This review has been sponsored 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.

Designed by: Christopher Michael Thompson

The Gith vs Illithid war is one of the cooler backdrops in Dungeons & Dragons (see the opening moments of Baldur’s Gate 3!), and I’m stoked for a full 5e campaign that explores that dynamic.

Lobediggol and the Lich Queen is an ambitious adventure book that stars mind flayers and Elder Brain BBEGs, but its needlessly confusing layout and reliance on side quests leave it messy and unfulfilling.

The 150+ page campaign book is apparently part of an even larger series. No level ranges are given — which is irksome, though certain sections are labeled Tier 1 and Tier 2.

The adventure background dives too heavily into ancient lore, and from what I could parse, the main quest is basically “mind flayers doing bad things in the Underdark, let’s get them!”

It’ll take over 100 pages before we get there, however.

lobediggol pic

In Tier 1: Local Heroes, the adventure spends over 70 pages on side quests around the Dessarin Valley. Even the “Inciting Incident” is little more than a random encounter with some gith.

The side quests are quite meaty, however, and feature some fun ideas: helping move a bunch of bodies through a kobold-infested cave, investigating missing deep gnomes underneath and inn, surviving a monster-infested mine cart ride, and racing goblin scouts to deliver information.

These are relatively lengthy, detailed quests (probably too detailed) averaging about five pages each. Some feature maps, though the map art and quality varies.

Reading through the quests is annoying due to the layout, however. It’s tricky to tell where a full quest ends and begins. Sometimes there are numbers, and always there are puns. My god, the puns. Please, have mercy.

This method of multiple quests as an introduction to a campaign is used in Chapter 1 of Rime of the Frostmaiden. But in Rime, each quest is pretty short, well-organized, and tied to a specific town.

This adventure plays too fast and loose with locations and levels, and even player motivations. Without an adventure flow chart or organized synopsis, I had difficulty figuring out who the important NPCs were, which quests were important, and, frankly, why any of it mattered in the larger campaign.

The entire book needs an editor to clamp down on verbosity and help organize the quests and overall campaign structure.

This campaign may be better served as a regional sourcebook for the Dessarin Valley, with lots of new, heavily detailed quest chains to explore.

The book also includes some new player resources. Four new races (plus a fifth race with the previously released Saurians), include were-spider folk, shadow creatures, and demon-elf hybrids, and all of them get new custom backgrounds, which is pretty nice. But when that’s among the best content in your big adventure book, that’s a big problem.

Pros:

  • Over a dozen meaty side quests around the Dessarin Valley.
  • Four interesting new player races and backgrounds.

Cons:

  • No Flow chart or adventure synopsis.
  • Too open-ended when it comes to locations, level range, and player motivation.
  • Confusing sub-headings make it difficult to see when a quest ends/begins.

The Verdict: Lobediggol and the Lich Queen teases an epic mind flayer vs gith campaign, but its confusing layout, dense lore, and lack of structure leave it little more than a collection of meandering quests in desperate need of an editor.

A review copy of “Lobediggol and the Lich Queen” 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.