D&D, D&D 5E, Review

5E Adventure Review: Knights of Balduran, Part 1 – Protectors

Protectors is a new adventure released on the DMs Guild set in the famous city of Baldur’s Gate. It is a sequel to the Murder in Baldur’s Gate adventure, one of my favourite Realms adventure, and I was very interested to see what the D&D community – in this case, Hillel Genesove – did with the setting. Unfortunately, while Genesove has some nice ideas, there … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Knights of Balduran, Part 1 – Protectors

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Curse of Strahd, D&D, D&D 5E, Session Report

Running Curse of Strahd, part 5 – Argynvostholt

The exploration of Argynvostholt, a large ruined manor in the heart of Barovia, began under strange circumstances. I doubt many adventurers have explored a haunted mansion whilst the entire population of a village is camping on the front porch! The adventurers had gone to Vallaki to find the wedding dress the Abbot wanted, but they were worried about how Ireena was faring back in Krezk. … Continue reading Running Curse of Strahd, part 5 – Argynvostholt

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D&D, Design, Play Advice

Dungeon Master Tips: When Crowds are Attacked

It’s a staple of fantasy adventures. The adventurers are in a crowded marketplace when they hear a scream, and they see goblins pouring from the sewers. They need to fight! At this point, what happen to the crowd? And how do you represent that in game? The standard answer for me and many other DMs is not great: we simply have the crowd mysteriously escape. … Continue reading Dungeon Master Tips: When Crowds are Attacked

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

5E Adventure Review: A Scream in the Night

A Scream in the Night is the first of the Chaos in Melvaunt trilogy of adventures designed for convention play by the team at Baldman Games; M. Sean Molloy is the designer for this one. It features the adventurers solving puzzles left by a murderer loose in the city. It is designed for characters of levels 1-4. This is a very enjoyable adventure, playable in … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: A Scream in the Night

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D&D, D&D 5E, Review

5E Adventure Review: Out for Blood

One of the most consistent writers of enjoyable D&D adventures is Dan Coleman. Every so often, he runs a Kickstarter for another four or five dungeon adventures, it funds, and he quickly releases them to the world. We’re in that period now: his Kickstarter finished a few weeks ago, and we now have four more adventures available through DriveThruRPG that we can download and play. … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Out for Blood

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

Integrating Characters into Published Adventures

Although it is perfectly possible to run a published adventure as-written, using the various hooks and plot strands to engage the interest of your players, it is also possible to run something richer. To give the players more engagement with the story than just “a guy in a tavern needs you to do a job”. Yes, this is easier to do when you’re writing the … Continue reading Integrating Characters into Published Adventures

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

5E Adventure Review: Treasure of the Broken Hoard

Treasure of the Broken Hoard is the first D&D Adventurers League adventure for season 5: Storm King’s Thunder. As with previous seasons, it’s a collection of five mini-adventures, each able to be run in under an hour, which introduces the players to the theme of the series. It is also, as with the previous four seasons, written by Shawn Merwin, who knows what he is … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Treasure of the Broken Hoard

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D&D, D&D 5E, Review

5E Adventure Review: The Sphere of Sunlight

The Sphere of Sunlight is a short, pay-what-you-want adventure available from the DMs Guild. It clocks in at thirteen pages long, and is designed for 4-6 first-level characters. I can’t shake the feeling that the author doesn’t quite understand what all the words he’s using mean or how to put them together in the correct manner. “Smoke pours windward from the hearths of homes”. “Hammer … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Sphere of Sunlight

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D&D, D&D 5E, Design, Review

Adventure Structure and Design: Storm King’s Thunder

As most of you are likely aware, Storm King’s Thunder¸ the latest adventure from Chris Perkins and Wizards of the Coast, is now available in stores. It’s an adventure for 1st-10th level characters which sees them facing off against a lot of giants. It is also, in a lot of ways, the companion to the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. Your players have read that book? … Continue reading Adventure Structure and Design: Storm King’s Thunder

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D&D, D&D 5E, Design, Review

5E Supplement Review: Priestess

In the earliest days of Dungeons & Dragons, a stream of new and variant classes appeared in the pages of The Strategic Review¸ The Dragon and other fan magazines. One category of class was the NPC Class, a character class designed specifically for use by the DM’s non-player characters. Often, they would have various features that made them inappropriate for use by the players – … Continue reading 5E Supplement Review: Priestess

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