5E Adventure Review: Bounty in the Bog

Bounty in the Bog is one of the Elemental Evil adventures from the D&D Adventurers League. Written by Ken Hart for a party of level 1-4 characters, it sends the adventurers into the Flooded Forest to deal with a group of bandits. It’s a fascinating adventure. It’s very rich in detail and backstory. However, it’s a little tricky to relay some of that backstory to … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Bounty in the Bog

Running Tomb of Annihilation: Entering Omu

For the last few weeks, we’ve been exploring Omu, the Forbidden City of Tomb of Annihilation. We haven’t finished yet, and it’s likely to take a few more sessions before we do. At this point in the story, the players know that the Soulmonger is in Omu, but not exactly where. During the initial exploration of the city, I was aiming for a real sense … Continue reading Running Tomb of Annihilation: Entering Omu

5E Adventure Review: The Dark Lord

The Dark Lord is the final instalment of the D&D Adventurers League adventures set in Barovia. Written by Greg Marks, this 43-page adventure for level 5-10 characters is meant to be played in 4 hours, although I think most groups will struggle to do so. There’s a lot of material to cover. The beginning of the adventure features the ritual to find the overall villain … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Dark Lord

On Handling Problem Players

I recently had to tell a player that they could no longer play with us; that we didn’t want them back. It’s a horrible thing to do and to experience, but if you want to have a good campaign, there are times you must recognise that the group isn’t working and its time to move on. There are times its purely down to people having … Continue reading On Handling Problem Players

Presenting Monster Stat-Blocks in Published Adventures

Over the years, Dungeons & Dragons adventures have tried many different techniques of presenting monster stats in the adventure. The first adventures – Steading of the Hill Giant Chief – listed the hit points of the monsters and then expected you to look them up in the Monster Manual. Later AD&D products provided “full” stat-blocks, although they’d typically leave out special ability descriptions. However, as … Continue reading Presenting Monster Stat-Blocks in Published Adventures

Running Tomb of Annihilation: More on Wilderness Adventures

There’s a lot of wilderness in Chult. You’re likely to become very familiar with it in the early levels of Tomb of Annihilation, as the adventurers search for clues. It’s easy to become distracted by the rules given on the adventure: Roll three times each day to see if an encounter occurs, then determine what it is. The problem with this is that it eats … Continue reading Running Tomb of Annihilation: More on Wilderness Adventures

Greyhawk: A Look at Veluna

Veluna is a good-aligned theocracy in the World of Greyhawk, and the setting of my current Greyhawk campaign. It wasn’t originally, but it’s where the adventurers have ended up. As a result, it behoves me to have a look at the country, and see what adventures it inspires. I use two main sources for information on Veluna: the 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set and … Continue reading Greyhawk: A Look at Veluna

5E Adventure Review: Pride and Prejudice

The Mother Haggle’s Notice Board series on the DMs Guild aren’t typical adventures. Rather, they’re a collection of one-page scenarios which have an unusual format. Each scenario uses the following sections to describe the situation: The Quest The Core Problem Plausible Complications Unlikely Disasters Each section has very little detail. Instead of a fully detailed adventure, you get a framework and inspirational elements; monsters are … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Pride and Prejudice

5E Adventure Review: The Horseman

The Horseman is the penultimate adventure of the Curse of Strahd season of the Adventurers League. It is a two-hour adventure, and it is a relief to return to the main storyline after the diversion of the last two adventures. The story begins with the adventurers learning from Ixusaxa what is going on in the series. They learn that Esmae, the chief villain, is obsessed … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Horseman

LCG Report: Legend of the Five Rings

One collectable card game that I was always interested in, but never managed to find players to play with, was Legends of the Five Rings, a card game that concentrated heavily on storytelling through its organised play events. Now, the game has been redesigned and released in a Living Card Game format by Fantasy Flight Games. As I had a couple of people also interested … Continue reading LCG Report: Legend of the Five Rings