Just finished running this one-shot last night with a group of 5 level 8 players, and it was an absolute blast. Some memorable characters, great straightforward story for less experienced players, and a nice twist about 3/4 of the way in. The adventure (as most do) took closer to 5 hours to complete all said and done, and there are things I wish were a little more complex or fleshed out, but all in all a killer one-shot for dipping toes into the game, and I will absolutely be using it again! Thank you to the author for this!

The Brightness of Mornstead is an exciting one-shot for level 5 – 8 characters. In it, the party is called to the ruined town of Mornstead by the hunter Wiles Killinger, who is willing to pay any group that can kill the dragon that devastated the town five years ago. What they don’t know is that the dragon destroyed the town because Wiles (then known as Titus Vale) had found a magical mineral called Ora that he was using to raise an undead army. However, Wiles/Titus has no intention of rewarding the party for killing the dragon – except by adding them to his undead army.

The Brightness of Mornstead is a fun, relatively straightforward adventure that centers around two main battles: the one against the dragon Kaldrith and the one against the necromancer Titus. There is also a potential encounter with some harpies, but that seems more like filler than a real battle. Likewise, while there are a few extra details – such as the NPC Fnipper and his desire for a dragon scale eyepatch – they don’t hold as much weight. Ultimately, the party is mediating between two ancient foes, and they must kill at least one of them to survive.

While I overall liked the adventure, I did wish there was a little more complexity. Perhaps, when heading towards the lighthouse there could have been more danger or more consequence for the lower Perception. Perhaps slaying Kaldrith could have imposed some sort of curse or condition on the party. I think the added complexity could have only improved the adventure.

However, if you like an uncomplicated adventure with some straightforward dragon/monster slaying, I think this is a good adventure for you. It would likely work especially well with inexperienced parties and players and help them learn the ropes of the game.

I ran this fine little adventure today. The plot twist had my players in amazement. Easy to digest and follow.