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Eberron Gothic: Curse of the Thornwood
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Kanga K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/17/2020 09:02:35

This is by far one of the most stylish and interesting adventures that I've GMed to date. It gives a very interesting twist on rural Eberron and is heavily steeped in the lore of the world, while also keeping stakes focused, small, and interesting.

The NPCs are highly memorable and the villains terrifying; it's a masterclass in character design that my players loved. Your players will definitely be thinking and talking about the characters in this story for weeks to come, and to me that's about the best thing a oneshot can do.

There's something for everyone here, too; while the bulk of the adventure is a murder-mystery, there are combats and treasure aplenty, so there will definitely be great appeal for everyone at your table.

Overall, I strongly recommend purchasing this mini-campaign and running it; it's a very different view into a part of Eberron that's infrequently explored, and one that really deepens the scope of the setting.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Eberron Gothic: Curse of the Thornwood
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Sora Esma's Tome of Urban Legends: 13 Across Eberron Folktales
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Kanga K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/30/2020 15:24:51

I'm ecstatic to see another high quality release from the Across Eberron team. These urban legends stand out from the rest of their releases, which shows an incredible display of flexibility and range from the designers and editors involved.

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I've personally been anticipating this release for months now, but I was pleasantly surprised by what was included. As far as I'd understood it, this project was going to be a list of urban legends, folk tales, and the like from the setting of Eberron. That's definitely included, but the bulk of the work itself is primarily stat blocks by page count. However, don't underestimate them. Most of the stat blocks are huge, taking up entire pages by themselves, and are a great example of a product that tells its story through its mechanics - something that's very rare to see in 5e design. It's worth noting the layout work here: none of the statblocks awkwardly overlap onto other pages, and most of them are accompanied by great pieces of art that accentuate the themes going along with them.

Speaking of the art, this is a major selling point of the product. Of course, there are folk tales - but there are also lovingly-crafted pieces of work for every single major tale, and several for the specific statblocks. It's harder to find pages that lack illustrations than pages that have them, and they're not just haphazard or ill-fitting; all of them match and emphasize the tension and suspense (or sometimes, even levity) that the stories bring.

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So, why get this supplement? To me, it comes down to three major factors: the stories, the stat blocks, and finally the art.

The stories themselves fit perfectly into Eberron. Jarrod Taylor's love of the setting really shines through as the stories touch on almost all parts of the world, from the Basura Swamp in Q'barra to the streets of Little Graywall in Droaam, to even the (former) palaces of Metrol in what is now the Mournland. Most of the stories do, however, center on Khorvaire - that being said, some do explicitly mention Xen'drik or Sarlona, and could be integrated in further locales. They range from suspenseful to downright scary and even a little funny; there's definitely a tale for every table. The only problem is that they are fairly short - as a general rule, about 1-2 paragraphs per cryptid, just enough to get you the general idea but not exactly a whole story in and of itself. For the length of the supplement, that's pretty understandable, but it's important to note that if you do want a whole story for Malleon's Despot, you'll have to write it yourself.

That being said, the narrative is where the stat blocks come in. Throw away any preconceptions of Monster Manual statblocks you have; this supplement tips that design idea on its head, and instead presents HUGE statblocks that are mostly a whole page, to show you the story of these legends. It accomplishes this in a few ways, primarily with unique and quirky Actions and Legendary Actions that characterize even the most basic of the statblocks. A prime example is the Expeditious Escort, a terrifying Orien conductor-construct who attacks you with its "Ticket Ripper" attack. Each statblock also includes a perfectly storybook "Weakness," which is a major factor in how GMs would foreshadow the creatures and tell these tales to the players.

While the mechanical design is imaginative - for example, one of the Baker's spells are described not as "at-will spells" but as "limitless desserts" - it is probably one of the largest stumbling blocks of the whole work. In some cases, like the one mentioned above, some level of clarity is lost for narrative and flavor. With that said, problems are very relative, and most of the stat blocks do not suffer from this issue; as a general whole, it is almost unnoticeable. Given the aim of the supplement - to create very narrative encounters - it might not matter at all, so this is more of an aside. What is not minor, though, is how seamlessly and well-integrated the next part of the supplement is with the narrative and the statblocks.

I am of course talking about the art. As I mentioned earlier, it's harder to find pages WITHOUT art than with art in this supplement, and what's even more amazing is that all of the pieces included tie in so well to the themes of the page and the stories being told. Again, just like the stories and creatures themselves, it can vary from cute, cartoon-like art (as for the Littlest Overlord) to images that are legitimately scary (like the Mask of Metrol). While some pieces might be familiar to frequent DMsG users, many are unique and new, to the point where I was legitimately surprised how many new pieces of art exist for this supplement alone.

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As a final verdict, this product absolutely succeeds at delivering great storytelling opportunities with memorable and unique characters. It breathes life into the setting and gives tools to the GM to make engaging encounters that are full of narrative consequence and entertaining payoffs. It doesn't matter what season it is, buy this, it will be an amazing boon for you and your Eberron.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Sora Esma's Tome of Urban Legends: 13 Across Eberron Folktales
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Escape from Riedra: An Across Eberron Adventure
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Kanga K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/07/2020 09:40:16

This is a masterclass for how to write an Eberron adventure. It's steeped in lore and feel from the get-go; any Eberron fan, particularly if you love Sarlona, will quickly recognize the attention to detail given to every nook and cranny of Riedra.

What kind of adventure are you getting when you buy this? Well, first of all, it's a treat for any Eberron lore nerd and those looking to explore the story of Riedra, a totalitarian state ruled by seemingly-omnipotent and yet frighteningly charming elites. It rather surprisingly manages to be incredibly pulpy, though - the PCs are still the heroes, and they can exploit the cracks in the system. There are lots of provisions for combat, but the adventure is primarily an exploration, an investigation, and ALMOST even a heist... all hallmarks of Eberron. The conclusion - honestly, your players might cry. The emotional catharsis of the ending is incredible and something I didn't know was possible in D&D.

The length of the adventure is also nothing to scoff at. I would estimate the adventure would take at least 4 sessions. Tables who are really into dialogue, characterization, and exploring the depths of Riedran society may take much longer. There are so many beautiful, small interactions that help flesh out and characterize the dystopian - but surprisingly, still human - empire of Riedra. From reading the lore, it's easy to forget that the Riedrans are still people. They're still making human transgressions and exhibiting their free will, even as they're brainwashed, but Imogen does an amazing job of illustrating this while simultaneously reinforcing the horror that is the truth of Riedra.

Talking about characterization, let's consider the characters. The cast list here is large, but not unwieldy; every character stands out from the start, even though the author gives a lot of leeway for how to portray them exactly. Their characterization is summed up concisely and neatly with ideals/bonds/flaws, but that leaves a lot open for each GM to interpret them differently. I can see everyone having their own take on these characters, which is an amazing feat.

There are so, so many more words I can say about this adventure, all praise, but nothing I could write would live up to the truth of how good this adventure is. One of the playtesters for this adventure said that this adventure totally redefined what TTRPGs could be for her - and for me, this entirely redefined how high the bar can be for prewritten adventures.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Escape from Riedra: An Across Eberron Adventure
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AE01-01 Fired & Forgotten by Imogen Gingell
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Kevin K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/13/2020 00:01:48

Overall: Good adventure with a few hiccups, mostly suffering from 5th Edition's fragility at level 1. While it is linear, the story it presents is fun, frenetic, and certainly makes players feel like heroes in a huge world - all hallmarks of the setting of Eberron.

What I liked: REALLY liked the falling complications, but I think it would have been more interesting if it was used more (i.e. if there were more chances to roll on that table). As it was, I got one PC to roll on it a second time, but it really needed more of a spotlight I think.

Yadha-Ro was a big hit. She's a GREAT character, and she did a really good job of frightening the players while in the end also making them feel very successful and heroic for fending her off.

The players pretty quickly picked up to the rivalry of the Deathsgate Guild and I think that's definitely a fun thing to draw on going into the future.

What I didn't like: Honestly, a lot of the "I didn't like this" boils down to being level 1. Even starting at level 2 would have helped a lot of things in my opinion, most of all the initial falling scene: the players managed to knock out all 3 of the Deathsgate recruits halfway through round 2, even with one PC not really engaging in the fight. If the Deathsgate PCs were level 2 to match (obviously, they didn't have stats, but I just assumed level 1 HP), they would have survived to round 3 at least.

Drummond is an unsympathetic character and there's a pretty huge bias towards the Warforged side of things in the conflict. Overall I think that's not a huge problem as the PCs are part of the Clifftop Guild, but I do think it could have been interesting/expanded upon for the PCs to assist Drummond and not make the Warforged side of things feel so much like the "correct path." There's this strange thing with choice-laden video games sometimes where you might metagame because the rewards on one path are so much better than the rewards on the other, even if you REALLY wanted to RP the not-so-squeaky-clean guy - and I think this kind of problem rears its head a bit with regards to the Warforged picket.

Tresca's ritual was very unsatisfying imo, particularly how rounds 1 and 2 don't actually do anything (other than have the PCs deal with the mephit). Round 3 is interesting in that one PC needs to give up their action to decant the metal, and I wish the first two rounds had been like that.

It's very linear but the linearity doesn't serve the best purpose insofar as introducing new or future factions. For example, introducing Daask or House Tarkanan or so on could be forced, but by design it's locked behind some checks (or a very optional quest). While linear adventures aren't problematic in and of themselves, as an introductory adventure I feel like it would have been served well if it actually helped introduce some of the factions and power players present in the world of Eberron, such as one or two of the Dragonmarked Houses. It did, however, introduce the Warforged in a great light; Stokes' opportunity to give a speech on why his crew is striking got players immediately interested in the story of the Warforged and helped them understand some of the intricacies behind who they are.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
AE01-01 Fired & Forgotten by Imogen Gingell
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Leaders of Eberron
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Kanga K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/12/2020 23:23:48

This is a lovingly-crafted supplement that is a must-buy if you run a game in Eberron. It says exactly what it does on the tin, and it does so with style and flourish - the stat blocks vary as much as the people being statted out do, and moreover the "feel" of each character is not just kept but accentuated with the mechanics written.

Standouts to me include Jurian ir'Wynarn, who has an excellent Mythic Trait (hint: check which hand his sword's in!) and the author's deliberate and well-reasoned choice to not include a full statblock for Jaela Daran, instead offering his thoughts on why including Jaela as a statblock may prove to be problematic. For big fans of the Eberron setting, the Zilargo page will be a hit as well - you can Trust me on that one.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Leaders of Eberron
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Scales of Power
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Kanga K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/12/2020 23:09:54

So, I'll start off the bat by saying this is the author's first adventure and it's definitely important to keep that in mind. That being said, this adventure suffers from a few problems that are irrelevant to the author's experience with writing TTRPG modules, namely that of including fairly problematic themes that are never challenged or even presented as problematic to begin with.

But let's start with the adventure review first. As I mentioned, due to it being the author's first adventure, this one is fairly paint-by-numbers. The party are contracted to deal with increasing lizardfolk attacks. They track down the lizardfolk with a fairly straightforward tracking/exploration section that leads into a ruined campsite. Unfortunately, this is where I would say the first major misstep happens; investigation of the campsite is entirely unnecessary and if it's done, reveals no more interesting information than what the players already knew - the lizardfolk were behind it, duh. Indeed, even the tracking to their temple-base doesn't require any check and just automatically happens once the party is done either dealing with a generic combat encounter or gets done with finding out information they already knew.

The temple itself has slightly more potential. At this point there is an attempted twist, as the party learns of additional information - but unfortunately, again, this is where the framing falls apart. The dungeon itself contains a basic "avoid the water" trap but mostly tends to boring rooms that don't contain anything of particular note, except for a single mural that vaguely hints to the importance/plot twist. This is where I can no longer hold the criticism about problematic themes.

Here's where we need to talk about problematic themes. The factions involved in this story are the Cold Sun Federation, the cultists of Masvirik, and the Deepwater colonists. The Cold Sun Federation are the "good" natives that are attacking the settlers because the settlers are unintentionally mining out a resource that is keeping an ancient evil trapped, while the cultists of Masvirik are the "evil" natives that are encouraging the colonists to expand. It's important to note that these themes of colonialism are INTENTIONAL in Eberron, and are meant to be subverted. Unfortunately, the author doesn't subvert them at all, but reinforces colonialist ideas by painting the CSF as strictly good (and too incompetent to solve their own problem) while painting the cultists as cartoonishly evil with no specific nuance.

At its core, this adventure is about an armed party coming in to quell the native attacks on colonists. The twist is that the attacks were justified all along - except the tools given to explain this are not given at all by the author. The end of the dungeon contains a CSF shaman who cannot (for canonical reasons) converse intelligibly with the players, and the author does not explain how the players would decipher what they're saying or how a GM would present comprehensible information. At the end of the day, the shaman NEEDS the adventurers to fix his problem; you see, the shaman's natives are the "good" natives, and the cultists were the true evil all along and they're even going to summon a Real Bad Evil that will destroy the town of Deepwater!

The final encounter is, again, a rather generic final-boss encounter with a few higher-CR NPCs and a potential for an additional CR4 creature to be summoned. The motivation of the "evil" natives is never explained - they're just doing evil to be evil. At its core, this adventure misses the point of criticizing the evils of colonialism AND misses a chance to lovingly showcase the nuanced lore of this part of the setting, and I can't in good conscience recommend its purchase. I've rated it two stars because it is technically playable, but it is not an adventure with any flavor or soul of its own.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Scales of Power
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Ban'Na
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Kanga K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/31/2020 15:34:23

So, let's get this out of the way: THIS ADVENTURE IS SILLY.

But then again, we are playing a game where we pretend to fling fireballs, slay dragons, and be charismatic. This adventure makes for a pretty good time in that regard, reinforcing that sometimes, you can take D&D a little less seriously and simply have fun with it.

That being said, the author's love for the setting shines through clearly in this adventure. Despite the silly overtones of the adventure, both the aim of the quest and the lore involved is absolutely accurate; for those interested in fleshing out the Dhakaani Empire, the final goal of the quest actually does so in quite a convincing manner. The characters are all actually quite interesting - in fact, one of the best reasons to run this adventure is to introduce them to your party so that you might use them again later in a campaign.

That being said, what is the actual structure of the adventure like? Much like most other oneshots, it's laid out fairly linearly, with two additional bonus scenes for length. However, as in the author's previous published adventure (Weathering the Storm), this adventure distinguishes itself by having well-written, scene-setting prose that is meant to be read aloud to players. It's clear that there was a lot of careful attention to detail in the read-aloud sidebars; they're not too full of prose that it becomes a flowery and awkward read, but just enough that the characters and settings are brought clearly to life. It's not hard to evoke the idea of exploring this fantastical, almost whimsical, island to your players with this prose. Lastly, for a 2nd level adventure the combat encounters presented are of higher-than average quality - special attention to the Banana Musk Creeper, which emits a horribly delicious banana-y fragrance!

Finally, how is the product laid out? Again, for a silly adventure, the professionalism, layout, and quality of this supplement is easily on par with official WOTC content. Even the text boxes (colored a vibrant green) do an amazing job of evoking the lush, vibrant nature of the island, while any bulleted lists are punctuated by small banana icons.

Ultimately, throughout the irreverence of this adventure, it's clear that the author has a great deal of love for the setting, a keen eye for detail, and a good sense of humor to boot. This is a great adventure to read and run, and one players will certainly enjoy... or at least groan a lot at!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Ban'Na
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The Korranberg Chronicle: Psion's Primer - A Complete Psionics System
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Kanga K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/02/2020 09:59:14

If you've wanted a comprehensive, balanced set of rules for psionics in 5th edition, I highly encourage you to check this release out. Especially if you weren't excited about psionics not being a separate thing in the recent UA, or if you're trying to figure out why psionics is cool - this is a book that will sell you on why psionics is cool, and why its system of psionics is cool.

It balances psionics by making you specialize in them (unlike the Mystic), which leads to very interesting things like psions which are good at changing the reality around them, compared to empaths which manipulate emotions and feeling. This ends up feeling much more natural and gives a lot more options through depth, rather than simply by giving every option possible (which was a common criticism of psionics). It's a similar approach to psionics as D&D has always taken to magic: wizards specialize in types of spells, such as "controlling" or "blasting," clerics can specialize in healing or so on - why shouldn't the same be true for psionics?

Lastly, I wouldn't let the price tag fool you - this is a hefty release, comparable to one of the most popular previous releases by the author: Adventurer's Almanac, which is one hundred and ninety three pages of dense and well-balanced mechanics.

In the Psion's Primer you get two full classes with three subclasses each, three subclasses which augment existing classes (Fighter, Rogue, and Monk), and the full psionics system - that's just by chapter 1! Chapter 2 includes mechanics for psionic races, including several that are setting-agnostic, like Thri-kreen. There are quite a few psionic feats and items, and finally a little over 50 pages of Psionic NPCs - perfect for DMs who want to introduce enemies like the Inspired, true-psionic Mind Flayers, Duergar, or even interesting bits from previous editions like the Psion Killer.

It's worth the money and time - definitely check out the preview.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Korranberg Chronicle: Psion's Primer - A Complete Psionics System
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for the kind words! I hope you get a lot of use out of the book in your psionic campaigns :)
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Eberronicon: A Pocket Guide to the World
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Kevin K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/13/2019 16:57:44

This is an amazing product for those looking to get into Eberron and even experienced GMs who know the lore. It contains all of the lore you know (or want to know!) about Eberron, but in a fantastically edited, slim format - but omits as little as possible, and even gives great references to read more in-depth. You can definitely see the passion shining through in this product and the editing and writing is tight, dense, but (IMO most importantly) still manages to be extremely readable.

To be clear - the Eberronicon is great for new players looking up more Eberron information for their campaigns or characters, DMs and creators looking for a quick-reference for Eberron material, and even people well acquainted with the lore - this is the most comprehensive collection of Eberron lore out there, and its appendices are jam-packed with references and recommendations for additional Eberron material.

Highly recommend checking this one out, and the authors have even included the extremely broad preview - a testament to their passion to the setting. This is really a supplement that's meant to encourage people to run and love the setting that the creators themselves enjoy so much, and it does a great job of showing that enthusiasm throughout.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Eberronicon: A Pocket Guide to the World
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March of the Colossus
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Kevin K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/12/2019 11:10:47

This is a very modular one-shot that can be inserted with ease into any Eberron campaign - and plenty of non-Eberron campaigns too, if gigantic eldritch colossi are your thing. It does a surprisingly great job at making your party feel the impact of their power at level 14 (the first encounter is two t-rexes!) and it keeps stakes high.

One great provision the author made was to acknowledge that the colossus itself could function as a dungeon crawl - and gave several recommendations for monsters to include during the ingress of the colossus.

Overall it's a great fun romp through level 14 and the twist of who the pilot is in the end is fascinating and definitely makes for an interesting session!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
March of the Colossus
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The Korranberg Chronicle: Nightmare on the Mournland Express
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Kevin K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/12/2019 10:14:19

If you are looking for an adventure on the lightning rail (or even just a train in general, outside of Eberron), look no further - this one's perfect for it. Even if you aren't looking to run this specific adventure, a large part of the PDF contains information on potential carriages and mechanics for navigating the Lightning Rail (including stuff like falling off and so on) which is easily adaptable to any other type of adventure you might want to run in the future.

Now, if you ARE a fan of Eberron.... this adventure is great, well-researched, and the creator has taken great pains to not only keep everything within canon while managing to tell a new and exciting story. Your players will really be itching for more Dal Quor content after this, and it's a great way to seed future Dreaming Dark adventures.

Overall, given the introductory section of this adventure, you're getting almost 2-3 adventures in one here - really great deal.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Korranberg Chronicle: Nightmare on the Mournland Express
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