For those interested, here are my tier rankings of the official D&D 5E campaign adventures. Some may be a little generous, but sort of match how happy I am to run them. For those unaware of tier rankings, “S-tier” is the top, followed by A, B, C, D, and finally F. S-Tier: Lost Mine of Phandelver (original starter set)Curse of Strahd A-Tier:Hoard of the Dragon … Continue reading Tier rankings of the D&D Campaign Adventures
Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk is a 2023 campaign adventure published by Wizards of the Coast that takes characters from levels 1 through 12. It incorporates the excellent starter set adventure The Lost Mine of Phandelver, and then continues onwards for seven more levels of exciting adventure. Or at least, they hope you’ll find it exciting. The new material involves a plot by mind … Continue reading Review: The Shattered Obelisk
There’s recently been a bit of discussion, prompted by this video of Matt Colville, about making up a campaign based on a lot of shorter published adventures. And some people are lamenting that people won’t do it today since they don’t know that short adventures exist. Because Wizards of the Coast only publish long adventures. In fact, they do publish short adventures. Just not (for … Continue reading A campaign of short, published adventures
The first adventure in the Expert series had been the fairly serious Isle of Dread. The second had been more of a funhouse dungeon in Castle Amber. Expert Set Adventure Module X3, Curse of Xanathon, wandered into some seriously weird territory. It is designed for 5-8 characters of levels 5-7. Douglas Niles had begun his writing career at TSR by writing the not-for-novices novice-series adventure … Continue reading Classic D&D Review: Curse of Xanathon
Today’s the day that the second part of the Final Fantasy VII remakes comes out – this one called Rebirth. I’ve been playing through the first part (Remake), and it’s an example of how good content can be expanded, given excellent voice acting and gameplay, and become even more than the original. It’s funny to think of a game from so long ago – the … Continue reading Final Fantasy VII
M1: Into the Maelstrom is the first of the adventures designed to use with the D&D Master set, that is the expansion of the D&D Basic game for levels 26-36. In the D&D Companion set, the PCs were rulers of kingdoms or the ruler’s principal servants. By D&D Master, their mortal lives are drawing to a close and they’re reaching towards the possibility of Immortal … Continue reading Classic D&D Review: Into the Maelstrom
I’m meant to be writing a proper review of Gary Gygax’s “isle of the ape”, but a nearby bushfire means I’m a bit distracted at present. In addition to not being at my computer. Most of the last adventures Gygax produced were pastiches of known works of fiction, and Isle of the Ape was no exception. The template was laid down in “Dungeonland” where Gygax … Continue reading Isle of the Ape
We played our 14th session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday, January 29, 2024. This continued their play through Chapter 6, as they moved into the Crypt of the Talrund. We resumed play with the characters examining the puzzle door that led to the crypt underneath Talhundereth. It’s a nice puzzle, completely derailed by three features: One, it’s unclear. Two: It needs art. Three: The … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 14
D3: Vault of the Drow was released in 1978, one of the initial offerings of adventures from TSR for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. Written by Gary Gygax, this adventure is the sixth part of the seven-part Giant/Drow/Queen series. The conclusion, Queen of the Demonweb Pits would not be released until 1980. After following the retreating drow in the first two parts of the … Continue reading Classic D&D Review: Vault of the Drow
Set in the realm of Lamordia, one of the domains of Ravenloft, The God Engine is a horror-themed adventure for level 1-2 characters, with a suggested running time of four to six hours. There is a distinct steampunk vibe to the proceedings, and it contains adult concepts. The plot concerns a fossilized elder brain which gains control of a researcher and forces him to create … Continue reading D&D 5E Review – Lamordia: The God Engine
