I accidentally deleted a couple adventures off of my last review; I blame my laptop’s trackpad for over-highlighting! Anyway, here are the missing adventures, and they have been added to the original review as well for completeness, which you can find here: Uncaged Volume I – Part Two of a Dungeon Masters Guild Review.
Shadows and Talons
By Melanie Black; levels 5-6
A harpy attack convinces the town of Cragwatch to hire outside aid against the menace. But the truth of the harpy’s origins may prove the enmity to be a simple misunderstanding.
While the challenges presented in this adventure don’t really suggest levels 5-6, the roleplaying opportunities afforded in this adventure definitely require experienced players and a DM who’s ready for some delicate scenes. And I mean that in the best way possible: the simple roster of characters in this adventure leads to a very satisfying tale of misunderstood origins and motives. Every step of the party’s actions are accounted for in case they uncover a lie or ulterior motive, which is no small feat in an adventure like this. But in so doing, author Melanie Black creates a story that runs smoothly despite not being focused on mechanics and combat strategies. It’s a great, focused one-shot that will make harpies a lot more interesting than they are as presented in the Monster Manual.
The Guardian of the Forest
By Awkward Bard; levels 5-8
The ancient Guardian of the Forest has been captured by the black dragon Murgyss. The Guardian’s heir, a medusa named Petra, leads the party on a quest to save her patron before its lifeforce is drained!
This is a picture-perfect, straightforward dragon-slaying quest, something you see way less in Dungeons & Dragons than you should. Especially executed as a great one-shot, as is the case here. Despite not having a map, the set-piece battle at the end is awesome. The Guardian is hooked up to life-draining crystals…
…that the dragon can activate to heal itself. Or, the party can target them to save the Guardian, which is a fun-as-hell skill challenge-like scenario! The final fight is deadly, but with two possible NPC allies (the medusa and an ogre), it’s much more doable for the party’s expected levels. Petra’s gaze attack is going to be a major component if she is positioned right, as it will force disadvantage on enemies who don’t meet her gaze…and therefore the PCs can really exploit that with sneak attacks and similar tactics. That’s partly why I’d argue harder for a map, but in theater of the mind this will still create an exciting, strategic battle.
The rest of the adventure ain’t no slouch either: there’s a great mix of encounters. There’s a puzzle, a potentially friendly ogre named Fiona(!), and a reasonable dragon’s hoard that won’t break game balance while still feeling like a major haul.
A Family Reunion
By Jessica Marcrum; level 7
A yuan-ti queen foresees the deaths of her monstress children and has the party track them down and bring them to her. If they succeed, they’re invited to a celebration feast and richly rewarded. If they fail, they are in for a fight!
This adventure straight up feels like a play, or a live action scenario. Which is funny because there’s a theater scene in it. But seriously: it’s got ton of character agency and roleplay opportunity, yet the resolution of each scene is (by design and logic) very specific; i.e. attending the play in one scene. The adventure relies heavily on skill checks for resolution, and gives some advice for modifying things based on approaches. This gets things right by utilizing skill checks in place of combat, but I take an issue with these not being a bit more complex, such as in the form of skill challenges, or leveraging more of the complexities found in the Social Interaction rules (Dungeon Master’s Guide, Chapter 8). Some of the DCs are necessarily high (more than one starting DC 25!), so that’s something I have trouble with. But in the form of a one shot, and in the theme of keeping things simple for such an adventure, it does all work. And remember, the resolution of each scene is spelled out, so if you pass or fail, you’ve got the results clearly detailed. It’s not like an investigative scenario where a fail halts the adventure; quite the opposite here! It could mean the difference between a wonderful reward and a pitched battle!
Conclusion
Those are three of the great adventures that launch the Tier 2+ section of Uncaged Volume 1. Read my full review here.
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