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

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

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

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

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

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

How does one simply review something like this?Do we see the Mona Lisa and simply say that enigmatic smile eludes to so much more than we, the viewer could possibly imagine? Do we pretend to understand the violent passion and exquisite lust in the stanzas of Byron and Keats? Can we dare to dream of seeing David through the eyes of Michelanglo, or are we mere mortals left wondering at the luscious locks of his mons pubis?To review Killer Kobolds from Outer Space, one has to try to understand it, to comprehend even the most fleeting of glimpses into the mind of Oliver Clegg, the soul of deathbybadger. Is he a messy bitch who loves drama? Certainly. But there is so much more to this talent whose mortal frame must be stressed at the seams to contain the soul du artiste that dwells in his breast, alights through his fingers. Is it possible to know the man, who is not even a man, more a force of creativity; an entity of pure inspiration?I doubt it. But I know that we will tell our children that we lived through a time when works of art like this were being created. I think we all felt it, an electric, orgiastic frisson when this work of art was published. I am not ashamed to say I wept; for joy certainly, but with sadness for an innocence lost, knowing something in the very fabric of the human condition had be irrecoverably changed forever.Is this a self contained concept for adventures with variaty of picayune dragonfolk with a myriad of whimsical contrivances from an unknown space beyond our comprehension intent upon the annihilation or reaping of life as we know it? Or is it a meta-thesis on what it is to human? To err, to accumulate, to destroy.There is certainly a plentiful plethora of exultation this piece can elicit, not least from the comical conceit of a comic, and the layout and illustration within. But reading through this magnum opus, I cannot escape la petite mort knowing that this is as close as I shall ever come to truly feeling alive.I yip, therefore I yip.

This adventure holds a special place in my heart as I had only just become active on twitter shortly before the previews and hype for the release began. From the moment I saw the art, style and flavour I just knew this was going to be something special, and by the starlight twinkling bow on Sehanine Moonbow's bow, this really more than lived up to the hype and knocked my knickerbockers off!

Having now seen much more of the creators' works, I'm not all surprised that this D&D dream team working together produced a truly magnificent product.

The story is fantastic and manages to give so much detail and so many options for how the DM and players can approach elements and their results without being overwhelming. The secrets and subplots are wicked and wonderful. I became so engrossed in the tale and the history of the Warriors of Sehanine that I audibly gasped in shocked sadness at some of the less than positive possible endings.

The Forest of Sharp Teeth, its inhabitants and the elves themselves truly feel alive, and it is easy to imagine their comings and goings with or without the game, that is to say they are brought to life in such a vibrant and emotionally ensnaring manner. There is just something about the writing and descriptions that gave me far more vivid mental imagery than many other adventures (even some official WOTC), so I felt as if I were reading a novel - (Hey D&D Dream Team: Please write a Warriors novel or short stories about the Forest of Sharp Teeth, please!).

Making the travel through the forest a hex crawl really allows the players to explore and experience the random and planned encounters, which is perfect as the planned encounters are detailed, exciting, have significant effect on the continuing story and are extremely adaptive. Each one could be expanded into a one shot of their own...which is exactly what the D&D Dream Team™ (this is becoming an official title for y'all) have done, so not only is there some fun with a sweet old lady in the woods as an encounter, there's a fully expanded one shot version in the appendix! The effects of doing, not doing and the results of the planned encounters are felt throughout the exploration of the keep.

The descriptions of the keep are spectacular and set out for to give the information needed, expanding upon it and the result of previous events and the NPCs the party may have with them. There are so many ways for the players to approach and explore the keep, as well as myriad options for where and how they encounter its denizens. But again the layout and understanding of how these are presented never feel overwhelming, there are simply many options for the DM to have for planning and/ or reacting to the players and the game.

The artwork, character design, maps, handouts and layouts speak for themselves, and are breathtakingly beautiful and wonderfully detailed. It begins with the cover and ends with the included TrashMobMinis, almost certainly the most beautiful artwork and sumptuous models on the market. There is just such attention to detail in the presentation that elevates and stands shoulder to shoulder with the quality of writing and the adventure.

I just can't say enough good things about this truly special product. I'm flabbergasted and in love with all of it. I cannot thank the Dream Team™© for sharing their talent and passion, creating something surprising and special.

While you're at it you really should check out everything else the members of the D&D Dream Team™©® have produced as there are so many wonderful things to see and play after this to continue your adventures!

So two things you should know, I have an awful habit of picking up things on here and not reading them for an age, and I don't normally post reviews before playing an adventure. However, when I came across this I just had to sit and read it cover to cover and write this initial review (I plan to add my thoughts once I get to run I've Been) right away.

I'm going to talk about my experiences with mental health in the next couple of paragraphs, so if you want to jump straight to the adventure review or are concerned about being triggered by all means skip to after the second set of *** below.

The bravery and honesty with which the author opens up and shares their experiences with mental health are commendable and really hit me where I live. While my childhood experiences were less extreme in my eyes, they still lead to a life of anxiety and depression that culminated in me having a full on PTSD breakdown, worse than few I had suffered before. I lost my twenties to PTSD, I couldn't walk, I had uncontrollable movements, hypersensitivity, a stammer so bad I could hardly communicate and I felt absolute terror of strangers, crowds and loud noises. I am so lucky my partner stayed and cared for me and, after nearly a decade I finally got diagnosed and started EMDR and CBT. I now have a great deal of my life back, but as with the character in the adventure I still suffer it's static that I think of as being similar to having a dodgy knee, only emotionally, that can act up now and again. I also had another breakdown and more therapy as there was another aspect I still hadn't processed. I now live a more stable life, but I have been left with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic pain and my own static shadow I tend to with mindfulness and meditation (the Calm app is great) and support from my wonderful, soon to be wife.

If you are suffering, please know you are not alone and that there are people and services who do care for you and can help. With hard work and the right help there is no static that cannot be at least somewhat tamed or made more manageable, and you truly deserve that respite. It might not seem like much, but at least one random on the Internet truly feels love and empathy for you, and knows that things get better.

Right, finally to the adventure itself. It was an emotional read and a well told story that truly brings to life and explores depression and it's personification with a skill and care born of experience.

The writing and layout are great, as are the suggestions, tables and descriptions of the manifestations of Kieran's depression. The way the characters and players experience the thoughts and emotions of Kieran are fantastic, and use the rules and structure of the game really well.

I am so eager to run this adventure and to see the interactions, roleplay and (hopefully) the understanding, sympathy and empathy that I believe this adventure is capable of eliciting.

For those that need their players to hit things, have no fear, the static and manifestations of depression certainly create some interesting and scary creatures and interesting encounters.

There are things to consider when running this adventure and dealing with this subject, but there are great ideas, suggestions, systems and references to allow you to approach your players and ensure that everyone has an enjoyable experience playing. And, I do think that this will be an enjoyable and illuminating experience for everyone at the table.

I think there is something truly special about this adventure, using the game we love to discuss, understand and to continue to smash the ridiculous taboo society is too slowly shifting about discussing mental health. I think this adventure will allow people to know they don't suffer alone and educate others, or at least open the door to the conversation.

'I've Been' can easily fit into any setting and is well worth discussing and bringing to your table.

I just want to thank the author for allowing themself to be vulnerable and put themself out there, creating something wonderful from the darkness that can bring light to so many.

I thoroughly recommend this, just be sure to have an open dialogue with you players.

You know an adventure is going to be great when you have so much fun just reading it. The epic playlist of music that inspired and encapsulates the spirit of the adventure only adds to joy of prepping for the session. I can't stop listening to it!

This is a perfect adventure for new DMs and players, as well as having flavour and opportunity for those more experienced. Having everything laid out so well with nicely detailed NPCs, locations and events, as well as a plethora of simplified NPC combatents to make running combat so much more streamlined and simple. I loved the Daughters so much that I have them saved in my campaign lab app for some great go to NPCs.

I prepped for a party of two, but ended up playing one on one with a fairly inexperienced player with a level three character and he absolutely loved it. The adventure allows for all manner of low level party sizes and with some simple tweaking higher level parties. It was a pleasure to run and I have it earmarked for playing with a bunch of other folks, as well as now being my new go to adventure for introducing new players or encouraging new DMs.

There's just something special and unique about the setting and vibe of this adventure to give players a fresh experience, whilst containing a fantastic introduction to roleplay and mechanics. It's refreshing to get beyond the Sword Coast and travel to an island in the Moonshae's.

The ease with which the story plays out is wonderful, but there is a subtle and fantastic undercurrent of lore (pun intended) that has already inspired me to start planning my own adventure.

The general design, artwork and layout of the adventure is superb and truly evokes much older adventures, while staying clear and wonderful to look at and read.

Look, it's bloody brilliant and you should definitely check it out! I cannot recommend this more strongly!

SPOILERS FOR THE PLOT BELOW

The hooks allow for this adventure to jump right into the action on Norland, the island of the unyielding shield maiden and her mighty Daughters of the Gray, as well as allowing the seed of the adventure to be planted in any tavern, library, scholar or book, or along any coastline, allowing for all manner of beginnings and additional things you can have happen on the way to the island.

I made a thematic tavern, the Skaeldmaer, on the road from Amphail to Waterdeep for my hook, which allowed for some tavern fun, a little travel montage and getting surprised by some bizarre costume shopping in the City of Splendours.

The description and details of the ship and crew for the journey ahead are wonderful and highly amusing with some great time and chances for roleplay and downtime activities on the sea. This works great for solo/ small parties to get to bond with the crew and/ or larger groups to get to know one another.

The introduction of the Daughters is fantastic and really put a smile on my player's face, as well as surprisingly making him extremely paranoid, making his journey over the mountain highly amusing.

The small town and large battle house are full of details, locations and NPCs to explore and. Interact with.

The arena and events are laid out in such an accessible way to make it a cinch to run as is, as well as suggestions for how you might want to run it.

Sometimes, especially with a one shot, it can be nice to have a definitive end to the adventure, which this provides in an epic, hair-raising and goosebumps of joy moment for all involved. While there is a clear end, there's so much potential for further adventures with the Daughters or simply using Norland as a home base for exploring the Moonshae Islands.

Look, it's bloody brilliant and you should definitely check it out!

I used this as an introduction to a town in the game I am playing set on the MTG Plane of Innistrad and we played through almost all of it in one long session.

The options for the motives and awareness of various characters make it versitile as a quick one shot or to build up and intergrate into your world as I am. I'm using the witch as a self-exiled Bitterheart Witch looking to test the mettle of adventurer's in the town, due to the events of another one shot I will be using and the hooks for other enemies at the end of this one shot.

The story is great and there are distinct and interesting elements to the one shot, beginning with mysrty and investigation, combat, varying puzzle and skills checks and most probably a lot of fun confusion and more combat, which really give this a balanced and enjoyable tone.

The comabts themselves can be deadly, but the advice on ways to scale it back and react to the situation are fantastic and have given me some food for thought when creating my own combat encounters.

The puzzles themselves are both ridiculously easy and devilishy frustrating, with one being a simple few skill checks that can lead to a gentle flow of skeletons that are enough to keep the party busy/ distracted, as well as suprised by how they keep coming, without being too deadly (unless they hang around), while the other main puzzle is such a cheeky head-scratcher that will be solved in seconds by more observant and perceptive party members, or devolve into absolutely ridiculous logical arguments that go round and round and leave everyone confused and unsure, as well as almost certain to get into another combat.

I left them about to mee thhe witch and look forward to her being a presence on-going on my campaign, aiding and tasking the party with quests to beneift both her and the surrounding area, although I can totally see them being a great little boss battle for this as a quick one session one shot.

The writing and ideas are great and work right out of the box as it were, but were also easily reframed and worded to fit my setting and situation.

Thank you ever so much!

Good hunting and happy gaming :)

This looks freaking awesome and i love the flavour.

Essentially, it's a Phoenix and fire themed reworked Aasimar and it's...hot, but seriously it looks great and can't wait to see how my fiancée's Phoenix Born Hexblade works out in our upcoming Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign.

Nice work. Thank you!

Good hunting and happy gaming :)

I played this for a group of four level three characters last night and it worked out really well. I did adjust the number of hands and modified Agatha for their levels, although as is it seems just right for the suggested level.

We all thoroughly enjoyed this one shot, which has a wonderful tone and concept, as well as very easily fitting into any setting. I set it in Neverwinter Wood, but I could see this working anywhere and particularly in horror themed settings like Ravenloft.

This isn't a combat heavy one shot, but there is ample space and opportunity to add encounters in as you see fit. I had the character come across a small group of Goblins before the one shot started and added an Encounter with some Giant Spiders during the first day.

The thingsthat are particularly wonderful about this one shot are the core concept and story, as well as the ability to elongate or contract the story as necessary. This could easily be worked into a campaign or extrapolated, with some work, onto a full module of it's own.

Due to the nature of the story, the events can easily be sped up for time, which is what happened as time was running out last night. This allowed for us to finish on time, but still resolve the story satisfactorily.

I had players of varying experience, from a regular DM and Player to someone who was playing D&D for the first time, and we all had a blast.

I thoroughly recommend it and will definitely be planning to run it again in the future.

Thank you ever so much.

Good hunting and happy gaming :)

This is a wonderfully dark and fun concept to add into any Curse of Strahd, Ravenloft, or any Gothic and/ or Horror setting, although with some tweaking you could have it fit into any setting.

I thoroughly enjoyed working this into my game and the players really got an unexpected kick and a rather emotional and reflective moment, which is a wonderful thing to have in the game.

This product gives you the story, as told by a Vistana, which is well written and enjoyable to read, as well as stat blocks for the characters, and the items and ingrdients (both literally and figuratively) to play the quest, which is great and gave me a lot of room to work it into my game. This worked really well for me, and I sure it would for many DMs out there who might pick this up, however I do think it could have been presented a little more coherently, as an actual questline to help less experienced DMs. This in no way lessened my enjoyment of the quest, but is the reason I am rating it 4/5, although the concept itself is certainly 5/5 and works with the Barovian lore wonderfully.

Thank you. Good hunting and happy gaming :)

This is an absolutely exceptional guide with absolutely boatloads of information that has been put together with a serious amount of thought and passion.

I absolutely love Curse of Strahd and never wanted to leave the misty borders of Barovia, but with the information provided in this absoutely huge tome, I am excited to take my game all over the Domains of Dread and experiment with all the weird and wonderful things this supplement provides.

I am not joking about how huge it is, and that is actually chocked full of content, rather than lots of advertising padding.

If you are runnign Curse of Strahd, anything Ravenloft or any kind of Gothic and/ or Horror themed game, then I implore you to check this out! The amount of archetypes, spells, feats and variant races are worth picking this up alone, whatever you are playing. I'm going to be running a game set in the M:tg plane of Innistrad and I found myself restricting certain classes and races for the setting, and this has given me so much more to offer my players when we get to our session 0.

The information is laid out well with great detail. I have been blown away and I am still wading through all the information.

I don't often spend more than a few bucks on here for material from creators, but I am extremely glad I took the plunge on this! Definitely worth every eletrum! Plus I thought it was so good, I went back and bought the first archetype book too, which is also great.

Thank you. Good hunting and happy gaming :)