The Light of Yule – A Holiday One Shot by Daylight Publishing (@daylightpub1066)

Writing and Layout: Cameron Day (@daylightpub1066) The old Holiday tome aesthetic is wonderful; the information is laid out in an easy to access manner and the writing marries the camp and quaint with the darkness and depth of aspects of the campaign beautifully. Plus, the lore as laid out shows how much Day has made Nordvindr and this adventure a labour of love.

Editing, Balancing, and Statblocks: Ryan Langr (@RealmwarpM) The creatures are great and their thematic abilities are awesome.

Cover Art: Marcel Budde (@MarBudde) They olde timey-nordic woodcut style cover is breath-taking! The details are wonderful and the stylised Krampus encircling the eponymous Light of Yule truly captures the essence and tells the heart of the tale as covers and engravings of this nature would have in the past. One of the most effective, stylistic and thematic covers I have ever seen. It certainly gives you a flavour of what’s inside.

Interior Art: Abbie Hines (@abbieh_art) The interior art throughout the adventure truly captures the spirit of the story. The somewhat sweet and marriage of olde illustrations aesthetic with a more modern twist bridges the cover, the inspirations for the story. The illustrations of the important characters are spectacular and impressively bring their nature and personality to the fore, while impressively holding a cute centaur and filthy Demon and a malicious frozen shard of personality in one great style.

Encounter Maps: Jason Russell (@critical_dice) You can never go wrong with a JSR map! They have a clean, effective design with a hand-drawn OSR feel.

“A Christmas Inspired Adventure for four to six 8th-level players”

“Deep within the Feywild, an ancient evil known as Krampus has captured the powerful artefact The Light of Yule, and has nefarious intent with it. If the Light cannot be returned to Father Sonareoth in time for him to bless it, then the Sword Coast will not be safe from the darkness that comes at wintertime…”

The Land of Nordvindr

The supplement opens with an inspired in world quote about Father Sonareoth, and his unpopularity with the Elves, by a Dwarven Ranger called Klaus Remark, which clearly shows the depth of thought and care put into this adventure.

Nordvindr is a “land of eternal snow, ice, and cheer” in the Feywild where Gnomes and Elves live immortal lives, kept safe by Father Sonareoth keeping the iron that could mortally wound them locked away. Here they hunt, play and create great machines and mechanisms”.

Ruled by Father Sonareoth

A lone fey Lord with powers of “ice, snow and other fey Wizardry” presides over Nordvindr, apart from the courts and realms of the Feywild.

Plagued with Darkness

The immutable nature of the Feywild have allowed Krampus, a malignant being from another plane, to build a fort and an army of wicked Fey and Devils with designs on stealing Sonareoth’s power, the Light of Yule. With new allies in Jack Frost and Sandman, he inches closer to his goal.

The Light of Yule

“This ancient artefact, depicted as a simple hemlock wreath in which a trio of red candles glows, holds the life force and power of Father Sonareoth.” The Platinum Dragon himself creates a new wreath each year for Sonareoth since time immemorial, who secretly protects the Sword Coast from the cold and dark things that awake in the depths of winter with its light. Were it to be snuffed out...?

Adventure Layout

The adventure is split into seven parts: Part One – Arrival in Snowmantle Part Two – To the he Great Door Part Three – The Forest of Freezing Chimes Part Four – The Frauhst Estate Part Five – Sandman’s Dimension Part Six – Within Castle Krampus Part Seven – Yule is Saved

Part One – Arrival in Snowmantle

The party wake up in huge, fluffy beds to sweet and nostalgic smells...somewhere quite different from where they went to sleep. Finding their equipment in chests at the foot of their beds, they come across Aenyr, an adorably illustrated Ponytaur (details on the Ponytaur race, including player options, and Ice Elves are included on the appendix. More on that later). Aenyr informs the PCs the Light of Yule has been stolen by Krampus, mere days before it’s protective light will be needed to protect the Sword Coast from bitter cold, blizzards and evil.

This is a sweetly described and well laid out opening scene filled with festive fragrances, clear features and checks and a holiday hook for adventure, despite the discombobulation the PCs may feel awaking in a strange new land.

Part Two – To the Great Door

Given magical means of keeping warm and reindeers to ride to make it in time, guided by the mighty, regal and more than a little intimidating Ruhdolf, the party make their way to the Great Door. En route they are attacked by an Ice Elf Shaman and their summoned Ice Elementals. Advice on running the encounter and handling the Ice Elf’s resistance to death not meted out by cold iron are included. Statblocks for all creatures, including the Ice-Shaman’s undead Risendeer and the hench Feydeer, Ruhdolf, are provided in a separate PDF.

Arrival at the Great Door

The party doesn’t have long to marvel at the immense doors and the 30 ft. Silver Dragonborn encased in golden armour, Hovdyr, that guards it, before they are attacked by Frost Giants and another Ice Shaman. Similar tactics as before are given, with the addition of the gleaming scaled guardian doing his best to hold the Giants off. There aren’t any stats or comments on how to accommodate Hovdyr into combat, so I believe the gargantuan combat is a chance for DMs to describe the immense action taking place around and through the combat the PCs are engaged in. This really is an awesome opportunity for improvisation and describing an epic battle, as well as a chance to ensure the party survive in style – this is a festive adventure after all. I have such glorious images of this battle in my mind now! I didn’t know how much I needed a 30 ft. Silver and gold Dragonborn in my life, but now it’s all I want.

Part Three – The Forest of Frozen Chimes

The forest is spooky a place of sibilantly screaming icicles that will test the party, literally and figuratively.

The First Test is of kindness with the PCs coming across a Goblin Boss and their injured Colossal White Weasel steed. Will the party show kindness and heal the poor animal, or will they find themselves jumped by surprise Hobgoblins?

The Second Test is a tricky test of intelligence with the party coming across a gnome who seems like a fungi work with a mathematical magic mushroom problem for them to work out. The added wrinkle being the Gnome is a Mage and casting illusions on the mushrooms. The various checks and handling of the situation are clearly laid out, as well as the Gnome’s large sibling who intervenes if the PCs refuse to help.

The Third Test is to find out if the party are monsters or not, as an Owlbear cub in a magical snare telepathically calls out for help. Releasing them is not as easy as it first appears, but frankly the PCs deserve the gang of Ogres that appear if they don’t help in my opinion.

Part Four – The Frauhst Estate

This huge manor is disconcertingly icy and laid out in dungeon format. Each area has a short, pithy description followed by all features, treasure and developments in clear bullet point format with all pertinent information, making prep and running simple and easy. This is a seriously interesting location that really tells a story and reflects its owner.

Over the course of exploring the manor, the PCs find evidence of a break in among the otherwise pristine rooms, as well as various fascinating, bizarre and dangerous tomes and items, many from all manner of other planes. It would be advised to prepare and/ or look into book supplements for ease with dealing with the library and study.

A glorious puzzle in dining room revolves around paintings of Barovia, Elysium, Eberron, Mount Celestia which can suck PCs into the demiplanes they present, relying on a fairy-like creature retuning them to Nordvindr after answering a specific riddle. This has the potential for some serious fun and drama, especially playing with the idea that the party are split over multiple demiplanes. Perhaps, waiting until any or all PCs touch the paintings, before initiating the save.

Rough cold iron blades can also be found in the house, though the party may not realise their importance until it is pressing.

CW: Child Death (referenced)

In the private study, the home’s owner, Jackson Frauhst, who has an epic and tragic tale to tell of his life, the fate of his family, the coming of Krampus, and the emergence of Jack Frost. The story is fascinating and heart-breaking, and depending on the PCs and their antics around the house, there’s a possibility of some very awkward conversations and feelings of guilt.

This story carries genuine emotional weight and pathos, while mixing with the hypercolour holidays aesthetic.

Soon after hearing Jackson’s tale, Jack Frost appears intent on killing Jackson and anyone in the way. Frost is an intimidating character and the art is horribly perfect. The evil fey is wickedly set on his goal, so the party don’t have long to defend Frauhst from his darker half, especially if needs to hold Frost off so the PCs can get cold iron blades. Even more pressing is the incoming of the Sandman who cocoons in sand any of the party that don’t fall under his somnial influence.

Unique statblocks for Frauhst and Frost are provided in the Statblocks Supplement.

Part Five – Sandman’s Dimension

At the Sandman’s mercy in his own dream realm, the PCs face a mental battle and greatest fears individually with Doppelgangers taking the form of the fears. This is an interesting and self-contained check and combat scenario with potential for a real intense, fun and/ or bleak time, depending on the manifested fears. Thoroughly recommend getting these fears in advance and ensuring other character’s fears aren’t upsetting for anyone at the table. Having multiple fears for variety and finding some way to do this without the other players finding out, while still respecting the safety tools, allows for some interesting and/ or amusing reveals.

I would have some concerns, especially with certain players, about capturing and negating PCs’ resistances, and fear about the stress this scenario could have with the intense one on one combats, BUT this is a fast-paced, action-packed Christmas caper and this is a wonderfully bizarre left turn. It’s also made very clear that the combats take place in a dream state and the PCs don’t die or lose HP that’s carried over when they wake.

Part Six – Within Castle Krampus

The players awake in cages in Krampus’ throne room with the Light of Yule hanging behind his snoring form, his minions all around him. All they need to do now is escape the cages, sneak up and reclaim the Light of Yule and discover the magic they had with them all the time...oh and don’t wake up Krampus!

Krampus is described in such a visceral and intimidating manner that really brings him to life. The unique statblock for the huge Demon includes some wonderfully lore-inspired abilities, so the party pocket must stay strong so as it to get sacked.

If they do happen to wake Krampus, he will summon Jack Frost if the battle isn’t going his way. If this is not enough for the meat of the fight (though surely it should be), the description of random creatures could inspire new combatants as needed. A boxtext is provided for an awesome OMG! Moment, which gave me a real rush of excitement, with advice to use it to negate Frost reducing a PC to 0 HP or whenever necessary.

However, things shake out, it’s eventually time to get the light and get out!

Part Seven – Yule is Saved!

The party are heroes! They are showered with treasure and a couple of awesome new magic items (I’ll get to these in the appendix). They will be asked to perform a great honour and meet the jolly big man himself, Father Sonareoth, in a magical final scene. A lovely way to end this epic holiday adventure.

Appendix A – Magic Items

The four new magic items are clearly laid out with two images and some rather lovely descriptions. Some are particularly pertinent to this adventure, but the rewards are really interesting and inspire further Fey adventures and/ or interactions.

Appendix B – Player Races

Two player races are included for this adventure and beyond with full stats and abilities with the exception of attribute bonuses with the advice to use the method from Grazilaxx’s Guide to Ancestry (assigning the attribute bonuses based on Background or Class rather than ‘race’. These are the adorable shaggy, Gnome-esque, Ponytaurs, and the Ice Elves, a mostly unknown and thought to be descended from Elves and Elementals, as seen in the adventure.

This adventure is an absolute cracker! A frenetic and energy-filled adventure full of excitement, wonder, exploration and arse-kicking! The pace is awesome and quick, perfect for a Holiday one shot when everyone is there to have a fun time and get to do a bit of everything. This may be controversial to some, but it somewhat feels like Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker with its clipping pace, awesome action and just non-stop popcorn-crunching, mine pie-munching epicness and good times. (if ROS wasn’t for you, I’m sorry and please disregard the comparison lol). What I’m trying to say is that it slaps! Seriously awesome fun with a little bit of something for everyone. Exactly what you want in a one shot, especially with the way elements are laid out allowing for controlling the time and hustling even more if necessary.

“Drawing inspiration from Christmas stories, Celtic and Germanic folklore, and the strange amorphous natural landscape of the Feywild, The Light of Yule is a perfect evening adventure for anyone looking to get into the holiday spirit and smite some humbugs.”

It truly does what it says on the tin! It filled me with festive joy and is one of the best Holiday adventures I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing!

Blooming marvellous!

https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/297093/?affiliate_id=1507682

Book of Seasons: Solstices Author Herder: Jessica Marcrum (@Miss_Jess03) Chief Art Maven: Jennifer Peig (@jennpeig) Heads of Adventure Polish: Catherine Evans (@perpetualgloom), Liz Gist (@crit_liz) Layout Wizard: David Markiwsky (@DavidMarkiwsky) In the spirit of full disclosure I was provided a review copy of this anthology for a full and honest review. This is an incredibly beautiful and mighty tome of tales from many different creators coming together to create something truly spectacular! Everything about it is gorgeous with a glorious aesthetic, layout and art.

I will speak more to the anthology as a whole as I update this review.

Much as I did with Eat the Rich Anthology Vol 1, I’m going to be reviewing one adventure in depth at a time and then adding further reviews when I can. I do this because I review so many things from so many folx and reviewing a while anthology in one go would take me out of action for too long.

As we are in the depths of winter, I shall be beginning with the first adventure from the Winter half:

The Longest Night of the Year by Samantha Lavendar (@RainyRedwoods) & Miranda Mels (@MelsCommaMira)

Level: 0 Content Warnings: Child Death, Parental Neglect

I greatly appreciate the format of having the level and content warnings from the off for clarity and fair warning.

Synopsis

While a village prepares for Midwinter, the darkest moment of the year, a ghost who was left out in the cold has steals their fires, so a band of villagers/the party follow the ghost into the woods to reclaim their flames.

Adventure Hook

The party are formed of people from the village or those visiting for the Midwinter festival.

All characters are level 0 and without any class benefits. Information is provided of the other elements of being a level 0 PC. This is something a little different to most adventures and offers its own challenges, as well as making perfect sense for the party beginning as locals and deeply tied to the adventure. Using this as the opening of a campaign makes this level 0

Adventure Background

Anfonwen is a secluded village in the mountains, bearing the brunt of winter weather. Long ago one Midwinter’s Eve, a hunter died deep in the woods where his body was never found. His daughter was told to wait at their camp where she succumbed to the cold. Still she waits and she is still so cold, manifesting only on Midwinter’s Eve. This year she has taken all the town’s fire as a desperate clutch at warmth.

Chapter 1: Midwinter’s Eve

The Feast

The adventure begins with the villagers celebrating Midwinter’s Eve. The scene of merriment and Holiday delight is set beautifully through boxtext and detailed descriptions of the food on offer, as well as a myriad of games, chores and all sorts to introduce the characters and NPCs and give the players some fun things to try. Advice is given about handling PCs making ability checks for performance and games, whether they are proficient or not.

This opening scene is a truly joyous and open affair with all the information you could need as a DM to suggest or facilitate the various options, with the specifics being left you them and the players. This is a scene that in some games could take all night, roleplaying, making merry, getting to know each other’s characters and all the NPCs (who are wonderfully diverse and inclusive) too, or it’s a scene that will set a tone of fun and holiday merriment that some players and groups may speed through. Either way, it’s a wondrous start to an adventure, an inspired beginning to a campaign (if used for such), and a fabulous way to introduce new players and let players interact, warming up their dice and roleplaying skills. There’s even advice and suggestions for creating your own catchy Winter’s Eve carol for everyone at the table to sing! I’ve done a fair few reviews now and that’s new to me!

Stolen Flame

The sudden vanishing of all fire in the midst of song makes for a markedly dramatic end to the first chapter, as scared and inquisitive folx start to head out into the night. Time for the party to step up.

Chapter 2: The Cold Night

This adventure contains such wonderful details, such as the description at beginning of this chapter where it is relayed that the Ghost has stolen all the fires except for the Midwinter Candles in each home as “there is too much faith placed into those tiny flames.” Absolutely beautiful!

Helping the Village

The need to prepare the village for the coming long night is handled with a group check with suggestions and combinations for every attribute, enabling every member of the party to truly be able to help. With the detailed suggestions, DMs should feel inspired to react to and include all manner of ways in which PCs may contribute, as well as having a wealth of suggestions for those PCs who don’t feel qualified. This is a simple and simply stupendous way to bring the party together as a unified group before the action starts, with no one feeling left out. The chance for exhaustion is somewhat brutal, but adds to the chilling, dark setting and feeling of helplessness in the long Midwinter’s Eve night.

The Winter Girl

Sightings and recollections of the Isa, the ghost and girl who, along with her father, perished one Midwinter’s Eve, begin the mystery. There’s something wonderful about the image of the party following ghostly footprints into the woods on the longest, darkest night with nothing but a small candle to light the way.

Chapter 3: A Light in the Dark

The chapter opens with the mechanics of following the trail in the dark wood and freezing snow, which make a lot of sense. It could be a quick doddle or unlucky parties could find themselves exhausted from wondering aimlessly in the snow.

Isa’s Campfire

The party are must confront the bleak scene of the young ghost and her frozen campsite. While a creature reference is included, there is absolutely no need for things to become violent. Clues can be gleaned from question Isa, as well as by helpfully suggested checks. It’s something special and a wonderful repetition that Carolling comes into play.

Conclusion

There is a beautiful description on the child being laid to rest and fires returning to the village. Due to the characters being level 0 they don’t gain XP, but having completed this adventure they PCs will be ready to choose their classes.

Rewards

A single-use charm is the reward for all those who took part in aiding Isa’s final rest, described beautifully: “The experience of bringing peace to a cold, lonely child and bringing light back to the village settles in the characters’ chests like a tiny flame.”

Author’s Notes/ Acknowledgments

“The first time we played this adventure, Sam and Miranda were both in tears before the end of the game. Dungeons & Dragons can be a powerful way to explore serious or heartbreaking subjects, if you are willing to approach the experience with open and honest vulnerability.”

This is a wonderful thing to have added. I absolutely love how emotional and effecting D&D can be.

Author Bio

“Samantha Lavender has been playing Dungeons & Dragons for most of her life, starting with the 2nd edition introduction box and including every edition since. She can occasionally be found on Twitter as @RainyRedwoods.”

“Miranda Mels began playing Dungeons & Dragons at Sam’s table during the D&D Next public playtest. She now runs multiple games of D&D every week. She isn’t really on Twitter, not even @MelsCommaMira most days.”

This is an awesome introductory adventure that let’s players experience that Commoner+ life and experience a natural (or supernatural) call to adventure. Perfect for introducing new players, as well as a great way for more experienced players to feel out their character, before choosing a class, especially as there are so many diverse options and moments for trying out various skills. With regard to those moments, this adventure does the hugely impressive and standout thing of providing all the information and/ or inspiration and tools for the DM to do something special and unique with their group. It’s a very fine line between being completely prescriptive and telling the DM to just have a go, and this adventure dances along it beautifully.

Something you may have noticed is that (as long as the party don’t randomly attack their fellow villagers or the young Ghost) it doesn’t contain a combat, and you know what? That’s just fine. Not every adventure needs combat. It’s good to be aware of this going in, as well as perhaps making your players aware. The nature of being a level 0 PCs is that you don’t have your class equipment or anything, so it doesn’t make sense. Plus returning to the village as heroes, making the class decisions and leaving town tooled up will make it all the sweeter when you do thrown an combat at them...unless they die.

A classic ghost story told superbly with an incredible grasp of keeping everyone involved and allowing for fun, both in game and out, including carols! A spectacular start to a campaign and a great taste of the Commoner life and merry festivities. Truly has potential as an example to new players, be a great wintery one shot or a sensational seed to grown a whole campaign from!

Wonderful stuff!

Auntie Solveig Steals the Holidays by Christopher Walz (@DMChristopherW)

“Save the holidays from a real grump in this one-shot adventure for characters level 5 to 7.”

In the spirit of full disclosure, I was provided a review copy of this supplement for a full and honest review.

Introduction

Adventure Background

The peaceful fishing village of Whitecap has angered Auntie Solveig Kringlebones, a Bheur Hag, with their merry making around their holiday, Giving Night. Auntie has enlisted the help of wintery Goblins from the Feywild and local creatures to do her cruel bidding. The village has been besieged with snow and now the Goblins are sent to leave cursed presents for the children to find!

I do love a background that is fun to read and truly paints a picture. This definitely sets the scene, portraying so much of the village and holiday’s manner, as well as the machinations, minions and mind of Auntie Solveig Kringlebones.

Information is also provided for setting the adventure in your game. It is designed to be setting neutral, though specific locations for the Forgotten Realms, Eberron and Barovia (Ravenloft). The level of thought and care in this little box speaks volumes of the Walz’s craft.

Adventure Synopsis

The adventure is divided into three parts:

Part I: The Hag’s Helpers. The party come across some of the villagers as they all seek shelter from the storm in and inn, which a Goblin Boss decides to lay siege too, despite Auntie’s plans. Part II: Against the Storm. After defeating the Goblins and learning of their master, the party now must battle Whitecap Peak and a deadly storm. Part III: The Mother of Greed. The party make it to Auntie’s abandoned fort and confront her in the middle of her making a mockery of Giving Night.

Using This Adventure

Advice on clearly reading through the adventure, which is designed to be easy to run, with the caveat of their being some advanced creature tactics to be aware of. It’s also advised the adventure is playable in one 4-5 hour session, though there are options, particularly in Part II, which (along with players) could potentially cause it to run much longer. It is advised to use existing level 5-7 characters or any of the 6 on them level 6 pre-generated characters provided in a separate zip file. The referenced core books are mentioned, along with advising checking out Volo’s Guide to Monsters for more details on Bheur Hags.

Adventure Hooks

Four hooks are provided for existing characters, with the pre-generated character already having hooks. These include Seeking Shelter from the storm, using Whitecap as a launching point for an expedition into a giant settlement for Icy Plunder, one of the PCs having a relative in Whitecap they’re Visiting for the Holidays, and the PCs being hired by a large city merchant to make inroads with Whitecap for their Mercantile Pursuits. These provide a wide range of reasons to find themselves in the adventure, as well as being full of inspiration for further adventures.

Part I: The Hag’s Helpers

The opening scene is set beautifully in the description and evocative boxtext with simple details that instantly breathe life into the Frostshield Tower, its proprietor and the situation. Opportunity is given for the PCs to mingle with the townsfolk, with four NPCs provided with brief, interesting bios. Don’t forget all the previous information the adventure has provided that the NPCs will have varying amounts of knowledge of.

An Unexpected Present

A strange present appears, introducing the cursed gifts with comprehensive information and checks provided, as well as the unfortunate and amusing ways bad luck can affect the townsfolk. This causes concern and sets a party of townsfolk and PCs to heading out as the Goblins are looking to come in.

Holiday Heroes

The Goblins burst in and attack led by their boss, Tukkok Elf-Biter, whose unique statblock and the map of the Inn are provided on the following pages. All maps are also provided separately in a zip file also. Detailed information on how the Goblins fight, rob and flee, along with the townsfolk’s cowering and Brygitte Frostshield’s additional equipment and actions.

Adding excitement to the encounter a perilous situation involving Goblins and a child in a locked room occurs during combat, prompting quick responses and action. This could be a really heightened and exciting moment, but it is also good to be aware that this could also be difficult for some players. This is something you may want to discuss using Safety Tools or at least checking in with the group, and if necessary, another NPC could be used.

The Goblins themselves are Goblins of the Frozen Wastes of Winter, coming from the Feywild and part of the Unseelie Winter Court, and have additional traits added to the standard Goblins statblock to reflect this.

Developments

The rewards and attitude of the townsfolk and Brygitte reflect the level of success the party had in defending the Inn and its occupants.

A Bout of Bad Luck

More townsfolk show up with more cursed gifts leading to more bad luck shenanigans from the ridiculous to absolutely frustrating. This is something you could really have some silly fun with, rolling with the suggestions and making up your own misfortunes. I’d recommend channelling some awful infomercial antics! Bringing a thankful end to unfortunate buffoonery, a map can be found and/ or information given by any captured Goblin leading to the abandoned Fort up the mountain.

Part II: Against the Storm

The party venture forth to save the day, hopefully, or get persuaded by Brygitte offering a rewards

Along the Way

Six encounters are included for the journey up the mountain, with the recommendation of two for the suggested run time, though each of them is a lot of fun. Rules and checks are provided for tracking the Goblins and the extreme weather conditions. The encounters include, blackbird spies, an avalanche, a frozen camp with undead inhabitants, Winter Wolves and their kin, treacherous climbing and a cackling fly-by attack from Auntie herself!

It really depends on your time frame and player enjoyment, but I can see using all the encounters to really create the sense of climbing such a difficult mountain in adverse conditions, as well as exhibiting the Fey influence and power of Auntie. There is also advice on how to handle the Auntie encounter and setting up the foreshadowing of the battle to come.

Part III: The Mother of Greed

The party face a perverse mockery of Giving Night, a Fey ritual to destroy it. This may be confusing for the reader and players, but thankfully enough information is provided, as well as checks for and the very interesting lore, which are provided.

Approaching the Fort

Depending on how the party faired on the way up, this is a chance for stealth and surprise, evading a Goblin patrol between towers. There’s even an optional sneaky, not so sneaky way through a pipe system.

The Fort Map is included in the text for easy reference, as well as separately in a zip file. You can never go wrong with Dyson Logos maps; they are the perfect balance of functional and aesthetic.

Approaching the North Tower a truly awesome, brutal and violent sight of a Yeti on their ramshackle throne and their treatment of the Goblin serfs. The picture is all the more bizarre when the festive fellow the Yeti is dressed and acting as, albeit with Feywild and bloody twist. Looks like it’s time to fight Santa Claus and their green elves! Can the party win and find something interesting in Santa’s sack?

A collapsed barracks holds more Goblins and their boss, Tukkuk, who has his own Feywild freezer of goodies, including an awesome new magic item: Snowball Bag, which is a nifty uncommon bag of magic exploding snowballs! Included in the text for convenience.

A southern tower contains Goblins making cookies, overseen by a Nilbog, which leads to a very confusing and ridiculous encounter with the Goblins trying to stuff PCs in the oven! I do so love a ridiculous and flavourful room and encounter, and this ties wonderfully into the story and will provide some glorious mayhem!

The party finally meet face to face Auntie Solveig Kringlebones, vividly described as, “a bent, ancient woman, her skin the colour of a day-old bruise, crackling gleefully”. If they don’t attack from the get go, Auntie invites them into her dark ritual...but eventually gets bored and attacks. Though if they is prepared, they are flying and her minions are ready to rumble. Tactics are clearly laid out for all situations, including the attempted theft of their reindeer-skull topped staff and for reinforcements, of the party haven’t killed them all yet. Auntie’s statblock is included in the text and has some hilarious and horrifying actions and abilities! A box for extra suggested ridiculous and disgusting abilities is also included featuring rotten cookies and month-old eggnog...

Victorious, the party can find a magic item for each of them under Auntie’s tree. They can return to Whitecap heroes, get paid and revive Giving Night. However, suggestions are made for further adventures, including Auntie plotting revenge next winter solstice if they escape, if the party played the Hags game Spring Eladrin may come to confront them when the ice melts, and an incredible, farcical, brilliant idea involving the ‘real’ Santa who wants the party’s help as his toyshop has sunk into the Feydark! I desperately want this to be a sequel adventure!!!

This adventure is truly a joyful, violent and silly affair not necessarily suited for children, but big kids like myself will absolutely love it! As I mentioned before, there are a few things that it would be good to ensure are covered when introducing this to your players, preferably with safety tools. These include violence to a child, graphic depiction of Goblins getting splattered and the eating and forced drinking of rotten food and drink. It’s always best to be sure everyone can have as much fun as possible, and this adventure is absolutely filled with it.

The craft and cafe taken over the combat scaling and tactics, mixed with the fantastic writing by Walz and their wonderful handling of whimsy, truly single this out as one of the best holiday adventures out there! When you add the spectacular layout by Nathanaël Roux (@freeners) and the delightfully dark an, whimsical cover and interior art by Dana Braga (@danaxbraga), who truly captures the ridiculousness, holiday fears and Fey cheers, the whole thing comes together as something seriously special and well worth having some festive fun with!

Bloody marvellous!

There’s Snow Place Like Home by Jonathan (@DndDuet) and Beth Ball (@GroveGuardian)

A merry misadventure for duets or small groups of 4th level characters.

Beautiful old illustration, Away to the Mountains by Warwick Gobble (what an awesome name!) used for the cover. (https://www.oldbookillustrations.com/illustrations/away-mountains/)

Introduction

“This wintery adventure is perfect for one-on-one play or small groups. The one-shot plays off several of our favourite holiday stories and traditions, and we hope it conjures magical memories and new experiences for you as well.”

Adventure Background

Whisked away to the snowy demiplane wonderland, the players find themselves asked by a kindly snowman with a corncob pipe to help the kindly Eladrin and goodly Gnomes who are trapped in ice and dreams of sugar plums, respectively. It’s a mission to save the Gifting!

How to Use this Adventure

Clear examples and explanations of the layout and format of the adventure are provided.

Advice on how to handle the adventure for groups or duets is also provided with resources for Sidekicks, including Sparkle the Snowman who can be found in the appendix, as well as tips for handling and scaling combat on the fly.

Adventure Hooks

Three example hooks to get the party to the wintery demiplane are provided, including a direct tie in to Waterdeep and the discovery of a magical snow globe (which could also be found anywhere appropriate), the players encountering a mystical snowstorm that transports them or being transported listening to a wonderful hearthside tale.

Synopsis

The adventure is split into three parts: In Part 1 the party arrive and help to wake a sleepy town of Gnomes. In Part 2 they assist their new friends on their dangerous journey to confront Count Cringle. In Part 3 they must deal with a conniving Elf and a dirty Devil to save the holidays!

Characters

The dramatic personae are listed with brief descriptions and background, including Sparkles The Snowman, three Gnomish Cheermeisters whose job is to maintain peace and tranquillity, Pyotr Decorovich, an ambitious elf with awakening arcane powers, Belsnickel, an impish devil, and Count Sebastian Cringle, Winter Eladrin ruler of Cheerington.

Part 1: A Sleepy Town

A cute flavour quote and a short, sweet boxtext set the scene for the party’s arrival and their meeting Sparkles the Snowman.

The various knowledge Sparkles has about Cheerington and the situation are laid out in bullet points allowing for quick, easy reference, along with a brief description and advice on using him as a Sidekick for Duets, or just to lead the way for groups.

Cheerington

A town of snoring, snoozing Gnomes.

The cause of the situation, a combination of magically corrupting coal and a powerful sleeping enchantment, and what the players need to do, destroy the evil coal, are explained in a helpful box, though for the players it will be a case of exploration and experimentation.

The town has a number of buildings to explore all with clearly set out characteristics, as well as three expanded locations. These include the home of a conspiracy theorist who can provide spurious information, a tavern containing a drunken polar bear and a particularly effervescent gnome, a jolly general store containing a strangely familiar toy adventurer, gingerbread guardians (as well as advice on how to handle the combat to keep it fun and swift) and some cracking new festive magic items I’ll get into in the appendix.

There is the chance for a lot of fun in this sleepy town, but once all the Cheermeisters, which are given tangible descriptions and their information laid out in bullet points, have been awoken it’s time for a meeting and action.

Part 2: Through the Forest and Through the Fields...

The party head through the dangerous wilds towards Castle Cringle essentially acting as classic caravan guards, but what they face is anything but ordinary.

Four random encounter can be rolled at two points on the journey, but as long as the party can handle it, I’d recommend using all four as they are so awesome and flavourful, including a Christmas Tree hiding dangers, a field of terrifying snowmen, being stalked by parent and child yeti and the amorous dangers of magical mistletoe! And this is before the attack of rabid flying reindeer that try to make off with members of the party!

A survival mechanic for dealing with the cold and being away from the Gnome’s source of heat is included, adding extra peril to wandering off and leaving the Gnomes to it, as well as for tracking any poor soul stolen away by reindeer. There are also various other bits of information the Gnomes can give over the course of the journey.

Part 3: The Devil’s in the Details

This section containing the infernal factory and Castle Cringle are laid out room by room for maximum flexibility and exploration, though advice is given on how to get things moving if players aren’t in for the full dungeon crawl.

The factory is a grim place overseen by Fiends and a wonderfully classic door puzzle mimic. Can the party free the Elves, seize the means of production, defeat the Devils and find a way into Castle Cringle?

In the castle the party face the devil, Belsnickel, and the impish Elf, Pyotr Decorovich, inspired by the character from German folklore who punishes bad behaviour and Zwarte Piet, a helper of Saint Nicholas of Moorish descent, originally portrayed as an enslaved demon, who is unfortunately often portrayed in blackface. Thankfully there is no blackface here, despite being described as “covered in soot”. While I’m sure writers meant no offense, it is good to be aware that this character can be seen as problematic. However, the character Pyotr as presented has depth, an understandable (if not agreeable) reason for his actions and seeks redemption if given a chance.

Both NPCs, their motivations and history are described in detail, including how Pyotr found themselves in this position, his attempts to escape and dying words (if he is killed) and the Devil’s machinations for the untainted this demiplane.

Just an aside, in researching these characters I came across the fact that some of the non-ecclesiastical aspects of European folklore regarding Saint Nick or Sinterklaas are heavily inspired by Norse mythology, Odin and the Wild Hunt specifically. I definitely need more epic Norse in my Christmas! Additionally, Odin’s ravens are another possible source and inspiration for Zwarte Piet.

The Castle also contains a number of rooms to explore and things to see, including Imps battling their own gingerbread abomination, cobbled together from broken bits, Cookies of Healing, Cringle’s diary with some scandalous revelations that make me wonder whether this demiplane might be in the Domains of Dread, making Count Cringle a Dark Lord! I have to say when diaries and notes are included in adventures, I much prefer to see them written out in full and included in the appendix for the option of giving handouts, especially when the tea is as hot and exciting as this!

The adventure has two main endings, dependant on the slaying or sparing of Pyotr, with the ultimate happy ending relying on a successful Persuasion. Either way, the party are paid and each given a wrapped magic item as a gift and reward, with the advice to roll on the referenced magic item table in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Finally, all return home with the aid of a magic orb, clicking their heels together and all saying, “There’s Snow Place Like Home” in unison, evoking The Wizard of Oz.

The appendix contains an adorable map of Cheerington and a dungeon map of Castle Cringle, which is provided gridded and without grid as separate downloads. Unique statblocks are provided for Belsnickel, Gingerbread Man, Rabid Reindeer (and leader Red Nose Variant) and Sparkle the Snowman. The new magic items are also listed with stylised illustrations, and they really are a delight that somehow balance Holiday fun and ridiculousness with genuinely being rather helpful. These include, Box of Baubles (containing wind-up toys with homunculus stats), Cringle’s Curious Catapult, Mug of Heating and Cooling, Perma-Candle of the Seasons, Stocking of Holding and Terrifying Tinsel.

This is a gloriously quaint, fun and silly adventure with some weight and bite in the tail. There’s Snow Place Like Home draws on many of the wonderful, bright and strange elements and tropes of various Christmas, holidays and kids’ stories to create an adventure that could be played and enjoyed by everyone, regardless of age and experience. Each section opens with overhead quotes from a location or from the carols of Cheerington, while the clear layout is brightened by the lovely watercolour images and motifs that have become a regular feature Grove Guardian Press adventures.

This really is perfect for a Holiday one shot and an absolute steal at the ridiculously low price for the quality and care contained within!

Once we’re home and recovered from visiting family, I will be running this for my partner ASAP, as we keep the Holidays rolling until February in our house!

The Laureate Trials by Monique Franzsen (@moniquefranzsen)

This introductory module, created during RPG Writer Workshop Summer 2019 and designed to be playable with only the D&D5e Basic Rules, invites new parties to pit their agility, wits and brawn against the Laureate Trials to see if they have what it takes to join the ranks of the illustrious guild of heroes, as well as deciding the fate of one forgotten!

“The Laureate Trials contains: 20+ pages of pure adventure An Appendix with anything you might need to reference 3 new magic items A Laureate Guild Invitation handout A Trial of Wits puzzle handout (plus solution) 2 maps to help you run the adventure”

Credits and Thanks

Among the praise for the wonderful Ashley Warren (@ashleynhwarren) and the fantastic RPG Writer Workshop (@RPGWriterWrkshp), Franzsen includes, “I wouldn’t have managed this without our motivating and insightful Discord channel”, which should add further inspiration for those wanting to dip their toes into writing, knowing that there is a dedicated, active and supportive discord.

Editing “Wizardry” Tyson VanOverhill (@Tyson_NW)

Layout – Google Docs template by /u/littlegnome

This is the first time I have seen this great Google Doc template link shared and have saved it for my own writing one day: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPnlGqboLJIvMm6Qo9LizTHoDQ5XgEHA4MKcLy3kfMU/edit?usp=drivesdk

Monster Stat Blocks by /u/convictedidiot

Another incredible free resource: http://tetra-cube.com/dnd/dnd-statblock.html D&D 5e Statblock Generator

Maps: The Fantasy Map builder (https://www.fantasymapbuilder.com/)

About the Creator

“Monique Franzsen has been immersed in the role-playing world since she was a child, when she was introduced to dungeon-crawlers on PC, like Mordor and Blades of Exile . She has played and ran all sorts of RPGs through the years but Dungeons & Dragons was her first. She loves video games, sci-fi, education, musicals, gamification and bildungsromans. Come and hang out on Twitter - @moniquefranzsen”

Welcome to the Laureate Guild

The party are invited to the adventurers guild’s annual tryouts. Do they have what it takes to join the ranks and start making a name for themselves?

How to Use this Adventure

There is a full rundown and explanation of all the elements and styles used in the adventure. Perfect for any new or inexperienced DM, while the adventure itself is particularly great for new players, giving them a taste of various aspects of the game.

Adventure Overview

This breaks down the adventure into the three beats/ chapters:

Chapter 1 – Trial of Agility

The party meet the Guildmaster and traverse a slippery obstacle course, while the crowd watches on.

Chapter 2 – Trial of Wits

Aided by a mechanical parrot, the party must solve a riddle to cross the floor safely.

Chapter 3 – Trial of Combat

The part face clockwork combatants and in the trapped arena, before meeting a Warforged and deciding their fate.

Adventure Hooks

Unlike many others, this adventure assumes the party are taking part in the eponymous Laureate Trials, so it’s integral to get them to sign up. To this end three hooks are provided to get them on board.

Primary: The party have been talent-spotted from a previous notable act, which serves as both a great way to tie this to previous adventures and/ or exploits, and as a great way to discover more about the characters and party’s past, strengthening their bonds, making up the history that drew the Laureate Guild’s attention. This also comes with a nice wreathed parchment handout in the appendices

Secondary: The Guildmaster puts on a showcase in town where the PCs can meet her, become acquainted with the guild, and their lucrative and exclusive contracts.

Tertiary: (Just a small aside about me, I really like the word tertiary and don’t think it’s used enough. There’s just something about the ‘er’ and ‘shu/shi’ sounds that are very pleasant and futuristic sounding... Anyways) While the last one came with a new named NPC, this one comes with a new NPC and their hustle, in the form of a gnome who provides jobs and info, whose latest job is for guild members only.

All About the Laureates

This section provides background information on the guild, third areas of operation, how they got their name and rumours about the pins they wear.

Chapter 1 – The Trial of Agility

Scene 1: Welcome to the Laureates

The scene opens with a nice box text that sets the scene and tone, before it’s encouraged for the PCs to introduce themselves to and interact with the Guildmaster, Poll Axminster, and, Jesminder Sarai, another competitor.

Axminster is given a brief, effective description, while Sarai has a full unique statblock, complete with appearance and personality in appendix. While Axminster lacks a unique statblock or direct reference at this point, there is a reference and advice on how to handle the party deciding to fight the Laureates (it’s a bad idea to do so, but it could be ‘what my character would do...’ sad face Franzsen is trusting your players to behave, but due to the formal nature of this adventure, you should be fine.

Scene 2: The Trial of Agility

This first trial sounds like a whole lot of silly fun as the PCs engage in a slip and slide challenge race on a greased course in initiative order, with shoving being permitted and ruled for. This is just as well as depending on how you want to run this trial, the PCs could be racing against various other NPCs. A map can be found in the appendix for the Trial of Ability course.

A bizarre and amusing Hazard Table is provided for those who get shoved off. This scene also contains the Laureate Climbing Boots, which can make things less frustrating for those characters seriously lacking in Dexterity, that provide advantage during this challenge alone. Likewise, the Cordial of Refreshment offered to the party that provide healing, but cannot be bottled or saved for later.

Chapter 2 – The Trial of Wits

This is a puzzle floor trial with helpful, cryptic advice and lightning from the roof that appears to be grinding lower for mistakes. It does, however, have an adorable clockwork parrot called Cog that can help in players get stuck, with suggested helpful hints and reminders. In reality the lightning damage is minimal and the ceiling isn’t actually going to crush anyone, but they add to the tention. Cog, however they are that adorable. The map of the floor puzzle for DMs, a Player handout of the puzzle and the statblock for Cogs are provided on the appendix.

This is one of those things that some folx will take to like a clockwork parrot to cuteness and will almost certainly speed through, while other folx (like myself) will have absolutely no concept of what even is life. Thankfully, both Cogs and a lot of helpful advice and details you can add to keep things fun are provided.

Chapter 3 – The Trial of Combat

Scene 1: Trial of Combat

The party face clockwork training beasts, with the encounter being balanced for four level one PCs with advice for running it for more or less powerful parties. Rules are included for non-combat focused PCs so they can essentially cheerlead for to give bonuses to their hardier peers if they can provide compliments. This is a genuinely great optional aspect to keep the less martially minded PCs involved with a chance for some ridiculous and fun roleplay. Anyone that can mix roleplaying into combat gets my seal of approval!

The arena has random traps that the DM rolls for each round, which can be utilised by canny combats. The map of the arena and the statblock for the Laureate Clockworks can be found in the appendix.

Scene 2: The Forgotten Warforged

In this scene the party face a forgotten Warforged with ample history and a great idea for tying their awakening to the actions of the party during the Trials. The background also allows for the setting to be setting neutral, despite in the inclusion of a Warforged. Although, this could be used in conjunction with Eberron or another setting with hints to a shared cosmology and the potential for crossover. The statblock and personality for the forgotten Warforged are included in the appendix

While the Trials themselves are linear and a specific challenge or some combination of them, the handling of the Warforged is truly down to the players. Details are provided for the different ways this scene could play out, including the possible, foolhardy action of fighting the Laureates (this does not gain entry into the guild for some reason). This moral quandary is something for the party to really sink their teeth into, after flexed their physical and problem solving muscles, and elevates this adventure from a good intro adventure to something quite brilliant. The pacing of the Trials and the build up to this moment truly give new players a taste the various aspects of playing D&D, including the making of difficult choices, roleplaying within the party and with quite unexpected characters.

The adventure ends with the party being welcomed into the Laureates (or possibly waking up in a local jail?), joining the ranks and being ready to face further adventures as guild members.

Appendix

The appendix contains the full statblocks and personality for the NPCs, Jesminder Sarai and the Forgotten Warforged, and statblocks for the Laureate Clockwork and Cogs, the Clockwork. Parrot. Also included are the magic items, the Laureate Climbing Boots, Cordial of Refreshment and Bronze Laureate Pin (which has potential for fun and quests to be given to the PCs when they are off adventuring). Finally there are the Laureate Invitation handout, and the maps for the Trials, including the DM and players versions of the Trial of Wits.

This is an impressively written and presented adventure created using the resources Franzsen had available to her to create a wonderful introductory adventure. There is clear thought and heart to this adventure. This is not going to truly challenge and knock the socks off veteran players, but that’s not the purpose. This is a perfect introduction to many of the aspects of D&D and provides more than enough fun and challenge to make new players hooked and ready for more. Taken in this context and the depth of the final scene, I thoroughly recommend this adventure and think it is a perfect taste of the game for new players.

I reached out to Franzsen with some questions, which she kindly answered:

CoS: There seems to be such a clear design to stages of your adventure. You have a moment for intros, a very silly a slippy first trial, a head scratcher of a second trial, a brawl for the the third and a serious decision to be made at the end that has some quite serious implications to close out. Was this flow intentional and what was your idea design philosophy?

MF: I play a lot of video games and this has influenced my design philosophy. Right from the beginning, I wanted to create a scenario where the players could experience an RPG 'tutorial' - a space where both the players and the characters could run a safe in-universe gauntlet. By setting the module during a contest, this gave players boundaries in how to behave while learning the basics. I wanted to provide a combat challenge, a puzzle, a skills challenge and a way to encourage roleplaying, and hopefully each Trial gives new players a chance to experience these elements of RPGs.

CoS: Somewhat building on my first question, you seem to have a real grasp of the little things to make the elements of the adventure run smoothly both sides of the screen and keep things fun and moving, such as the Laureate Climbing Boots, the adorable Cogs, the Clockwork Parot and the invaluable advice in the Trial of Wits, as well as going into detail and covering all bases for the final scene. How did your background in teaching and roleplaying with children aid your writing of the adventure and covering these really helpful bases and are there any particular insights from these experiences you would like to share?

MF: I was concerned that characters who would not be a naturally strong fit for a challenge still be able to participate. I came up with the Climbing Boots as I wanted low dexterity/athletics characters to compete on a similar footing to more physical characters. As my primary group of players are children, I didn't want any new player feeling like they made a 'weak' choice - kids can be quite fixated on what the 'best' character is. The additional items can hopefully provide a leg up to some characters while not giving the whole party an overpowered boost.

CoS: The Laureate Guild and their organised and respectful demeanour, as well as the mechanical and clockwork aesthetic of the Trials, are clearly conveyed throughout the adventure. Can you tell me your inspiration for the Laureates, the adventure and their theme?

MF: The concept of a tutorial dungeon was one I had right from the beginning and it drove the rest of the choices I made. I wanted the Guild to be seen as a respectable, desirable organisation that could be taken as trustworthy by the players. I just thought the clockwork flavour would be cool! I think they came out of wanting to have a final encounter with some sort of animated golem or sentient training dummy, and the clockwork theme grew out of that.

CoS: Finally, the last scene with the forgotten Warforged really added some serious weight to the player's decisions and asked some much larger questions of the party and who they were than the Trials had before them. Where did this idea come from and was it always your intention for there to be a 'twang' in the end? (I always remember one of my professors at uni saying that short stories [and by extension one shots] should end with a twang rather than a gang). Was their inclusion hinting towards an initial inspiration for this setting-neutral adventure or the potential for a wider possible multiverse to play with?

MF: The RPG Writer Workshop is a powerful catayst! I came up with the idea of the final choice fairly quickly, and it all fell into place during the short month that I hatched the adventure. I loved the idea of the Laureate Guild funding their operations via treasure-hunting and tomb-delving, which was outside the scope of the short module. I wanted the Warforged to provide a future adventure seed, if the players indeed latched onto it as a potential ally. In my playtest group, they used their Laureate Pins to send their Warforged friend messages in many game sessions. I also used the Warforged to lure the party into danger, as well as a season-ending dragon attack!

https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/284448?affiliate_id=1507682

I will get around to doing a in depth review when I get the chance, but I had to leave a quick review because this is something else!

The Underground Oracle (@UOPublishing), Jess (@JessPendley) and Keith Pendley (@UO_Keith), have been releasing incredible amounts of supplements wirh regular releases and phenomenal quality. Their own phenomenal creativity and care coupled with the artists they regularly work with have created a beautiful and instantly recognisable style.

There is a clear understanding and love of D&D, as well as a wondrous world they are creating. Release by release, they are crafting treasures and sharing glimpses into their magical realm, but in a modular manner that makes them compatible with any setting.

Just look at what is included in this collection, which has been professionally put together into its own tome, rather than simply merging PDFs together.

11 Archetypes! Each one has its own depth and flavour, making them unique and covering new and unique aspects related to their world-building and provide both player and DM with inspiration.

New Fighting Styles allowing for greater variety of Fighters, Paladins and Ranger. They actually make the whip a viable and cool main weapon!

Various Spells, including class specific collections. My Warlock had a lot of fun hurling Volant Darkness at their enemies. Who doesn’t hurl shards of darkness!?

Some weird, wonderful and downright creepy creature, including a section on parasites, a creature template and extensive background and lore.

Two awesome festivals to add to your games with full descriptions and fun accoutrements.

A Faction and a Cult that have so much depth and have truly been an inspiration in my games. Both have wonderful lore and associated magic items.

There’s some interesting places, encounters, a Sidekicks or Rival, variant rules, game options some very cool adventuring gear, plus upgrades and merchants for it, as well as an awesome new race I am in the process of creating a character for with the plans of using one of the included archetypes.

These are good folx creating some serious wonders of incredible quality in every sense, and I cannot tell you what a pleasure it has been to see these incredible creations come out. I am absolutely in love with the world Jess and Keith have created and simply marvel at their quality and consistency.

This collection is a steal at the full price and an absolutely ridiculous deal for this offer and/ or through their Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/undergroundoracle.com). There’s so much awesomeness, I don’t know how they managed to contain it in one mighty tome of brilliance.

Do yourself, your players and/ or your DM a favour and dive into the wonderful world of The Underground Oracle and enjoy their incredible creations. They will delight, inspire and amaze!

https://undergroundoracle.com

Edit: A recent update has added a beautiful new cover from the author, which made me audibly gasp and whisper, "oh my god" to myself, as well as a wonderful new layout complete with many new sublime illustrations. If it were possible to give this more than five stars, I most certainly would. The gorgeous new look now more accurately represents the wonders within.

This is a fantastic one shot easily dropped into any city setting, with an intriguing hook and a living, breathing museum sandbox to explore, case and ultimately rob with far more character and style than the $1.50 price tag suggests.

The cover of this one shot adventure is an elegantly simple and good looking with sketch depiction of one of the guardian Foo Dogs that watch over the site of the heist by the writer of this adventure, Ellie Lynn (@EllieLynnz). It brings to mind historical drawings and research sketches, so apropos for this museum heist, as is the brilliant tagline, “Rob a museum. Make a wish.” – More adventures should have taglines! Lynn sets the bar high with this one.

Introduction

The introduction opens with a beautifully wrought sentence that should make readers aware they are in safe hands: “The Modern Artworks Museum is a marbled jewel-box of an institution.” What follows is an abstract and layout of the adventure, including a mention of the skill checks and alarms levels this adventure uses, but more on that later.

The premise is the party being hired by a Djinni to obtain a magical gem of great significance to them. They will have to break in and attempt to render magical alarms and seals inert within a three days, before the exhibit moves on

The hooks all surround the Djinni, Glory Strikes the Storm, being discovered in fancy or bizarre places, or her being interested, impressed or desperate enough to accept or seek out the party’s aid.

The introduction closes with a heartfelt dedication, “To my dad, my first DM”, as well as the note the adventure was completed within 30 days as part of the RPG Writer Workshop. Lynn thanks the course leader and general awesome creative person, Ashley Warren (@ashleynhwarren), the instructors and participants, not forgetting to thank her players.

A Friend of the Family

The meeting and prospective hiring of the party by Glory is rendered expertly in and out of box text as she solicits them in humanoid guise, offering a Wish in return for the particular diamond currently part of an exhibit in the museum within three days. A glorious maelstrom occurs in the PCs do not believe Glory to be Djinni, described beautifully and including, among many other wonderful images of her increased stature and anger “Glittering stars and cloud form an inhuman face”. I have the image of both the Genie and Jafar from the original animated Aladdin movie puffing up and saying, “phenomenal cosmic power!..”

Glory also has some important information about the museum’s magical protection.

Casing The Joint

This section explains the various ways the museum is guarded including magically protection on the form of Forcecages that house the exhibits, the Magic Circle keeping extra-planar beings out, and the location of the runes that power their magic, as well as a Sanctum Spell that “forbids divination sensors, interplanar travel, and teleportation in or out of the museum”, which is such a strong Abjuration that is not tied to a rune and unable to be suppressed or removed – recommended for all banks, extremely high nobles, royalty and magic users to protect their most precious valuables.

Foo Dogs, the Chinese or Imperial lions/ dragon-dogs pictured on the cover are enchanted guardians of the museum that come to life at night. The base statblock they use is referenced in the appendices, with the devilish ability to dispel Invisibility included, adding a whole level of difficulty to the heist. Having always loved the design of the Chinese lions, I reached out to Lynn to ask about her inspiration for these creatures: “The foo dogs are a from a very old monster manual, I thought they would be fun to bring back in a different form.” I do enjoy old things coming back with new flavour and the continued effect and inspiration previous editions still have on the game.

The humanoid guards come in Fighter and Wizard flavours, with their own unique and additional aspects added to their base NPC class in the appendices. Whoever is in charge of the security in this place is going a great job, possibly until your party comes along, even kitting out one Wizard greeter with a magic item sure to cause some fun with any PCs who think this is going to be an easy mark.

Alarm Level

This adventure uses a special rule regarding the level of alertness of the museum security comparable to the wanted level in the GTA games, making this GTM I suppose, Grand Theft Museum. In situations that could call for the PCs to either try to hide or talk their way out of a situation with guards they roll the checks as normal, with failures not meaning they are caught. Instead the alarm level is raised with the advice being to “narrate events that raise the alarm level as close shaves.” The guards gain bonuses that increase with the alarm levels. This is an elegant system, allowing for more tension, action and ultimately more fun, meaning that a couple of failures doesn’t result in the obligatory Scooby Doo chase sequence, they’ll be time for that later. If you at anytime forget what alarm level you are on, simply locate the nearest Foo Dog, who will helpfully be trying to find you, and count the number of glowing gems on their head...

Day and Night

The museum works on a day and night cycle with the opening hours having more NPCs and Foo Dogs as statues during the day, and usually only guards and patrolling Foo Dogs in the building at night. Alarm levels also reset from night to day.

The Modern Artworks Museum

This section contains full description of this sensational three storey museum filled with wonders and a great looking map of each floor with legend showing the public and private areas, as well as the locations of guards and Foo Dogs. Each area is described in perfectly short, but sweet and flavourful descriptions, including NPCs and beautiful descriptions of decor and exhibits clearly written by someone who loves museums and art. The exact dimensions and sizes of each location are given in an efficient manner, making visualising the museum easier.

I reached out to Lynn asking about her clear love of art, and what inspirations she drew upon to create such a fully realised museum: “The museum is a spin-off of a quest that we did in my homebrew campaign! What really brought it to life for me was adding the Renaissance vibe. I loved Renaissance art as a kid and had books on Da Vinci and Michelangelo. I enjoyed thinking about how people would have presented that kind of art when it was modern and cutting edge.” This love and passion comes across clearly in the cornucopia of wonderful exhibits and evocative writing.

This section also comes with a wonderful piece of DM advice if the players are having trouble or getting stuck, in having them report back to Glory, who can meet them as the exist, for more information and to go over what they have found out so far.

Upon entry to the museum, an attendant “informs all guests that no weapons, magic, food or drink are allowed in the galleries”, and hands them a brochure that describes a series of events that are being held at the museum over the three days in which the adventure takes place, including an afternoon seminar with the head curator, a fun sounding sketch-and-sip event, and a ticketed black-tie event fundraising gala. There is a museum brochure with the details to hand out to the players provided. This information is going to make the players think more creatively, as well as providing different chances to investigate.

Among the many varied and fascinating exhibits and rooms, of which there are many on each floor, there is a library in which research can be done, a very tempting mithril display, a scriptorium, a cafe which holds a possible ally, a magically darkened archive, Arcane Calligraphy that will appeal to Wizards, The offices of the curators, among many other fantastic and flavourful exhibits.

The museum also hosts quite a number of NPCs who can be questioned and might just mention useful information randomly, including the frustrated and rebellious nephew of the museum director, an unlikely partner in crime and a variety of museum staff with a spectrum of feelings about their jobs and the museum.

With all of these elements there are so many different ways players can approach the heist with trial and error, as well as getting lost just enjoying the art and exploring. There is a lot of fun to be had seeing how their attempts unfold and taking time to add your own flavour to the exhibits, which are prime real estate for elements of your own world; the Gods, history, seeds for further adventures and/ or allusions to events from the party’s past.

All of this comes together to really make the museum feel alive and that it has its own place in the world, and is doing business regardless of the game. This is a wonderful thing we should all be striving for in the authenticity and believable life when ‘off-screen’. Not only is this an adventure, but this supplement provides fully functional museum to add to your game, which fits perfectly in to any game with a city to visit in being setting and city neutral. Whether you have your players break in or not. It’s just a great, fully fleshed out and living location populated with well thought out NPCs. Obviously, it’s more fun if you do run the heist, but the point I’m making is that this is an awesome museum and a fantastic little sandbox of artistic and criminal good times. This could be a perfect addition to Dragon Heist and with a little infernal or abyssal reflavouring it would be a wonderful introduction to Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus.

The final confrontation comes when the party discover the gem Glory desires within a gorgeously described merfolk statue, after the magic defences have been disarmed. A fight to the death with fantasy version Botticelli’s Birth of Venus that itself has number of different ways of going down depending on the things the PCs managed to do.

Once they have what they came for the party need to escape using everything they learned and their skills against the guards and Foo Dogs.

Retuning the gem to Glory sees the Djinni to uphold her part of the bargain and cast Wish for one member of the party, allowing time for deliberation. Wish is a very tricky and awesome spell, so it is advised that the DM prepare themselves and give some thought to the scope and power of Storm and what she can reasonably effect or provide. This could add some sensible limitations to the spell, but be prepared for how much of an effect this could have an ongoing game. If you were too concerned about the Wish, there is always the possibility of running Diamond Heist with a different reward in mind, though it is so exciting to be able to have your players have a Wish.

If you’re not playing this as a one shot there are many potential seeds for further adventures; there would almost certainly be an investigation by the Watch and/ or Thieves’ Guild, exploring the lives and ramifications of the NPCs involved, trying to find out the more about Glory and who obtained the gem and how it came to be in an exhibition, or working from elements you could have incorporated into the exhibitions.

Appendices

The six named NPCs are detailed with their bios and information on where they can be found and the key items they possess. This is followed by the statblocks and additional elements added to the museum security.

The full spell descriptions for the magical protections of the museum are laid out in detail, allowing them to be noted and applied to other properties and vaults on your games, as well as the possibility of them being spells that can be introduced to your game.

There is a map of the museum to be given out as a handout, as well as a tagged screen-reader accessible PDF containing the brochure handout. I think it commendable and should be standard practice that more accessible versions of supplements should be provided alongside the original.

This truly is something special, a fantastic adventure full of detail, fun and art. 15 pages crammed with flavour and style for $1.50, or even cheaper with the fantastic RPG Writer Workshop Vol. 2 [BUNDLE] alongside many other wonders from the RPG Writer Workshop. https://www.dmsguild.com/product/284941

This is a wonderful book of wonders.

It's not often I curse a DMs Guild product for being too long and addictive that I was up reading past my bedtime, and still had a lot left over for perusal today.

So, we have the book presented in a beautiful and homely ye olde style, with the amusing proprietor, the eponymous Mr Bearthazar taking you on a tour of his emporium of pets with benefits. The flavourful insights and asides are as wonderful as the creatures themselves, and genuinely had me smiling wide and goofily, chortling and laughing out loud all the way through.

The familiars themselves are a work of genius, ridiculousness and just plain dumb cornyness that gives Master Clegg's work that je ne sais quoi. The mammoth amount of critters (60ish by my estimation) are divided into three categories: Curiosities, Rarities and Wonders, which roughly equate to the Uncommon, Rare and Mythic rarities in Magic: The Gathering.

The beguiling beasties are further categorised with badges denoting, whether they are appropriate as Ranger Companions - New Animal Companion options, Find Familiar

• able to be summoned by the spell or rituals provided (more on that later), Pact of the Chain - a selection of more powerful familiars for the doting Warlock (Unfortunately, those of the PETA Patron have been banned from the store for prestidigitating paint on Bearthazar...), Dangerous - not for the faint hearted and with the possibility of causing carnage to all, including their owner, and finally, Unbound - Unique creatures not bound by spells and rituals. The limited edition Funko Pops of this establishment.

Each creature has its own page with its name, subtitle, description, individual statblock or reference to the base creature and the magical and mystic additions, price tag, optional upgrades that are witty, helpful and ridiculously apropos, summoning components (for all but the Unbound) to be used in ritual summoning, which is a simple and fun way to dial up your pet, especially after it inevitably dies again and again, the appropriate badges, and a fabulous rendering by Tallulah Cunningham, evoking some olde timey Victorian woodcuts that are just delightful.

There are so many different creatures from aberrations to undead and everything in between. I was trying to pick one, but that turned out impossible, so here are a few honourable mentions: Doris, a Volatile Pigeon, Binkers, sloth that wants to cuddle, Grumio, a Toad in the Hole, an Infernal Duck, Cecil, a Catoblepossum, which truly speaks to me as my pet name for my partner is possum and she one shotted me with a Cotoblebas not too long ago, Damian, the Emotional Support Imp, and so many more. I just adore them so much!

Another way to look at this is as another monster manual with all manner of creatures you can populate your world with, plan encounters and adventures around and just giggle and snort over how devilishly ridiculous some of them are. So what I'm saying is, this is far more than just a supplement for Rangers and Magic Users. I already feel inspired to create my own adorable abominations intuiting the process Oliver has gone through in changing and augmenting existing creatures and inventing his own.

This is truly a magical little (but loong) book fully of silliness and joy, well worth every penny. I picked up the PDF, which is lovely, but the printed copies look that little bit extra special and twee.

I want to address the price of $9.99 for the PDF, $14.99 for the softcover and $19.99 for both, as I saw someone posting about this being overpriced, which is frankly ridiculous for such a quality product. At the very least five people working hard to create a 76 page supplement with a tonne of original art, editing and design, and 60ish creatures to add to the game, is a LOT! I wouldn't have been surprised if it as more and would still be more than worth the money. Folx need to understand that putting the time and effort in to create a unique and top quality product costs money and that's fair. This is what people do to earn money and that needs be respected.

Rant over.

My only criticism, which Mistress Clegg is certainly needed to keep his head from expanding in correlation with his ascendancy on the DMs Guild charts, would be that the tags can be a little difficult to read at times. But that's it, the single blemish that adds a human touch to this perfection in every other way.

Keep up the awesome work. I am on tenterhooks to see what you do next!

The Bedtime Man by Jason Miscia (@MuppetofaMiscia)

A dark adventure in the Domains of Dread or anywhere dark adventures may occur for 4 level 3-5 characters. A haunting mystery told beautifully with tension orchestrated superbly!

Synopsis

The Campaign Setting, Ravenloft or anywhere “looking for a dark adventure”, Mood, “Subtle dread. Fear of being hunted. Something is watching you” and Content Warnings, ‘Child death, kidnapping” are all included right off the bat to give you a good impression of what you’re in for.

Children are going missing and it’s starting to spread. No one can seem to identify the culprit/s as the descriptions are disparate save for the name and the warning. “Watch out for the Bedtime Man.”

Adventure Hook

There is a single hook to this rather focused adventure, the party have been sought out to finally try to put a stop to the elusive Bedtime Man, with the the addition of characters having relatives who have been taken if more emotional weight is in order.

Adventure Background

An Oni and its summoned Skulks are terrifying the town, but one child knows the truth though they are unfortunately dead. The only one being trusted with finding the Bedtime man isn’t who they appear to be...

Characters

The dramatis personae includes 5 NPCs, each with their pronouns, their trade and/ ore relation, the reference for the statblock to use to them and their age, including Captain of the Town Watch, the Herbalist his spouse, their adopted daughter, the Innkeep and the Trapper.

Chapter 1 – Invisible Friends

Approaching Schlaflos

A brief description of the town and a short but sweet box text set the foreboding and lonesome tone nicely.

The party are introduced to a number of the players at the Inn with a bullet points and checks covering the necessary information and difficulties for this initial encounter effectively. The manner in which they are set out make particularly well for referencing for prep and in play.

Schlaflos Orphanage

A truly unnerving scene investigating invisible friends and getting more than necessary bargained for. Again, the information is provided simply and effectively. There is something truly unnerving about screaming children and fighting so close to them.

Developments

However they party see our the night, everything seems resolved. That is until the Watch Captain comes to them, hollow from the tragedy at his home, painfully well described in Miscia’s boxtext.

Chapter 2 – The First Victim

The Vadoma Homestead

The party gather information, leading them to an abandoned house, thought by the locals to be haunted, in which the first child went missing.

Abandoned Homestead

If the fear the locals and the evocative boxtext don’t give your party pause, being attacked by various swarms the moment the door opens just might. This is one of numerous examples of Miscia’s knowledge of and adept handling of pace and tension throughout this adventure.

Inside the party find that the house is deserving of its reputation as haunted, but aside from the welcoming committee, it needn’t be a place then to fear, if they can handle interacting with a friendly ghost. The amount of information they can gather being dependent on letting the lost child tell its story, finally with someone to believe them.

Development

Getting to where they need to go next all depends on who the party has with them or who they can ask, but they have a strong lead.

Chapter 3 – Watch Out for the Bedtime Man

Ebel Homestead

Easy to get in, but what will the party find and where’s that ominous laughter coming from? Again, the tension is handled with aplomb and the scene before the party is dependent on their previous actions.

Hidden Lair

So much is conveyed in so few words to set the scene for the Boss Battle with the Oni with some cool additions befitting the persona they had been playing, as well as great advice on how to make the encounter easier or more difficult with ease

Development

There are some nice magic weapons to be and different consequences depending on how you handled your relationship with various NPCs.

Conclusion

Ending A is the happy one with the payment, another cool magic item and making some useful lifelong friends.

Ending B you still get paid and you rescue the child, possibly much more worse off, and the family are left to their reunion and grief.

This is an incredibly well-crafted and written adventure with tension and pacing orchestrated beautifully! The beats seem perfect for ratcheting up the tension, fake outs and truly shocking moments all told with such brief, yet eliciting boxtext and descriptions. The ability to convey so much emotion and dread with so few words is seriously impressive.

The adventure makes use of a range of skills and situations, allowing each player a moment to shine, which is so important in a one shot like this.

I’m seriously blown away, but if I had to be super critical, some further editing could have improved the odd typo and, although the majority of us using DMs Guild will be familiar with the abbreviations referenced after creatures and items are mentioned, it is standard practice and makes things easier for newer DMs. But these are mere quibbles in the face of what is a truly a wonderfully wrought adventure.

If you want a relatively short one shot that has genuine horror, emotion and expert timing, you can’t do much better than The Bedtime Man.

I reached out to Jason Miscia with a few questions about the adventure and his other works:

CoS: The two elements at the heart of this story; something unknowable and monstrous stealing away children and the difficulties of children not knowing what to believe and/ or not being believed are both visceral ideas that hit home, pinpointing some of the greatest fears of adults and children respectively. What inspired this tale of horror and dread?

JM: The Bedtime Man is a combination of two things. The first is the basic skeleton of the plot was part of a one-shot I ran for my wife, Lisa. When I signed up for the Workshop, I already knew I wanted to take that a develop it into something more. The second is the Bedtime Man itself. That name is courtesy of my older daughter doing something really creepy when she was around 4 years old. She told mom (my lovely wife) that the Bedtime Man came and visited her at bedtime. Lisa asked where the Bedtime Man was and our daughter had a brief conversation with the other side of the room and announced he was in the closet. My wife spent the rest of the evening extremely freaked out. When I wrote the adventure, I realized this was a great villain and I knew exactly what the Bedtime Man would be.

CoS: I noticed some interesting use of language in the story with the town Schlaflos being the German for word for sleepless (apropos as I was writing the review during a bout of insomnia), the Vadoma family share their name with a semi-mythical people in Zambabwean folklore known for being hard to find, living among the trees and being magical, and Ebel, the surname of the Trapper/ Oni is the name of a watch company. Have these words been chosen for their allusions to elements of story and, if so, how do you go about including these words and still have them seem as natural with the setting as they do here?

JM: Schlaflos was absolutely meant to be name connected to the story. I like to play around with names and think that they can offer lots of potential with character creation. The NPC names, actually, were a happy coincidence. I wanted to keep a similar feel with the town and the honestly just felt right. Lots of times, I’ll just hit Google and look for names in different cultures and pick what seems to fit the character or place I’m trying to build.

CoS: The tension and pacing throughout the adventure are orchestrated beautifully! The beats seem perfect for ratcheting up the tension, fake outs and truly shocking moments all told with such brief, yet eliciting boxtext and descriptions. How has your writing background helped you with this and do you have any particular authors or movies that inspire you and/ or this adventure.

JM: I’ve been writing on and off for many years, but I actually went to school for theatre. I’ve dabbled in playwriting with very mixed results. I think things like beats and pacing are pretty important whether it’s fiction, plays, or ttrpg modules. As far as horror is concerned, I’m honestly kind of picky. I tend to have little interest in slasher stuff and nonstop jump scares. But I love gothic, dread themed stuff. Frankenstein is a book that has stayed with me. Neil Gaiman has lots of work that is beautifully terrifying. And folklore itself it a goldmine.

CoS: I believe this was your first adventure, which is frankly ridiculous considering its quality. What was your experience like with the RPG Writer Workshop? How did it differ from your previous writing and supplements?

JM: This was absolutely my first adventure. My previous Guild offerings were subclasses. I actually want to go back and develop those a bit more. When I heard about the Workshop, I’d already become a huge fan of the Uncaged project Ashley Warren started. It was one of the things that made me get back into writing and the Workshop was something I needed to be involved in. I’m actually finishing up my next one-shot, Knights of the Hours, with the winter session of the Workshop. I highly suggest it to both new writers and writers who want a really great support system.

CoS: Looking at your more recent release, Ravenloft Gazetteer: Verbrek, your love of Ravenloft shines through in a great deal of tour work. What was it like going from your own work and first adventure to collaborating with the bad boy of the DMs Guild, Oliver Clegg, on such a prodigious supplement?

JM: 5) I think it’s pretty clear Ravenloft is one of my favorite settings. When Oliver started publishing his Gazetteer project, I snagged the first portion of Darkon and kept going. I love that his goal has been to update this great setting while addressing that there are things in the earlier versions that are problematic/downright cringe-worthy. There’re some domains that are just crap, but most of them have great potential. Ravenloft is more than Barovia. When Oliver started looking for other writers to help, I pitched Verbrek. Because I’m a sucker for a classic monster and I love lycanthropes. I quite like working with Oliver and he absolutely knows his stuff. It looks like I’ll get to dive back into the Ravenloft Gazetteer for 2020 and I’m very excited about it! It’s a very different vibe from Verbrek.

Shore of Dreams by Florian Emmerich (@PoisonPotPress) & JVCParry (@JVCParry)

This truly is a beautiful looking and beautifully crafted adventure full of stories, some true, some not, but all exciting, entertaining and accessible.

The first thing that crashes upon your like a mighty wave, stealing your breath, is the spectacular cover art by Raluca Marinescu "Pisca Ahlorsath enthralls Rolen Moonbrook, Chung and the Highbarrel siblings. The writers are not responsible for harsh labor conditions or loss of life." What can I say? This is seriously mind blowing art! Marinescu's interior illustrations are captivating and serve as a perfect reflection of the quality of the adventure.

Shore of Dreams

This is a 3-6 hour (depending on elements encountered) adventure for 5th-7th level players, which can link to Princess of the Apocalypse, Tomb of Annihilation, or be used in any hoek setting. Essentially, it can take place anywhere a remote island could be found with advice for amending the adventure setting to the Sword Coast.

Adventure Background

Rumours abound of undiscovered pirate booty near the Mistcliff of Chult, unclaimed despite then whispers of the treasures that lay within. A last port of call along the way, the tavern The Shore of Dreams, managed by a most welcoming Triton.

Sadly, the rumours are false and a ruse concocted by the outcast Triton and entrepreneur, Pisca, who seeks to enslave adventurers that stop at her tavern in order to force them to discover an ancient hidden temple and the powerful magic item it houses.

I know I'm on to a winner when the adventure background contains lots of exciting elements that draw that me in right away, rather than waiting for the adventure's story to really get excited, but it's hardly surprising coming from this dynamic duo!

Getting Involved

Four tantalising hooks are provided, ranging from following rumours of pirate treasure to searching for lost explorers, stopping off at the tavern on the way back from adventure or heading towards chult and getting caught in a storm.

Yokotoro Village

The village is filled with life, NPCs and a refreshing East Asian influenced aesthetic, conveyed wonderfully by the gorgeous Marinescu artwork. There are a number of places for PCs to explore, which all have ties to the remoteness of the island, the various plot hooks and the plot around the Shore of Dreams tavern. With a little text box and further description, Emmerich and Parry manage to make each location truly feel alive and grounded, with a sense of life before the PCs arrive, rather than seeming load up and come to life for them to interact with.

There's also something fishy going on, and it's not the catch of the day from the coracles, with everything pointing towards the lavish Shore of Dreams...

The Shore of Dreams

A wonderful overview of the tavern is provided, including the description of Pisca's nightly enthralling shamisen performances (brought to vivid life in Marinescu's cover art), as well as the secrets the pantry holds

The dramatis personae are described with encapsulating details.

Pisca Ahlorsath

Pisca is the beautiful and adored "femme fatale" antagonist of this adventure. Described lovingly, as her bearing deserves, in spite of the wicked deeds those who work, worship or are scared of her. Her rumours and lies tie back into the hooks.

Breena "Scorch" Sizzlepork

Where Pisca is cool, Scorch is unsurprisingly hot. A small ball of paranoia that is terrified of her past catching up with them.

Information is provided for this paranoia to play into an optional encounter, which could definitely cause some excitement.

Murasa Sepret

The heart of the tavern and unsure about the operation, especially as her feelings complicate matters, which are the basis for s subplot.

Larisa Temerity

Handsome but deadly. Larisa is the right hand woman and bodyguard of Pisca, infatuated with the cunning and cruelty of the exiled Triton. Ready to take down Murasa's empathic misgivings the old fashioned way - thugs and violence.

Events at the Shore of Dreams

There are a variety of services and events that can occur during the party's stay:

Retaining Services

If seeking information and services from Pisca, there is great advice on how to play her and a lot of different snippets of information, rumours and services she can offer are detailed. Not surprisingly, they mostly lies and falsehoods to stoke the PC's interest in the 'treasure' and allay any suspicions about missing adventurers.

If dealing with Pisca, the party can stay for free and there is an opportunity for minor downtime and "mundane activities that can range from small talk, to gambling or helping with fishing and farming."

There is advice that the following events take place, before the PCs set off for the 'treasure', as they are essential to the unfolding story. Leaving a busy tavern isn't exactly a quick and easy thing to do, and it's very easy to get caught up in things beyond your control as they take place in front of the party, so you shouldn't have too much trouble ensuring that. On top of this there's no reason why the party cannot be tempted into staying on the island for a few days to explore and experience the culture, even to just sit back and enjoy the Shore of Dreams ambience.

Thugs and Waitresses

This is an exciting and chaotic event involving kidnappers kicking off in the bar. Who are they? Who do they claim to be? How does that effect certain members of staff? How are they after and who hired them? There's a chance some of this can be learned from survivors, but this is a ridiculous and fun rumble that really could go many different ways. I do love an encounter on which you just need to sit back, see how the players react and the dice lay.

This also potentially introduces another variable into coming events, depending on the actions of the party, which is always fun.

Curtain Call

Pisca puts on a special entrancing show on the party's honour. It's a truly distracting spectacle, which along with the night's feast, could put them all in a 'food' coma. There is advice about having the all important Wisdom Save rolled before the game starts so the PCs will be unsuspecting, which is evil and brilliant.

This is another encounter with multiple endings covered with them all converging on the next part of the adventure, it just depends how they arrive there, and whether they do it consciously or not...

Captured!

The party find themselves waking up in a cell, divested of all but their clothes, and in the company of a fellow adventure whom they have heard of during their time at the Shore of Dreams. They have a variety of information they can provide about their predicament and how they came to be here. There are various ways to attempt escape, before or after they are set to work digging at the Temple.

Temple of the Storm

The temple and its sections are covered in a manner that makes it easy to follow and explain however the party found their way there, as well as how things proceed.

The various aspects of the temple and its grounds pose their own challenges, which are of an interesting variety, including battling a Tempest Beast, which can be found beautifully illustrated beside its stars in the appendix, but I think it's fair to say is a black and purple lightning crocodile!

The Cartography by Dean Spencer (@DeanSpencerArt) is wonderful and depicts the temple in a beautiful thematic manner.

Hall of Olhydra

Once the party makes it into the temple, however they did, the are confronted with a bizarre and wonderfully described room complete with convenient armoury and secret stash. However, there is also a handing DM tip that it could be wise to recommend PCs to return to the village to get all their gear (if they were drugged and captured), as we are heading towards the final encounter and this temple is with some sneaky, puzzling traps and hidden enemies that understand the importance of school uniform. I absolutely love creatures busting out of statues, and if it's because you're not wearing your surfs up blazer then all the better!

There's also a short, but sweetly written note on Olhydra, one of the four Elemental Evil.

Vault

This is a huge conch shell of death!

But seriously this has traps on top of traps and spits out the newly created Storm Mepthis! It can be dealt with and negated by a prepared and organised group, but this is some seriously awesome, that could do some serious damage, especially if the party are in their long johns and clutching ancient, barnacles-covered poky sticks. The description of the room and the sudden feeling should give them a heads up though...

Study

This puzzle-opened room contains a wealth of knowledge about the Olhydra's Cult of the Crushing Wave and their history with the island, as well as a nice horde of treasure to keep everyone happy.

A note advises that if you are planning to tie this adventure into Elemental Evil you could include scriptures mentioning the Dessarin Valley among the records. It's also noted that this room contains a blocked off passage that would take a month to clear, and that this is a space for your further adventures, if you wanted to expand on this adventure. Personally, I love touches like this and I'm always eager to take an adventure and add to it.

Concluding the Adventure

This section address all the hooks and elements the players may have discovered and interacted with, whether they came to seek the lost, find treasure, found themselves victims of circumstance and/or worked to stop Pisca's plans...

Pisca, Herald of Olhydra

This section covers the devastating events that occur if Pisca gets to the Crown of Black Pearls before the party, as well as great advice and various options for handling the encounter if the party decide to take her on.

A Harsh Reality

Despite the no doubt heroic end for the party, this adventure deals with the fallout and consequences for the island and its inhabitants, which are varied and realistic. These are refreshing details, especially as so often adventures and adventurers just blow in and blow out without the camera panning to the locals and how they are effected by all the heroic, and often destructive and disastrous adventuring.

Appendix

The two unique creatures, the Storm Beast, loving brought to terrifying life by Marinescu, and Storm Mephits (you can never have enough Mephits!) are included with description and full statblocks, as are the NPCs: Scorch, Temerity and Pisca's with their unique statblocks.

The unique magic item, the Crown of Black Pearls is included, along with its foreboding and mighty form rendered by Marinescu.

Also included are the beautiful Marinescu art handouts, Spencer’s amazing DM and player maps of the temple and the wonderful TrashMob Minis (@TrashMobMinis) of Pisca, Temerity, Murasa and the Tempest Beast!

This truly is a beautiful looking and beautifully crafted adventure full of stories, some true, some not, but all exciting, entertaining and accessible. Having the scenes, events and possible encounters laid out so clearly, with blue text expertly linking each seed and event, it should make it possible to do this truly magnificent adventure justice!

I'm at a loss for words. Writing and craft this refined and engaging is something truly special. No wonder Emmerich and Parry continue to make some of the most wonderful and arresting adventures today!

This is the full package and truly sets the bar for DMs Guild content astronomically high. It's a true joy just taking it all in. You love to see it!

I reached out to Florian Emmerich (@PoisonPotPress) with a few questions on Shore of Dreams:

CoS: The story at the heart of Shore of Dreams is comprised of many different stories, some more true than others, which I think is what makes it feel so alive. What inspired the framing story of the exiled noble luring adventurers with tall tales and fine dining to excavate an ancient temple and do you have any personal favourite characters and their stories, besides Pisca?

FE: What motivated me the most, was the trope of a lot of adventures start at an inn, but not revolve or being located at an inn. There are some other quiet nice examples, like JC Stevens Dragon’s Breath Tavern, though I learned about that after the release of Shore of Dreams. It was definitely not me breaking new ground here, but I like to think that it’s a setting that does not get employed that often and thus it’s always a nice addition. Another addition was going to an exhibition that explored the Japanese way of eating throughout time and how it has been influenced through the historical events. So, when I sat down, food was already on my mind and the setting was created.

For favorite characters besides Pisca, it’s Breena, hands down. Actually I really loathe that so far there is no art for her, but I really want to hear from Breena how she got to hang around with Pisca.

CoS: This is a wonderful work of collaboration, which all roleplaying is at its core. What was it like working with JVCParry and sharing the responsibilities? I know you've worked together since, but was this your first time working together or working in collaboration at all?

FE: So, the creation was split, first I provided the framework of the story with some core locations and NPCs, Pisca was already fully fledged out and so were some of the supporting cast, like Breena, though everyone besides Pisca was lacking a name. Also the general story was set, with Pisca’s ultimate goal in mind. Joshua gave everything great polish - and if you have the opportunity to work with him, don’t say no - and I had just to course correct minor details or rewrite partial lines I was adamant about keeping it the way I envisioned. It was also my first foray, so I gave a bit more liberty to Joshua, as he is more seasoned than me and especially at that time.

CoS: Raluca Marinescu's art is absolutely breathtaking and truly adds a dimension to the adventure, especially with the ability to share the beautiful handouts with players. What was it like seeing your characters staring back at you and looking so good?

FE: I was gobsmacked, especially since she elevated everything. To my shame, I must admit that I intended for Pisca to have more pinkish clothing. Thanks to Raluca she is more capable woman she is now. And she did it with every piece of art. It really felt so good seeing everything coming to life. Though I also want to highlight Dean Spencer, who sometimes get swept under the rug when talking about art, because his map is killer and he makes the adventure location (I don’t want to spoil too much here) tangible. So please, give some praise to Dean Spencer as well, who completed the whole package with his addition.

CoS: The East Asian aesthetic and inclusion of the wuxia names for weapons add something very different to a lot of what is seen in 5e. How was that decision come to and how did you approach it, in light of the less than sensitive way previous editions have handled East Asian elements.

FE: So obviously I stated the visit to the museum, so apart from the food, that already was heavy on my mind. The next thing is that I have wonderful friends in Japan and having an interest in that country and language also played a huge part in it. So, for me it was a tribute to my friends and creating something I love with people I love. However at this point I have to say that I did not do a good job either. I should have made it stick to a specific culture and not kitbash, especially the names, together. While some of the names has been suggested by JVC Parry, I should have in the end changed them, so the failure lies with me. I hope that people can forgive me here, I know that especially the TTRPG community is transforming to be more inclusive and mindful about this and I should have led by example. So, if you run Shore of Dreams, please be mindful about that, and at least change the blacksmith’s name to be more fitting.

CoS: Finally, I have noticed that your adventures seem to have a modular nature to them, with options for different eventualities actually written out. Obviously, you don't write out every eventuality, but it can definitely be helpful as a DM to see things from different perspectives, especially if an adventure has two rather different ways of coming to the same location. Is this a conscious effort and does it reflect how you plan out your own sessions when DMing?

FE: Actually, when I am DMing I am a nervous wreck, who really does not want to derail a story, but it also stemmed from seeing good examples that offered more solutions and or outcomes, but also having experienced bad modules, where I wished some more guidance. While, yes it becomes easier with each time you DMing, and some are even natural talents who pick it quite easily, I imagine there are more nervous DMs out in this vast world, who are happy to have more things on their hand.

As you pointed out, you can’t cover everything, because let’s face it, a lot of TTRPG players are very, very creative, at least I would love to give a DMs the information to make informed calls on the fly if they have to. So I really want to give a lot of agency to the DM and player’s so everyone can have fun on the table.

The other benefit is that it’s easier to fit in any campaign or to keep the story going, if you know what the villains are setting out to do, or will do further, once they reached their ultimate goal within the module. If there are other factions (like in Warriors of Sehanine), these can also further a campaign, if a DM or the players want to invest in that and NPCs can tag along or become friends for a lifetime for your PCs. For example, I wonder if there is a party that actually brought Syllin from Warriors of Sehanine to Candle Keep, I sure do hope there is one iteration of Syllin that was floored by all the books.

Warriors of Sehanine: https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/283029?affiliate_id=1507682

My Five Star Review of Warriors of Sehanine that got me started reviewing: https://www.dmsguild.com/product_reviews_info.php?&reviews_id=338427&products_id=283029?affiliate_id=1507682

Michtim for D&D 5e by Georg Mir (@GeorgMir)

This is an awesome race supplement with lashings of background and lore, presented in a professional and accessible manner, allowing you to bring the adorable and admirable Michtim from their own wonderful roleplaying game into your own D&D 5e Games.

Being written by Georg Mir (@GeorgMir), creator of Michtim: Fluffy Adventures and these happy scamps, you know you’re getting a healthy slice of Michtim life, though I heartily recommend checking out their own RPG for the full Michtim experience! (https://grimogre.itch.io/Michtim - Review coming soon!). Also, if Starfinder is more your sort of thing, Mir has you covered (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/267523?affiliate_id=1507682)

The expensive background and lore of these “cute but fierce” critters are impressive and provide everything you need to get into character and/ or integrate the Michtim into your game/ world.

But what are these new furry friends?

“Michtims are small humanoid creatures that are completely covered in fur. They share various features with small woodland animals like hamsters, rabbits, mice, squirrels , hedgehogs or wildcats. Due to their small size and cute looks, they were enslaved by larger races as pets, until they were able to free themselves from oppression. They are a highly egalitarian culture that views everyone as valuable. They look after each other and make sure that their young grow up to become equally friendly and protective people.”

They are guardians of forests, with their home, Turnaya, being accessible through untainted forests. This makes them perfect additions to and creates seeds for forest adventures, as well as having their kingdom and their interactions with fey as elements to explore and enrich your game.

It’s doesn’t have to be all arboreal action as “some Michtims are driven by wanderlust” making them great for adventurers and joining parties, especially as “they make friends easily”.

There is also fascinating information provided about the life cycle, education and society of the Michtim.

Information is provided on the naming conventions of Michtim, including personal names and deed names.

Michtim Traits

Full racial traits are provided, including their chosen House denoted main ability score increase and values of said house, their quick, but long life spans, languages, size, speed (climbing and scurrying), and advice on alignment, as well as the Michtim specific racial traits, which reflect their closeness to beasts, adorably harmless appearance and their intrinsic relationship with nature.

All in all this is a fantastic race supplement steeped in lore, well thought out mechanics and place within D&D and delightful artwork by Kim Van Deun (@Sketch_Ferret ). Everything you need to bring these lovable fuzzy friends into your games.

This supplement is available at PWYW with the suggested price of 0.00, but I urge you to support a wonderful creator and fantastic supplement if you are able.

Don’t forget to check out the full Mitchim: Fluffy Adventures RPG (https://grimogre.itch.io/Michtim) which I will be posting an in depth review of in the near future.

I'm doing something a little different with my review, which is going to be my standard practice for anthology reviews, at least until my review list of many is...well so many. I'm going to be posting reviews of each of the anthology's adventures in my usual in depth style, but one at a time until I have done them all.First of all this is a freaking awesome collection of adventures with artwork and more from so many wonderful folx with 17 adventures and 213 pages, so yes it is worth every penny or cent or whatever to ensure people actually get to make a tiny bit of money from all their hard work and creativity. This is folx jobs! Plus information is provided for financial hardship discounts where needed.Like I said above, I'll be adding to this review with detailed reviews of each adventure as and when I am able, so without further ado let's get to the first adventure!

Before We’re Bled Dry (Level 1) by Lena Meier (@yakyuu_yarou)

“Lena, usually known online as Saika, is a first-time TTRPG writer (though not at all new to writing as a whole) from Germany with an intense love for literature, whimsy, cosplay and bad puns. When she isn‘t thinking of ways to give the rich what they deserve, she‘s playing one TTRPG or another, writing a story, or rambling about literature, video games and weird ideas on Twitter. Follow her @yakyuu_yarou for a lot of words and the occasional dog picture.”

The adventure is preceded by beautiful and foreboding piece by Liz Gist (@crit_liz), depicting Morgan Gutlis and the Greenstone, the villain and object of this adventure.

“Brightcove, the village where the adventurers grew up, has been exploited by its ruling noble family for as long as anyone can remember. Each year, their demands become more outrageous and harder to meet. The people have had enough. The party decides to take back the resources the nobles have been hoarding.”

Adventure Summary

This section details of the village of Brightcove, and how the Gutliss noble family’s control magical Greenstone and their ever-increasing tax for decreasing access to the magic that allows the people to farm, which is leaving them starving and desperate.

Dramatis Personae

A great taste of three main NPCs, their place in the story of the adventure, the alignment, race and the statblock to use for each of them.

Adventure Summary

What seems like a simple raid to wrest the magical Greenstone from the measly hands of the head of the Gutlis family, needs some aid in direction, and mercy at the defeat of the tyrant can yield more information on the artefact.

Hooks

This introductory adventure assumes the party are from the village of Brightcove, and so the three hooks centre on the PCs’ taking a stand, being approached by the mayor or friends and family to help the village by confronting Gutlis and acquiring the Greenstone.

Part 1: A Plan and a Map

The PCs meet in the delightfully named, The Blustering Bunny, tavern to make a plan and are approached by the mayor, Lillybell Sunwing.

Thorough information for roleplaying Lillybell is provided. This is not an adventure for monetary reward, as the village is poor and starving, but rather there is the very real emotional hook of taking a stand for yourself and your own community; throwing off the shackles of oppression and misery. It won’t buy you a fancy new magic sword, but survival and quality of life are all the more magical and I don’t care about being corny because it’s true and very easy to forget in real life and in games, and I absolutely love the fact this adventure begins the anthology on such a genuine reason that hits very close to home for me, only my Gutlis is the government and the Greenstone they hoard away from me is allocation of social care, disability services because, you know, Tories. DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!

Anyways, back to the adventure. Lillybell provide a very rough map, some suggestions, warnings and information, as well as putting the PCs drinks and rooms their tab (within reason).

Part 2: The Path to Tread

Depending on player choices and rolls, there are two possible paths to take.

The Forest Path

A lovely, evocative box text describes the forest and nature’s feelings about the party’s endeavour.

The party face a series of obstacles, challenges and dangers as they traverse the forest.

Along The Guard Trail

The party are presented an opportunity to ambush a guard and gain information on where to find the Greenstone, with varying clarity and safety depending on how the information is obtained.

Part 3: Not Guts, No Glory

The party discover the Greenstone and confront Morgan Gutlis.

Thorough information for roleplaying Morgan are provided, as are advice on suggesting the party approach as stealthily as they can desperately tries to move silently in heavy armour and rolls awfully praying for a group check and to be carried, as well as advice on handling the battle with Morgan, as the party are meant to overpower him.

Part 4: To Greener Pastures

The adventure has two possible endings, depending on how the party chose to deal with Morgan.

If the party kills Morgan they can return with the Greenstone as heroes (albeit somewhat stained by their lack of mercy). A magic item from the DMG is suggested as a reward with the reminder that the town is poor. This could be a good opportunity for you to come up with your own magic item. Possibly a family heirloom noone before has been able to attune to or a Vicious Sickle or other agricultural tool/ weapon.

If the party subdue Morgan he is taken into custody and judged by a democratically elected tribunal for his crimes against the people. Morgan also divulges more information about the Greenstone, which grant the ability for it to be more powerful, allowing the village to thrive and begin to trade. Access to this information and the Greenstone are provided to every individual in the village.

Again a magic item from the DMG is suggested, with the reminder that even with this new lease on life, the village is not materially wealthy. There’s so potential for fun Wondrous Items that are more fun than functional, perhaps even granted by the Greenstone itself? Maybe one of those dancing sunflowers in sunglasses I remember from many moons ago, but it’s a live sunflower imbued with magic for it to dance in sunlight and play a calming tune on it’s little guitar?

Continuing the Adventure

Advice for continuing the adventure is provided, suggesting once the village is prospering, the party may turn toward adventure and travelling the world. They also may wish to be a part Morgan Gutlis’ trial, with their word carrying weight.

A handout of the rough map provided by Lilly Sunwing is provided after the adventure.

This is a wonderful introductory adventure that contains a variety of opportunities, challenges and encounters that enable most characters a moment to shine and do their thing, which is very important for keeping everyone interested and involved. But more than that, Meier instils a thoughtful sensibility into a game and potential campaign that instantly ties the party to one another and truly gives them a common goal that means something to them. Doing a service for their community, vanquishing (but hopefully not killing) a true to life, evil of greed, hoarding and having no regard for the suffering and struggling of those they demand payment from, will hopefully set a more thoughtful tone for the game (and maybe make them reflect on real and whether they can do something about it: by voting, volunteering and being involved in politics, not necessarily apprehending those in power...).

The constant need for more and total disregard for the starvation it causes is a clear metaphor for capitalism and its rapacious need to increase profit year on year, at the expense of...well absolutely everyone other than those with the money and power, but especially the workers.

I thoroughly look forward to reading and playing more of these adventures, and exploring their important messages and wonderful stories. This has made an absolutely wonderful fire impression, as I believe this adventure would at your table, whether playing with new or experienced players.

I made an NPC inspired by and that can be used in the adventures, Dawnten Phalferma: https://www.ko-fi.com/post/My-NPC-Dawnten-Phalferma-LG-Halfling-Council-Mem-V7V619AK6

To Hell and Back Again by Donathin Frye (@DonathinFrye) & Kienna Shaw (@KiennaS) with am awesome a perfectly encapsulating cover by Anne Isaksson (@ArtAmbli)

I have had an awesome night playing through this! I was absolutely unable to put it down, and truly felt immense amounts of pleasure, wonder and amusement that gives me nostalgic feelings of choose your own adventures, but with the writing and content that absolutely blows those memories out of the water! The story is an absolute rip-roaring jaunt from a classic delivery quest gone wrong to speeding across Avernus in an Infernal War Mahcine with a famous and adorable sidekick!

The options are varied enough for very different play throughs with different characters, and works perfectly as introduction to Avernus for a solo game, or with a little tweaking, could be run for a Duet or small group. As someone planning to run A Descent Into Avernus game, I thoroughly recommend this for a taste of the content and the experience of being in the player's position. That and it's just so much fun for anyone!

I'd like to do a more thorough review later down the line, but I had to post something after having so much fun tonight! I would love to see more Solo content this expansive and entertaining!

A wonderful, engaging story with deep emotional impact that left me feeling so much inspired. Ashley Warren (@ashleynhwarren) tells beautiful tales, and is the true master of reclaiming, dismantling and reforging old tropes, breathing new life into stories with a purifying feminist flame.

Attack of the 50ft Bikini Werewolf by Oliver Clegg

In the spirit of full disclosure I was provided a copy of this as an apology for being embroiled in a sordid conspiracy that literally came down to nothing more than a difference of opinion and paranoia.

We are told to not judge books by covers, but let's face it DMs Guild adventures are often very much judged so. It just so happens that this adventure happens to have an absolutely incredible cover by Luis Abadias (@Lluisabadias), evoking epic sci-fi B-movie vibes with the amusing fake credits, "Greg Tito as Surprised Commoner #2, Chris Perkins as Wandering Hat Salesman and Lysa Chen as the Lady of Cats" - Now there's an ExtraLife Charity Stream just begging to happen!

I remember seeing the twitter poll go up that first gave this project the green light and smothered its competitive siblings in their proverbial cradles, and was thoroughly excited to get my hands on this...which is why this review is so timely. It's certainly nothing to do with being accused of having a sordid affair with the writer of this module, Oliver Clegg (@deathbybadger), after reacting positively to previous works of his I enjoyed. Alas, our secret is now out and I am free to review as I will.

(side note: folx have differing opinions, it's the joy of subjectivity. Never be afraid to shout out your passion and enjoyment of something, because of others poo-pooing them.)

Attack of the 50ft Bikini Werewolf is "gigantic avatar of Malar, determined to rip apart the city Whilst looking fabulous" Volo wants Meryl Streep, which really raises some questions since this was "written in one night at the Yawning Portal"

There is a very simple and easy to follow How To Play:

1. Roll up 4-6th level 20 characters
2. Write in your cast of characters into the empty spaces. They are the Movie Stars now.
3. Play through the scenes, skipping and coming back scenes, as directed.

Notes From The Producer

"This is a comedy It involves a 50 foot bikini Werewolf Encourage players to be hyperbolic and silly Screw the rules, you are the director and have ultimate power There is no wrong, only people who cannot appreciate your Art as director of this movie "

Scene One: 40 Minutes of Setup

This scene contains six encounters with it being suggested to throw as many of them as you like at the party ahem cast, as they wander the City of Splendors and become acquainted with one another.

There's a baby that somehow ended up on a roof, a magical surge that leads to a gnomish inventor, an old man throwing grocery, rat babies (which has one of my favourite Volo quotes, "RAT BABIES? WHAT?! WHY?!"), one of the most bizarre fake outs/ twists I've ever read, and getting accosted by Volo determined to make a sale.

"They should get in trouble, sooner or later, that's when the CITY WATCH show up"

Scene Two: The Law Interferes But Gets It All Horribly Wrong

In this scene 20 City Guard arrive, led by the Veteran, Seth Cromley, and determine that the cast are "hoodlums causing a local nuisance".

Details and descriptions of Cromley included that give a wonderful and bizarre flavour of his personality, as well as a whole host of quotes for the Director to use, including the glorious, Python-esque, "You go around killing everyone with a disease do you? Murder every poor sod with athlete's foot?" We also discover that a certain someone has some kind of feelings...

There are different directions on how to proceed to scene three, depending on the casts' actions, with a suggested range of DCs.

Scene Three: The Disaster Starts And We All Try To Look Surprised

The power of Malar heightens, causing random citizens to become rampaging feral Werewolves with rule tweaks that reflect Minions from the previous edition and add a certain Jackson Pollock effect to the Waterdavian cobbles.

Seven other Werewolf variants are included, each with their own additional ability, whether it be flying, being on fire, having firearms, among others.

Cutscene: Rise of the 50ft Werewolf

This is when we see a random commoner (which Volo is not impressed about) suddenly become 50ft Werewolf. We can see the storyboard of the 50ft Werewolf and Volo asking the important question, "Did we ever establish why the Werewolf was in a bikini?" If you have to ask that question, you clearly aren't picking up the absurd genius of Clegg, I mean Blagmaar.

Scene Four: Group Binding When We Have Time-Sensitive Things To Be Taking Care Of Elsewhere

Now is the time for rousing heroic and/or villainous posturing speeches, although not too long "that can wait for their origin story". There is actually a mechanic allowing for some healing and replenishing of Spell Slots for those who describe the camera shot and music playing during their monologue.

Scene Five: Expensive CGI Building Collapse

This is one huge simple deadly trap triggered by the boredom or distaste for comedy of the 50ft Bikini Werewolf with huge amounts of damage, pinning, or smug faces from those that avoid it.

Scene Six: Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal

The players get to choose which one of them were working with the Werewolf all along, leading to infighting and arguments, while the city is destroyed around them. Please note the expert DMing advice...

Scene Seven: Won't Somebody Think Of The Children?!

DAMN YOU CLEGG. I WAS AT THE DRS WAITING FOR AN APPOINTMENT WHEN I READ THE FIRST LINE AND BURST OUT LAUGHING!

This scene is both hilarious and a scathing attack on the absurdity of the sexualisation of the female breast and nipple, the damaging effects of children seeing such shocking things and the dangers such viewing could cause.

Scene Eight: Evacuate!

This scene contains a number of checks, challenges and battles to help one old man and his prized possessions. Another scene that had me giggling away at the doctors.

Scene Nine: Unlikely Explosion

Explosions. Fireballs. Exploding fireballs of Werewolves. What could be more fun? That's right the increasingly rambling and excitable interjections from the writer!

Scene Ten: Sexy Wolf Attack

Sadly, Volo has vetoed this scene. Perhaps I can start a change.org petition...

Scene Eleven: Avoid The Obvious Solution

Taking the Hollywood trope of avoiding the the obvious solution, with a number of amusing options available, and putting it on the Cast describe how they ignore and/ or misuse, while lamenting their hopeless situation is as ridiculous as it is brilliant! Alike Volo, "I have no words".

Scene 12: The Final Battle

The 50ft Bikini Werewolf is Gargantuan Monstrosity of epic proportions with all manner of legendary resistances, limited magic invulnerability and the cataclysmic rampage attack. What unfurls will truly be a battle for the ages with a whole host of quotes for the mighty villain to bellow at your pathetic cast, including, "there is no mercy for the weak or bankers" and "dance tiny meat sacks" among others I don't want to spoil.

This is 20 pages of absolute ridiculousness and hilarious fun with lashings whimsy and a little social commentary aka peak Clegg.

Taking the form of a spec script "written in one night at The Yawning Portal by Floon Blagmaar", who those familiar with Waterdeep and its Heists of Dragons will be familiar with, this adventure is set out in an interesting and engaging manner. Added comments and critiques from the famous Volvothamp Geddarm add an additional funny element, as does the image of Clegg reigning himself in when writing said comments. The is also a glorious absurdity of the meta narrative of being players playing actors in a film script written in Waterdeep about a further fictional Waterdeep, with the DM getting to pay director.

The wonderful storyboard, filmstrips and art sketches by Ashley Grace maintain the film script conceit, while adding some on theme art, rendering Clegg's...unique vision with style.

It's not often you yet to play with level 20 characters, so having a short contained adventure to experiment in is very welcome, and something that can provide great entertainment as a relatively short party game and/ or as a very bizarre introduction to D&D for newer players and a more experienced DM , or stretched out into something ridiculously epic by experienced DMs and players wanting to take this cinematic sandbox and run with it.

However, you play it, you cannot help but have fun and I can see so many tables full of folx crying with laughter at the antics this adventure with induce. It had me laughing loudly in public just reading it!

There is a Post Credits Scene...