The Diabolical Dive is an adventure for level 5 to 10 characters set in Avernus. It is the third and final part of the Behind Infernal Lines trilogy. The characters must breach the infernal fortress of Plagueshield Point, which is at the bottom of the River Styx, and retrieve the plans that the Hellriders used when they attacked Avernus. I’m not sure why the characters … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Diabolical Dive
When I turned 33, many years ago, as a treat for myself (and possibly my friends), I took them through part of the original White Plume Mountain, using the AD&D rules. This is a report I wrote at the time, to give you an idea of why I enjoy this adventure so much. I wasn’t sure how many people were going to turn up – … Continue reading White Plume Mountain session report
Our second session of Descent into Avernus saw the characters continue their attack on the sewer-based hideout of the cultists of the Dead Three. Ye gods! We’d ended the first session with them winning in a tough fight against two cultists: a fist of Bane and an iron consul. The first order of the day was taking a rest. The dungeon, as written, doesn’t have … Continue reading Running Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, part 2
Face the Music is a short encounter for use with third-level characters that you can use in a variety of situations. It features a set of animated magical instruments, which can form a combat encounter, as well as a few secrets for the party to uncover. I estimate it should take around thirty minutes to one hour to play. I think it’s a charming product, … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Face the Music
This is a second part of a series of articles examining the history and challenges facing the D&D Adventurers League since the beginning of Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition in 2014. This is an outside view of the program, which, while I’ve been involved in many facets of the league, I am not privy to the internal discussions and research of Wizards of the Coast … Continue reading Seasons of the D&D Adventurers League, part 2
My thoughts on including stat blocks in adventure text are shaped by a lot of very poor examples of how to do so in the third and fourth edition era. Dungeons & Dragons fourth edition used a format that we refer to as the “delve” format. It was premiered in the final days of third edition and presented most encounters on a one or two-page … Continue reading On Stat Blocks and Adventure Presentation
In 2008, much to our surprise, Wizards of the Coast blew up the Forgotten Realms. That’s not literal. Rather, Wizards of the Coast took a setting that had been happily available as a published setting for Dungeons & Dragons since 1987, and decreed that it was now 100 years in the future. Almost everyone you cared about was dead, and the world had significantly changed. … Continue reading Once upon a time, Wizards blew up the Forgotten Realms!
The Magician’s House is an adventure for level 4 characters in which those characters explore – well, I guess you know what they explore. It’s also a 161-page pdf. Those 161 pages cover approximately 19 locations in around 110 pages (some have more than one encounter in them), and then there are a further 50 pages of appendices. It’s not that the areas are insanely … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Magician’s House
In this article, I’m going to start on an examination of the history and challenges facing the D&D Adventurers League since the beginning of D&D 5th Edition in 2014. This is my outside view of the program, which, while I’ve seen a lot of it through organising games and conventions, writing adventures and being a community representative, is limited. I am not privy to the … Continue reading Seasons of the D&D Adventurers League, part 1
My local group has just started playing Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus. We began with an hour or so of character creation and background determination before moving into the adventure proper. I consider it fairly important to determine the party’s makeup together. You want a party that can handle the threats that a published adventure throws at them, because you don’t have the same flexibility … Continue reading Running Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, part 1
