?Dungeon Dive 1 ? Thieves? Guild Hideout? is a pre-made dungeon for multiple character levels and weighs in a 20 pages. The idea behind the Dungeon Dive series is to provide a busy DM with the time to develop a plot without wasting time on the adventure location and in that respect it does a good job. This is the second product I?ve reviewed in this line (see also Dungeon Dive 3 ? The Hungry Demiplane).
There are two noticeable differences in this product than in the other. The first is in the layout, although this is the first release it has one layout feature that the later does not. Each time the text has a bit of ?boxed text? there is a light shading of that area which not only makes the product more attractive to look at but also improves the ability to scan to the next encounter because you stop at the shaded section. Though minor it would be nice if this style feature was reintroduced in later versions of the series. Secondly in the classing of levels to low, medium and high are not as standardized covering a larger range for each option. For example (including monsters and traps)
Low ? 1, 2, 3, 1, 4, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1, 3, 3 (maybe 1st or 2nd level) [1-4]
Medium ? 5, 4, 5, 4, -, 4, 6, 8, 4, 5, 8, 4, 5, 6 (maybe 4th or 5th level) [4-8]
High ? 10, 8, 9, 9, 8, 9, 10, 12, 8, 10, 10, 11, 8, 9, 8 (probably 9th) [8-12]
This might be too large of a range to comfortable be attempted by a party if they are 1st, 4th, or 8th level. In particular, the Grick CR3 may be particularly challenging to a 1st level party, sure it doesn?t do a lot of damage but DR 10/magic makes it pretty impervious at 1st level. Some of the monsters seem out of place though there are attempts to explain the existence of each. Although I?m having a hard time believing that a Roper, which I think of as a cave dweller, should be in a Thieves Guild Hideout, An Abandoned Temple, and a Hungry Demiplane.
The monsters only have a short statblock so you will need to look up their special abilities. The maps are computer generated and somewhat blocky. The maps lack a legend. Overall it does a very good job of presenting an adventure location prepped for your use.
<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: One prepped adventure location
Ready to go almost immediately
Shading on boxed text helps the layout<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Map needs a legend
Full monster stats would be more convienent
Some encounters will need to be tweaked for 1,4,8th level games
<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
|