D&D 5E, D&D Adventurers League, Forgotten Realms, Review

5E Supplement Review: Moonshae Isles Regional Guide

The Moonshae Isles Regional Guide presents an introduction to the folk (or Ffolk) and factions of the Moonshae Isles, a storied part of the Forgotten Realms. The Moonshae Isles are an archipelago inspired by British Isles mythology: Druids, fey and a lot of invasions. I was first introduced to them, as were many others, by Douglas Niles’ book Darkwalker on Moonshae. I revisited it a … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: Moonshae Isles Regional Guide

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D&D 5E, D&D Adventurers League

On the Importance and Challenges of Organised Play

Over the last four years, I’ve been running hardcover adventures using Adventurers League rules in our local store. Mostly weekly, though for a bit over a year, I was running twice a week. There’s not that much that would be *too* different if I was running them for home play. For the most part, the groups playing those hardcovers were constant throughout. Occasionally, a new … Continue reading On the Importance and Challenges of Organised Play

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D&D

5E Adventure Review: The River Lord

Jay Africa’s The River Lord is a short adventure for level 3 characters. The adventurers are hired by a noblewoman who wants to ransom her wayward son from some pirates, but things are unlikely to go so smoothly. The adventure mainly consists of the one confrontation with the pirates. The players have a lot of agency in how things unfold, whether through role-playing, infiltration or … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The River Lord

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D&D, D&D 5E, Design

A Home Adventure

Adventures I don’t design for publication? They don’t need so much text! The premise? Goblins are raiding from an old keep (the upper floor is destroyed). However, the goblins are plagued by an old summoning circle in the basement, which keeps letting loose Abyssal Maws! They’ve got a deal with some ogres to keep the maws in, but they’d prefer to get rid of them … Continue reading A Home Adventure

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D&D, D&D 5E, Design, Play Advice

Crafting Magic Items – and the Effect on the Campaign

Some things you learn through experience. When I first played Dungeons & Dragons, while AD&D 1st Edition was the main edition, I got very frustrated by the magic item creation rules. Too vague! The DM had to do too much work! Where do you get those ingredients anyway? I understood that crafting magic items was an important part of the magic-user’s abilities – the book … Continue reading Crafting Magic Items – and the Effect on the Campaign

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D&D 5E, D&D Adventurers League, Review

5E Adventure Review: Cauldron of Sapphire

Cauldron of Sapphire, the penultimate Tier 4 adventure of Season 7, is a superb adventure. Robert Adducci crafted what I believe is the first regular-series DDAL adventure to get Tier 4 right – and yes, I do include my own efforts in that. (I don’t include the special Epics or Author-Only adventures, as I haven’t run those yet!) Cauldron, like my Eye of Xxiphu, mostly takes … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Cauldron of Sapphire

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D&D 5E, Review

5E Supplement Review: Waterdeep Primer

The Waterdeep Primer is a 24-page document compiled by Jason Hardin that introduces the reader to key facts about the City of Waterdeep, an important city in the Forgotten Realms. With the upcoming adventure season revolving around this city, this is a way to learn some lore before the official release. The primer covers the history of the city in four pages, the geography in … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: Waterdeep Primer

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D&D 5E, Review

5E Adventure Review: Ghost of the Mere

Ghost of the Mere is an adventure for 12th-level characters, set during the time of the Tyranny of Dragons. It’s designed so it can be run as an additional quest during Rise of Tiamat. You’d benefit from owning Hoard of the Dragon Queen for information on Castle Naerytar. The adventure sets up an interesting situation where the characters are sent to stop the black dragon … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Ghost of the Mere

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Design

Troubles with Ethical Dilemmas

I recently played the first of the Star Trek Adventures organised play adventures, Decision Point. It was my first experience with the system, which meant we ignored a lot of the mechanics and concentrated on the story. The story revolved around an ethical dilemma: Do we break the Prime Directive of Starfleet (non-interference) and save some of the population of a doomed planet? Or do … Continue reading Troubles with Ethical Dilemmas

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