the … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Rise of the Sea Dragon
The Lost Temple of Tiamat is a dungeon-crawl adventure apparently for characters of levels 2 to 4 (EDIT: Now rebalanced for level 6 characters). In it, the characters must retrieve an Orb of Dragon Command from the lost temple. The temple is half-buried in a jungle, and the characters must overcome the tricks, puzzles and monsters of the dungeon to find and gain the Orb. … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Lost Temple of Tiamat
Missing Piece is a short adventure for level 1 characters set at a wedding. Unfortunately for the festivities, the groom has been kidnapped! Obviously, the heroes must rescue him. It’s a great idea for an adventure. The play is very simple, with the characters gathering clues in the room from where the groom’s been abducted, then following the trail through some secret passages, until they … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Missing Piece
Roots Run Deep is an urban and wilderness adventure for level 1-4 characters, playable in about three to five hours. A corrupted knight has entered a town and killed a lot of the small creatures there, and the players must track him back to the dark forest that corrupted him and end the threat. This adventure, while not a D&D Adventurers League-legal adventure, is written … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Roots Run Deep
The Fog of Solhaven is a gothic-themed adventure for 4th or 5th level characters. It’s got a great concept, but it feels like it needs a little more development and certainly better editing. The plot is as follows: the characters arrive in Solhaven, a cursed town enshrouded in fog, in which strange monsters prowl. The characters meet two sisters who have an idea of how … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Fog of Solhaven
