Vecna: Eve of Ruin – First Thoughts

I’ve had a chance to read through some of Vecna: Eve of Ruin, the new campaign adventure from Wizards of the Coast that takes characters from levels 10 through to level 20.

My initial impressions are cautiously positive. I’m going to refrain from spoilers here for the most part, except for a few things that I believe are generally known. If you want to be entirely unspoilt, here’s your chance to stop reading!

I intend to start DMing this adventure next Monday.

merricb@yahoo.co.ukMay 8, 2024May 8, 20243 Comments

Vecna: Eve of Ruin

Eve of the Eve of Ruin

As I write this, it’s the early access release day of Vecna: Eve of Ruin. Except, of course, I’m in Australia, and it’s still the day before in the US. So, it isn’t out yet. I’m not entirely sure when it will go live. Perhaps in 17 hours when I’m asleep? For the first few years of this edition, I was incredibly excited whenever a … Continue reading Eve of the Eve of Ruin

merricb@yahoo.co.ukMay 7, 2024May 7, 2024Leave a comment

D&D

Tier rankings of the D&D Campaign Adventures

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

merricb@yahoo.co.ukApril 23, 2024April 23, 20249 Comments

D&D, D&D 5E, Review, The Shattered Obelisk

Review: The Shattered Obelisk

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

merricb@yahoo.co.ukApril 22, 2024April 22, 20244 Comments

D&D

A campaign of short, published adventures

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

merricb@yahoo.co.ukApril 21, 2024April 22, 20248 Comments

D&D 5E, Session Report, The Shattered Obelisk

The Shattered Obelisk, session 18

We played our eighteenth session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday, February 26, 2024. Everyone was in attendance – the DM (me) and all three players. In that virtual kind of way that we have by playing on Roll20. The group is five characters, though. I run the fighter (Simeon) as an NPC, because running a champion that way is very quick. And the artificer’s … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 18

merricb@yahoo.co.ukMarch 4, 2024March 4, 2024Leave a comment

D&D

Classic D&D Review: Curse of Xanathon

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

merricb@yahoo.co.ukMarch 3, 2024March 3, 20241 Comment

D&D, D&D 5E, Design, Greyhawk

Only Three Classes? A Greyhawk Campaign Proposal

What would happen if you ran a campaign in 5E where you only allowed three classes: Fighter, Cleric, or Wizard? Well, it’d probably go quite well. Those three classes cover a lot of bases. Why did I select them? They were the original classes in Dungeons & Dragons. The rogue (thief) came along later – the first supplement added both the Thief and the Paladin. … Continue reading Only Three Classes? A Greyhawk Campaign Proposal

merricb@yahoo.co.ukMarch 2, 2024March 2, 20242 Comments

Design

“All or Nothing” Mechanics

I was having a discussion the other day with Mike Shea and a few other people on his discord about mechanics that are “All or Nothing”. Which is a really inaccurate way of saying spells like Hold Person – either it works or it fails, and you’ve given up a resource to attempt the action. “Do or Die” mechanics? “Risk it All” mechanics? I don’t … Continue reading “All or Nothing” Mechanics

merricb@yahoo.co.ukMarch 1, 2024March 1, 20244 Comments

D&D

Final Fantasy VII

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

merricb@yahoo.co.ukFebruary 29, 2024March 1, 2024Leave a comment