In May 1987, the first novel set in the new Forgotten Realms world was published. Darkwalker on Moonshae by Douglas Niles was a tremendous book – at least, that’s what I thought when I read it – several times – as a teenager. Today, I finished reading it again for the first time in decades. The book does not start well, with a fair bit … Continue reading Book Review: Darkwalker on Moonshae
The second section of the Tomb of Diderius has the problem most small lairs have: what happens when the party kills most of the monsters and then retreat? Are they followed by the Yuan-Ti seeking revenge? Do the Yuan-Ti just kill Varram and flee? Having monsters act intelligently when a party of adventurers makes return visits to their lair is one of the major challenges … Continue reading The Rise of Tiamat: Dealing with the Yuan-Ti
It has been a while since I did much solo gaming – I’ve been blessed with a lot of friends eager to play games, and my writing about D&D on my blog has taken up most of my remaining time. However, I’m hoping this year to play a bunch of the Great Battles of History scenarios, and I was able to get The Great Battles … Continue reading The Great Battles of Alexander: Chaeronea, 338 BC
I’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons for a very long time. Not for as long as some out there, but for most of my life. I’m not entirely sure which year I began, it’s been so long. It’s somewhere in the range of 1982 to 1984, however. Which means I’ve been playing for over 32 years now – three-quarters of my life! And there’s still … Continue reading Old School, New School: Thoughts on Adjusting D&D
A few months ago, Legendary Games ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund a series of fantasy/science fiction-hybrid adventures. The first of these adventures, The Assimilation Strain, is now available for both Pathfinder and D&D 5E. The basic plot of the adventure is that the players arrive in a town that has been the subject of alien experimentation – a hidden alien has infected most of … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Assimilation Strain
The release of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set in 1987 marked a significant point in how wilderness maps were handled at TSR. Instead of providing a map overlaid with hexes, as had been the case in the World of Greyhawk sets, the poster maps of the new boxed sets were unadorned with any such marks. Instead, they just showed the land of the Realms. Included … Continue reading Entering the Wilderness: Going Gridless
The third volume of R&D Adventures Adventure Shorts provides five encounters that can be used in an ongoing campaign; they’re a bit too short to use as the basis of an entire session, and just running the five “shorts” one after another is likely to provide a very disjointed game, but they work well as side-treks to drop into or between adventures. They’re well-written and … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Adventure Shorts, Volume Three
There are certain adventures that are not regarded well in the community. Some are quite decent adventures that, nonetheless, are written in a style that doesn’t match the tastes of the time. Others are just plain bad. The view of the community on what makes a good adventure can change over time. And sometimes an event takes place that brings an otherwise forgotten adventure to … Continue reading Adventure Review – N2: The Forest Oracle
What do you get if a party of adventurers meets a brave, independent woman in a ruined city holding a great treasure guarded by unnatural beasts? Well, it’s possible you have a Conan adventure, but it’s also possible you have Robert J. Schwalb’s adventure, The Watchers of Meng, written for the Primeval Thule campaign setting, but playable in many other D&D worlds. The chief NPC … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Watchers of Meng
Red Chains is the first 5E adventure designed for the Primeval Thule campaign setting. Its author is Steve Winter, who knows a thing or two about RPG design, having spent a very long time working for TSR and Wizards of the Coast. In this adventure, a party of 4th to 6th level characters is sent on a quest to rescue the son of a barbarian … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: Red Chains
