The new official D&D Campaign Setting book has been announced – and it is part of the Critical Role campaign world! The Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount is its name, and I know almost nothing about it, except that a lot of people that I have a lot of respect for worked on it. So, it’s likely to be very good. That said, I probably won’t … Continue reading On Using Published Campaign Settings
Infernal Insurgency is an adventure for level 5 to 10 characters set in Avernus and part of the official DDAL line of scenarios. It continues the story from Faces of Fortune. The characters, now they have a base in Avernus, must scout a nearby research and weapons facility run by goblins and lesser devils and then cause enough damage there to draw away forces from … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Infernal Insurgency
Look what’s turned up on Amazon… (and two d20s of the same size, yay!) What are “miscellany”? Maps? Encounters? A guide on how to run away? March 17th, 2020 is their release date, it appears. There’s also a new hardcover coming out in March. What is it? (Is it going to be called the Explorer’s Handbook? – it probably won’t be called “Coming Soon“!) My … Continue reading More pretty dice are coming!
Faces of Fortune is an adventure for level 5-10 characters set in Avernus, the first layer of Hell. As the first of the DDAL Season 9 adventures at Tier 2, it has the job of introducing you to Hell and the place that will be your home base for the next few adventures: Mahadi’s Travelling Emporium. Along the way, you get chased by Infernal War … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Faces of Fortune
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
