Category: roll20 review

Roll20 Review: Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (Rrakkma)

Mordenkainen adds a host of exotic, alien, and demonic creatures, while Rrakkma provides a sample dungeon crawl in the Plane of Madness.

Advertisements

A press review copy of the module was provided. Find more Roll20 Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.

Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes is the third official bestiary released for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, following the original Monster Manual (2014) and Volo’s Guide to Monsters (2016). At this point we’ve cataloged all of the creatures we’d find in a typical fantasy setting. The Tome of Foes provides much more exotic fare. If you love your cosmic horror and demons, Mordenkainen is here for you.

In the interest of reviewing a bestiary for Roll20, I’ll be focusing this review on the free Adventurer’s League tie-in adventure, “Rrakkma.”

Note that “Rrakkma” is only available to Roll20 Pro subscribers.

Continue reading “Roll20 Review: Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (Rrakkma)”

Roll20 Review: The Twilight Child (War for the Crown 3)

Confront nightmare demons, traitorous guards, and a sinister cult in the city of Yanmass in the third adventure for the War for the Crown.

A press review copy of the module was provided. Find more Roll20 Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.

The War for the Crown returns to an urban setting in the third Pathfinder Adventure Path module, The Twilight Child. It’s designed for a party of 7th level heroes who have completed the previous two modules, and they should reach 10th level by the end, making it a solid Tier 2 adventure.

The Twilight Child provides a bounty of interesting side quests within the mercantile city of Yanmass, and more importantly for a Roll20 module, plenty of quality maps to support them.

Continue reading “Roll20 Review: The Twilight Child (War for the Crown 3)”

Roll20 Review: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur (War for the Crown 2)

Pose as local nobles and win the hearts and minds of the people of Meratt in Part 2 of the War for the Crown.

A press review copy of the module was provided. Find more Roll20 Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.

The sophomore adventure in the War for the Crown Adventure Path follows more of the political intrigue and social maneuvering from the first. It’s designed to run directly after Crownfall, with PCs beginning at 4th level and advancing to 7th at the conclusion.

In Songbird, Scion, Saboteur, the PCs travel north to the county of Meratt, assuming the role of long-lost nobles, hob-nobbing at posh parties, helping the local populace with various odd-jobs and missions, and culminating in the PCs’ invasion of the ruling noble.

The adventure hits all the right beats, though running many areas, particularly the mini open-world section of Part 2, could prove tricky to run in Roll20. Continue reading “Roll20 Review: Songbird, Scion, Saboteur (War for the Crown 2)”

Roll20 Review: Crownfall (War for the Crown 1)

A press review copy of the module was provided. Find more Roll20 Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.

Every new edition of Dungeons & Dragons has its naysayers, but in the mid 2000s Fourth Edition’s announcement was especially volatile compared to the widely beloved 3.5 edition. So much so that one company split off and created their own RPG system heavily based on 3.5 edition. Pathfinder did the unthinkable and proved more popular than Dungeons & Dragons for several years, until Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition arrived in 2014.

My own experience with Pathfinder is quite limited. When we first got into doing role-playing games online via Roll20, we actually started with Pathfinder, playing for several months. That game was cancelled when our GM abruptly left, and it would be several months before we got bit by the RPG bug again, first with Shadowrun and then with D&D 5E.

Now, finally, Pathfinder has officially come to Roll20. Roll20 is completely open, meaning you could always play Pathfinder, but with official licensing support comes Roll20-created character sheets, as well as professionally adapted modules, the likes of which we’ve been seeing (and I’ve been reviewing) for D&D over the last several months. Continue reading “Roll20 Review: Crownfall (War for the Crown 1)”

Roll20 Review: Princes of the Apocalypse

A press review copy of the module was provided. Find more Roll20 Reviews on my website and YouTube channel.

Since partnering with Wizards of the Coast to convert the official Fifth Edition campaigns into Roll20, the Roll20 modules have been released out of order. Each of the campaigns are technically stand-alone, but some events and characters are referenced in other stories, such as Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter in Storm King’s Thunder and Tomb of Annihilation.

Originally released in Spring 2015, Princes of the Apocalypse was the second ever Fifth Edition campaign, following Tyranny of Dragons. It now has the honor of being the final Fifth Edition campaign to receive the Roll20 treatment. [UPDATE: It has since been pointed out to me that Out of the Abyss has yet to be officially adapted. Oops!] Continue reading “Roll20 Review: Princes of the Apocalypse”

Roll20 Review: Tyranny of Dragons

Welcome to another Roll20 Review, my written and video series in which I review the paid modules available for sale at Roll20. A review copy of the module was provided.

“Tyranny of Dragons” was the name of the first two campaign books released for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition back in 2014: “Hoard of the Dragon Queen” and “The Rise of Tiamat.”

As the first official campaign story published for 5E, “Tyranny of Dragons” is a bit rough around the edges. Some of the rules weren’t quite solidified yet. The Monster Manual wouldn’t even be released until several months after RoT; the Dungeon Master’s Guide and even Player’s Handbook not until after HotDQ.

“Lost Mine of Phandelver” was designed as a the first intro starter adventure, whereas “Tyranny of Dragons” had to evoke a full campaign. While it tells a fun story of both dungeons and dragons, it’s very linear and railroady, with few overly large maps that don’t look very good on a virtual tabletop. Continue reading “Roll20 Review: Tyranny of Dragons”

Roll20 Review: Tomb of Annihilation

Welcome to another Roll20 Review, my written and video series in which I review the paid modules available for sale at Roll20. A review copy of the module was provided.

The Tomb of Horrors is one of the most infamous and difficult dungeons Gary Gygax ever designed. It was famous enough for a major plot point in Ready Player One, easily the best part of a novel I otherwise loathed. It recently appeared with a D&D Fifth Edition conversion in Tales from the Yawning Portal earlier this year (Roll20 Review coming soon!).

I was a bit surprised, though certainly not disappointed, that Acererak’s infamous dungeon would be the inspiration for Dungeon & Dragon‘s next major story campaign, Tomb of Annihilation.

The Roll20 Tomb of Annihilation module is the best work Roll20 has ever done. Tomb of Annihilation is already a very virtual tabletop-friendly campaign, and Roll20 went even further with interactive maps for puzzles and rooms, a token-filled page of random encounters, and all the written and visual content you’ll need to send your players into the dangerous jungles of Chult.

Continue reading “Roll20 Review: Tomb of Annihilation”