Absolutely loved this adventure, was my first time being a DM and this was very easy to follow and gave my party many chances to take on side quests whilst still progressing to the main quest, easy to change up on the fly especially if you want to point your party in a direction you want. My party was very strong so in some areas I had to add extra enemies or make some slightly tougher to compensate but that was easy enough to do. All in all fantastic little adventure, took longer than we expected, partially due to me being new. Nonetheless fantastic story amazing fun and would definitely recommend to new players and older players alike. Keep up the fantastic work!

If you're looking for an extensive one-shot that gives you access to a unique cast of characters, several sideplots, and a fun mystery, I think you'll like this.

Basically, the party finds itself embroiled in a local drama and have to learn more about the townspeople and the threatening events to solve it. You get to do shorter sidequests that would be especially good for new and inexperienced players and build up to a dungeon crawl and boss battle, potentially earning a lot of cool loot.

However, this module does require a bit of work from the DM to prevent it from getting too railroad-y. The module assumes that the party will take specific actions in specific orders, so the DM will have to be prepared for when they don't. It's also a bit wordy and repetitive, especially regarding overviews. This isn't necessarily bad as DMs can often use reminders and overviews, but it did get distracting from time to time. Finally, the monsters have been oddly named. For example, you have "Calcified Biped" instead of "Skeleton" and "Shadowy Visage" instead of "Shadow;" that was a bit distracting at first. I would recommend the DM thoroughly read through the module before jumping into play.

Nevertheless, this is an engaing and fun adventure with a lot of cool options. A good pick!

*Edit: Chris, to my knowledge it is perfectly fine to use stats from the Monster Manual, etc. Most creators just reference them without putting their stats into the adventure; you could do that and save space and also not worry about putting too much of WotC proprietary info into your adventure.

This is a great adventure full of a variety of optional extra sidequests, including a whole dungeon level, as well magic items, many variations on familiar creatures, particularly expanding on blights and undead (of which you can never have enough), and pages of NPCs with their own statblocks and defining characteristics.

The industrial town of Rothcairn, and its missing and mangled workers are the core of this adventure with the NPCs all having their own traits and ways to inform the central quest and/ or entice the party with their own sidequests and issues, but the heart is considering climate change and the various ways players can approach confrontations without always needing to result to violence, although there is enough combat, whether your party manages diplomacy or not. Have no fear murder hobos! With all the NPCs getting their own statblocks and traits, there's more variety for the killing and personalities to ignore, if that happens to be your proclivity. But the fact you can engage a couple the antagonists, including the main villain in discussion, roleplay and resolve situations without having to resort to violence is a really nice aspect, and there are greater rewards for doing so.

Climate change and the possibility of resolving conflicts with words are merely conceits naturally woven into an entertaining, opposed to a lecture in module form. These really are issues we all need to think about, engage with and take action on, so it's great to see how these elements at the thematic heart of the adventure.

The NPCs feel alive and offer a variety of side action including meeting the locals, purging a charnal house of hostile ghosties, gambling with a most naughty and humorously named game, hunting dangerous game with a bad arse Huntmaster, acting as protection for workers in the woods, a full ten-part dungeon discovered by terrified miners, before finally venturing into the depths of the woods to finally discover the source of the disappearances and deaths. These sidequests can be played in any order, before or after the main quest ends, which it's also possible to streamline the game in a more direct approach if you are rushed for time.

Essentially this is a town full of characters, quests and intrigue. Perfect for a one shot, a more extensive exploration and/ or an eventual base for your players that can slot into any setting or campaign.

I have to say I am loving what is coming out the RPG Writers Workshop. I'm working through picking them all up and eventually getting to the reviews. All the writers, as well as the wonderful organisers @RPGWrkshp should feel incredibly proud!