If you’re excited about The Wild Beyond the Witchlight and other Feywild adventures, Trespasses is the perfect DnD adventure for you. Trespasses is a fairly long, complicated adventure that takes people from the town of Vuckel, where several juveniles have gone missing, into a fungal compound headed by a delightfully amoral druid into a rollicking party/undead morass in the Feywild. Along the way, they encounter scores of undead fey as well as the wickedly tricksy Kitsune/Chirai. There is likely to be a ton of combat though, depending on how players want to deal with encounters, role playing, exploration, and skill challenges could also be a big part of the game.

Trespasses the document is quite a beast. It’s almost 130 pages long with over half a dozen appendices, dozens of NPCs, and quite a few magical items. The first 20 or so pages is a rough overview of what will happen in the adventure, and the bulk of the document is called the “DM’s Outline,” which is a bullet point of the adventure focusing on things you roll for and combat. If you’ve ever looked at The Monsters Know What They’re Doing web site, you’ll be familiar with the format, which focuses on tactics that the DM can use. However, if you’re used to the WotC style, which is more narrative, it does take a little bit of time to get used to. I also recommend being able to notate the outline if you’re the DM since it’s helpful to bookmark where you start and stop a session, NPCs you’ve encountered, things you’ve skipped, and things you’ve modified.

Overall, I quite liked this adventure, though there were some things that I would prefer had been done differently. For example, while I appreciated the overview at the beginning of the adventure, it seemed a bit too wordy. It is about 20 pages, and I found myself skimming it, even when I knew the background information therein was important. It just felt a little long. Likewise, the DM’s Outline wasn’t my favorite format either. It wasn’t something you could skim, and it did necessitate me coming up with my own descriptions more often than not. I can’t say I thought it was a fully successful format. And finally, though I appreciated the intent behind the encounter sheets at the end of the document, once again, I found them a bit too confusing. They’re also things you really need to print out to use effectively, so if you’re just trying to run this from your phone or iPad, it gets complicated.

However, where this adventure shines is when it’s describing a very concrete encounter/situation. For example, early in the adventure the PCs can go to Kalin’anar Salka, a splendid house owned by the half-elf Sunny Drispel. Although the overview of Kalin’anar is vague, what you need to know for the actual conversation with Drispel is succinct and easy to scan. For example, it’s easy to see what the payment for Drispel’s request would be, details he refuses to relate, details he wants to relate, and what checks you need to do to gain a more nuanced understanding of the encounter, which I did vastly prefer to the traditional narrative style. Other encounters in the document, especially combat-related ones, were similarly easy to understand and implement.

As this review indicates, Trespasses is a complex, complicated adventure, but it’s also fun, smart, and, in many places, genuinely horrifying. You have some great moments of body horror, of irrevocably changed children, of mourning and desperate parents, and of truly pitious monsters. It’s easy to run as a horror game, and it really sucks players in. Some of the NPCs are absolutely wonderful, including Runnixarrar the Circle of Spores druid and The Kitsune, though for drastically different reasons.

Basically, if you want a madcap, horrifying, and just plain awesome DnD adventure, I do absolutely recommend Trespasses. DMs will want to spend a little bit of time getting used to the format and making sure they understand all the background information, but it will be worth it in the end, and your players will love it. Totally give it a try.

Let me just start by saying: I loved this adventure. It was light and whimsical with a lot of amazing role playing opportunities and surprising ways to use the 5e rules. No, it was not the easiest thing for a DM to run, but it was so, so fun.

The Harvest Festival is a somewhat lengthy DnD 5e adventure in which your party arrives at the town of Ankhor just in time for their week-long Harvest Festival. They can buy specialty drinks like Ice Giant Ale and Dragonflame Brew or play in game booths like the Hot Pepper Challenge or the Duck Pond. Best of all, they can attempt to compete in the Gladiator’s Gauntlet, a series of events meant to showcase a person’s strength, speed, ingenuity, and resolve.

The basic premise of this adventure is that, after arriving at Ankhor, the party is goaded into competing in the Gauntlet by an opposing adventuring team. The document provides one particular adventuring team, the Saviors of Revelheim, but you can also do two competing adventuring teams of up to eight players. The teams then compete in five events ranging from a rooftop chase to a bake-off to a play, racking up points and attempting to sabotage each other along the way. If they want, they can even add a little bit of pizazz during their performances, gaining additional coins from the crowd.

One of the things that I was most impressed by were the Gauntlet events. Each of them was different and well thought out and incorporated a lot of fun mechanics. The Culinary Confrontation was my favorite, and I just loved how it actually worked, but the Passionate Performance, in which your players actually do have to perform from a script, was just fantastic.

The adventure and document are honestly both fantastic. Easy to understand, mechanically sound, well-edited, and well laid out. There’s a crib sheet/table of contents, a ton of specialty food and drinks, and even over half a dozen mini games.

My only caution is, as I said above, it’s not a super easy game to run. You really have to know the rules of each of the events, and you have a lot of NPCs and PCs to track. The setting is also so fun and whimsical that it really begs for minis and setting pieces, so you have to plan ahead. But, honestly, putting in a little effort beforehand is well worth it, and it’s all just so fun. 1000% recommend.

Imagine that you and your friends are just hanging out having a good time. Maybe you’re playing a TTRPG, maybe you’re watching a movie, but then -- each of you is blinded as a sudden message of doom is transmitted directly into your mind. The harbinger forewarns of your imminent death and the ascension of dark, celestial forces. It’s not a question of if you can survive -- but how long.

The basic premise of the End of the World TTRPG game series is that you and people you know in real life suddenly find yourselves thrust into an apocalyptic event. In the case of Wrath of the Gods, that event is the gods returning to earth bringing about Ragnarok, the Apocalypse, etc., though, if you play one of the other series, aliens, zombies, or sentient machines could be the cause of your imminent demise. Since you’re playing yourselves, you won’t have abilities like casting spells or fighting with swords or running really fast -- you’ll only have your own skills and items to rely on.

Creating a character is fairly easy. Once you decide to play yourself or another similarly mundane character, you determine your characteristics, which include Physical (Dexterity and Vitality), Mental (Logic and Willpower), and Social (Charisma and Empathy). Each of these characteristics have points, the value of which will determine how many dice you roll at any given time and what number you want to roll at or under. Next, you choose features, which are essentially your strengths and weaknesses, then you write down what equipment you might have on you, and finally you record whatever traumas you’re currently suffering from. And then you have a character!

As for actual gameplay, every action that can have a positive or (more likely) negative effect on the game is resolved via a test. These tests have you roll two sets of d6s, which can negate each other, give you added stress, or help you accomplish your test. However, for every test that you run, you’re more likely to get a point of stress, and, if you get too many points of stress, your character will die.

This quick summary makes EotW sound simple, and, honestly, it is, but not if you try to play the rules as written. Characteristics are supposed to be offensive and defensive, but it’s never quite clear how offensive and defensive work since you’re typically not doing a ton of competitive rolls. Likewise, it’s difficult to use all of your characteristics during a game, making it more likely that players will use the same characteristic over and over and over again. Finally, equipment is pretty nebulous and difficult to utilize effectively. Yes, you can use certain equipment to gain an extra d6 to roll, but that doesn’t really help with creative solutions.

Overall, I would say that, while EotW isn’t a bad system, it’s not my favorite either. The rules could use some streamlining and playtesting, and the scenarios aren’t super easy to replicate or run. Mostly, they read like stories where you try to shoehorn players in and do what you want (die). In fact, the whole premise (that you’re going to die) does come off a bit contrived when you actually try to play it.

I did like some bits, especially the stress and trauma mechanic (though I didn’t necessarily like how minor things such as spraining your ankle were initially considered “traumas”). I thought it was cool that stress could turn into resistance, and I appreciated that there was a mechanic for tracking how close someone comes to death. However, I could see this game either going on forever or ending really, really quickly because of this mechanic.

Finally, I did like how easy it was to make NPCs/monsters/villains/etc. You basically just need to ascribe a point value and then give them a few features which don’t necessarily have anything to do with the point value. It makes it possible to have a low stat creature that can still do something really cool.

Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ll ever play this system again, but I’m glad I at least tried it. I liked the premise of you and your friends going through the end of the world, and coming up with a scenario really stretched my GM abilities. Playing was also fun, and I liked seeing how my friends responded to these cataclysmic situations. I’d recommend giving the game a try, though I would also only recommend buying one of the books instead of all four -- you don’t get a lot of difference between the four, and, honestly, once you get the basic mechanics from one book, you can easily run the game for any scenario.

In my experience, one of the hardest things to do as a GM is come up with in-game games on the fly. There are only so many times you can do an arm wrestling match or an odds-evens game before players start getting bored, so I was excited to check out The Arcane Clock, a “game within a game.”

The basic premise is that three magic users get together and have to either “build” a magical clock face or get zapped and lose concentration/lose the game. To do so, each player rolls 2d6 over the course of multiple rounds, doing their best to amass the 12 numbers on a clock face without getting zapped too many times. The first player to get all 12 (or who outlasts the other players getting five zaps) wins!

There is a little bit of further nuance involved in the game beyond just rolling dice. For example, your ability modifier can help you gather the numbers, and you can also use the numbers you roll in a variety of ways. The rules seem a little complicated at first, but the examples in the document and further explanations really help clear up that initial confusion.

Overall, it’s a fine mini game, one that’s easy to implement and play and can give you as the GM a lot of descriptive power. However, I do confess to being a little disappointed in the document. The document is four pages long, but only half a page is actually necessary to give the game rules; the rest is just descriptive fluff. There also isn’t any cool art or layout work, and it just felt a little disappointing to open the document for the first time. I also don’t see why this game couldn’t have been easily adapted to non-magic users, essentially giving you multiple games in one.

However, this is a really cheap game at Pay What You Want/$1.00, so it’s not a bad value. It’s just that, if you compare it to other items and how much hype the game starts with, it feels like there should be something more. Maybe a neat layout? Maybe the rules in playing card form so you can print them out? Maybe more than one game? Maybe paper dice you can print out? Something.

That having been said, if you would like a quick and easy mini game to add to your campaign, I do recommend grabbing this. It’s easy to learn and doesn’t necessarily need the GM, freeing you up to do some last-minute planning. It also encourages players to be creative and descriptive, and that’s always a good thing.

Dragon Scales: A Gambling Mini Game is exactly what it sounds like (and exactly what’s in the title description). It’s a fairly simple game in which you roll a series of dice and gamble real/really imaginary/imaginary coins, trying to be the first one to either get to 0 or 21. It’s a fun game to play in a tavern or when you want your players to do something while you, the GM, finish setting up the next scene.

Ultimately, there’s not too terribly much to say about the game. It’s a one-page document that is essentially the same as the title description, though it does come with virtual tabletop (VTT) add-ons such as four differently-colored dice tokens and two differently-colored game board items. Everything is well-done, pleasing to the eye, and easy to read and understand (with the exception of the blue and black dice token -- those could probably be reworked a bit for easier viewing; certainly, changing the line and number color to something lighter would help).

The game itself is fairly intuitive, especially after you’ve started playing it. At first read, the rules seem a bit strange, but, honestly, once you get dice and tokens in hand, it makes a lot more sense. I do, however, recommend playing it in person at first since there’s just something about the feel of the dice and tokens in your hands that makes it a little more accessible.

Still, I think this is a great little game, and it is very reasonably priced. If you’re looking for a DnD mini game that you can play in-person or online (or, heck, just as a non-DnD party game), this will work great for you.

The Vigilante Ranger Archetype answers an essential question: “What would it be like to play Batman in DnD 5e?” Of course, there are numerous vigilantes in the world of superheroes, but if you’re thinking Chris Nolan Batman, you’ve got a good idea of what the Vigilante Ranger offers you.

The Vigilante focuses on sapient foes, including gangs, religious cults, and other creatures that lurk in urban environments. It gives you the ability to find their hangouts and sniff out lucrative jobs as well as magical abilities -- such as the spells disguise self and greater invisibility -- that will help you uncover nefarious wrong-doers. Naturally, the Vigilante also has some combat features, including the ability to get the jump during initiative, do extra damage, and even ambush enemies.

In addition to allowing you to play a vigilante, the Vigilante archetype grants the Ranger class more specialized skills. You could use it to play as a detective by being able to find mysterious contracts, rely on your ability to disappear during combat to go after specific artifacts as targets, or even play a bandit leader who knows how to get the jump on their prey. It’s a surprisingly versatile subclass.

Overall, it’s a good subclass and not a bad deal for $1.45. However, for people shopping for a lot of bang for their buck, this might fall short as it contains stock art and just the subclass information. Don’t expect homebrew spells or items or even an NPC using the subclass (Which is fine, but don’t expect it.).

Still, if you’re looking for a Ranger subclass with a bit of spice, I recommend giving this a look. It’s well-written, well-edited, easy to understand and implement, and is a fun alternative to other Ranger subclasses.

The Dragon Citadel Tarokka Deck Card Game is a somewhat complex game intended to be played with the Curse of Strahd tarokka deck, though you could also try to play with a regular set of tarot cards or even a regular set of playing cards. It is intended to act as a mini game that you as the DM can introduce, either using it for fun, gambling, a bargaining tool, or whatever you wish.

The basic premise is that the players compete with the DM, who acts as the dealer. Players can either work together to defeat the dealer or compete with each other and the dealer. The essence of the game is that the dealer places down a card face up and the players have to beat that card by either playing a higher number in that suit or some other trump card. Other cards called “Crown cards” and “Hero cards” are used as well.

Ultimately, this card game seems like something that is rather simple that has been made too complex. The instructions have been conflated to include both collaborative and competitive play, resulting in lack of clarity. The Turns of Play section doesn’t fully explain what the Hero and Crown cards are, instead hoping that the instructions will adequately explain them. Even ending/winning/scoring the game is confusing, telling you that winning the game involves just staying alive but that scoring does exist, if only to settle bets or get treasure.

Overall, it’s not a terrible game and it does mostly work in gameplay, but the instructions could benefit from some additional editing. Why are the four pages of the game in three different styles? Why aren’t the Crown and Hero cards better defined? What is the Player Score Sheet for? I think with just a bit more editing, all these questions could be answered and the game would make a lot more sense. Right now, it just feels like it needs a bit more work.

When I picked up the College of the Crow’s Nest, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I’m a big fan of nautical-themed adventures and supplements and hoped that this bard subclass would take influence from pirates and sea captains to create something new and fun. And, in many respects, that is exactly what you get, but it’s not quite the whole story.

While this subclass is full of piratical influences such as triton-wielding bards, pufferfish familiars, and magical cutlasses, it’s not so much pirate as it is “I have a pocket dimension in a magical familiar in which I can put copies of cool things I’ve found and returned.”

The basic premise is that College of the Crow’s Nest bards like to go on journeys and find things and make stories so they’re always hunting down treasures with their trusty familiar by their side. Tracking down these treasures (and returning them to their rightful place/owners) not only provides them with a story but also allows them to ethereally replicate them and store them within their familiar’s pocket dimension. Of course, there is more to the subclass such as additional proficiencies, auras, and telepathic bonds, but the ethereal keepsakes are the big thing.

However, this is a fairly lengthy document for a subclass, and you get a lot of bang for your buck. In addition to the basic subclass information, you also get about a dozen familiar stats, several adventure hooks, a few tables on treasures and keepsakes, magical items, and optional feats and spells. The result is a comprehensive document that does a lot of worldbuilding for you -- and it’s pretty darn cool.

From a technical standpoint, it’s a good supplement. The writing is tight and engaging, and it’s well-edited and easy to understand. You get a lot of information and homebrew for less than $2.00, and the art is just top notch.

Overall, it’s a good supplement and an interesting subclass. However, personally, I’m not 100% certain how it would play and whether or not the ethereal keepsakes are enough. A part of me wonders if this will feel like a bit of a one-trick pony during gameplay, but I like what I see so far and I’m excited to actually try it out. I definitely recommend picking it up and playing it for yourself -- as well as reviewing it to let R. Morgan know what you think!

The following is a review for Budding Baba’s Growing Hut by Lydia Van Hoy, a DnD 5e supplement. I purchased the item from the DMs Guild, and all opinions are my own.

One of the things I strongly believe about DnD is that it’s supposed to be weird and fun. Yeah, it’s fine to go Rules as Written, but you should still be encouraged to change things up to fit your own aesthetic and goals. And Budding Baba’s Growing Hut fits that bill exactly.

This DnD 5e supplement basically gives you a traveling, chicken-legged hut reminiscent of Baba Yaga’s, the Slavic witch of folklore. The assumption is that you receive it from another baba (a “grandmother,” though it can also be assumed this is meant to mean “witch”), and then it grows with you, becoming your stalwart companion. You can redecorate it, give it commands, and even have it attack.

I really love this supplement because, while it is mechanically sound and has mechanical purpose, it’s nonetheless meant to add a lot of flavor to your campaign. You can figure out what it looks like from the outside, figure out what it has inside, figure out if you want to level it up with you or below you, and even give it quirks and personality traits. It’s just incredibly fun! (It is also well-written, well-edited, and has some gorgeous artwork.)

So definitely buy this one. And then tell the author what your growing hut looks like! And draw pictures! And have fun!

While not strictly necessary, the introduction of mini games and game pieces to DnD can add a lot of delight and a hint of the unusual to an otherwise mundane session. However, attempting to further gamify DnD isn’t always easy or intuitive (especially if you haven’t planned it out beforehand). That’s where this Archery Mini Game comes in handy.

The Archery Mini Game is a fun, deceptively simple game to run. Its rules are succinctly described on one page, and it has four game sheets to use when playing the archery contest. Rules reminders (such as which races might have disadvantage using a particular weapon) are liberally peppered throughout, and it’s easy to pull this mini game from a folder and implement it.

Overall, I really like this mini game and so do my players. It’s exciting every time we play, and it’s a great thing to bust out if you’re trying to rewrite or recall an important plot point and need to distract your players. The document itself is well-written, well-edited, and aesthetically pleasing and at a suggested purchase price of only $1.00 well worth the expense. I definitely recommend it.

This is a great resource to have, especially if you're going to make your own DMs Guild products or editing for others. Definitely recommend reading and absorbing it.

Arm Wrestling (or Arm Wrasslin', as the cover says) Mini Game is an excellent but simple way to conceptualize arm wrestling in DnD. It gives players a way to roll that isn't the typical Strength (Athletics) check, utilizes their Constitution modifier, and uses more than just the d20.

The game design is colorful and fun, and, while it has some nuance, it isn't so complicated that you can't understand it within the first readthrough. For best gameplay, you do have to print and cut out some tokens, but I think it's possible to also make your own if you don't have access to a printer.

Ultimately, I think this is a great mini game to have in your back pocket. It increases the competitiveness between players, is super fun, is well done, and is quite cheap at a suggested price of $1.00. Definitely grab it!

Taverns are a ubiquitous part of DnD, so it makes perfect sense to have a tavern premade in your back pocket. Tavern Tables offers just that with a ton of NPCs, potential adventure hooks, maps, and even a silly tavern game.

The supplement opens with a description of The Spitting Turtle, a rough-and-tumble establishment owned by Genthar Grundleson. Maps are provided as well as several adventure hook rumors. However, the largest section of the supplement contains "Tavern Tables," 50 different actions that are occurring. You have dueling musicians, targeted nobles, bad dates, and more. DMs are encouraged to used these tables to flesh out their taverns, perhaps even jumpstarting an adventure! Finally, the supplement ends with a game of spit-turtle, a silly tavern game that involves spitting turtles and getting points.

Overall, I really liked this supplement. The writing, editing, and art were top notch, and I absolutely loved the maps. I thought the tables were good, though I would have liked a little more expansion from them. Likewise, while I thought spit-turtle was fun, I was at a bit of a loss on how to implement it since there weren't any mechanics, and, in real life, I absolutely am not going to have my players put live turtles in their mouths.

Nonetheless, I generally like this supplement. It's free, it's beautifully done, and it gives you a great tavern. Despite its flaws, I'd recommend it.

A silly adventure need not be a poorly made one, as evidenced by The Barber of Silverymoon. Sure, it involves medieval barbers and Barber of Seville/Sweeney Todd nods and random haircuts and living hair, but it's also a super fun, super well done adventure with a ton of cool NPCs, investigative elements, and action. I loved it!

The basic premise is that people are disappearing or becoming mysteriously altered in the town of Silverymoon. Behind it is an annis hag named Errevastica, who has laid her hands on a barber named Jooge and a korred named Bezoar to create living hair creatures and run this whole, super impressive criminal underground type thing. The adventurers are tasked with uncovering the mysterious disappearances in town, but in doing so, they'll find that they've bit off a more than they can chew and might just be permanently altered themselves!

As this brief summary can attest, this is a pretty complicated plot. You've got a bunch of backstory with Jooge and Bezoar, and you have Errevastica, who is herself disguised as a xvart (as well as a subplot with some darklings), and, at first glance, it can seem a bit confusing. However, the backstory is so well-written that it makes a lot of sense, and the adventure is also incredibly well-written, transforming complicated into smooth and linear. It is incredibly easy to run this adventure.

And, although a large chunk of this adventure could be reduced down to a simple dungeon crawl, it's much more interactive than a lot are. The subterranean layer has fun and helpful NPCs like Two Llamas Running, cool environments like the oil and pomade room, and, of course, the colorful yet devilish Prismatic Coloring Machine. My players were constantly surprised and delighted by what they found, and it was a truly memorable experience.

Honestly, it's difficult to find anything to criticize this adventure about. It was so well-written, interesting, well edited, well laid out, and fun. The maps (especially the extra top down one) were simple and easy to read. Perhaps the one thing to be aware of is that, if you're hoping for a gritty and grimdark adventure, this really won't fit. You also have to be prepared for the potentially permanent effects of the Prismatic Coloring Machine. But if you're looking for something whimsical yet fraught with consequences, this is a great adventure for you!

Beautiful design, easy to understand, and just plain fun.