What Do I Know?

 

I really wanted to do a quick review, and it’s going to be a challenge to wrap this up in fewer words than the product itself. Mainly because I ooze words. That’s an appropriate analogy, because I’m looking at a Shadow of the Demon Lord product.I’m looking at the one-shot adventure called Killing the Dragon.

Casting the Shadow

This is a two page PDF, landscape-oriented, no artwork, but with all of the fancy formatting, headers, and tables you have come to expect from Schwalb Entertainment. It’s pretty packed, and the only thing that doesn’t contribute to the adventure itself is the little credits sidebar on the cover page.

Meat on the Bones

I don’t often mention price, but this is .69 cents. I just want to get that out there upfront.

If you have ever heard of the dice drop method of generating a dungeon, this plays with that idea, but in a new way that I’ve seen before, that does something really evocative with the concept.

The basic scenario is that you enter a system of caves to go kill a dragon. The dice drop method is going to get you the shape of the cave complex, and the numbers on the dice are going to tell you what chart to roll on to determine what is in each of the caves in the complex.

There is another chart that determines what is lurking in the tunnels between the caves, and for each cave you have explored, you add to the roll, meaning that eventually you are increasing your chances to have a more foreboding encounter that builds tension for the eventual confrontation with the dragon.

Creating the cave, and even assigning the encounters in the caves based on the numbers, is a fun idea, but I love the concept of the building dread of what might be lurking in the tunnels as you get closer and closer to what must be the main chamber. It’s a great way to build towards a climax while still randomly generating a dungeon.

Treasure Hunting

This is a great idea. I love how this can generate a night’s adventure on the fly, create tension, and innovate with toys that have been around for a while.

Curse of Fafnir

Yup, I’m greedy. The biggest downside is that at only two pages, I really want more content like this.

Strongly Recommended–This product is exceptional, and may contain content that would interest you even if the game or genre covered is outside of your normal interests.

Yes, this is for one specific system, and you may not be all that in to fantasy, and I usually take that in to account when I’m giving out recommendations. But it’s such a good use of RPG tech that could be used as a model for other adventures, and it’s such a good value, I think it’s really worth looking at, if only for inspiration.

I wat so many more adventures that play with encounters and tension building randomizers in this way.