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Antonia Lúpri's Ravenloft Cookbook
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/01/2019 09:55:43

Utterly charming, from the illustrations down to the flavour. I can't speak for the quality of the recipes, but I'm sure the proof will be in the pudding, and I can't blame poor old Antonia if I've ruined everything I ever cooked. It's a novel idea, well executed, and drowning in Ravenloft vibes. Recommended.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Antonia Lúpri's Ravenloft Cookbook
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Adventure: The Dreaded Tunnels of Ruxabar
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/17/2019 11:07:30

This is a really rather fun pestilential romp. There are a few small layout issues, and perhaps the background is a bit wordy, but it really excels when it comes to fun monsters/NPCs and thematic items. It's well paced, and (as you might expect from the title) appropriately lethal in places. A job well done, I look forward to seeing what the team do next.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Adventure: The Dreaded Tunnels of Ruxabar
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Dead by Dawn (Starting)
Publisher: Schwalb Entertainment
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/07/2019 08:19:41

Played this with a starting group, and it's a great introduction to the system. It really gets a survival horror feel across, which can be quite difficult to do, so congrats to the writer. Recommended.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Dead by Dawn (Starting)
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The Ring of the Battle Maiden
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/20/2018 09:46:08

Do you know how to pronounce Hrafnkelsdottir? No? Well you'd better think fast, because you're going to need to. Personally I went with the sound of a walrus burping. What, you don't know what that sounds like either? Now you're just being fussy.

This is a fun starter adventure that delivers on the promises it makes. A novice DM could run this adventure easily, as all the necessary checks are called out in bold, and the combat is simple enough to work with. There's the potential for things to become confused during the arena scene, with up to 6 PCS and 6 more NPCs running about throwing things at each other, but (as my mother always said) that's just the price you pay for a hunger games. The puns are also a little on the nose, but then if you can't appreciate a groanworthy bit of wordplay when you see it, there's no hope for you.

The adventure is unusual in that it creates a believable society of strong warrior women, something most fantasy writers seem somehow unable to conjure - the fact that it's unusual to me at all is an indictment of the TTRPG community, but I'm glad that some work has been done to rectify that here. Personally, I probably won't run it, for the sole reason that it wasn't designed with me in mind. You have to judge a module by the standard of what it sets out to do, and the Ring of the Battle Maiden is an exemplary starting adventure.

Also, there's a soundtrack. Which is pretty badass.

@deathbybadger



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Ring of the Battle Maiden
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Minotaur's Bane - The Minotaur Trilogy: Part 3
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/18/2018 05:44:13

"ARGH, MY EYES. THERE'S HORNS IN MY EYES. I CANT SEE THROUGH ALL THE MADNESS, HORNS AND DEMONS" - Fargas Fumblefoot, halfling extraordinaire and regretful adventurer

It takes about 30 seconds for this module to throw your characters to the dogs/cows/demons. It's not clever, it's not subtle, but it's rollicking good fun. It's DRIPPING with horny goodness (if you'll excuse the pun) in a way that I wish Out of the Abyss had managed. If ANY of the demon lords had been handled this comprehensively in Out of the Abyss, it would have been a much better module. The Greek Myth references are on point, if you had an expensive education and like to be smug about it like I do. The mazes are well mapped (which is fairly critical given how complicated they unavoidably are), and the design budget was clearly used wisely, because it's magnificent looking throughout. Most of the illustrations are beautiful in their ugliness. Even the little nuances are to die for (without spoiling anything), like references to the blood war, and the way the adventure slowly but inorexably descends into utter madness before you really know what's going on. It's a riotous, epic bloodbath from start to finish - I don't usually play work by other authors but I may make an exception for this.

I have a few caveats. You will need to play the previous modules in this series first, or the rather brilliant callbacks won't make any sense. If Minotaurs bore you, then you won't like it, (but then why would you be buying the Minotaur Trilogy?) If Mazes tire you out, the you won't like it either (but then why would you be buying the Minotaur Trology?) Baphomet sounds like a mustache-twirling dandy with his evil speeches. [Come on guys, you were doing so well with the flavour. But that's a minor gripe.] By page 50 I had no idea what was going on anymore, but I was still loving it. Approach with an open mind, a lot of caffeine and maybe a few scientist buddies to help you make sense of it.

Well done, guys. This is something to be really proud of.

@deathbybadger



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Minotaur's Bane - The Minotaur Trilogy: Part 3
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Opuscule of Omens
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/03/2018 04:22:13

The Good It's beautiful, first off. The style is distinct, the illustrations are well chosen and the information is laid out clearly. The Opuscule of Omens is filled with trivia that anyone running a fantasy or horror setting might find useful. Much of it is based on real life folklore, but the information here has been distilled down into just things that might be interesting in a roleplay context, saving you the effort of having to research it all yourself. Recommended for anyone who has even a passing interest in the supernatural. [Also, the book's narrative voice, Amira Metanova, is really rather entertaining. Who doesn't love a witch?] Precisely the kind of quality you'd expect of a Guild Adept.

The Bad Have you ever wondered about the mystical properties of lukewarm water? No? Yeah, me neither. But it's there if you need it, which really just goes to show thoroughness.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Opuscule of Omens
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for your review! I really appreciate your insight (and humor). :)
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Enmity of the Wavemother
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/03/2018 04:04:16

The Good It's nice to sea a sea adventure. [Geddit? Becase sea sounds like...ok never mind.] Sahuagin are under-represented as foes, so it's good to see those too.

The Bad The adventure is simply laid out in something close to AL format, though there are some egregious editing errors such as sentences vanishing halfway through, and strangely errant text boxes. The important information is scattered (I had to CTRL-F to find the big bad villains creature type, some ten pages after he was introduced). The aesthetic is bare. This made it hard to focus on anything important like encounter difficulty etc.

Overall, there's the skeleton of something good here, but simply put, this needs a lot of work.

*To the author - don't give up hope! I'd say give it another pass, let me know when you're done, and I'll happily reassess.

Edit in reply to author:

Sure, let me be more specific. An editing process includes but is not limited to moving, changing and correcting material to make it more fit for service. Your layout has quite a few flaws, including warped font for the early headers, lack of a cover page, lack of dmsguild copyright and legal information, vast swathes of blank space and so on. More subjectively, I found the layout of text boxes adjacent to text made it difficult to read, as did the variance in line spacing. These are all things that a decent editing pass would have fixed. It's also worth noting that a dramatis personae usually falls at the start of a document, for the precise reason that it makes it much easier on a reader not to scroll back up constantly thinking they missed something. Putting it at the start (once again) is the kind of thing an editing pass would have highlighted.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Enmity of the Wavemother
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Creator Reply:
I'm sorry but I can't seem to find any of these egregious editing errors, could you give me an example? There is also a Dramatis Personae which gives an overview of the NPCs, including the villain.
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Thank you for your opinion on how it should be formatted.
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The Hungover Adventure Guide
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/02/2018 04:36:30

The Good I was won over by this title by the 3rd page, which goes into hilarious detail about embarrassing tattoos. By far the best part of this product are the plot hooks centered around the misadventures a band of drunken adventurers might get themselves into. I found myself spinning adventures out of those before I'd even finished reading. The subject is handled with grace and humour, and it's nice to see a supplement focusing on adventurers at leisure, rather than gloom and doom. There are some fun (if niche) magic items, and even a shanty, if that's up your alley.

The Bad The rest of the document is largely dedicated to optional drinking mechanics, in case your group is particularly invested in getting smashed on a regular basis. I don't foresee any but the drunkest of dwarven drunken monks needing an entire feat for it, so mileage may vary on that one.

Overall, this is a very fun exploration of a hard-to-tackle subject. I enjoyed this so much, I wasn't even bothered by the odd proofing error, which I'm sure will be seen to. Kudos to the author.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Hungover Adventure Guide
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The Black Book: Evil Character Options
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/02/2018 04:23:44

The Good I mean, there's a lot of archetypes here. And it treads the line between gory and evil, as long as your definition of evil is suitably reductive. The saving grace of this document is the backgrounds. They are probably worth the read, though the Haunted One background probably covers all the bases presented here in principle unless you feel the need to get extremely specific with your trauma.

The Bad The presentation veers from professional to wobbly at turns, with one or two striking layout errors. Some of the archetypes are quite far outside the power curve, to the point where I think it stops being personal opinion, and just shows a lack of playtesting/thought. There are a few obvious omissions, like a paladin oath spell list, and some peculiar design choices outside of the usual 5E paradigm - for instance, Turn the Lawless, which turns all lawfully aligned creatures - in an edition which priorities creature type over alignment, this stands out as inconsistent design. The feats, as you might expect, range from peculiar to powerful - as always, this would be up to a DM to adjudicate, though there are more that I would ban here than allow.

Overall, I wouldn't pay the 4.99 the author suggests for it. It needs a lot more work and playtesting.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
The Black Book: Evil Character Options
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Creator Reply:
Oliver, Thank you for your honest review of the product. This is our first attempt at a mechanical release, as most of our releases are adventures. We would welcome even more detailed feedback and would be more than happy to provide a DMsguild gift certificate as a thank you for doing so. If you're interested, you can contact us through our Facebook https://www.facebook.com/goblininkpress/ Thanks again for your honest feedback. We are always striving to be better at making fun, original content.
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A Poisonous Clover - A D&D Murder Mystery
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/01/2018 03:26:52

In the author's defense, it's very difficult to write a good mystery adventure. This is a simple, single-stage murder mystery, which somehow requires three pages of exposition to explain. The author has a natural and pleasant writing style, but this doesn't completely offset the fact that the adventure will likely take the DM too long to prepare for a scant reward. It might be interesting as part of a larger narrative or module, if the preliminary information could be distilled down into paragraphs over pages. The layout is spartan. The odd handout is included, which I suppose is helpful. I look forward to seeing what the author does next - this is an encouraging, if tentative, first step into the world of adventure writing. Put a little more time into the next one, and maybe invest in a more engaging aesthetic, and I suspect it might be something rather good.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
A Poisonous Clover - A D&D Murder Mystery
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Creator Reply:
Thank you very much for the prompt review! I tried to balance the information to understand the mechanics of a murder mystery with the communication element, but clearly I've got much to learn. Despite the two stars I'm very encouraged by your words!
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Lords of the Earth
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/30/2018 07:51:54

The Good The Elemental Evil storyline needs a lot of support to make it worth playing, and it's exactly this kind of community content support that I look for when planning a campaign around what's widely considered one of the weaker hardcover adventures. The author provides all the professional courtesies I look for in supplementary adventures, including but not limited to solid ways to link it into the module, maps and an appropriate level range - Lords of the Earth is set at level 2, which would seamlessly transition into Princes of the Apocalypse proper. I'd argue it makes a stronger entrance than the Red Larch sandbox the official module presents. As for layout, I liked the margin in which the author placed information on skill-checks, initiative and other extra information. It's a good introduction to the ideas presented in Princes of the Apocalypse.

The Bad The module fleshes out the entire village of Leilon. It's almost a little too much for the adventure, and it doesn't really seem necessary. Part two is a page with a random encounter table, so I don't think that really counts as a Part. In general, I found that some of the more tangential descriptions tended to be longer than they needed to be, which had the effect of drowning the core of the adventure in a sea of semi-relevant, but not crucially important prose new dungeon masters might find difficult to tackle. For example, whilst Halfling weaver Stichkin's market-going schedule is very flavourful, I'm not sure how it helps me run the actual adventure.

All in all, this is a very thorough and 100% competent adventure by an author who consistently delivers high quality material. New dungeon masters might struggle to process the sheer amount of context, but seasoned veterans will find this a solid addition to any Elemental Evil narrative they might see fit to conjure.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Lords of the Earth
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for the review Oliver. It's my pleasure to provide additional support to Princes of the Apocalypse.
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Drop-in Dungeons Tier 1
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/30/2018 05:35:54

The Good The cover illustration is hilarious, and the maps (whilst perfunctory) are very smartly done. The miniature dungeons and varied in tone, which means there's likely something for everyone in here. The author is blissfully concise, which is a talent rarer than you might think. Exactly what it says on the tin, and a good job of it. The monster challenge is pretty on point, too.

The Bad The presentation is neat, but the aesthetic is arguably a little threadbare. The villains could perhaps do with a touch more personality to make the dungeons more appealing to run.

Overall, it's a promising collection of mini-dungeons that any DM might find useful if they're caught short for a time-filler.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Drop-in Dungeons Tier 1
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Hunting Demons
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/29/2018 07:12:13

I know it's ambiguous, but the adventure has you hunt demons. Wait, where are you going? Stop, there's more!

Ok, so maybe not a lot more. But what there is is really impressive.

The Good In a nutshell, it's a pleasure to read. The author has a concise and clear turn of phrase, which is really what you want when you're trying to prepare an adventure for a table of dice throwing lunatics. It's well laid out, and he gets a gold star for the timely addition of Tactics and Knowledge Check information, which always pops up just when you were about to ask the question. The illustrations are on topic (and that's rarer than you might think), and the maps from the always wonderful Elven Tower live up to expectations. Demons are a hard villain to add any nuance to (being rampaging murder pokemon), and R P Davis does a really good job.

The Bad There's a rather laborious Skill Challenge section, the explanation for which ends up becoming rather turgid. as he needed to quickly rattle off an entire game mechanic that the reader might not be familiar with. There's a few places where I can see adventurers tiring of recalcitrant villagers and their endless demon problems - you might end up with your party wandering off to start a quieter life by the coast.

All in all, though, it's a fantastic little demon slaying narrative. Definitely enough content here for your money.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Hunting Demons
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Creator Reply:
Thanks, Oliver! I tried to present skill challenges in a way that explains them simply, and more importantly in a way that won't send people who remember 4th edition skill challenges into a fit of frothing rage. =) Used wisely (and I hope I get it kind of close to maybe right), skill challenges are a great way to forward a plot line. I really like them. Cheers! - Bob (R P Davis)
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Lucid Dreams
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/29/2018 06:37:01

The Good The author makes sure you have all the information you need to run the adventure - all of the NPCs are contextualized, and given personalities. Villains have motives. The locations are engaging, particularly the Emporium in the third section. It's quite surreal, and I like that in an adventure. Pretty simply laid out, but not unattractively so.

The Bad The author falls victim to the temptation to overexplain in places where it isn't entirely necessary - for instance, a sidebar on "Places to Sleep in Waterdeep", which takes a whole paragraph to explain that there's too much information on the subject to give in a sidebar. o_o Personally, I've always been of the opinion that if you can lose a sidebar like that without making a single bit of difference to the adventure, you probably didn't need it in the first place. The second problem is the fact that the interesting part of the adventure doesn't pick up speed until page 8, and the Appendices start on page 12. So read into that what you will.

All in all, it's a good adventure which could use pruning down in the tedious places, and filling out in the interesting ones.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Lucid Dreams
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Creator Reply:
Oliver, Thank you very much for your purchase and review of this title! I am delighted that you found the adventure surreal; that was precisely the feel that was intended. I also appreciate your remarks about where the adventure could be improved. The particular sidebar you mentioned included some helpful information about pricing of accommodations, and the preamble was meant to demonstrate the size of Waterdeep through the sheer number of inns that it supports (this adventure *is* intended to introduce players to the setting before they might begin the official adventures set there). However, perhaps a sidebar was not the best place to include that information. I will be sure to consider this for future adventures! Best! Taylor
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Necroshrooms
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Oliver C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/28/2018 14:34:17

The Good There's some nice touches here, flavourwise. The mushroom idea is fun, if underexplored.

The Bad Calling it an adventure is exceedingly generous, in the same way that I might have reservations in calling a footstool a table. It's an okay 5 rooms of material, but I'm sceptical if this would take even an hour to run. There's also quite a few infelicities of phrasing that could probably be ironed out with an editing pass.

It's not terrible. There just isn't much of it, and what there is isn't particularly thrilling.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Necroshrooms
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