The D&D Starter Set contains the adventure The Lost Mine of Phandelver, while the D&D Essentials Kit contains the adventure Dragon of Icespire Peak. Both are set in the town of Phandalin, a little town north of Waterdeep that is suspiciously close to the events of several D&D Hardcover adventures. (Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Princes of the Apocalypse, Storm King’s Thunder, and Waterdeep: Dungeon … Continue reading Running Phandalin: Notice Board or NPCs?
Shadows of Rith Keep is a two-hour, Tier 1 adventure set in the Borderlands of the Forgotten Realms. Released as part of the D&D Adventurers League’s CCC program, it sees the characters on a mission to rid the eponymous keep of undead. The adventure features two bonus one-hour objectives, one that sends the characters to deal with a young dragon in the area, the other … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Shadows of Rith Keep
I have been meaning to get to this game for two years now. Designed by Rich Lescouflair, with help from Will Doyle, Christoper Negelin and other fine people, Esper Genesis is a game that fascinated me, but gave me a real problem in reviewing it: I couldn’t determine what the story of the setting was. And that was an issue. I rely heavily on the … Continue reading Esper Genesis: Fall of the Eos Keldor
Here are the latest updates on what’s going on in my Waterdeep campaign. We were down a player this session, with work taking the rogue away, so the players hired a sidekick to accompany them into Undermountain. That trip could have gone better! Previously in our Waterdeep Campaign… Hammer 1. Campaign begins. Troll in Yawning Portal. Volo recruits PCs to find Floon. Hammer 2. Floon … Continue reading Waterdeep Tales: Timeline and Updates
One of the things I wonder when I read a new class option is this: Should I be worried if it seems balanced? The trouble with any addition to a game system is it provides a wonderful new way to break the game. Just ask the makers of Magic: the Gathering, who have been having a rough few years as they push the boundaries of … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review – Sorcerer: Slaad Symbiote
The latest session of my Roll20 Waterdeep campaign saw the third-level party finally return to Waterdeep after a longer period away from the city and get back into some of the faction quests that actually related to Dragon Heist! They’d discovered a map showing an ancient treasure stored in the first level of Undermountain, but Onyx the Paladin realised they still hadn’t dealt with the … Continue reading Waterdeep Tales: Zhentarim and Undermountain
Once upon a time, I thought the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide was a great book. However, my appreciation of it has dimmed. I have read the book many, many times in the past few years; this isn’t an opinion based on old memories. The biggest problem with the book is that it often fails to explain how the game works. These days, those explanations are … Continue reading Where the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide Failed
The Surrounded is a one-shot adventure designed to be played with pre-generated characters that should take place over a four-hour session. Set in the Forgotten Realms, it sends a group of four 10th through 12th level heroes on a quest to recover a gold dragon egg from the red dragon that has captured it. It is a relatively short adventure with only a few encounters. … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Surrounded
The second half of Elturel concerns the rescue of Duke Ravengard and the revelation of what the players need to do next. Except, as you have probably guessed, the “revelation” is rather badly handled. The rescue of the Duke is nicely done. Here are the basics of the set-up: Duke Ravengard travelled to the cemetery to discover why there are so many undead there. In … Continue reading Running Descent into Avernus, part 7: Duke Ravengard
My Waterdeep campaign keeps going in strange directions. It began as a Waterdeep: Dragon Heist campaign, but it has become a Waterdeep sandbox campaign. The characters keep on going off and doing other quests. The characters have just spent a couple of sessions out of Waterdeep saving merchants from orcs, then exploring the very unusual dungeon the orcs lived in. The initial caves were fine. … Continue reading Tales from my Waterdeep Campaign
