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Sometimes, just reading an adventure will fill you with delight. Stormcrows is one of those adventures.
In Stormcrows, the party is drawn to the village of Rosden, which has recently encountered its first murders in decades. One of those murders is by the hand of a farmer who was drawn into blows by a vindictive, cruel-hearted ranger. The others are more mysterious and require the intervention of the party. Additionally, there is a lost girl, a Goblin Market, undead lurking within the woods, and a kidnapping plot orchestrated by a cunning hag. Players are encouraged to non-linearly explore the village and the surrounding woods, gathering friends and foes alike, before possibly reuniting a changeling and her sister and taking down the undead ranger and hag.
Despite the seriousness of the adventure, Stormcrows felt light and enjoyable. Players propelled the action and chose how they wanted their adventure to unfold. There were many opportunities for the DM to add to the storytelling and atmosphere, and the world felt open. Several of the encounters were quite difficult, but they were nonetheless satisfying.
I really loved this adventure. The layout was beautiful, and the gameplay was quite open and satisfying. Sometimes, the narrative felt more story-like than game-like, but that didn't seriously impede the play. If you want a beautiful, engaging adventure with plenty of opportunities for exploring and roleplay, I recommend this one. You won't be sorry you grabbed it.
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As always, October is the perfect time to get into some darker, scarier adventures, and The Deep One certainly fits the bill. In it, you're drawn into the cursed village of Orden, where people have become mysteriously infected by a flesh-rotting disease and, in some cases, madness. Within the village are alchemists, necromancers, infected ones, and madmen, and you must somehow navigate these people to determine what is causing this infection and how you can remove the Deep One, an extra-planar eldritch horror, from their midst.
The Deep One is a genuinely creepy adventure what is great fun to play in a darkened room lit by candles with some atmospheric music going. People become jumpy, and it's hard for players to figure out who to trust. The adventure comes in three parts, allowing players to both investigate and fight, and, since there is a real chance the PCs will become infected, they're extra-motivated to stop the madness. The final battle was appropriately difficult, and players felt a genuine sense of relief when they successfully finished the adventure.
However, there are some issues with the adventure, most notably involving railroading and formatting. Parts of the adventure were quite difficult to read and understand, and as the DM I had to do a lot of pre-game reading and note-taking; if I had to scan during the adventure, we had to stop everything since I had difficulty reading the page. While the formatting does contribute to the creepiness of the adventure, much of it was ultimately more harmful than good. In the future, I would lighten the background, not use red font, and use a standard font instead of stylized. The adventure is genuinely creepy enough that these dressings didn't really add much.
There is also quite a bit of railroading, especially at the end of the first chapter. Overall, neither I nor my players minded that too much since it contributed to the creepiness of the adventure, but it did occasionally frustrate characters that there was no way out of the situation. Perhaps instead of making the encounter with Myn and Wil go a particular way, there can be different pathways? Re-organizing that section and labeling sections and not having so much be read verbatim could also help.
However, like I said, this is a really good, creepy adventure. It definitely draws you in and gets you invested, and it has enough combative and roleplay elements to keep just about anyone invested. If you'd like a horror adventure to play, I would recommend you give this one a try.
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Creator Reply: |
Hi Cindy. Thanks for the candid review. We greatly appreciate the detailed feedback; it will help to make this adventure and future titles from us better. Jaden has been working hard on updating this adventure and this valuable insight is something that we consider with the utmost earnestness.
So glad to hear that your players enjoyed the adventure and were creeped out! When we did our play test, we did the same thing with dimmed lights and music to enhance the feel and it was so much fun.
Keep an eye out for the update and a print friendly version soon! |
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In Marisa's Blades, you are part of a party that has been drawn to Waterdeep to capture the Angelmoor siblings, Marisa and Milo. The two have been on the run since they were children, and now their father, Vajra Safahr, and Laeral Silverhand have caught wind that they're in the city and must be captured and brought in for questioning. However, Marisa has orchestrated the whole situation, hoping that someone can extricate her and her brother from Leucis, a demon that hired them. The party is captured and imprisoned and then has to navigate the prison to find a way to release the siblings and, if possible, kill the demon.
Marisa's Blades is overall a good adventure, but it does seem to be an immature one. Justin, the creator, adds tips and suggestions from time to time that aren't always necessary or consistent with the standard DMs Guild/WotC style. Likewise, some of the instructions are vague and simply reference additional resources, and parts of the adventuring are a bit forced, such as the party capture, and then the adventure becomes a straight-forward dungeon crawl. However, the bones are good, and it was a genuinely fun adventure to play; it just necessitated some clean-up on the DM's part. In the future, it would be good to make instructions more straight-forward, reduce commentary, and think a little more about how to allow the party greater agency.
With all that said, it's a fine first attempt and a very playable adventure. The villain, Leucis, is fun to play against, and this is a nice side quest in the world of Waterdeep, especially if your party has already finished Dragon Heist and isn't quite ready to plunge into the Dungeon of the Mad Mage. If you'd like a relatively straight-forward dungeon crawl that syncs in well with Waterdeep, I would give this a shot.
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Starburn Academy is a rare find with the adventure located in a magical academy and all PCs expected to be children/pre-teens. While danger does lurk around every corner, players are not necessarily expected to fight their way through the adventure. Rather, they must learn, gain points, uncover a potentially sinister plot -- and then call the adults.
In Starburn Academy, you are called in by Delilah, a mildly eccentric wizard/instructor. Her academic rival Dorian has been acting suspiciously, and she suspects that he's up to no good. She has seen your academic potential and wishes you to help her. If you agree, she'll give you magical items, gold, and, better yet, an education at the finest magical institution in the land. To fulfil this objective, you must go to class, brush up on your knowledge, make friends, and join a secret society. If all goes well, you'll uncover a dark magic user. If it doesn't, you might be killed -- or worse, expelled!
Starburn Academy is honestly a delight. There is a great student NPC list that you can use to populate the academy, and each of the rooms/classes have fun lore and objectives attached. I love the potentially non-combative nature of the game, and it was great fun coming up with all the student voices and personalities and making Dorian seem extra fidgety. It definitely has some Harry Potter flavor, which you can choose to increase or decrease as you wish.
However, I do have a couple of criticisms. For the rooms/classes, it would be good if there were potential random encounters there. Likewise, for the list of student NPCs, it would be good if there were suggestions on how they can further the plot or help the PCs. As a DM, I made up some things, but I would have liked a little more guidance in that area, especially since my party liked the game enough that they would have continued playing in that world. Having additonal encounters and tie-ins would help parties expand and live in this world after the main adventure is over.
But if you want a fun, Harry Potter-reminescent game with some light-hearted intrigue and combat, I definitely recommend Starburn Academy!
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This is a great bundle. It has a ton of really cool adventures for a good price, and it supports writers of the RPG Writer Workshop. There's a large breadth of adventures with all kinds of creatures, settings, and magical items. Quality does vary between the adventures, but they're still creative and interesting. My favorite adventures from this bundle were i've been, The Diamond Heist, and The Call of Primus.
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This is a seriously good bundle! The price is excellent for the sheer amount of adventures you get, and the adventures are all different kinds, utilizing different locations, different villains, different game mechanics, and more. Some of the adventures aren't quite as high quality as others, but even my least favorite were still pretty darn good. While I definitely recommend buying the full bundle (It's always good to support the RPG Writer Workshop!), my favorite adventures were Clockwork Combat Championship, Raising a Family, Hair of the Dog, and Betrayal's Rondo.
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Want an introductory adventure to Saltmarsh that is full of birds, birds, and a few more birds? But, wait! Do you also want engaging NPCs, intriguing backstory, unique settings, and tons of thrills, near escapes, and conflict? Then you are DEFINITELY going to want to grab Down Came a Black Bird.
In Down Came a Blackbird, the party finds itself in the sleepy seaside town of Saltmarsh as it's in the middle of a terrifying ordeal. The local birds have gone vicious and are attacking citizens, sometimes targeting teens and children. Meanwhile, someone or something is bursting into people's homes at night and ripping out their hearts. PCs must unravel this mystery and learn who is controlling the birds and killing Saltmartians, eventually setting sail to do battle in a seriously gross (but seriously cool) setting.
I freaking LOVED this adventure and so did my players. There was so much lore and atmospheric bits to play around with, and I got to do so many fun and silly voices. Players really had to put on their thinking caps to try to solve the mystery, and they loved talking to all the NPCs. We played as a party of level 1s, which was difficult, but players compensated with ingenuity (and sometimes cowardice). We had an amazing time, and it really excited the group into diving into Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
This is such a great adventure and so fun to play. The layout is also beautiful with the repeated blue/purple, red, and white and bird imagery. It was just as much fun to look at as it was to play. I recommend it to anyone that wants a good mystery with an aquatic adventure.
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In Sidekicks Essentials, you'll find an expanded supplement to the Sidekicks that WotC put out this past summer/that they've been working on with Unearthed Arcana. This supplement talks about the history of sidekicks, the purchase of sidekicks, how to use sidekicks, and, to a lesser extent, how to make your own sidekick. It also provides you with seven unique sidekick types, including the Archer, Berserker, Medic, and Minstrel, plus sample sidekick characters in each of these types. Finally, it introduces personality traits to the sidekicks and how to add those, which I loved.
Overall, I thought this was a great supplement. I wasn't 100% sold on sidekicks before I read this or really sure how to make my own. However, after reading this, I was able to create a monster sidekick that leveled up, and my party really enjoyed it. From a content creator perspective, I enjoyed learning how to make a sidekick, and I loved the layout of this supplement, especially the narrative descriptions of each sidekick type.
If you want to learn more about sidekicks, especially how to make and use them, I definitely recommend this supplement. It's a quick, easy read that contains a wealth of information. Worth the buy!
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One of my favorite parts about playing DnD, whether as a player or a DM, is roleplaying. I love roleplaying, especially when figuring out how to get out of a tricky situation or how to extract information, make a friend, or make a reputation for my character. It's great fun and can lead to some really extravagant, interesting situations.
However, one of the things I've struggled to add to my games is tools. At best, I tell players to roll a d20 and then describe what happens. This can result in some fun creations, but often those creations are either way too OP or way too mundane because we lack guidance. Enchanted Tools is a fantastic alternative and one I honestly wish I'd had earlier.
In this supplement, you'll find a couple dozen enchanted tools with scores of modifications, inventions, magical items, and more. You'll also find a collection of sample brews that can do a little, a lot, or no damage, which would be excellent for stories that rely heavily on drinking, sabotage, or the Wild West. There are even a couple of new resources that you can add to your campaigns to increase difficulty or make a seige expedition more manageable.
While anyone or any character can benefit from these tools, the artificer and warforged would gain some special benefits from it. While artificers are fairly OP as is, these tools increase their range and encourage players to go down multiple paths. Likewise, with warforged, these tools play of their inherent mechanical proficiency.
Overall, it's a fantastic supplement and well worth the purchase. I've begun using them in my campaign, and my players love it. One of them is even buying her own copy so she doesn't have to keep using mine.
So if you want some cool tools and the ability to make your magical world just a bit more magical, I absolutely recommend this item. You'll be glad you grabbed it!
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This is a fantastic collection of stock art and well worth using. The stock art within contains both unique and common undead, and the images are of high quality and easy to use or modify. I used this for my one-shot Spooky, Scary Skeletons, and it greatly added to the adventure. Absolutely worth grabbing.
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The Mourned: A Playable Undead Race is truly a one-of-a-kind find. It is incredibly detailed and creative, and provides the player with a plethora of background information and race options. The mourned are also just fun creatures to play with roleplaying options practically built in. I played in a party of all mourned, and we had a fantastic time, searching for brains, hiding from the sunlight, and awkwardly pretending we weren't undead. It's definitely a race I want to go back and play, and I know my fellow players feel the same. However, an all mourned party did have its drawbacks (especially regarding healing), but these were minor and forced us to become more creative.
In The Mourned, you'll find absolutely everything you need to play these undead. You'll find background information for the race, suggested names and traits, four subclasses, two sub-backgrounds, a magical item, and more. While the base race is fun, the four subraces really force you to think, as do the added feats. The PDF is also beautiful, and the illustrations are haunting and evocative. It's a gorgeous supplement and a wonderful race. I definitely recommend it.
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Weekend at Strahd's is an AWESOME game. It takes the general premise of Curse of Strahd and turns it on its head, augmenting vampire brides with the Heathers, turning ghost children into Beetlejuice avatars, and making death something to be fought for, not against.
In Weekend at Strahd's, your party, having just killed the Vampire Lord Strahd, finds that you actually have save him by finding five objects known as the Pentaforce. To do so, you have to cart around Strahd's body to five different locations in his castle, battling Goonie-like characters, jazzercising your way to victory, and more. Along the way, you'll listen to a curated 80s playlist that really amps up the fun and potentially drink some nasty brew.
Weekend at Strahd's is incredibly clever and incredibly fun. Each location offers the characters multiple paths, including combat, diplomacy, and investigation, and there are fun mechanics for you to attempt and explore. You will have random encounters with 80s pop culture and can challenge your friends to reroll, add, or subject to get the outcome you want. I played this with a group, including a person who had never played DnD before, and they absolutely loved it. They always looked forward to what the song would be, and we used the New Koke brew to great fun. Perhaps my only criticism is that I'm not 100% sure the end makes sense. The initial premise is that you want to prevent the credits from rolling on your adventure, but, regardless of which conclusion you choose, you do roll credits. We also weren't entirely certain what the Pentaforce was, and that did cause some confusion. However, it didn't prevent us from fully enjoying ourselves.
If you'd like a fun, silly adventure with lots of great 80s callbacks and some truly creative encounters, I can't recommend Weekend at Strahd's enough. It's well worth the purchase and the play -- I'm honestly looking forward to playing it again!
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Necromancer Trinkets offers precisely what the title indicates: a curated list of items you might find in a necromancer's lair. These items are excellent for adding flavor to a necromancy lair, as items that can be found while unraveling a mystery, or as trinkets the PCs can carry around with them. There are also several undead/zombie-related plot hooks, which are fun.
Overall, I enjoyed this list. It was straightforward and easy to read, and it gave me many undead-flavored ideas. My only complaint is that I would like a little more variety. A lot of the trinkets and plot hooks seem to involve humanoid zombies, and there are actually a lot more undead out there. Perhaps David can make a future supplement with other undead. I would certainly love to see that.
Regardless, I think this is a great little addition to your DM's kit or for your PC folder, especially if you're playing a necromancer or undead. Well worth the purchase!
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Hops to It! is a delightful adventure that allows players to enjoy a festival, solve a mystery, and do some good, old-fashioned monster-slaying. It's the sort of straight forward adventure that is a delight to DM and so fun to play.
The players arrive in a small town adjacent to a distillery just as their annual festival is beginning. They're able to partake in some of the games such as arm wrestling and pie eating when the celebrations are suddenly interrupted by everyone turning into animals! The players then learn that several mysterious events have happened as of late and, actually, no one really knows when the distillery re-opened or who is sending them beer. The players then must explore and stop the mischief, risking their lives in the process.
I really just loved this game. Although there is danger, it's overall so light-hearted that it's hard to feel truly worried, even if your character turns into a black bear or gets eaten by an ooze. It's also so well laid-out that you could pick it up, read through it, and immediately DM the game. I think it's a great one-shot and well worth the time and money.
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What a precious adventure! A truly fun, unique, and fanciful one-shot that gives players and the DM the chance to play a tiny clockwork modron.
In The Call of Primus, characters play as Awakened Clockwork Modrons drawn to leave the artificier's workshop by the call of Primus. However, as they and their many tiny brethen will learn, the workshop is full of dangers and foes and escaping will not be easy.
I just love this adventure! It's such a cute concept, and it's wonderfully imagined. Alicia provides players with the stats necessary to make an awakened clockwork modron character and has a ton of really neat challenges. It's fun and silly and well designed for a level one or two character. I also think it would be terribly fun to play these creatures in a larger setting, and it requires quite a bit of creativity from the DM to place them in the larger world.
However, there are a few issues. While the adventure is overall well designed and organized, there are a few typos and layout issues, most notably in the Creature Stat Blocks, whose names are unintelligible. The mechanic of guiding other modrons (and how the artificier doesn't hear them as hundreds smash to the floor) is also not clearly defined, and I ended up leaving it out of the adventure. Perhaps failing a check could result in 1d6 modrons smashing or the artificier's sleep could become lighter every time the characters fail a check; after five failed checks, he wakes up.
However, it was a really fun, neat game, and I enjoyed it immensely. It's well worth picking up.
*Edit: You're welcome, Alicia! I'm glad you could get the corruption fixed. Thanks again for such a fun adventure!
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Creator Reply: |
Glad to hear you liked it, and thanks for leaving a thoughtful review! I am happy to report that the stat block issue has been addressed (some strange corruption I didn’t catch on export), and an updated version is coming this week!
Thanks again for your kind words, and for taking the time to play in my weird modron sandbox! |
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