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Mini-Dungeon #066: Words Fly Up, Thoughts Remain Below
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/28/2018 06:31:42

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Oh, and the series now comes in an archive that also contains...drumroll a .jpg-version of the map! Yeah, that's pretty cool. Better yet: GM-friendly version of the jpg's included as well!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

Okay, so what happens when an intellect devourer happens upon a bunch of kobolds currently fighting a drow antipaladin? Well, in this case, the intellect devourer managed to kill the drow and has since then whipped the kobolds into shape and recruited a cadre of diverse creatures under its banner. And indeed, as a disparate cadre of entities is concerned, they are pretty nice, aiming to subdue any but drow. Drow must die. Now, in a pretty cool twist, we get a table to randomly determine who is where, with percentile values. This is per se rather cool and indeed, the respective rooms sport tactics for the creatures that are most likely to be here. This renders the complex rather dynamic, but brings me to the crucial issue here: You see, the dungeon has two levels, and one of them is 1 square left, two down of where it’s depicted on the map. There also are pipes and everything and the strategy of the adversaries is per se nice…but over the neat enemy set-up, the module forgot depicting the dungeon. The map doesn’t help there either, making the whole complex feel opaque and sterile.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are good, I noticed a missing hyperlink and a few minor wording/formatting issues, like the use of a rules-term where none is intended. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is this time around less impressive than usual for the series and pretty bare-bones. The .jpg version included here, which you can easily cut up and hand out to the players as they progress is a huge bonus -and even better: A KEY-LESS VERSION sans the annoying letters/numbers is included as well for full VTT-compatibility!!!. The pdf does sport one nice piece of original full-color art - kudos!

Stephen Yeardley usually does much, much better. The two-level set-up is interesting, but suffers from the limitations of both wordcount and map-detail and the dungeon itself falls somewhat short of what it could easily have been. Try as I might, I can’t really recommend this one, in spite of its really cool premise – it feels like half a module. I strongly suggest you check out the other mini--dungeons penned by Stephen Yeardley, though – they tend to be amazing. For this one, though, my final verdict can’t exceed 2.5 stars, rounded down.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Mini-Dungeon #066: Words Fly Up, Thoughts Remain Below
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5E Mini-Dungeon #065: The Blight
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/26/2018 04:28:37

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a 5E-mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Oh, and the series now comes in an archive that also contains...drumroll a .jpg-version of the map, in both GM and player-friendly versions!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is, a helpful tool in the GM’s arsenal. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

For almost a millennium, a vast oak, buildings in the branches, stood as the proud regent of the forest, guarded by a proud dryad and druidic allies. The druids have gone, though, and now, rot is spreading through the vast forest, courtesy of the dryad being infected by the eponymous blight, represented rules-wise by the duskthorn dryad here. What’s that, you ask? Well, this conversion to 5E actually sports two uncommon monsters – the aforementioned dark dryad and the sap demon, both taken and properly credited to Kobold Press’ excellent Tome of Beasts. And yes, the stats are reprinted here for your convenience!

Now, a flayed druid, plant monsters and worse remain, and the dryad enjoys hit and run tactics – tree stride is really effective when everything around you is a tree…so the PCs will need to be smart, withstand the dryad and her cold iron hedgeclippers…and hopefully find a way to stop the fungal blight.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and nice. Huge plus: We get a GM AND a Player-version of the area in which this takes place, providing full VTT-friendly compatibility.

The 5E conversion of Colin Stricklin’s “The Blight” was handled expertly by Chris Harris – the use of the ToB-monsters adds a distinct identity to the pdf and the hazards etc. have been properly adjusted to represent 5e-rules as well, making this, in its own way, just as strong as the PFRPG-version – 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
5E Mini-Dungeon #065: The Blight
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Mini-Dungeon #065: The Blight
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/26/2018 04:27:03

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Oh, and the series now comes in an archive that also contains...drumroll a .jpg-version of the map! Yeah, that's pretty amazing! Better yet: GM-friendly version of the jpg's included as well!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

For almost a millennium, a vast oak, buildings in the branches, stood as the proud regent of the forest, guarded by a proud dryad and druidic allies. The druids have gone, though, and now, rot is spreading through the vast forest, courtesy of the dryad being infected by the eponymous blight, represented rules-wise by the blighted fey template here. Now, a flayed druid, plant monsters and worse remain, and the dryad enjoys hit and run tactics – tree stride is really effective when everything around you is a tree…so the PCs will need to be smart, withstand the dryad and her cold iron hedgeclippers…and hopefully find a way to stop the fungal blight.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and surprisingly good for such an inexpensive pdf. The .jpg version included here, which you can easily cut up and hand out to the players as they progress is a huge bonus -and even better: A KEY-LESS VERSION sans the annoying letters/numbers is included as well for full VTT-compatibility!!!. The pdf does sport one nice piece of original full-color art - kudos!

Colin Stricklin provides a great sidetrek for travels through extensive stretches of forest – the mini-dungeon is easy to insert and very flavorful. The nasty spore-clouds and smart primary antagonist add further value to this mini-dungeon, continuing the streak of exceedingly strong mini-modules. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Mini-Dungeon #065: The Blight
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5E Mini-Dungeon #064: I'll Plague Both Your Houses
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/26/2018 04:24:59

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a 5E-mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Oh, and the series now comes in an archive that also contains...drumroll a .jpg-version of the map! Yeah, that's pretty amazing! Better yet: GM-friendly version of the jpg's included as well!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

It is well-known that the underdark houses some of the most malignant, vile beings and cults – and in a particular cavern, two rival cults engaged in a constant one-upmanship of “more evil than thou” – one cult was lawful, the other chaotic – and both were thoroughly vile. Alas, in a surprising twist, they did not attempt to eradicate each other, at least not until a particularly nasty elf killer happened upon the cults. While he managed to eradicate both cults, step by step, he did not, stupidly, I might add, account for evil cultist leaders rising as the living dead. Well, guess what they did? While he got away with his life and is sustained for now by the spoon he owns, the complex still represents a three-way standoff. As the module notes, this extended encounter/sidetrek area is a brutal challenge – and indeed, the pdf makes excellent use of PFRPG’s vast bestiary and the tactics of the creatures herein are surprisingly detailed for the pdf’s brevity. In order to triumph here, PCs are most likely required to make use of the still very much palpable hostility between all those evildoers…

(As an aside, this may just be me, but this mini-dungeon really struck me as a perfect fit for e.g. conflict between Tsathoggua and Orcus/as a side-area for Rappan Athuk or similar complexes.)

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and surprisingly good for such an inexpensive pdf. The .jpg version included here, which you can easily cut up and hand out to the players as they progress is a huge bonus -and even better: A KEY-LESS VERSION sans the annoying letters/numbers is included as well for full VTT-compatibility!!! The pdf does sport one nice piece of original full-color art - kudos!

Stephen Yeardley knows how to write mini-dungeons; I am a huge fan of his big adventures as well as the small ones and this one is amazing due to its focus on pure functionality – we get a volatile, extended encounter-situation and ignite the powder-keg once more by adding PCs. The module can be slotted easily into just about any context. Chris Harris’ 5e-conversion is solid and manages to convey the general set-up well. However, the 5e-version suffers from some system-immanent shortcomings: The main-appeal of the PFRPG-version lies in the creative and amazing adversaries chosen, highlighting some really cool monsters. 5e has, as of now, a more limited creature array available, and this, alas, shows in the pdf – the enemies encountered, in contrast, are pretty vanilla, depriving the module of what made it outstanding in PFRPG. It’s still a good adventure, but it is less remarkable in this version. My final verdict will clock in at 4 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
5E Mini-Dungeon #064: I'll Plague Both Your Houses
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Mini-Dungeon #064: I'll Plague Both Your Houses
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/26/2018 04:23:05

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Oh, and the series now comes in an archive that also contains...drumroll a .jpg-version of the map, in both GM and player-friendly versions!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is, a helpful tool in the GM’s arsenal. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

It is well-known that the underdark houses some of the most malignant, vile beings and cults – and in a particular cavern, two rival cults engaged in a constant one-upmanship of “more evil than thou” – one cult was lawful, the other chaotic – and both were thoroughly vile. Alas, in a surprising twist, they did not attempt to eradicate each other, at least not until a particularly nasty elf killer happened upon the cults. While he managed to eradicate both cults, step by step, he did not, stupidly, I might add, account for evil cultist leaders rising as the living dead. Well, guess what they did? While he got away with his life and is sustained for now by the magical spoon he owns, the complex still represents a three-way standoff. As the module notes, this extended encounter/sidetrek area is a brutal challenge – and indeed, the pdf makes excellent use of PFRPG’s vast bestiary and the tactics of the creatures herein are surprisingly detailed for the pdf’s brevity. In order to triumph here, PCs are most likely required to make use of the still very much palpable hostility between all those evildoers…

(As an aside, this may just be me, but this mini-dungeon really struck me as a perfect fit for e.g. conflict between Tsathoggua and Orcus/as a side-area for Rappan Athuk or similar complexes.)

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and nice. Huge plus: We get a GM AND a Player-version of the area in which this takes place, providing full VTT-friendly compatibility.

Stephen Yeardley knows how to write mini-dungeons; I am a huge fan of his big adventures as well as the small ones and this one is amazing due to its focus on pure functionality – we get a volatile, extended encounter-situation and ignite the powder-keg once more by adding PCs. The module can be slotted easily into just about any context and the author chooses the adversaries in a creative manner – from totenmasken to polong and guecubu, this excels in its smart creature choice and precise, challenging set-up. I really like it. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Mini-Dungeon #064: I'll Plague Both Your Houses
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5E Mini-Dungeon #063: The World Forge
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/26/2018 04:19:11

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a 5E-mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Oh, and the series now comes in an archive that also contains...drumroll a .jpg-version of the map, in both GM and player-friendly versions!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is, a helpful tool in the GM’s arsenal. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

Okay, this is something UTTERLY different from anything I’ve seen so far – this mini-dungeon could be used as a complex room of sorts, as a kind of exposition by doing, or as simply its stand-alone version – in effect, the dungeon represents an experiment, wherein the PCs create a miniature world according to the experiments of an extraplanar entity: The dungeon sports 5 elemental globes – Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Void, all associated with the respective, correct energy types. These are placed on an axis of good and evil, law and chaos. Ultimately, they thus create a miniature world – but also the instrument of the cataclysm of the world, which they then need to vanquish the fated destroyer of this world – and yes, the PCs are rewarded for smart observation of previously-created, failed worlds.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and nice. Huge plus: We get a GM AND a Player-version of the area in which this takes place, providing full VTT-friendly compatibility.

Colin Stricklin’s world forge is a really evocative, cool little supplement – it can easily be plugged into pretty much any complex and provides a rewarding change of pace. What more can you ask of such a humble supplement? Chris Harris’ 5e-conversion is nice and translates the mini-dungeon in a concise manner to 5e. My final verdict will be 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
5E Mini-Dungeon #063: The World Forge
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Mini-Dungeon #063: The World Forge
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/26/2018 04:17:46

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Oh, and the series now comes in an archive that also contains...drumroll a .jpg-version of the map! Yeah, that's pretty amazing! Better yet: GM-friendly version of the jpg's included as well!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

Okay, this is something UTTERLY different from anything I’ve seen so far – this mini-dungeon could be used as a complex room of sorts, as a kind of exposition by doing, or as simply its stand-alone version – in effect, the dungeon represents an experiment, wherein the PCs create a miniature world according to the experiments of an extraplanar entity: The dungeon sports 5 elemental globes – Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Void, all associated with the respective, correct energy types. These are placed on an axis of good and evil, law and chaos. Ultimately, they thus create a miniature world – but also the instrument of the cataclysm of the world, which they then need to vanquish the fated destroyer of this world – and yes, the PCs are rewarded for smart observation of previously-created, failed worlds.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and surprisingly good for such an inexpensive pdf. The .jpg version included here, which you can easily cut up and hand out to the players as they progress is a huge bonus -and even better: A KEY-LESS VERSION sans the annoying letters/numbers is included as well for full VTT-compatibility!!!. The pdf does sport one nice piece of original full-color art - kudos!

Colin Stricklin’s world forge is a really evocative, cool little supplement – it can easily be plugged into pretty much any complex and provides a rewarding change of pace. What more can you ask of such a humble supplement? 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Mini-Dungeon #063: The World Forge
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(5E) Heir & Back Again
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/23/2018 08:59:35

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This adventure clocks in at 64 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 60 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue as a prioritized review at the request of my patreons.

Okay, so first things first: This module is intended for four characters – in fact, 4 specific characters. While they may be replaced, this will take a bit of time and the most sensible way of running this is as a 1st level module or as a stand-alone adventure.

The pregenerated characters, all of whom come with their own full-color artworks, sport detailed backgrounds and full-color artworks alongside their stats. The character would by Joylene Crumb, an adolescent human ranger girl, who grew up as the adopted daughter of peasants. There would be Talulla, a pooka druid trickster exiled from her fairy village for a prank gone wrong. There is Bjorn Bearson, a werebear barbarian, and finally, there is Fergus MacDougal, the talking cat. Who is actually a dwarven sorcerer. All of the pregens come with a read-aloud description as well as a background notes with flaws and the like.

Now, it should be noted that this adventure can be run as a 1-on-1 game, with one GM and one player; in such a case, Joylene is the PC, for the story revolves mainly around her. If the nature of the NPCs did not drive this home – the pdf has a very strong fairy-tale-esque aesthetic and as such, is suitable for kids as well as adults. In fact, I think that this works rather well as an adventure for kids, courtesy of a feature that sets this apart.

You see, Joylene begins play with a potent artifact, the amulet of unwound time. She’ll need it.

In case the cover was not ample indicator of what to expect herein, this adventure is a homage to the classic King’s Quest-series of Sierra-point-and-click-adventures. If you have played these, you’ll know that there are a TON of ways to die in a weird and comedic manner, and this pdf emphasizes and embraces that aspect. It also tells the GM and players to embrace this – the amulet acts as basically the save/reload function here.

Another aspect that sets this apart from any other roleplaying adventure would be the fact that it emphasizes puzzles over rules – in fact, it is very much possible to run this adventure purely on a narrative basis: All major aspects of the module are based on finding items, combining them, etc. and thus, while often tied to rules, can theoretically be run without rolling a single die. This module emphasizes puzzles over rolling the bones, much like the beloved point-and-click adventures.

But won’t the items become confusing? No, for the organization of the adventure is REALLY interesting: Quest items are always bolded – additionally, the GM gets them color-coded: Items that are freely available, are printed in green; those that need to be found, contingent on an ability or the like, are blue and those that need to be traded/given are printed in purple. Here’s a cool thing about that: The module sports a MASSIVE appendix, in which each item’s location is noted, alongside the respective color, how it can be got and the descriptive text. Oh, and an artwork. If you print these out, you can hand out the artworks to the players! The quest item table makes managing this aspect really simple.

Alternatively, you can always get the item card deck, which provides a player-friendly card for each of the items used in the adventure – not required, but a handy prop that cuts down on your prep-time. (As an aside – particularly when playing with kids, this can help immensely!) EDIT: As of now, the deck has increased in usefulness, as it now also contains the lavishly-illustrated locations, meaning that every place herein gets a mini-handout! That's HUGE!

There is another aspect to this adventure that is extremely helpful for the GM: The location-spread. The Map of the Duchy of Sapphire is depicted in lavish artworks – one is provided for each of the “screens” that the PCs can explore, and the GM gets handy, color-coded arrows pointing from location to location, allowing you to have an easy overview of how to get from place to place. In fact, this is the time where I’d like to comment on how ridiculously easy navigation is – you click on an image of a locale and the internal hyperlinking brings you right to the place; same goes for the items, btw. These link to the item list. Each of the individual locations also has a list of items attained and items used, with the respective locations noted.

Even better, the respective locations themselves link back to the overview-spread, allowing for a really easy to use and comfortable GMing experience. The organization is really smart here, as the top of each page also lists the respective connections to other screens – one click and you’ll be there. This level of comfort really helps you maintain the upper hand while running this adventure.

Now, I am going to deviate from my usual format a bit here – since the main draw of this adventure are the puzzles, talking you through the module would make no sense – I’d SPOIL even more than usual. Instead, I’d like to comment a bit on the design aesthetics – much like in King’s Quest, the primary antagonist would be an evil wizard, here, Vaclav. He and pretty much all combats herein, though, are changed by the quest item use – they are actually required to best Vaclav, considering his power. That being said, it is possible to make the fight against him utterly and completely contingent on narrative means – i.e., based solely on these items. That would be one use of the adventure, and, if played as such, a capable GM can use either the PFRPG or the 5e-version and play this as what amounts to, a system neutral pen & paper point and click adventure. This is possible, if not the intended use of the adventure.

However, even though the obvious inspiration of this adventure would be King’s Quest, it actually plays, when tackled as written, for like a point and click adventure/RPG-hybrid, like e.g. the amazing Quest for Glory-series. The roleplaying elements in such a case add a degree of tension and uncertainty to the proceedings that make this module much more interesting, so yeah, running it WITH the RPG-components actually enhances the game. Much like early point and click adventures required often a degree of player skill (and luck), the use of this adventure as intended simulates this uncertainty via the rolling of the dice. It should also be mentioned that the presence of a roleplaying system as a backdrop can further help stumped players – and while there are no dead ends per default, this further helps mitigate potential player frustration for “being stuck,” providing a synergy of the best of both worlds in that regard.

There is another aspect to this module that warrants mentioning: When I, back in the day, started GMing, I noticed a sort of choice-paralysis by the players; conditioned by videogames and other forms of media, the sudden delimitation of options that pen & paper games provide felt almost overwhelming, and it took some serious getting used to for them. In a way, this module can ease new players into that: Yes, they can opt for combat and combat-related options in a couple of instances, but using items, ultimately, is the smarter move. This is a big, big plus in my book – we ultimately emphasize brains over brawn here and the module is better off for it.

This design philosophy and the aforementioned, child-friendliness, is btw. also a component that is reflected in the XP-aesthetics – solving puzzles and dealing with adversaries in a non-violent manner is worth more than trying to brute-force combat with them. This teaches the players that using their brains tops trying to kill everything, which is a big plus, ethics-wise.

The module also consequently rewards exploration: There are quite a few “optional” areas or somewhat branching paths that the PCs may find, with e.g. a fairy village, a magic waterfall, a poisoned pond, troll-guarded suspension bridges and nomadic camps all providing means to progress, to attain the tools that can help best Vaclav. Indeed, a particular item, the royal signet ring, is one of the determining factors for the 6 endings that can be found herein. And yes, whether or not the PCs subdue or kill the evil wizard makes a difference. As for scope – a total of 21 main locations can be found and most groups should get between 2 – 4 full playing sessions out of this adventure. You can brute force faster progression, obviously, but yeah.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch in the 5e-version – I noticed no serious glitches. Layout deserves special mention – the pdf adheres to a 2-column full-color standard and the module has a TON of original, full-color artworks for items, characters and locations. More importantly, the internal hyperlinking and color-coding of links and items makes the module really user-friendly. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

A little tangent here: Time and again, I have been praised in my professional life for being able to think in uncommon ways, for thinking outside the box and coming up with creative solutions. I am 100% certain that my love for point-and-click adventures as a child has something to do with that; if you don’t just try to combine everything with each other, you have to think – cleverly and outside of your own comfort zone. They also help develop logic, language and abstract-thinking skills. There is a lot of overlap there with RPGs, who also teach math skills and creative thinking, etc. Notice something? Yeah, this is, in my opinion, a natural fit that can help ease kids into the hobby.

That is not to say that adults can’t enjoy this, mind you – this may be cute, but it’s not cutesy. It is child-friendly, but not childish. It treats the players respectfully. In particularly adults who have had some experience with the classic games will probably experience one nostalgic event after another.

So is this good? Well, in my opinion, it is excellent. I do bemoan the lack of full-page versions of the gorgeous adventure-screens, but the new and expanded card deck somewhat remedies that. That is about the only thing I did not like about this adventure. Yes, it requires that you and the players wholeheartedly buy into the premise, but when you do, you’ll be rewarded with a playing experience unlike anyone I’ve had with roleplaying games.

This module by Jonathan G. Nelson, with additional content by Serena Nelson (EDIT: It has MASSIVE contributions from Jensen Toperzer - mea maxima culpa for not stating that earlier!!), in short, is genuinely innovative and a really fun experience. As a huge fan of adventure/RPG-hybrids, a genre that lies horribly vacant in PC-gaming, this scratched a really powerful itch of mine, and did so in a heartwarming and fun way. I really, really hope that this is the first of many such adventures – my final verdict will clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval. In contrast to the PFRPG-version, the 5e-version feels a bit more refined and is, system-immanently, a bit more conductive to the playing experience, so get this one if you have the luxury of choosing which one to play. The expanded card deck makes for a really great prop as well and can be used to further enhance the experience.

Oh, and conversely, this is a candidate for my Top Ten of 2018. If you even remotely like the idea, check this out asap!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
(5E) Heir & Back Again
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Heir & Back Again
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/23/2018 08:58:23

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This adventure clocks in at 63 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 59 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue as a prioritized review at the request of my patreons.

Okay, so first things first: This module is intended for four characters – in fact, 4 specific characters. While they may be replaced, this will take a bit of time and the most sensible way of running this is as a 1st level module or as a stand-alone adventure.

The pregenerated characters, all of whom come with their own full-color artworks, sport detailed backgrounds and full-color artworks alongside their stats. The character would by Joylene Crumb, a an adolescent human aristocrat girl, who grew up as the adopted daughter of peasants. There would be Talulla, a pooka druid trickster exiled from her fairy village for a prank gone wrong. There is Bjorn Bearson, a werebear (stats for both forms provided) and finally, there is Fergus MacDougal, the talking cat. Who is actually a dwarven sorcerer. All of the pregens come with a read-aloud description as well.

Now, it should be noted that this adventure can be run as a 1-on-1 game, with one GM and one player; in such a case, Joylene is the PC, for the story revolves mainly around her. If the nature of the NPCs did not drive this home – the pdf has a very strong fairy-tale-esque aesthetic and as such, is suitable for kids as well as adults. In fact, I think that this works rather well as an adventure for kids, courtesy of a feature that sets this apart.

You see, Joylene begins play with a potent artifact, the amulet of unwound time. She’ll need it.

In case the cover was not ample indicator of what to expect herein, this adventure is a homage to the classic King’s Quest-series of Sierra-point-and-click-adventures. If you have played these, you’ll know that there are a TON of ways to die in a weird and comedic manner, and this pdf emphasizes and embraces that aspect. It also tells the GM and players to embrace this – the amulet acts as basically the save/reload function here.

Another aspect that sets this apart from any other roleplaying adventure would be the fact that it emphasizes puzzles over rules – in fact, it is very much possible to run this adventure purely on a narrative basis: All major aspects of the module are based on finding items, combining them, etc. and thus, while often tied to rules, can theoretically be run without rolling a single die. This module emphasizes puzzles over rolling the bones, much like the beloved point-and-click adventures.

But won’t the items become confusing? No, for the organization of the adventure is REALLY interesting: Quest items are always bolded – additionally, the GM gets them color-coded: Items that are freely available, are printed in green; those that need to be found, contingent on an ability or the like, are blue and those that need to be traded/given are printed in purple. Here’s a cool thing about that: The module sports a MASSIVE appendix, in which each item’s location is noted, alongside the respective color, how it can be got and the descriptive text. Oh, and an artwork. If you print these out, you can hand out the artworks to the players! The quest item table makes managing this aspect really simple.

Alternatively, you can always get the item card deck, which provides a player-friendly card for each of the items used in the adventure – not required, but a handy prop that cuts down on your prep-time. (As an aside – particularly when playing with kids, this can help immensely!) EDIT: As of now, the deck has increased in usefulness, as it now also contains the lavishly-illustrated locations, meaning that every place herein gets a mini-handout! That's HUGE!

There is another aspect to this adventure that is extremely helpful for the GM: The location-spread. The Map of the Duchy of Sapphire is depicted in lavish artworks – one is provided for each of the “screens” that the PCs can explore, and the Gm gets handy, color-coded arrows pointing from location to location, allowing you to have an easy overview of how to get from place to place. In fact, this is the time where I’d like to comment on how ridiculously easy navigation is – you click on an image of a locale and the internal hyperlinking brings you right to the place; same goes for the items, btw. These link to the item list. Each of the individual locations also has a list of items attained and items used, with the respective locations noted.

Even better, the respective locations themselves link back to the overview-spread, allowing for a really easy to use and comfortable GMing experience. The organization is really smart here, as the top of each page also lists the respective connections to other screens – one click and you’ll be there. This level of comfort really helps you maintain the upper hand while running this adventure.

Now, I am going to deviate from my usual format a bit here – since the main draw of this adventure are the puzzles, talking you through the module would make no sense – I’d SPOIL even more than usual. Instead, I’d like to comment a bit on the design aesthetics – much like in King’s Quest, the primary antagonist would be an evil wizard, here, Vaclav. He and pretty much all combats herein, though, are changed by the quest item use – they are actually required to best Vaclav, considering his power. That being said, it is possible to make the fight against him utterly and completely contingent on narrative means – i.e., based solely on these items. That would be one use of the adventure, and, if played as such, a capable GM can use either the PFRPG or the 5e-version and play this as what amounts to, a system neutral pen & paper point and click adventure. This is possible, if not the intended use of the adventure.

However, even though the obvious inspiration of this adventure would be King’s Quest, it actually plays, when tackled as written, for like a point and click adventure/RPG-hybrid, like e.g. the amazing Quest for Glory-series. The roleplaying elements in such a case add a degree of tension and uncertainty to the proceedings that make this module much more interesting, so yeah, running it WITH the RPG-components actually enhances the game. Much like early point and click adventures required often a degree of player skill (and luck), the use of this adventure as intended simulates this uncertainty via the rolling of the dice. It should also be mentioned that the presence of a roleplaying system as a backdrop can further help stumped players – and while there are no dead ends per default, this further helps mitigate potential player frustration for “being stuck,” providing a synergy of the best of both worlds in that regard.

There is another aspect to this module that warrants mentioning: When I, back in the day, started GMing, I noticed a sort of choice-paralysis by the players; conditioned by videogames and other forms of media, the sudden delimitation of options that pen & paper games provide felt almost overwhelming, and it took some serious getting used to for them. In a way, this module can ease new players into that: Yes, they can opt for combat and combat-related options in a couple of instances, but using items, ultimately, is the smarter move. This is a big, big plus in my book – we ultimately emphasize brains over brawn here and the module is better off for it.

This design philosophy and the aforementioned child-friendliness, is btw. also a component that is reflected in the XP-aesthetics – solving puzzles and dealing with adversaries in a non-violent manner is worth more than trying to brute-force combat with them. This teaches the players that using their brains tops trying to kill everything, which is a big plus, ethics-wise.

The module also consequently rewards exploration: There are quite a few “optional” areas or somewhat branching paths that the PCs may find, with e.g. a fairy village, a magic waterfall, a poisoned pond, troll-guarded suspension bridges and nomadic camps all providing means to progress, to attain the tools that can help best Vaclav. Indeed, a particular item, the royal signet ring, is one of the determining factors for the 6 endings that can be found herein. And yes, whether or not the PCs subdue or kill the evil wizard makes a difference. As for scope – a total of 21 main locations can be found and most groups should get between 2 – 4 full playing sessions out of this adventure. You can brute force faster progression, obviously, but yeah.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good – while I noticed a few minor hiccups, nothing grievous hampered my enjoyment of the pdf. A reference to “Wisdom (Perception)” here and a wrongly colored link there, but, again, these are scarce. Layout deserves special mention – the pdf adheres to a 2-column full-color standard and the module has a TON of original, full-color artworks for items, characters and locations. I strongly suggest getting the expanded deck of props for maximum impact. More importantly, the internal hyperlinking and color-coding of links and items makes the module really user-friendly. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

A little tangent here: Time and again, I have been praised in my professional life for being able to think in uncommon ways, for thinking outside the box and coming up with creative solutions. I am 100% certain that my love for point-and-click adventures as a child has something to do with that; if you don’t just try to combine everything with each other, you have to think – cleverly and outside of your own comfort zone. They also help develop logic, language and abstract-thinking skills. There is a lot of overlap there with RPGs, who also teach math skills and creative thinking, etc. Notice something? Yeah, this is, in my opinion, a natural fit that can help ease kids into the hobby.

That is not to say that adults can’t enjoy this, mind you – this may be cute, but it’s not cutesy. It is child-friendly, but not childish. It treats the players respectfully. In particularly adults who have had some experience with the classic games will probably experience one nostalgic event after another.

So is this good? Well, in my opinion, it is excellent. I do bemoan the lack of full-page versions of the gorgeous adventure-screens, but the expanded deck really helps here and makes for a great way to highlight the neat artwork. The adventure requires that you and the players embrace the premise, but when you do, you’ll be rewarded with a playing experience unlike anyone I’ve had with roleplaying games.

This module by Jonathan G. Nelson, with additional content by Serena Nelson (EDIT: It has MASSIVE contributions from Jensen Toperzer - mea maxima culpa for not stating that earlier!!), in short, is genuinely innovative and a really fun experience. As a huge fan of adventure/RPG-hybrids, a genre that lies horribly vacant in PC-gaming, this scratched a really powerful itch of mine, and did so in a heartwarming and fun way. I really, really hope that this is the first of many such adventures – my final verdict will clock in at 4.5 stars, rounded up, with my seal of approval added. If you even remotely like the idea, check this out asap! If you have the luxury of choice, I’d consider the 5e-version to be slightly more refined and system-immanently, better suited for the playing experience this offers. As an aside: If you get this with the new and expanded card deck added, consider the verdict to clock in at +0.5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Heir & Back Again
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Heir & Back Again -- Deck of Cards
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/19/2018 05:01:11

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This is basically a card-deck, which sports one card per Quest Item featured in the Heir and Back Again homage to the classic point and click adventure games.

It's first part contains 29 cards that represent the Quest Items that can be found in the pdf, with the back sporting a fairy tale castle and the logo, and the front sporting the artwork of the item, as well as a brief description.

The deal also comes with an archive, which contains the respective artworks in high-res jpgs.

Do you absolutely need this supplement for these item-cards? No, but it makes for a nice prop for the game, particularly when playing the module with kids.

However, as of right now, there is more to the deck!

Now here is an amazing thing and proof that AAW Games cares and listens: The deck has been expanded and now provides a second set of cards, one that depicts the lavishly-illustrated locations! These cards have a different back, allowing for easy identification. Oh, and they can be used to represent the locations at the table. Huge plus!

So yeah, this expanded deck has greatly increased its value, courtesy of the nice location artwork cards. Hence, the final verdict is adjusted as well, to 5 stars.

Publishers: This is how it's done!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Heir & Back Again -- Deck of Cards
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Mini-Dungeon #062: What the Dickens
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/16/2018 07:53:58

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Oh, and the series now comes in an archive that also contains...drumroll a .jpg-version of the map, in both GM and player-friendly versions!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is, a helpful tool in the GM’s arsenal. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

Okay, so in a masterstroke of the old adage of „opportunity creates thieves“, a young pick-pocket named Dodger managed to steal an amulet. Problem #1): The target is a marais rakshasa. Problem #2): The amulet is actually a raktavarna raksaha. The evil outsiders, alas, have failed to reclaim the “amulet” and as such, they have set up a mini thieves’ guild, a coaching service for aspiring criminals of sorts, one that obviously resonates with the Dickensian overtones that you expected from the title. This is, once you think about it, rather hilarious, and indeed, when the pdf notes how one of the rakshasa in disguise looks after his “little wascals”, of the mighty marais disguised as a bawdy cockney gal, you’ll be hard-pressed to swallow your inevitable chuckle.

The adventure itself begins when the rakshasa asks the PCs to “stop the thief” – actually, she finally noticed dodger and attacked him, but he managed to escape. Provided the PCs survive catching up with Dodger, they’ll have to deal with “Nancy” – and after that, the adventure flips and has Dodger recruit the PCs to free his fellow young thieves from the new “guild.” Infiltrating the guild and stopping the evil outsiders will not be an easy job.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and nice. Huge plus: We get a GM AND a Player-version of the area in which this takes place, providing full VTT-friendly compatibility.

This is an utterly delightful, hilarious example of an excellent mini-dungeon; full of literary allusions, as seen through the lens of gaming, this is challenging, hilarious, challenging and utterly amazing, ranking as one of the best mini-dungeons in the whole line. It is baffling how much flavor is crammed into these 2 pages. Oh, and it’s been written by none other than Richard Develyn, you know, the man who writes the 4 Dollar Dungeons; the brilliant author whose modules regularly manage to get the first spot on my Top Ten lists. (Yes, you should absolutely own all of his modules; apart from his first one, they’re all masterpieces in one way or another.) Yeah, once you realize that, you probably won’t be surprised by how good this is. 5 stars + seal of approval, given without any hesitation.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Mini-Dungeon #062: What the Dickens
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5E Mini-Dungeon #062: What the Dickens
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/16/2018 07:51:32

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a 5E-mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Oh, and the series now comes in an archive that also contains...drumroll a .jpg-version of the map, in both GM and player-friendly versions!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is, a helpful tool in the GM’s arsenal. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

Okay, so in a masterstroke of the old adage of „opportunity creates thieves“, a young pick-pocket named Dodger managed to steal a ring. Problem #1): The target is a rakshasa. Problem #2): The amulet is actually a ring of djinni summoning. The evil outsider is not alone, and, alas, they have failed to reclaim the ring and as such, they have set up a mini thieves’ guild, a coaching service for aspiring criminals of sorts, one that obviously resonates with the Dickensian overtones that you expected from the title. This is, once you think about it, rather hilarious, and indeed, when the pdf notes how one of the rakshasa in disguise looks after his “little wascals”, of the mighty rakshasa, disguised as a bawdy cockney gal, you’ll be hard-pressed to swallow your inevitable chuckle.

The adventure itself begins when the rakshasa asks the PCs to “stop the thief” – actually, she finally noticed dodger and attacked him, but he managed to escape. Provided the PCs survive catching up with Dodger, they’ll have to deal with “Nancy” – and after that, the adventure flips and has Dodger recruit the PCs to free his fellow young thieves from the new “guild.” Infiltrating the guild and stopping the evil outsiders will not be an easy job.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and nice. Huge plus: We get a GM AND a Player-version of the area in which this takes place, providing full VTT-friendly compatibility.

This is an utterly delightful, hilarious example of an excellent mini-dungeon; full of literary allusions, as seen through the lens of gaming, this is challenging, hilarious, challenging and utterly amazing, ranking as one of the best mini-dungeons in the whole line. It is baffling how much flavor is crammed into these 2 pages. Oh, and it’s been written by none other than Richard Develyn, you know, the man who writes the 4 Dollar Dungeons; the brilliant author whose modules regularly manage to get the first spot on my Top Ten lists. (Yes, you should absolutely own all of his modules; apart from his first one, they’re all masterpieces in one way or another.) Yeah, once you realize that, you probably won’t be surprised by how good this is. That being said, as much as I like Chris Harris’ conversion here, the PFRPG original is clearly the better book – not due to a bad conversion, mind you, but because the original makes use of PFRPG’s vast creature array in amazing ways – the ring, in PFRPG, is actually a disguised rakshasa subspecies in the shape of an amulet, the rakshasa faced is ophidian and triggers Dodger’s fear of it. It’s small flourishes, but they can’t be translated well. If you have the luxury to choose the version, get the PFRPG-version. That being said, the 5e-version remains absolutely engrossing and cool and deserving of a final verdict of 5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
5E Mini-Dungeon #062: What the Dickens
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5E Mini-Dungeon #061: The Cackling Madness of Umberstone Manor
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/16/2018 07:40:46

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Big plus: This mini-dungeon comes both a GM and a player-friendly version of the area depicted, all ready for VTT-use. Kudos!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

So, first thing you’ll notice is that this mini-dungeon is actually no dungeon – instead, it is basically an adventure sketch of sorts, presenting the basic set-up, plot and providing guidelines to run this adventure, all on two pages. The eponymous Umberstone Manor is the ancestral seat of the Valniboom family, antique dealers of some renown; the manor is situated in the shadow of a massive mountain and, indeed, is the private playground of the family and, indeed, the entire umberstone hill carries a really, really potent global effect that will have PCs struggle, even at high levels. Really nice: Not only the small details, but this curse in particular have been properly adjusted for 5e-gameplay, making good use of the system’s mechanics.

Now, the PCs have been hired to investigate the strange curse that has befallen the local populace – 2/3rd of them have developed a cackling mania, with more affected by the strange cackling curse daily. Weirdly, though, no one seems to be dying from the curse…

The resolution is actually really cool and a plan befitting of PCs in how wickedly cool and over the top it is: You see, the Valnibooms are actually vampires – and they can, obviously, control the living, right? So, what’s a good vampire hunter gotta do? Well, Nicoletta Vasille’s response was to dump a boatload of specialized poison into the local water supplies; harmless to mortals, but it temporarily renders their blood unpalatable for the undead. Oh, and gibbering mania as a side-effect, but beggars can’t be choosy, right? Well, that’s not all. She also hired dwarves to create a tunnel into the mountain, planning on BLOWING UP THE MOUNTAIN, thus exposing the manor to sunlight AND letting a huge avalanche/rock slide crash down. And you thought your PCs have a tendency for overkill…

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and nice. Huge plus: We get a GM AND a Player-version of the area in which this takes place, providing full VTT-friendly compatibility.

This is but a sketch of a full scenario, but the amount of details it provides in scant few words is AMAZING. How the PCs interact with the factions, what they do – it all depends on you, but this makes a great 1-page adventure set-up that is more interesting than many that I’ve read. Yes, it needs some fleshing out, obviously, but Justin Andrew Mason’s angle here works admirably well. My one complaint here is that I’d have loved to see this fully developed as a big sandbox; you know, fully depicted villages, progression of everyone becoming ever more manic… the scope feels almost too ambitious for even the sketch-formula of this MD. The 5e-version is just as efficient as the PFRPG-iteration. My final verdict will be 4.5 stars, rounded up for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
5E Mini-Dungeon #061: The Cackling Madness of Umberstone Manor
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Mini-Dungeon #061: The Cackling Madness of Umberstone Manor
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/16/2018 07:38:16

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Oh, and the series now comes in an archive that also contains...drumroll a .jpg-version of the map!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is, a helpful tool in the GM’s arsenal. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

So, first thing you’ll notice is that this mini-dungeon is actually no dungeon – instead, it is basically an adventure sketch of sorts, presenting the basic set-up, plot and providing guidelines to run this adventure, all on two pages. The eponymous Umberstone Manor is the ancestral seat of the Valniboom family, antique dealers of some renown; the manor is situated in the shadow of a massive mountain and, indeed, is the private playground of the family and, indeed, the entire umberstone hill carries a really, really potent global effect that will have PCs struggle, even at high levels – kudos!

Now, the PCs have been hired to investigate the strange curse that has befallen the local populace – 2/3rd of them have developed a cackling mania, with more affected by the strange cackling curse daily. Weirdly, though, no one seems to be dying from the curse…

The resolution is actually really cool and a plan befitting of PCs in how wickedly cool and over the top it is: You see, the Valnibooms are actually vampires – and they can, obviously, control the living, right? So, what’s a good vampire hunter gotta do? Well, Nicoletta Vasille’s response was to dump a boatload of specialized poison into the local water supplies; harmless to mortals, but it temporarily renders their blood unpalatable for the undead. Oh, and gibbering mania as a side-effect, but beggars can’t be choosy, right? Well, that’s not all. She also hired dwarves to create a tunnel into the mountain, planning on BLOWING UP THE MOUNTAIN, thus exposing the manor to sunlight AND letting a huge avalanche/rock slide crash down. And you thought your PCs have a tendency for overkill…

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and nice. Huge plus: We get a GM AND a Player-version of the area in which this takes place, providing full VTT-friendly compatibility.

This is but a sketch of a full scenario, but the amount of details it provides in scant few words is AMAZING. How the PCs interact with the factions, what they do – it all depends on you, but this makes a great 1-page adventure set-up that is more interesting than many that I’ve read. Yes, it needs some fleshing out, obviously, but Justin Andrew Mason’s angle here works admirably well. My one complaint here is that I’d have loved to see this fully developed as a big sandbox; you know, fully depicted villages, progression of everyone becoming ever more manic…the scope feels almost too ambitious for even the sketch-formula of this MD. Still, this is worth getting. My final verdict will be 4.5 stars, rounded up for the purpose of this platform.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Mini-Dungeon #061: The Cackling Madness of Umberstone Manor
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5E Mini-Dungeon #060: The Unquenched Thirst
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 03/16/2018 07:36:40

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Big plus: This mini-dungeon comes with a key-less .tif player map as well as a high-res GM map for VTT-use – kudos!

Since this product line's goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is. Got that? Great!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.

...

..

.

Still here?

All right!

This mini-dungeon is a wilderness sidetrek on an island known for stranding folks, where orc watering parties have turned undead, deadly rapids drag towards the cascade that hides a cave; enchanted water,, the very rocks thirsting for blood - from children of the briar to leshies to interesting terrain features, the misery and death that has haunted this place is evident, sharply contrasting its dangerous nature with the per se pretty idyllic map for a relatively dark and interesting, if slightly unfocused, cursed region.

Wait, leshies? Yeah, page 2 of this conversion is taken up by the stats of both creatures, which have been reproduced here for your convenience. They originally appeared in Kobold Press’ fantastic Tome of Beasts and are credited as such. Nice!

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and really nice, and the inclusion of a key-less map and VTT-capable options is a big plus for me.

Michael Allen provides a region the PCs can happen upon that should be considered to be pretty fun, unconventional wilderness set-piece. The theme of nature as mystic, hostile, makes for a cool change of pace and I like very much how this works. Personally, I think the leitmotif could be slightly stronger and focused, but I'm complaining at a high level here. The conversion to 5E by Chris Harris is well done and on par with the PFRPG version and gets the same verdict: 4.5 stars, rounded down for the purpose of this platform, but only by a tiny margin.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
5E Mini-Dungeon #060: The Unquenched Thirst
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