After an awfully long time fidgeting with the layout and presentation of this thing, we’re finally releasing DD-02 The Darkness Beneath Brightwell Manor! This follow-up to DD-01 can easily be run as a standalone house of horrors-style 5th edition adventure as it contains all the lore you need. But there are a few connections to DD-01 that can really expand on that adventure’s storyline, or inspire even bigger adventures elsewhere!

Easy Reference Layout

What we’re hoping you find really useful is the layout: it uses a landscape format for presentation on your computer screen, or if you print it out, this format allows quick and easy reference of maps and room descriptions all in a simple, minimal spread. You can even just put up the current level on your DM screen since none of them are more than 3 or 4 pages.

Darkness Beneath Brightwell Manor adventure layout

Darkness Beneath Brightwell Manor adventure layout

Monster & Treasure Cards

The appendices include ALL the monster and magic item stat blocks, and they are formatted for ease of use as well! The monster stat blocks are either in 2 column spreads or entire pages, so you can cut up the spreads and arrange the monsters by encounter or use these as initiative cards/tents, or whatever.

Darkness Beneath Brightwell Manor monster appendix

Darkness Beneath Brightwell Manor monster appendix

Magic items are similarly laid out so that they don’t break over columns whenever possible, allowing you to chop them up and use them as reference cards or player handouts without any fuss.

Darkness Beneath Brightwell Manor magic item "cards"

Darkness Beneath Brightwell Manor magic item “cards”

SRD Reference Links & VTT Support

Plus, there’s an appendix of handy lists to help make prep way easier. And on top of that, we’ve linked all the monsters, traps, and magic items throughout the text of the adventure. So, if you hate our layout tricks, just pull up the stats (from 5eSRD.com) on your own and format them however you like, even if that means just having a billion tabs open in your browser of choice. For VTT folks, this is a great way to get what you need to import into your VTT of choice. Oh, and all the maps are included in a separate appendix, for easy printing or porting into your VTT of choice.

Enjoy the adventure!

If you like DD-02 The Darkness Beneath Brightwell Manor, check out the start of this storyline in DD-01 The Darkness Beneath Dalentown. You can also pick up the setting — including not one but three settlements full of plot hooks, NPCs, new monsters, and more — in Adventures in Dalentown. Both can be found at DTRPG and itch.io; links are in our shop!