Return Of The Spooky Ghost Pants!

It's been a busy holiday season this year and I've fallen behind on a few hobby projects but I did manage to get one more model done that's going to do double duty in my Age Of Sigmar and Ravenloft games.

The Dread Warden!

The Dread Warden is a unit champion for my Age Of Sigmar army, and he also ticks two boxes for my upcoming Ravenloft game; he's ghosty, and he's got a magical light....more on that soon.

I'm hoping this isn't my last post of 2019 just yet but the passage of time seems distorted in both the lands of the mists and the lands of southern Ontario so we'll see how quickly the next three days go by.

-Jay

Review - There's Snow Place Like Home

I have a pile of new winter holiday themed adventures sitting on my desk right now, and am hoping to address 3 of them over the next 3 days.  I have to say the one I choose to review first may have set a really high bar for our next 2 books.

There's Snow Place Like Home by D&D Duet team Jonathan & Beth Ball reads and plays almost like Rankin & Bass produced a D&D adventure to be played while watching their classic Christmas stop-motion holiday specials.

There's Snow Place Like Home lays out a classic 'Christmas in jeopardy' type of narrative with familiar feeling characters and set pieces while still feeling new and fresh.  As I've mentioned in some previous reviews I think certain players really like a balance between a scenario feeling familiar without becoming predictable and this adventure achieves that balance flawlessly.

The character or characters are drawn into a demi-plane in a very (although much less sinister) similar fashion to characters in a Ravenloft game.  What's nice about this is it doesn't require that this whimsical setting and fanciful cast of characters fit into whatever existing gaming world you're using.  In my particular case my intention is to snatch one player from our regular ongoing game who has had to miss out on playing due to real world nonsense and plan this as a solitary game when they can play to get them back to the table and having some D&D fun over the  Christmas/New Years break.  The narrative itself is excellent, starting off with a mystery in a town under a spell, followed by a journey through a winter wonderland, and concluding in the exploration of a magical fantasy toy workshop.  The characters and monsters range from a snowman, to gingerbread men, reindeer, a polar bear, gnomes, and something even more sinister towards the end.

For anyone who wants a D&D game that feels like Christmas, and/or a Christmas story that feels like D&D; There's Snow Place Like Home sets a perfect tone and feels like a potential new holiday tradition for me and my gaming friends.

There's Snow Place Like Home is currently available from DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/297390/Theres-Snow-Place-Like-Home-A-Christmas-Holiday-Adventure?term=there%27s+snow and failure to add it to your collection may indicate you are the Grinch of your gaming group!

-Jay

More odds and ends for Dungeons & Dragons

My painting has been fairly focused on actual (rather than theoretical) games that I have upcoming but last night I finished up a few odd figures for no particular reason.

First up is an awesome looking human paladin with a flaming sword by WizKids.

This figure was included in a two-pack with the figure I used for Sir Donnegal.  So although I had no immediate use for the figure the pack was open and sitting on my desk so I decided to slap some paint on him.  He's a fairly classic looking heroic holy fighter type and I'm sure I'll have a use for him in a game at some point in the future.  He also feels like he'll mix well with the small collection of paladins and clerics I've painted this year.

In the same vein I had gotten WizKids Imp & Quasit because I needed an Imp and ended up with the Quasit sitting on my desk waiting for paint.

I don't think I've ever used a Quasit in a game as the Imp has always seemed more iconic to me but it's nice to add another classic monster to my collection.  The Quasit is actually a really nice miniature (that I had a hard time photographing) with quite a lot of detail for a figure of it's tiny size.

Unlike the first two models I actually got this Reaper Halfling model with the intention of using it the next time I decide to play a halfling in a game.

I have a fair number of Lord Of The Rings hobbit miniatures but I can never get past the idea that they are the named character they represent.  I was really happy to find a halfling model that blended really well with the hobbit miniatures but was none-the-less not a unique character.  I seldom play halflings but when I saw this featured as one of the new Reaper Bones models I knew I wanted it for the next time I play one.

Well that's it for now, I will probably be painting one miniature for a holiday themed game before the weekend and then back to Ravenloft for some small scenery bits.

-Jay

Arkhan The Cruel

Being a late-comer to the world of Twitch and streaming D&D games in general I was genuinely stunned a year-ish ago when I started discovering all this crazy content on YouTube.  I was also fairly surprised to see a number of celebrities involved in steaming D&D games but viewed most of those appearances as an extension of an acting profession or a set of improv skills.

But...then you see a celebrity player play the same character across two campaigns and a variety of one-shots and realise; nope, this person is pretty serious about their D&D.

Meet Arkhan The Cruel.

Arkhan is the Dragonborn Oath-breaker Paladin played by Joe Manganiello across a number of different games and now appearing as an NPC in the newly released Baldur's Gate Descent Into Avernus.

This miniature is by Gale Force 9 and depicts Arkhan immediately after severing his own hand and replacing it with the hand of Vecna.  Initially I acquired this model with the intention of running Descent Into Avernus, but it now looks like that won't be happening.  I'm still stoked to have a really nice Dragonborn model to add to my collection and I have begun thinking lately; maybe Arkhan would make a good Darklord for Ravenloft?

I have a feeling Arkhan will be making an appearance in a game soon, I just have to decide what game and in what capacity.

-Jay

A Forlorn Hope Part 1 of ?

I've begun work on my series of Ravenloft one-shots kicking off on YouTube in 2020.

In my case "work" means writing, mapping, and plotting but also painting and building.

The adventures will kick off with our characters freshly escaped from the lands of Barovia and seeking a way through or out of the mists of Ravenloft.  This should allow for a variety of quests looking for key items and clues to help the characters move through various locations with the eventual goal of escaping from the domains of dread.  (Think Quantum Leap if it was directed by George Romero).

For our first of three planned adventures the group will find itself in the haunted lands of Forfar, the Ravenloft domain originally detailed in the outstanding Castles Forlorn by Lisa Smedman.

I've gotten my models done for 2 NPCs the group might meet in their first adventure, as well as 2 NPCs they will definitely meet.  Also some monsters, because; what's D&D without monsters?

The guide.

Bondi is survivor living off the lands in Forfar that the group will definitely encounter early on.  Her primary role will be to set the group on their path as well as potentially providing some knowledge about the area and depending on how the group relates to her being a useful ally further down the road.

The mysterious stranger.

This fellow will have yet more information for the PCs but the group will likely be left wondering what master he serves.  The stranger may or may not have a larger role to play as the narrative develops but regardless will not lose interest in the PCs.  He will also somehow seem to have eyes and ears throughout the land.

The warrior.

Michael is engaged on a quest of his own, unrelated but potentially running parallel to the group's goals.  Whether he will be an ally or an enemy will depend highly on the choices the group makes.

The knight.

Sir Donnegal will be encountered by the group near the end of the first session.  Is he a stranger, or have they met before?  Sir Donnegal may be the answer to some of the players' questions, but he will likewise be the starting point for many new questions.

The Goblyns.

I needed some Ravenloft Goblyns for this and my third adventure and once more my Escape From Goblintown goblins seemed fit for the job!

That's my first batch of hobbying for this project.  Another batch of scenery making lies ahead and then in January I'll update with DMsGuild and YouTube links for where you can find more Forlorn Hope content.

-Jay

A sudden odd realization about the Wardlings line

As part of my 'catch-up' on sharing what I've been working on I have another batch of the awesome Wardlings minis by WizKids I wanted to share.

I've spoken about the Wardlings in the past and my opinion on the many things that make them great has not changed in any way but apparently while prepping and basing up these figures I became slightly more aware of something.  As awesome as the character models are, I'm clearly buying these figures for the little animals and familiars.  I have historically struggled to paint extremely small figures and maintain the same quality of paint jobs that I've been able to get on larger figures so some of these tiny creatures have remained out of my collection for decades.  The Wardlings line has provided some excellent small companions and familiars at a high level of detail for (in my opinion) a really reasonable price.

I can always use another properly scaled dog miniature (those are harder to come by then you may think), and the tiny genie is great, but the best model in this grouping for me is the winged snake.  This has long been one of those 'I wish I had...' models for me so I'm stoked to add one to my collection.

In addition I got a few more of the PC models based up.

The young fighter feels like the EXACT model I wish I had when I was 11-12 and first got into D&D to use as my own character model.  The chainmail and sword and shield combo would have been perfect for the first hundred or so characters I played in D&D.  Two more young girl figures fill out the mix and are ready to support a game if my daughter ever wants to jump in. I particularly like the Druid as the spell effect and the antlers make her look pretty bad-ass in my opinion.

Tomorrow, it's time to reveal the first batches of models for my up coming Forlorn Hope campaign!

-Jay

Bugbears and some odds and ends

Over the past couple of weeks I've been steadily getting some models done for two upcoming games.  In that same time however I've been fairly poor at posting those models.  Over the remainder of this week I'm hoping to show off some of what I've gotten done.

First up; Bugbears!

Bugbears are a classic and iconic D&D humanoid species that looking back I've barely ever used in my home games.  I had wanted to add some to my collection for a long time and when I saw the two different packs WizKids had available the time was now.  There's two options I particularly like about these figures, both of which were featured on the same model.  First up, there is a female.  Most RPG miniature companies currently offer a good selection of female PC models but there tend to be very few female monster options.  Secondly; there is a spell-caster.  Most humanoid NPC models tend to be fighty characters so it's nice when a caster gets thrown into the mix.  I'm really happy to have these in my collection and I hope WizKids does another pack or two of Bugbears down the road.

Pixies!

Another WizKids pack.  I'm currently playing in a game set in the Margreve setting by Kobold Press and the Warlock character I started off playing needed a familiar miniature.  A Pixie felt like the right choice.  I initially painted the Pixie with the earth and grass base as I felt that worked best for the setting, but then realised the basing didn't match my character model who I had used cobblestones on.  I did a second Pixie with matching basing but ironically ended up switching to a new character before the model ever hit the table.  I have enough wilderness adventures planned that I'm sure my Pixies will still get some use in the near future.

The goodest boy!

Quite awhile back (over a year ago?) I backed the Dungeons & Doggos kickstarter thinking that those were models my daughter might be excited about painting.  I was wrong but that doesn't detract from the fact that they are really cool models.  I painted this dog up to be a companion animal for my Saltmarsh campaign character Garkas.

That's the first few new additions, check back tomorrow for more!

-Jay

Review - Circle Of Balance Druid Subclass

Most of my experiences with DMsGuild to date have been with adventures and encounters, today I'll be going a slightly different route looking at a new and unique subclass of the Druid designed specifically for urban adventure.

The Circle Of Balance is by author Beth Ball of Grove Guardian Press (the design team behind D&D Duets) and is a great example of the kind of content that can really add new content to a D&D 5e game.  In brief the core notion of The Circle Of Balance is that civilization is a part of nature, and as protectors and/or shepherds the city can and is part of a Druid's responsibilities.

The subclass itself seems extremely well balanced adding some martial strengths at lower levels, which make for a good trade off for some of a Druid's basic spells which may be of dubious use in a city.  In addition the Circle spells that have been added give the Druid some additional typically non-druidic utility powers that play off the people and materials that make up a typical urban environment in a fantasy world.  For any fans of the comic The Authority (or later runs of Stormwatch) this subclass and its Circle spells are a great starting point to make a character similar to Jack Hawksmoor (minus the suit and tie).  In addition to the mechanical additions that serve balancing a Druid in a new environment there are a number of features that really tie to the theme of operating in the packed terrain of the city.  "Wildly Compact" which allows more compact versions of Wild Shape animal forms to be adopted.

In addition to the subclass rules themselves the supplement also adds rules for 2 new creatures; The Fey Pug and The Jewel Fox as well as formatting The Fey Pug as a D&D Sidekick.  I know in my home game this has the potential to be right up my daughter's alley.

Overall Circle Of Balance is  a unique and worthwhile addition to the existing player options in D&D and is well balanced enough to drop into an existing campaign without upsetting the power balance of existing classes. 

I strongly recommend Circle Of Balance to both players looking for a new option for their Waterdeep campaigns as well as DMs potentially looking for a new template for sage NPCs in an urban setting.

Circle Of Balance is currently available from DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/294719/Circle-of-Balance-druid-subclass?term=circle+of+bal for $1

-Jay

Wardlings Female Rogue with multiple animal companions

I'm about to go on a string or painting monsters for some D&D games I'll be running over the next few months so I thought I'd take one last chance to show off a player character model before Christmas.

Full disclosure I didn't 'paint' this miniature.  This is one of the awesome Wardlings pre-painted models by WizKids, but I did touch it up and do some basing so here we are.

In my seemingly endless half-baked plans to get my daughter Zoe to play D&D I've gotten her to paint an assortment of miniatures but I've also picked out some cool looking models that I thought might appeal to her as a character.  This is one of those models.

The female rogue with badger is from the first release of Wardlings and in my opinion still holds up as one of the nicest models.

The studded leather armour, knives and crossbow are a great example of what I've referred to before about how I like the fact that the Wardlings models are children and pre-teens but they look like serious adventurers.  These are exactly the kind of miniatures 12 year old me would have been really excited about if they had existed when I first got into D&D back in the dark ages. 

A book of animal companion rules was just released on DMsGuild so I'm also thinking this is going to be the perfect time to use these miniatures with my daughter to draw inspiration from the Spirit Animals series of books by Scholastic.  Having said all that I know a badger wouldn't be her first choice of 'cool' animal to go on an adventure with so I grabbed one of the animals more up her alley from another pack to partner with the rogue; a lynx.

I also thought I'd snap a quick pick of the rogue standing next to an adult-sized model (Fergal from my last post) to highlight how well these models blend into existing fantasy figure lines. 

The Wardlings are smaller while very much remaining in scale with existing miniatures.

That's it for my for PC models for 2019 I think.  Time to dig out the Monster Manual and a notebook and start planning for the bad guys!

-Jay

A new warrior!

A fiend of mine is getting ready to run a Dungeon Crawl Classics one-shot for Halloween and I needed to create a new 3rd level character.  I think as far as Dungeon Crawl Classics is concerned I've only ever had one character legitimately 'earn' his way up to 3rd level so a one-shot is my best chance to play a mid to high level character.

Oddly enough even though in D&D I regularly play fairly vanilla human fighters I've never played a simple warrior in DCC.  That is until now.  Meet Fergal:

Fergal is a Reaper Bones human paladin miniature that I got to try something new on.  Originally I planned to go with the same blue shield and tabbard as my last few fantasy figures again with an eye towards eventually re-purposing them as a warband but then I took a slight turn.  I've always liked the idea of white clothes for fantasy holy warriors but I've never been able to do an even passable job painting white on miniatures.  This time out I decided to try the new Citadel Contrast Apothecary White paint.  I'm fairly happy with how it turned out and I may try it again on another model soon.

Anyway Fergal's got; his sword, his board and he's ready to lay waste to some monsters.  Either that or meet the fate of most DCC characters and go to the graveyard or ripped up character sheets.

-Jay

Pseudo Dragon

While exploring the good ship Sea Ghost (I still want to rename it 'The Fiend') during the second half of Sinister Secret Of Saltmarsh our party liberated a Pseudo Dragon!  In our next game the Pseudo Dragon will be added to our adventuring party so I was really excited to find out that WizKids had released a model for it.

I think the two things I like most about this model are the fact that the pose (including the books the dragon is perched on) is a perfect reproduction of the actual image from the Monster Manual along with the fact that although the model is quite small it's not so tiny that its details can't be distinguished.  Truthfully before I got this miniature I had another Pseudo Dragon model from a different miniature company that was closer in correct scale to a 28mm adventurer model and that made it so tiny that it really just looked like a blob with minuscule wings.  This is definitely one of those times where taking liberties with scale and/or proportions was the right choice.

I'm looking forward to the Pseudo Dragon joining our group and if I can find a suitable figure for Oceanus we may cross the point where we have as many NPCs as PCs in our adventuring party.

-Jay

Review - Grimm Encounters II

The quest for the perfect Halloween one-shot continues today as I go through Grimm Encounters II.

Grimm Encounters II follows the theme of it's predecessor given the DM another dozen encounters blending fairy tale and horror mythology.  One of the improvements over the first collection is that the page count has increased to 42 pages giving each encounter a slightly longer word count which in general seems to have allowed for a bit more background and NPC motivation to be detailed than the previous instalment.  This second collection also includes a few more unique creatures which I enjoy as it keeps experienced players who also DM from inadvertently meta-gaming their way through challenging encounters.  The final thing I'll call out before getting into specifics will be taken either as a positive or a negative depending on your personal tastes, as the first volume used many of the more popular Grimm stories as inspiration this time around I wasn't familiar with most of the starting points for these encounters.  Personally as much as like the familiar feeling of "D&Ding" existing stories the unfamiliar adds that sense of newness and wonder to the game for me.

Once again I find myself drawn to more than one encounter from this anthology but today I'll limit my praise to two encounters.
Beyond the Realms Of Madness by Ken Carcas (inspired by How Some Children Played At Slaughtering) is a Tier 2 encounter that feels like a hybrid of a Grimm and Lovecraft story.  As I've mentioned many times in the past I enjoy a horror story with a twist and the twist here (especially in the context of D&D) works really well.  The party is tasked with helping a grieving father who is haunted by the ghosts of his slain family.  In the context of D&D most players will no doubt assuming they are in fact dealing with a haunting and go about planning strategies to lay to rest the souls of the fallen family.  When the twist is worked out and the players discover they are dealing with something just as supernatural but not quite what they expected they will need to be able to think quickly on the fly to come up with a new solution in real time.  I really enjoyed this encounter and supplanting one horror with a different horror will guarantee that even if this isn't the one-shot I end up running I have a specific player in mind who would love to play through this as a one-on-one encounter.
Two Dozen Devils by JVC Parry (inspired by The Twelve Huntsmen) is another Tier 2 encounter and a great balance of combat and/vs role-play.  In practise one of the things that makes hauntings or curses work really well in D&D as opposed to actual 'mysteries' is that a haunting or curse can frequently be concluded or resolved even if they players aren't successful in working out all the details.  In this encounter a nobleman is the victim of a curse that the party has been drawn into breaking.  Depending on play-style and decisions made by the group this encounter can play out in a variety of different ways and depending on  how things are resolved success or failure is definitely on a spectrum rather than a black and white win versus lose binary end.

One thing I feel the need to call out is that while this is a horror anthology and the author did put a content warning in the preface of the collection there may be some encounters in here that may go 'too far' for some audiences.  Personally I really liked The Trial Of Little Franecker Finn but I know for a fact that one of the players at my regular table would have to get up and physically leave if I ran that encounter.  This is really just a good reminder, and applies to many adventures, that when running horror content check in and make sure your players are comfortable with the themes and content of your game. 

I highly recommend Grimm Encounters II and am definitely looking forward to a Grimm Encounters III.

Grimm Encounters II is currently available from DMsGuild for $4.95 at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/256980/Grimm-Encounters-II?term=grimm&affiliate_id=329977

-Jay

Review - Grimm Encounters (I)

As I start planning out a Halloween session for my local group of victims/players I've begun scouring DMsGuild for some suitable one-shots.

Before I got into any new adventures I was reminded last night that I had already downloaded and printed Grimm Encounters by JVC Parry and Jeff Stevens along with contributions from five other authors.  As I'm sure you can tell by that quick preface Grimm Encounters is an anthology collection of adventures.

The book itself comes in at 28 pages and manages to pack 12 encounters between its covers.  The overall theme of the collection is Brothers Grimm fairy tales with a slight D&D/horror re-imagining.   As I believe I referenced in the past this is the kind of material I really like as it combines the unknown with somethings that begin with a familiar backdrop.  Typically I find that's the kind of flavour and background my players can deeply and quickly immerse themselves in which makes encounters like this ideal for one-shots where you won't necessarily be investing in world-building ahead of time.

Overall the quality of the writing is excellent and the artwork is suitably dark and thematically appropriate to the content.  I appreciate the choice to pull the references for the monster stat locations out of the individual encounters and collecting them in an appendix at the back of the book as it removes mechanical distractions from absorbing the narrative content on a first pass through.  Although I haven't yet run any of the encounters yet upon a first read through they all seems very well balanced to the suggested party levels.  Having said that I really like the fact that 'The Tailor And The Giant' includes an element (sarcastic spoiler warning; it's 'the giant') that if players make bad choices will quickly break the notion that D&D 5E is a non-lethal RPG for player characters.

Normally with an anthology I try to focus on a single scenario that I was really excited about but in this case three of the encounters really appealed to me and I will definitely be using in the near future.
The Marquis Of Carabas by JVC Parry (inspired by Puss In Boots) caught my eye by having a very non-traditional jumping off point for a D&D adventure, using a mysterious cat just showing up rather than an overly contrived 'hired for a mission' start.  At first the players might be inclined to think they're dealing with a Cheshire Cat type of antagonist but after some investigation the twist will reveal itself and the true villain of the story will appear.  It's a short encounter but starts off with a little fun and whimsy before taking a dark turn and it should appeal to both players who like to use their brains to work through a problem as well as those who like to use their brawn to get things done.
Not Another Cinderella Story by Tony Petrecca (inspired by Cinderella) was my next selection.  For most players the setup for this adventure should feel very familiar and many groups will probably guess who/what they'll be fighting at the end (incorrectly) before what's really going on reveals itself.  I like twists in my adventures but I really like twists that make sense and follow narrative logic and this encounter delivers on both fronts.  In addition to being a potentially great one shot this adventure feels like it would fit very well into an existing Old Margreve campaign.
The Tailor And The Giant by Jeff C Stevens (inspired by The Brave Little Tailor) is my final choice for a must-run.  Outside of the narrative itself I will start off by saying that one of the things this encounter does extremely well is break the feeling that the D&D world is like a video game where higher level areas are bordered off until you are ready to deal with them.  Just because you're level one doesn't mean giants don't exist in this world or they'll leave you alone until you're suitably high level to fight them.  This encounter really encourages the use of role-play and soft-skills to get through, it's really nice to see an encounter structured this way as it will give groups a completely different type of experience than a traditional D&D game.  As an aside I can't help but wonder if inexperienced players are more likely to be successful in this encounter than more experienced players.

Overall Grimm Encounters delivers a high quality take on Fairy-Tale-Horror and I highly recommend it to any DMs looking for something fun and dark to run this Halloween season.

Grimm Encounters is currently available from DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/224651/Grimm-Encounters?term=Grimm&affiliate_ID=329977 for $3.95 and is a bargain at that price.

-Jay

First Thoughts - Harper's Tale

Normally when I get excited about an upcoming gaming product I'm quite content to wait until release and absorb it in it's entirety, writing my reviews after I have the finished product in hand.  Today however I want to talk about a new D&D adventure that's currently seeking funding on Indiegogo and I honestly hope I can encourage some of you to give it a look and hopefully back it.

Harper's Tale is a 10 chapter D&D adventure co-created by Matt Corley and his daughter Harper with the goal of benefiting Friends Of Kids With Cancer.  Please check out their crowdfunding page at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/harper-s-tale-an-adventure-path-for-dnd-5e#/ for full details and the story behind the adventure's creation.  After reading Harper's story I was ready to back the project regardless but after looking at the art, and since then getting a backer's copy of the first chapter of the adventure I'm blown away by how great this project looks and I can't wait to start running it.

The first chapter 'Welcome To Grove' starts with the PCs investigating an abandoned town and mixing a combination of exploration and trying to determine what has happened to the inhabitants.  One of the things that immediately appealed to me about Welcome To Grove is that it is family-friendly without being in any way childish.  There is a definite mystery to be solved, a dark secret to uncover and combat to be had but nothing that would be objectionable to running with a younger audience or a school D&D club.  Welcome To Grove is also a great potential introduction to D&D for new players as the players will have the opportunity to engage in; skill check, role-playing, social interactions with NPCs, and combats scaled well for 1st level PCs.  I don't want to spoil any details but the mystery of the town follows a logical but not overly simplistic investigative path and solving it should give players a real sense of accomplishment and establish them as folk heroes in the community.

From an objective point of view I have to say that the quality of the writing and the style of the art are extremely professional and even though the first chapter I received as a backer made it clear it was not a final edit, it was very polished and ready to be played as is.  I didn't find any gaps, logical fallacies or even simple editing issues common to early drafts that crowdfunders tend to share with backers.

I sincerely hope everyone reading this will check out Harper's Tale and consider backing it.  The opportunity to get an interesting, well thought out D&D adventure while also supporting a good cause doesn't come along every day.

Harper's Tale is currently funding on Indiegogo at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/harper-s-tale-an-adventure-path-for-dnd-5e#/

-Jay

Review - A Requiem Of Wings (series)

I'm going to try something a little different today.  Although I've gotten a lot of stand-alone adventures I have also gotten a few modules that are part of linked series.  Today I'm going to be looking at (the first?) three adventures in Ashley Warren's A Requiem Of Wings series.

As an aside if any of this seems a bit familiar I had previously covered my group's experience with the second adventure in the series here http://worlds-in-conflict.blogspot.com/2019/02/labyrinth-of-thorns-contains-encounter.html I will be re-covering the adventure from a more critical point of view this time.

A Requiem Of Wings is set in a pocket of the Forgotten Realms against a backdrop of a conflict between celestials and abyssals but could easily be transposed into Ravenloft (which it almost certainly will be in my case) and feels like it would make a great prequel to Descent Into Avernus.

The first adventure in the series is A Night Of Masks And Monsters.

Before I get into the adventure proper I want to call out something awesome about this adventure that more authors creating unique content should emulate.  When you purchase A Night Of Masks And Monsters in addition to the adventure PDF you will receive a separate 7 page primer on the background for the campaign/adventure that maps out the influences and lays out how the world of A Requiem Of Wings differs from the traditional backdrop of the Forgotten Realms.  I really like this feature as it helps the DM fill in any blanks that may not be directly covered in the adventures and closes the gap between the writer's understanding of their setting and the reader's.

Onto the adventure itself.
A Night Of Masks And Monsters is a role-play heavy adventure primarily in the setting of a fancy party with a mysterious death hanging over the whole thing.  The adventure is radically different from anything I've played in the past and actually makes me want to go back a re-plot some existing adventures I've run that use a party as a set piece.  What makes the adventure different is almost the entirety of it is set within the party.  The bulk of the players' time will be spent interacting with the other party guests, playing games set within the party itself and absorbing the flavour of the setting.  I feel like I say this a lot about Ashley Warren's writing but one of the great strengths of this adventure is how well she conveys the themes and atmosphere of her setting.  For a 23 page adventure A Night Of Masks And Monsters does a tremendous amount of world building and should leave most groups wanting further adventures set in Emberez.

A Night Of Masks And Monsters is currently available from DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/229708/A-Night-of-Masks-and-Monsters-A-Requiem-of-Wings-1?term=a+night+of+masks for FREE!  I would definitely recommend picking this one up as it both stands tall on its own and also has some great party ideas that could be transplanted into other adventures as a DM requires.

Our second adventure is Labyrinth Of Thorns.

Labyrinth Of Thorns is more combat-heavy than it's predecessor but still finds a ton of time in its 18 pages to tell an engaging story.  The titular labyrinth is a mix of problem solving and combat that I believe any and every party would find enjoyable.  The adventure is a dark take on a Valentine themed story with some of A Requiem Of Wings thematic and  celestial links thrown in to keep up the flow of the campaign.  The central villain is an engaging flip on a traditional trope and the adventure includes some classic iconic D&D monsters as well.  Of the three adventures in the series (thus far) Labyrinth Of Thorns could probably be described as the most 'traditional', this is not in any way a criticism as the execution and flavour of the adventure makes it an exceptional take on traditional adventure structure.  Although its hardly a critical evaluation I would also like to add that my gaming group played this adventure about 8 months ago in one session and two of my players still reference this adventure fondly and regularly.

A Labyrinth Of Thorns is currently available for DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/234066/Labyrinth-of-Thorns-A-Requiem-of-Wings-2?term=labyrinth for $1.99 and as I mentioned in a previous review it is easily the best $2 I have ever spent!  A memorable satisfying adventure that should appeal to everyone.

The third adventure in the series is The Starlight Relic.

The Starlight Relic takes the players outside the urban environment of the previous adventures and into the wilderness of Emberez.  In addition to exploring a wilderness setting the adventure potentially exposes more elements and a character involved in the ongoing conflict between celestials and abyssals.  The Starlight Relic takes the group on a quest to recover an artifact that is also of interest to others in the area.  Clues are hidden in one song to be sung and one song to be deciphered  adding a layer to the flavour that has pervaded and enriched the series thus far.  The Starlight Relic strikes a balance between its two predecessors in that there is more combat and less role-playing than A Night Of Mask And Monsters but more role-playing and less combat than Labyrinth Of Thorns.

The Starlight Relic is currently available for DMsGuild at   https://www.dmsguild.com/product/237562/The-Starlight-Relic-A-Requiem-of-Wings-3?term=starlight for $1.99.

Taken as a whole A Requiem Of Wings gives players and DMs a LOT of content for a more than fair price.  The main draw for me in the series is the background and the subtle goings-on in the back ground.  For groups looking for traditional D&D adventure and discovery all three adventures more than deliver and for groups looking for a deep, rich back story with intrigue and politics that is there with the ability for the players to influence the bigger picture.

I highly recommend A Requiem Of Wings and I sincerely hope that as I'm writing this Ashley Warren is working on a fourth instalment in the series.

-Jay


 

Review - The Proving Glade

After a brief hiatus I'm back tonight with my review of The Proving Glade.
The Proving Glade is a Level 4-5 adventure by Jonathan Ball one of the co-authors of the D&D Duets series.

The Proving Glade is a quick (14 page) one shot adventure that is more exploration than combat themed (although there is combat to be had) as the player(s) search for a missing hunter and a many mouthed beast dwelling in the forest.  The adventure proper is laid out in three distinct chapters.  The first is primarily focused on exploring the forest with a variety of woodland encounters.  The second chapter is comprised of two encounters that require the player(s) to make choices about how to overcome some obstacles.  Traditionally these are the kind of  'moral choice' type of encounter that video games like to throw in to add a 'are you good or are you evil?' measure that ultimately doesn't mean anything, I'm pleased to say that this is implemented to much greater impact and effect (whether the player realises it immediately or not) and should be a pair of fun encounters for the player(s) and something that will be equally as satisfying for the DM.  The final chapter starts with a role-play encounter that really lays on the theme and the flavour of the setting and then concludes with the showdown with this adventure's big bad.  This final chapter is where the player(s) earlier moral choices will come to reward or punish them.

Once again the Ball family has used the new Sidekick mechanic to to support their small-party/solo play style and it works really well within the narrative here.

The Proving Glade has classic fantasy-story vibe about it, and in spite of being relatively combat-lite manages to integrate a good number of classic D&D monsters into it's encounters.

If you're looking for an easy-to-run one-shot that is hiding some surprising depth under it's straight-forward veneer please check out The Proving Ground available from DMsGuild at  https://www.dmsguild.com/product/284455/The-Proving-Glade?affiliate_id=1869853

-Jay

Review - A Night In Seyvoth Manor (5e version)

Today I'm taking a look at an adventure originally written for the 4th edition of D&D that got an update to 5th edition last year; A Night In Seyvoth Manor.

A Night In Seyvoth Manor is labelled as a "challenge adventure" on it's cover.  I wasn't sure what that meant but was very happy to find out that it's structured a lot like the older tournament modules in that it has a time limit and a scoring system to measure a group's success (or failure).

The titular Seyvoth Manor is basically a villain's haunted house that has two recently abducted innocents that the party is trying to recover before they are lost forever.

The adventure has a lot going for it and depending on what you value different DMs may find appeal in different aspects.  As I mentioned at the start I really do enjoy running groups though tournament style modules as it creates a different dynamic for the players and can create that rare example of D&D play where player's can feel like they're "winning".  As a big movie and horror fan I also really liked all the subtle (and not so subtle) references to classics of the genre spread throughout the adventure.  The adventure contains a number of breakout boxes labelled 'trivia' that will lay out those references so you will understand all of them even if you don't immediately pick them up on your own.  The room maps are brilliant, in addition to being graphically appealing if you purchase the PDF they could easily be blown up into battle maps if your preferred play-style includes miniatures.  The challenges vary from room-to-room and the mix of problem solving and combat encounters should appeal to almost everyone.  Overall I think most groups would enjoy this adventure and find it challenging and fun in equal measure.

Having said all of that I did have a few issues with the adventure.  First up on page 3 of the adventure it references "Several different types of cards are included in this adventure", the cards are in fact not included but are required to play the adventure.  The cards are available either as a PDF or as a physical purchase to be bought separately.  The PDF is a great offering from the author but in my case (I live in Canada) the physical cards were cost prohibitive as the two options would have cost me $40 or $50 each factoring in shipping and exchange.  If you're good with the PDFs this is a non issue.  My other major issue was that I made the mistake of only purchasing the print version of the adventure, the adventure contains 17 separate maps of the rooms and grounds around Seyvoth Manor but does not include 1 map showing the entirety of the manor.  What this means is that each small map includes notations on where it links to the next map (or maps) in sequence but the text is very small in some cases and without the ability to increase the size (as I would be able to with the PDF) it's a bit hard for me to piece together.  My final issue with the adventure is minor but other than the maps and the cover the adventure contains no art.  For many players and DMs this will be a non-issue but for me personally I always find art helps set the mood and immerse me in the setting.

Overall I would still recommend A Night In Seyvoth Manor but I would strongly recommend buying the PDF rather than the print version as that would somewhat address my maps issue.

A Night In Seyvoth Manor is currently available from Drivethrurpg at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/253742/A-Night-in-Seyvoth-Manor-DnD-5E

-Jay

Review - In The Heart Of The Forest

Historically I've been a DM who runs a lot of games in contained interior (dungeons, haunted houses, etc) environments.  I was never much of a fan of outdoor settings until the release of Castles Forlorn for Ravenloft in 2nd Edition.  Castles Forlorn introduced a struggle between druids and the undead.  The forces of nature versus the unnatural forces of undeath made for a great fantasy/horror story that captured the classic flavour of Dungeons & Dragons while being set against a new backdrop.  This started my appreciation for druidic stories in D&D.

Today I'm looking at In The Heart Of The Forest, the latest adventure from Beth Ball.

One of the first things I'd like to call out here is the fact that Beth Ball has previously co-authored a series of adventures intended for 1 player and 1 DM.  With In The Heart Of The Forest the author has applied the new Sidekick mechanic to continue to accommodate that one-on-one style of play.

Onto the adventure itself.
The adventure is a tight 3 chapters featuring an ancient pact and as I was alluding to (although it might have seemed like rambling) at the start of this post a conflict between the forces of nature and undeath.  I really liked the theme and the exposition was handled really well through a combination of exploration and investigation book-ended by a simple hostile encounter at the very beginning and a more complex encounter at the end.  The adventure can easily be run in one sitting but is populated with enough NPCs that it could be dropped into an existing campaign and teased well ahead of play.  I also personally liked the fact that the adventure has it's own internal history and mythology that is not linked to any particular outside world, this means the adventure can easily be dropped into any campaign setting with a forest in it.  With the recent rise in popularity of The Old Margreve setting I could easily see this fitting in there or possibly Forfar or Sithicus if you're a Ravenloft fan like me.

In The Heart Of The Forest does a great job of mixing high fantasy and some light horror elements.  The adventure is currently available from DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/284452/In-the-Heart-of-the-Forest?term=in+the+heart+  Not only would I recommend In The Heart Of The Forest for players and DMs looking for a quick forest adventure but it would be great for a DM to have prepped in their back pocket for one of those sessions where your whole group doesn't attend and you need something you can run on the fly.

-Jay

Review - Wolf Lord Of Yol

Today I'm looking at Wolf Lord Of Yol a D&D adventure for characters of 7th-8th level currently available from DMsGuild.

Wolf Lord Of Yol is a sandbox adventure, which is a style I'm personally a big fan of and provides a surprisingly large and fully realised sandbox for an adventure that is a mere 44 pages in length.  Normally I wouldn't consider 44 pages 'short' but when you read through this book you'll be surprised that the amount of content you're getting was realised in only 44 pages.

Wolf Lord Of Yol really makes the most of its sandbox format by having an underlying story running throughout the entire adventure while letting the players discover what's going on through a number of avenues.  One of the things I enjoyed the most about how uncovering information is handled is that there is a TON of background information available but what the PCs find out will depend heavily on which skills they use to uncover information not just whether or not they are making successful checks.  The adventure proper takes the PCs through villages, woods, ruins and catacombs and provides a great mix of both combat and social encounters.  I don't want to spoil any details for potential players but I will also say that this adventure starts off and moves through most of the plot in a very grounded way for a D&D adventure before substantially moving upward into 'epic' adventuring territory.  I really see the big picture as being really rewarding for player's and making their actions feel important and substantive.

From a design point of view Wolf Lord Of Yol could easily be used as an example of how adventures should be written.  The cover advertises the adventure as "Part 1 of the Yol Valley Saga" which is the kind of thing we've all seen in the past from authors planning to write a linked series of modules but The Yol Valley Saga starts servicing that intention in this, it's first adventure.  The adventure highlights and breaks out notes on which encounters and outcomes will be follow-up or touched-on in future adventures in the series.  For me that really conveys a sense that there is a larger plan in place that the authors are working towards, rather than just linking some separate writings.  I also found the adventure visually very appealing with a lot of terrific cartography and some great artwork.

When I'm looking for adventures on DMsGuild to run for my group I usually base my choices on theme and current group level but I have to say even if my group wasn't level appropriate for this adventure I could easily see myself using the Yol Valley as flushed out in this adventure as a backdrop or locale for other adventures while teasing the story of Wolf Lord Of Yol to run down the road.

Wolf Lord Of Yol is currently available from DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/283965/Wolf-Lord-of-Yol?term=wolf+lord  I highly recommend the adventure and at the time of this writing I have to say my only real criticism of the product is that I'm now left waiting for the next chapter in the Yol Valley Saga.

-Jay

Modrons

Last night I quickly knocked out WizKids Drone pack for D&D.

These are one of those weird monsters that have been around for a long time but to be honest I have never used them in a game.  Having said that I picked up an adventure from DriveThruRPG about a year ago that featured drones as the primary antagonists.

These guys are neat and as a non-scary monster will fit in pretty well with any games I want to run with Zoe.

Does anybody out there have any experiences with these critters?  Any stories to tell?  After 35+ years experience with D&D I have surprisingly have no history or anecdotes to share about these monsters.

-Jay

Wardlings

A while (quite a while now that I think of it) I spoke briefly of WizKids pre-painted Wardlings line.  The core concept of the Wardlings line is pre-teen adventurers packaged with animal companions/familiars.  As much as I'm generally not a fan of pre-painted figures I really liked the idea of young, but not childish, heroes and the animal companions fit very well with some fantasy books my daughter was reading at launch time.  After two rounds of quality releases the line was pretty thorough and they definitely needed to make a change to continue expanding.  My thought was that they would start adding demi-human characters but I got swerved and instead WizKids started adding monster/encounter packs.  This was very clearly a better choice.

The funny thing for me is that when I initially bought into the Wardlings line my thinking was that I would use the characters as PCs and NPCs in games with my daughter but my first 2 "monster" packs are for conventional games I play with my adult friends.

First up I got a treeman.

There are a ton of really good Treeman figures out there across a ton of price points and cast in every material miniatures are made from so it can be hard to come up with a unique take but WizKids did!  For starters the foliage is denser than normal for these types of figures but works really well and adds some colour to spice things up.  The other significant addition are the small woodland creatures living in/on the Treeman.  I don't know why, but for me the 2 cardinals and the bunny really add to it for me.  Alongside the Treeman I based up one of the animal companions that came packaged with a young Druid figure.  I thought this was a cute little woodland or fey creature.  I might use it as a Blight or it might be useful for my upcoming Old Margreve game.  We'll see....

Next up two ghosts.

As soon as I saw this pack I thought it would be perfect for many Ravenloft adventures and in particular might be good representations of the two kids in the Death House.  For a change (for me) when using macro photography, I found these figures were cooler than I initially thought when I saw the pictures.  The miniatures are translucent with some slight shading, but, and this is cool to me because it's sort of backwards from how painters normally paint ghosts, the eyes are solid paint and are the only non-translucent part of the miniatures.  I think the effect is really interesting and a change from the norm

Well there we go.  I can't claim to have painted these.  I really just based them and they're good to go.

-Jay

Review - Warriors Of Sehanine

Today's review is Warriors Of Sehanine a D&D adventure for characters of 3rd-5th level.

The two things that initially drew me to Warriors Of Sehanine were the amazing visual presentation and the all-star creative team behind the project.

The cover is beautiful and atmospheric, the rendering of the two characters on the cover reminded me of the best of 2nd edition cover art and I particularly liked the use of the firefly jar as a lantern.  In addition I should point out that this module is 38 total pages and includes full colour art or maps to this same standard on 15 of those 38 pages, this is honestly one of the most visually appealing products I've gotten from DMsGuild to date.

The creative team made this an easy choice for me as well as two of the credited writers are Ashley Warren (Winter's Splendor, Labyrinth Of Thorns, Uncaged) and JVC Parry (Call From The Deep) both of whom have produced material that I have previously given 5 star reviews to on DMsGuild and have produced some absolutely fantastic material that I have enjoyed in the past.

Beyond the visual elements and the reputation of the creative team I have to say that Warriors Of Sehanine is an extremely interesting and challenging adventure where the characters are tasked with rescuing two children while overcoming a Black Dragon.  While the premise of the adventure is on it's surface quite simple the layering built in with; various NPC motivations, as well as some interesting forest encounters, rival factions that can change the level of difficulty, as well as something of a ticking clock element give this adventure a lot more depth that it's page count might initially lead you to believe.

The background for the adventure is set firmly in the Forgotten Realms but it wouldn't take much effort to rework the module into another fantasy forest setting if your game takes place in a different campaign setting.

Warriors Of Sehanine is currently available from DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/283029/Warriors-of-Sehanine?term=warriors+of+seh and it's well worth your time both as a read and an actual adventure to run.  My one recommendation would be that if (like me) you like to print your gamebooks before using them, definitely splurge on a colour print job, this book is well worth it.

-Jay

Review - The Ghostly Library

About a week ago I was privileged to be sent a preview copy of a new adventure for D&D; The Ghostly Library.

The Ghostly Library scratches a lot of different itches; it's a mystery, it's a ghost story, it's set in Ravenloft (sort of...), and by sort of I mean it's set on Gothic Earth.  Gothic Earth is a fairly low-fantasy re-imagining of our own world circa 1890 with the supernatural layered in.  It was a setting TSR developed as a bit of side project to the original Ravenloft campaign setting that now appears to be experiencing a second renaissance on DMsGuild.

It can be difficult to discuss a mystery adventure without spoiling details but I'll endeavour to do my best. 

The Ghostly Library by Mrs C, Evans starts off with the characters being engaged to determine the cause of some recent disturbing attacks on one Doctor Henry Fitzroy.  Fitzroy has been victimised by seemingly 'normal' people with no apparent links to each other on multiple occasions and now seeks resolution and peace from his current circumstances.  During the course of the PCs investigations they should discover not all is as it seems, and at the climax of the adventure the players will be forced to set aside normal conflict resolution in D&D (ie violence) and use their wits if they hope to succeed and survive.

One of the measurements of a truly great adventure mystery is that clues are laid out in a way and a context most players could be expected to pick up on without applying any weird leaps of logic.  This keeps the adventure from descending into chaos and prevents players from getting frustrated and feeling unsatisfied with their gaming experience.  Mrs Evans has done a terrific job of presenting multiple logical avenues of investigation, while also providing one extra encounter that can be thrown in at a time the players might feel the most lost.  It's truly fantastic to be able to write an adventure in this style that provides the DM narrative tools to help guide things back on track if necessary without removing player agency.

The adventure is populated by a variety of distinct and interesting NPCs for the players to interact with, and breaking from the standard medieval high-fantasy setting of D&D should give the players time to absorb and deal with moral implications of their choices before they make them.

Overall I would highly recommend The Ghostly Library for any true fan of gothic horror (as opposed to slasher or jump scare horror) as well as to anyone looking for a satisfying investigative mystery for their players to engage in.

The Ghostly Library is currently available from DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/284042/The-Ghostly-Library?term=the+ghostly

-Jay

 

Bone Devil and my first test of Citadel Contrast paints

I'm bouncing back and forth between a few projects right now but as I'm able to get my hands on more assorted fiend miniatures I want to keep churning them out ahead of Descent Into Avernus so I'm ready in September.  The other opportunity I've been looking for is the right project to try the new Citadel Contrast paints on.  More on that in a bit.

The Bone Devil is a really neat miniature with some interesting proportions.  The Bone Devil has a wide base (he's standing on a 50mm base here), and is quite tall at about 150% the height of a human sized miniature (not including the wings).  Having said all that being skeletal it is also quite thin, so the model is tall and broad but not heavy-set.

I quite like this miniature as it looks really different from anything else I have, including other larger skeletal models.  I've never actually used a Bone Devil in a game before so I'm excited about trying one out, and once again I'm adding to my slowly growing collection of fiends.

On the subject of the Contrast Paints I have mixed feelings.  If you're an inexperienced painter or someone who is short on painting time then this is the product for you.  It builds in some gradient colour and effectively does the job of three coats of paint (base + wash + highlight) in one coat.  Where I was a bit underwhelmed shouldn't have been a surprise, it was the fact that the paint pooling in low areas and recesses created some uneven looks in a few places.  To be fair, more practise with these paints and/or spending some time doing additional touch-ups and highlights would easily offset that.  Going forward I think I'll use these as a time saver but will definitely invest more time and effort into cleaning up after the Contrast coat.

There you have it; new model, new paints, good times!

-Jay