This review has been sponsored by the publisher. Find more DMs Guild Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.

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Designed by: Can Uzmen (Stormcrow Dreamscapes)

Despite still having not reviewed the 5e sourcebook Mythic Odysseys of Theros, I love all things Greek Mythology. Rock Tombs of Kbidos is a 1st level adventure that takes place in the small coastal town of Kbidos in Theros. It’s a fun, story-light introductory adventure to the world of gods, monsters, and mythic heroes.

The player characters arrive in Kbidos on the eve before the biennial Iroan Games. Before the festival of feats can begin, young Kbidians journey to the nearby tomb of Hekatomnos, a legendary hero who once defended the town from an invading army of tritons. There they race to retrieve his golden sword and place it in the town’s temple, signaling the start of the games.

This year things are a bit different and far more dangerous, as a meddling necromancer has recently moved into the tomb.

Although none of the adventure technically takes place in the titular town, we’re given a fully-fleshed out, 18-building town that takes up over a third of the adventure book. Before beginning the race to the tomb, the party is encouraged to visit the town’s various sites and amenities, in a rare form of relaxed player-led exploration.

There’s no quest content in town, but each area features a little reward for stopping by. Train at the arena or the barracks to gain a boosted damage buff. Soak in the bathhouse for some temporary hit points. Pray at the temple to receive inspiration. Hang out at the local tavern to gain advantage on the next Insight check.

It’s a clever little system that rewards player exploration without slowing down the main story. Still, I wish there were a few actual quests or story hooks the players could engage with. My group would be ready to get to the action!

kbidos

The adventure finally kicks off on page 12, when the party makes their way along the trail toward the tomb.

Several scripted and random encounters are available, such as illusory monsters, net traps, or a wandering cockatrice.

Enhancing these encounters are fully detailed and colored maps. The map art in this adventure is exceptionally lovely, including regional maps of Theros and Kbidos, and player and DM-annotated versions. Yes!

The tomb itself also features an excellent battle map. The party should reach level two before entering.

The tomb is relatively small but stuffed full of content, with a frightening well holding a water weird and a magic ring, an ambushing rug of smothering, hideous laughter traps, and rogue skeletons, before culminating in a showdown with the necromancer.

Unfortunately the adventure drops the ball with the story-telling. The designer spends an entire page detailing the adventure background for Mela the necromancer, but the players don’t know, nor learn, any of it during their short expedition.

In fact, they don’t know anything’s wrong until they make it to the tomb and see random skeletons waltzing around. They could get some answers from the captured priest, but until then the PCs have no context for what’s going on. The entire plot feels like a randomly-generated side quest.

Yet despite the simple story, I love this adventure. The attention to detail with the town, the sidebars for mythic hero tales (every new magic item has a tale), the incredible maps, and the rich variety of monsters more than make up for the story-light approach.

Pros:

  • Kbidos is richly detailed, including player-earned perks for visiting different areas.
  • Small but well-crafted level 2 dungeon crawl.
  • Full color, gorgeous battle maps and region maps.
  • Appendix for playing in the Iroan Games

Cons:

  • Light on story — villain lacks any context from the player’s POV.

The Verdict: Small yet mighty, Rock Tombs of Kbidos features a detailed town and a solid little dungeon crawl, resulting in a fine introduction to Theros adventures.

A review copy of “Rock Tombs of Kbidos: A Theros Adventure & Sourcebook” was provided by the publisher. Find more DMs Guild Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.

Support my work by using my affiliate links and pledging via Patreon.