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Marek's Haunted House - 5E
by Michael H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/26/2022 23:15:20

Just getting in with a new party, a couple of whom are new to rpgs. I wanted to run an atypical crawl scenario with ghosties and spookiness, and this module was it! The whole house had something that either creeped someone out or gave someone enjoyment. It was a great run for a group of level 2 characters, and I didn't mind not having a lot of good rolls as a DM. Highly recommend this module.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Marek's Haunted House - 5E
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The Witch Queen of Cair Urnahc - 5E
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 10/12/2022 08:59:26

Originally posted here (with my campiagn ideas): https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/10/100-days-of-halloween-witch-queen-of.html

The Witch Queen of Cair Urnahc

For Pathfinder 1st Edition and D&D 5th Edition.

This adventure series was Kickstarted back in 2020. I am grabbing the versions found on DriveThruRPG. It looks like the PDFs were sent out as soon as the Kickstarter finished from what I can tell.

I will be reviewing both versions and pointing out where the differences lie.

PDF. 84 pages. Color covers and interior art. Levels 3 to 6.

Before I get into the adventure itself I do want to say something about Page 3 which covers the basics of how "Zan's Adventures" work and the layout. I know there is no reason at all that people need to conform to a "book" layout, especially since many people will read this on some sort of device. The adventures do not follow a book layout per se, but they do add a few things. For starters, color is used more to denote different sorts of outcomes or text. This is great, unless you have some sort of Red-Green color blindness. Rare yes, but these are the things I look for.

But there are some very strong benefits here as well. For example, the NPCs, including the Witch Queen herself, are well-defined in easy-to-read blocks to aid the DM/GM while running the adventure. Same with the locations.

The areas are defined as our three main antagonists. It is possible that one or more are freed from their tombs to enact their evil plans. Well we have character sheets in the back for those. Also, there are other NPCs and a ton of monsters to interact with. Now given that one of the encounters is not 1 but 2 Death Knights, I think this one should be scaled up a bit. When I run it I might use just one Death Knight with skeletal minions.

There is a whole section of possible outcomes and endings. The adventure is not quite a free-form sandbox, your locations are limited, but how the players investigate them are up to them.

The biggest differences in these two come from the NPC and Monster statblocks and how the various skill checks work. All in line with the rules of Pathfinder and D&D.

The end has maps you can print out. There is also an additional product, Map Pack for the Witch Queen of Cair Urnahc for VTTs and Roll20 in particular. I also find these are good to print. For an extra $2.00 it is worth it to me.

There is an OGL at the end, but the author might want to swap out "DM" in their text for "GM" for OGL compliance.

All in all not a bad adventure. Pretty straight forward to be honest. There are some new monsters so that is fun. I would have liked to see some unique treasure if nothing else the Spellbook of Witch Queen Morfa.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Witch Queen of Cair Urnahc - 5E
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The Witch Queen of Cair Urnahc - Pathfinder
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 10/12/2022 08:59:22

Originally posted here (with my campiagn ideas): https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/10/100-days-of-halloween-witch-queen-of.html

The Witch Queen of Cair Urnahc

For Pathfinder 1st Edition and D&D 5th Edition.

This adventure series was Kickstarted back in 2020. I am grabbing the versions found on DriveThruRPG. It looks like the PDFs were sent out as soon as the Kickstarter finished from what I can tell.

I will be reviewing both versions and pointing out where the differences lie.

PDF. 84 pages. Color covers and interior art. Levels 3 to 6.

Before I get into the adventure itself I do want to say something about Page 3 which covers the basics of how "Zan's Adventures" work and the layout. I know there is no reason at all that people need to conform to a "book" layout, especially since many people will read this on some sort of device. The adventures do not follow a book layout per se, but they do add a few things. For starters, color is used more to denote different sorts of outcomes or text. This is great, unless you have some sort of Red-Green color blindness. Rare yes, but these are the things I look for.

But there are some very strong benefits here as well. For example, the NPCs, including the Witch Queen herself, are well-defined in easy-to-read blocks to aid the DM/GM while running the adventure. Same with the locations.

The areas are defined as our three main antagonists. It is possible that one or more are freed from their tombs to enact their evil plans. Well we have character sheets in the back for those. Also, there are other NPCs and a ton of monsters to interact with. Now given that one of the encounters is not 1 but 2 Death Knights, I think this one should be scaled up a bit. When I run it I might use just one Death Knight with skeletal minions.

There is a whole section of possible outcomes and endings. The adventure is not quite a free-form sandbox, your locations are limited, but how the players investigate them are up to them.

The biggest differences in these two come from the NPC and Monster statblocks and how the various skill checks work. All in line with the rules of Pathfinder and D&D.

The end has maps you can print out. There is also an additional product, Map Pack for the Witch Queen of Cair Urnahc for VTTs and Roll20 in particular. I also find these are good to print. For an extra $2.00 it is worth it to me.

There is an OGL at the end, but the author might want to swap out "DM" in their text for "GM" for OGL compliance.

All in all not a bad adventure. Pretty straight forward to be honest. There are some new monsters so that is fun. I would have liked to see some unique treasure if nothing else the Spellbook of Witch Queen Morfa.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Witch Queen of Cair Urnahc - Pathfinder
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Zan's Book of Stupid Magic Spells
by Josh P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/22/2021 13:02:04

Very much enjoying this. I have kept the details of the spells secret from my wizard. They are able to read how to cast them and their name only. It has lead to numerous hilarious situations and solutions. Thank you and great creativity.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Zan's Book of Stupid Magic Spells
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Zan's Book of Stupid Magic Spells
by Jeanne M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/01/2021 22:32:55

Spells! Original spells! Are they stupid? They are very stupid. But in that big stupid fun way. Will add a touch of humor, eye-rolling, or incomprehension to any campaign!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Zan's Book of Stupid Magic Spells
by Brandon B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/06/2021 19:01:57

It's funny. I have no idea how to use it. But I laughed to tears reading it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Marek's Haunted House - 5E
by Gordon W. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/01/2020 13:05:49

SPOILER WARNING: This is a description of some of the unique and interesting experiences my players and I had with this module. As a result, there are spoilers regarding the content and ending.

For Halloween, my players wanted to do a spooky one shot. I had purchased some others, but they required more prep time than I had available, since I've been working some overtime. This module declared that it needed only a few minutes of prep work, so I got it and informed my players that I had no idea what was going to happen.

The module is aimed for a party that is between levels 3-5. My players enjoy a more casual approach to combat, so I had both of them roll up a lvl 6 character. Joining the party was a local villager, who decided he wanted to take up adventuring. He was a lvl 0, meaning he was just some peasent with 5 hit points and a pitchfork. I figured he would end up dying and add some dramatic tension.

In the third room of the haunted mansion, the adventurers come across a decrepit old woman, cold and lonely. She asks to be brought over to the fire. If you help her to her feet, the old woman (named Chamomile) will see how much her body has decayed, and will die of fright, collapsing into a pile of rotting meat and bone. One of my players, however, is a Circle of Spores druid, and was able to reanimate Chamomile with Fungal Infestation. I could have claimed she was reduced to a zombie level of intelegence, but instead I kept roleplaying her as they decided to bring her along. Since I didn't actually know what was in the module, I just played her as though she had a flimsy memory from age. As the party uncovered more secrets of the house, Chamomile would start to "remember" little details about what was going on. It also became a reoccuring gag that Chamomile had an increasingly dirty mind. "Oh, I didn't mind the cult in the early days, before they started getting into the rough stuff. Back then, it was just brunches and orgies. I really miss the orgies."

In the library, the players found a book by a man named Sebasitian, about a local hero who would travel the land doing good. We decided to incorporate that into the villager that was following them around. Since he'd written so much about adventures, he finally decided he should actually try having some. Especially since people were starting to get annoyed with him bragging so much without anything to show for it.

We cointinued through the dungeon, the layout of the module making it very easy to run the game while still being surprised by the events that unfolded. During the final battle with the BBEG, the final blow was struck by... Sebastian the peasent, after rolling a nat 20. Everyone cheered as Sebastian began whailing on the BBEG's corpse, ranting about increasinly personal topics. "This is for the people you've hurt! And this is for the families who lost their loved ones! And this is for my book sales drying up! And this is for my wife leaving me! And this is for my dick not working right!" Everyone agreed that Sebastian had earned a level up from this experience, and we are officially making him a lvl 1 fighter.

As for Chamomile, she got upgradded to being Animate Dead. Now instead of collapsing after an hour, she would be maintained with a simple reapplication of the spell every 24 hours. The ending to the module specifies that you witness the ghost of Chamomile freed from the evil of the house, and she goes off into the afterlife. The algamation of death that was our Chamomile said, "I guess that means I don't have a soul any more." She offered a toothy grin. "That means I can sin as much as I want now! Time to make some money at the cat house!"

Over all, fine little one shot that fully delivers on its promise of being able to run a game with minimal preperation. I fully intend to purchase the other modules offered by Zan's Adventures.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Marek's Haunted House - 5E
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Marek's Haunted House - 5E
by Matthew P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/07/2019 12:13:22

Ran this last night with three adventurers at level 3. My favorite thing about this is the formatting, I had to do very little prep work before running it. I bought it the same day and just ran through the encounters, adjusting some to be easier or harder for the group before running it that night. I would have to say my only complaint is some of the descriptions are a little repetitive in wording, as in 'dust and cobwebs' feels like is announced in every room. All in all, 9/10, would run again.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Gordon's Bluff - 5E
by Jay G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/13/2019 22:23:50

I really like Zan's Adventures unique take on adventure writting style and layout. I honestly believe that whether or not this adventure is "really good" or "perfect" is less a matter of objective assessment and more a question of whether or not you as a DM are the target audience.

PROS: -the adventure takes virtually 0 prep time to run -the format makes it extremely easy to DM and can really walk new (or even first time) DMs through a satisfying adventure for their players -the quality of the cartography and graphics are outstanding

CONS: -for new DMs who aren't used to improvising the choices may come across as very binary, this can be overcome with some prep and anticpating your player's thoughts and actions -I love the use of photos of real people as the NPCs (reminds me of 7th Guest) but the main antagonist wearing a plain white crew neck shirt in his picture breaks the imersion a bit

Overall Gordon's Bluff is a fun adventure well worth the price and an almost perfect for new DMs. For veteran DMs I still think it's a worthwhile purchase but you won't reap as many of the benefits of the inventive layout choices.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Gordon's Bluff - 5E
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Marek's Haunted House - Pathfinder Compatible
by Augusto M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/13/2019 18:38:00

Quick to setup, easy on the eyes, deserved more praise! Working parents Dungeon Masters do not have a lot of time to prepare.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Marek's Haunted House - Pathfinder Compatible
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