Designed by: Jimmy Meritt, with maps by Louie Skaradek
Those who have read (and/or watched) my Waterdeep: Dragon Heist review know that I was a bit miffed that there was no actual heist. Thankfully the DMs Guild is here to set things straight.
“Handful of Heists” features five 3rd level mini-adventures that fit perfectly within Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, or any urban setting of your campaign.
Compiled by: Terry Herc, with 50+ DMs Guild Contributors
“Artifacts of the Guild” is massive magic item compendium featuring contributions from may of the best DMs Guild creators, including JVC Parry, Ashley Warren, Phil Beckwith, James Introcaso, and Christian Eichhorn.
Tier 4 content (levels 16-20) on the DMs Guild isn’t exactly common. High level adventures are exceedingly difficult to balance, and are often the culmination of years-long campaigns rather than a self-contained adventure.
“Mirrors of the Abyss” tackles a high level adventure with an excessively detailed deathtrap dungeon in an abyssal domain run by a vulpine demon woman named Eshebala. Think “Tomb of Horrors” but with a lot more personality, a la carte chambered dungeon design, and over 260 pages of detailed information and beautiful original artwork.
Thanks to the magic of Public Domain, eldritch horror has become pervasive in fantasy, sci-fi, and supernatural horror, and Dungeons & Dragons is certainly no exception. In 5e it’s mostly regulated to a single subclass of the Warlock, The Great Old One. “Those Lost in Madness” adds four new Far Realm-themed subclasses for Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, and Rogue.
The 160+page Guidebook adapts creatures, items, spells, and an entirely new mana-based spell system from Magic: The Gathering into D&D.
A review copy of “Advanced Arcana – Alternative Mana-Based Spellcasting System” was provided by the publisher. Find more DMs Guild Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.
Designed by: Ken Carcas, Justyn Johnston, Luke Monroe
I’ve never been a big fan of Dungeon & Dragons’ unintuitive spellcasting system, with leveled spell slots and having to memorize spells. Give me a universal mana system or simple limited number of uses per day or per encounter any day.
“Advanced Arcana” attempts to translate the mana system from popular collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. This is particular relevant with the still semi-recent release of the official Wizards of the Coast published supplement, Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica, which finally adapted at least some of Magic: the Gathering‘s content into Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition.
But there’s still a lot of room for M:TG content, including its actual magic system. Unfortunately Magic‘s system is also a bit of a pain for different reasons, and combining it with D&D results in needlessly fiddly spellcasting that’s already giving me nightmares of some of the worst gameplay aspects of the card game.
Thankfully the new spell system is only a fraction of the content available in this massive 150+ page guide book. With new magic items, creatures, and even adventures, “Advanced Arcana” is practically the Xanathar’s Guide to Everything: Ravnica Edition.
Venture through a gauntlet of poison and disease in this underground dungeon crawl for 8th level.
A review copy of “Adventure: The Dreaded Tunnels of Ruxabar” was provided by the publisher. Find more DMs Guild Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.
“The Dreaded Tunnels of Ruxabar” is a straight-forward dungeon crawl for five players around level eight. It’s a 20-page gauntlet through disease-infested caverns, with several modified monsters, tons of environmental hazards and traps, and a few new treasures. It also includes separate VTT-friendly player maps and tokens.
The adventure is very light on role-playing but I enjoyed the overall layout and interesting challenges within the dungeon.
The Waterdeep agents discover a surprise underground dungeon and crime ring during the third heist adventure.
A review copy of “One Shot: Autumn Blues – Waterdeep’s Shadow Heist No. 3” was provided by the publisher. Find more DMs Guild Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.
“Autumn Blues” is the third one-shot adventure in Christian Eichhorn’s Waterdeep Shadow Heist trilogy, and like the others it’s designed as a straightforward heist mission from the local thieves guild. Unlike the first two adventures, “Autumn Blues” features a surprise underground dungeon as the PCs get the chance to shake down an entire criminal enterprise.
