This week on the DMs Guild we had fifteen new adventures, including two for the Eberron setting, one for Theros, and one space/spelljammer adventure.
In addition to weeding out non-adventures, I look at the production quality and what I can tell about the adventure from reading the preview. The adventures are listed by my own subjective most-promising to least-promising rankings, based on what I can deduce about the adventure and the price. How it plays is of course something else, so caveat emptor as usual. And before you ask, yes, I’m assembling them into a downloadable spreadsheet with more fields for you to sort on, like author, date, tier of play and setting, but it’s not quite ready yet.
Included in this week’s crop is a “tutorial” adventure, intended for new DM’s and players. I really wish the Guild had a category for these, because they are relatively common but also difficult to search for on the site.
As usual, authors struggle to find a balance between overwhelming DM’s with text and providing too little context and art. I would say on balance that most authors write too much. AI art is present in ever-increasing quantities and even in the previews I sometimes see traces of AI-generated text, although that is forbidden by DMs Guild terms. My unofficial “production quality” ratings are “excellent” (about on par with published adventures); “good” (nice styled text, images thoughtfully placed, backgrounds not too distracting; stuff made with e.g., GM Binder often falls here); “moderate” (relatively plain, unsophisticated art placement, sometimes overwhelming backgrounds); and “poor” (can verge on unreadable). In my experience this doesn’t have a very strong correlation with how the adventure plays but it does affect how difficult it can be to use the adventure as a DM and how much work you might have to do to get it into playable shape.
Adventures below do not include bundles, solo adventures, single encounters, encounter tables, adventurer’s league titles, VTT conversions, monster descriptions and other things that I don’t consider to be original adventures. PWYW means “pay what you want.”
Temple of Whispers. An adventure for characters of level 4-5, exploring a Yuan-Ti temple. Good production quality, interesting encounters, a variety of hooks, good art, downloadable assets. $2.50. Pick of the week.
The Forest Forge. Dwarf-themed short adventure with maps and tokens, good production quality. The party seeks a secret dwarven forge and battle monsters and elemental entities. NPC profiles and puzzles suggest a well-rounded adventure. 28 pages, intended for Tier II characters, suggested that it can be scaled up to Tier III. $2.99.
Eberron: Seeds of Strife. 12 page adventure for levels 5-8 set in the nation of Droaam in Eberron. Choose which faction to side with over control of a mysterious oasis. Moderate production quality, nice art, unclear if maps are included. $3.99.
Goblins & Beavers. 22-page adventure for levels 1-3. Goblins have allied with beavers to threaten a village water supply, but the alliance is rife with infighting and power struggles. Can the players get a good deal for the village? Good production quality, AI art. PWYW ($3.00)
Delivering the Goods… A beginner-friendly one-shot adventure. Tutorial adventure for new GMs and players, riding minecarts through the underworld and a big setpiece battle. Lots of instructional text (too much?) and helps. 126 pages total. Custom miniatures shown. Playtested. Extensive preview. Good production quality. $9.95.
Isquith’s Manor of Magic and Mastery. Dungeon-crawl adventure for levels 4-5, set in a warlock’s temple stronghold. Consists mainly of description of dungeon, moderate production quality. $4.99.
Aboard the Corsair Ship Perilous. A 10 page travel one-shot on board a pirate ship for level 9 characters – survive until your destination. Good production quality. Can’t beat the price. Free.
Omens of the Pantheon: Phaela’s Peril (5e). A corrupted nymph threatens the livelihood of a fishing village in this 14 page adventure for level 1 characters set in Theros. Good production quality, AI art. $3.17.
And Then There Were None – A murder mystery adventure. 16 page mystery for level 3 adventurers. Good production quality, nice art from what I can see. No preview. $3.99.
Seeker’s Reward. A starter adventure for levels 1-5, 46 pages, easy to read structure, moderate production quality, AI art. Party must find the secret of a tomb in the forest near a village. Maps and assets. PWYW ($2.51).
It’s A Twisted Life. 64 page adventure for levels 4-6. Third in a series about orbs of corruption, dark mystery vibe. Takes place in a village with a river in a forest. Moderate production quality. PWYW ($3.95).
The Lost Secrets of Tomatra. A 99 page adventure for levels 5-12. Stop an evil warlock. No preview. PWYW ($1.00)
The Lost A.R.K.. A 45 page adventure for 10th level characters. Characters explore a derelict space ship where mind flayers plot their escape. Moderate production quality, AI art and maps throughout. $15.00.
Mark of Heroes: Episode 3 The King’s Forest Dreams. 12 page adventure for level 3-4 characters, 3rd in a series. Madborn seek to retrieve a shard of the Madstone is the off-putting premise of this adventure, while the characters seek to deliver it to a safe location. Good production quality. Set in Eberron. $4.99.
High Noon at the Saloon – A Short Adventure (Levels 1-4). The unapologetic author continues to crank these out. 5 page one-shot for levels 1-4. A saloon is in danger from outlaws. AI art (and possibly text). $1.99.
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