Hey everyone, Slick Dungeon here. Can you believe January is over tomorrow? Time flies right? Well, I just wanted to do a monthly check-in on how I am doing on the challenges I created for books, movies, and role playing games for this year. If you want to see how I did, this is the post for you! And if you have been doing any of these challenges, I would love to know how it’s going for you. Let me know in the comments!
Reading Challenge
Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Book Challenge! Click the image to download your own copy!
The first challenge on this list is to reread the first book you remember reading. Well, for me that book was The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. I didn’t do a review of it on this blog because, well, it’s a kid’s book that doesn’t really need a review and most people know exactly what it is. I will say though, re-reading it brought back fond memories of how proud I felt when I could read the whole thing with no help from anyone else. It’s the first book that really ignited the love of words in me and it’s what I still hope to experience any time I read a new book. For this challenge the first bullet is complete!
Movie Challenge
Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Movie Challenge! Click the image to download your own copy!
For this challenge, I actually ended up doing the second bullet first. I watched a movie about an issue I care about, namely climate change, when I watched Don’t Look Up on Netflix. I would say this is an allegory about climate change but it’s actually more of a direct comparison and it’s downright frightening how close to reality this film feels, including the political landscape, social media, and disaster denialism. If you haven’t read my review for it, check it out here! I haven’t yet decided what movie to do for a movie about love but if anyone has a good suggestion, let me know in the comments below.
Read, Watch, Play CHallenge
Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Read, Watch, Play challenge! Click the image about to download your own copy!
For this one, I have started, but did not finish reading a book that is set in the same setting as a tabletop game. I’m reading through a book set in my favorite Dungeons & Dragons setting, Ravenloft. In the past I have read I, Strahd which is about the most famous vampire in Barovia, Strahd Von Zarovich. I wanted to read another book which ties in with that and I’ve begun the excellent (so far) Vampire of the Mists. Once I finish it, I will post a review on this blog and let you all know what I think of it. For this one, consider it in progress but not checked off. I should have it done well before the end of February though so watch out for my review. If you have any recommendations for great books set in the same setting as a tabletop game, let me know in the comments below!
In Conclusion
Well, that’s where I’m at for these challenges so far this year. Have you tried any of them? If so, how’s it going? Also, a reminder, if you complete one of these challenges and post about it on your blog and let me know, I will review anything you would like me to. (Within reason of course). If you want me to review your book or movie or role playing game or one you just really want to know my opinion about, simply put your link to your blog post in the comments, and let me know and I will contact you about reviewing something for you.
If you would like a copy of any of my challenges, feel free to download from the image, or click here for books, movies, and read, watch, play challenges.
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Strange Tales #102 has several short features in it but the only one that matters in the Marvel 616 continuity is the one starring Johnny Storm fighting a villain called The Wizard.
The issue starts with a recap of what happened in the last issue when Johnny defeated a villain who was trying to destroy an amusement park. While he and his pals are reminiscing and marveling over the feats of The Human Torch, a man named The Wizard overhears them. He is an inventor and a showman, already world famous in his own right. He decides the only way he can really prove to the world he has the smartest brain on the planet is to defeat… The Human Torch? Yeah, you read that right.
I think every Marvel fan gives a bit of a groan when reading this. No disrespect to Johnny Storm but he’s not known for being brilliant. However, Reed Richards most certainly is. But this story stars Johnny so he gets the spotlight.
What’s The Wizard’s brilliant plan for trapping Johnny? Simple, he is going to build a machine that is supposed to dig to the center of the Earth. Then, he’s going to fake getting stuck, knowing a.) he actually built this machine with plenty of air so he’s not in any real danger and b.) The Human Torch is definitely going to come rescue him. After all of this, he’s going to invite Torch over to show off his super cool modern house. Then, while Torch is in the house he’s going to ask Torch to have his picture taken with some special cameras he invented. Those cameras are not cameras though, they’re actually water cannons which will douse Torch, but not his face so he can keep his secret identity, and then put him in an asbestos lined room so he can’t escape. Easy right? And does it work? You bet.
That is not all though, oh no. The Wizard has also built a suit which mimics Torch’s powers. He uses this suit to commit crimes in order to sink Torch’s reputation with the public. That also works. To top it all off he skywrites in flames, “Down with law and order” just to make the point really clear.
Here’s the thing though. As smart as The Wizard thinks he is, he’s not smart enough to realize Johnny can get hot enough to burn out of his prison. Johnny also knows how to defeat The Wizard so he makes a quick phone call. The Wizard lures Johnny back to his home where he holds photographs that will prove Torch’s innocence. For a smart dude, this guy is making a lot of really obvious mistakes. Torch tells him he has greater powers than The Wizard could imagine. At which point the photographs float out of The Wizard’s hands.
The Wizard is convinced Johnny does have some kind of otherworldly powers. Torch then calls the cops and saves the day. If you guessed the obvious then you have a smarter brain than The Wizard does. Of course, Johnny called Sue Storm, aka The Invisible Girl. And if you can’t even be bothered to know who is on the Fantastic Four can you actually be in the running to be a supervillain at all?
This really was one of the most ridiculous of the stories in the continuity so far but I suppose it gave Johnny Storm something to do for an afternoon.
Next on the reading list get your purple pants out because we’re going back to see the big green guy in Incredible Hulk #4!
Hello fellow horror people, it’s me, Slick Dungeon. I’m back to review the fourth episode of the Netflix horror hit Archive 81. We’ve reached the halfway mark so just be warned if you have not watched the series there may be spoilers for the entire first half of it in this post.
This episode is titled Spirit Receivers and if that made you think there may be spirits or seances or other ghostly things in the episode, well, you win the big stuffed teddy bear, because you are right.
Dan is continuing to restore footage Melody shot in the Visser building. We know now that she is looking for her mother and it seems Melody has shown up to talk to Dan a few times. This should be impossible considering she’s dead and all. With the first three episodes it hadn’t been clear whether or not Dan is hallucinating or dreaming all these interactions with Melody.
In the past Melody is still investigating what the people in this building who seem to be part of a cult ritual are actually doing. She’s not getting very far with that until she is invited to a party by one of the stranger characters in the building. And if you’re thinking strange character plus party equals seance where weird things happen, you get another teddy bear.
A lot of this episode falls into standard tropes of horror but there is one significant twist that might make this show stand out. After Dan has conversations with Melody, she or another character says things she and Dan said in their private conversations. While this is definitely weird for Melody, it should be impossible for Dan, considering Melody is definitely dead. Yet Dan realizes if he can warn Melody in time, maybe he can prevent this fire from ever happening. What’s interesting about this is it confirms Dan’s sanity but the moment he tells someone else about it, he sounds totally insane. And as the viewer we want to see Dan save Melody because they seem to be the nicest characters in the whole show.
In the background LMG, the company Dan is working for seems as nefarious as ever. And once again there is a significant twist at the end of the episode. Although, it’s not super surprising and it also falls into a horror trope. It will be interesting to see what the show does with it.
So far, I would say if you have not watched this show and you like horror and can stomach a bit of blood (you’ve almost definitely seen worse) this is worth checking out. But I will say this fourth episode to me was one of the weaker episodes overall because it does seem to rely on a lot of standard tropes.
I’m going to watch the whole show before I give final judgement but I would like to see the next episode pull the viewer in a little more.
Hey internet, it’s me, Slick Dungeon. I’m back to review another horror movie. This one is streaming on Hulu right now and is called We Need to Do Something. If you haven’t watched it just a warning there will be some spoilers below.
We Need to Do Something is one of those horror films that basically takes place in a single location. A family of four is trapped in their bathroom after a tornado hits. They’ll need to survive until help can come from the outside but what is out there may be worse than what they are going through.
If you’re not a fan of gore this one will probably not land well with you. However, for all the gore shown in this film, it’s the things not shown on screen that are the most frightening. Like almost all of these types of movies, several characters are keeping secrets of one kind or another and at least one of them knows a lot more about what is going on than anyone else.
About a third of the way into the film there is a definite surprise and things take a decidedly horrific turn.
I was honestly very close to giving this one four stars because the acting here is phenomenal. Even when the incredible is happening, all the actors are perfectly believable. And a lot of the horror is subtle or hinted at which I always like. But for me, the reveal of what was actually happening was a bit underwhelming and not quite believable enough for me to go along with it.
I still think it’s really worth watching and there are absolutely moments that are likely to scare any audience. I found myself having a good time watching it, even with the few flaws it has. I imagine if others do buy into the premise more than I do they would put this higher on their list of good horror films.
If you’re in need of a good scare with quite a lot of psychological terror in the film, this one is definitely worth watching. I would sort of like to see this re-done but with a slightly different character point of view and I think it might be an even more terrifying film.
Have you seen this one? If so, how do you think it compares to other isolation/confinement horror films? Let me know in the comments!
Journey Into Mystery Issue 86 Photo Credit: Marvel
Journey Into Mystery has already run several stories starring the god of thunder, Thor, himself. In issue 86, there are several significant events that help shape the 616 universe for years to come.
We all know Thor has been on earth and hides in his secret identity of Dr. Donald Blake. Most of the stories so far have focused more on Blake than Thor. But this story is all about the Asgardian god and what he can do. In addition, it introduces some new powers Thor has and establishes both time travel and the possibility of different worlds.
Three centuries from now Earth has overcome all violence. They live in a peaceful and technologically advanced society. But one man, named Zarrko aka the Tomorrow Man, wants to rule the world. As any good evil scientist would do, he invents time travel to go back to 1962 when atomic bombs were being tested. Why he didn’t just invent his own weapon if he could invent time travel is beyond me.
It just so happens Zarrko goes out to the desert in New Mexico where Thor is helping the U.S. military to test missiles. The army wants to make a missile fast enough Thor can’t catch it. They fail of course.
Now if the New Mexico desert and bomb testing has you thinking of a certain green man who has gamma related powers you would not be the only one. While we never see Hulk or Bruce Banner, there is someone there in a military uniform who looks an awful lot like General Thunderbolt Ross from the Hulk comics. This is never confirmed though, as they don’t say his name. Also, having Thor even show up in this location just makes the reader wonder, “who would win in a fight between Hulk and Thor?” This becomes an age old question and one of the most hotly debated ones among Marvel fans.
Anyway, back to the story at hand. Zarrko shows up, steals something called a “cobalt bomb” and scurries back to his own time. After that is where things really start to get interesting. Thor knows he has to go follow this villain so he does something he has not done before. He summons his father Odin to ask for his advice. This shows the Asgardian gods taking more of an interest in the activities of Thor and they will come into play in future issues. Odin tells Thor he can spin himself and his hammer fast enough to travel through time. (Yes I know it sounds silly but hey, why not?) This vastly increases Thor’s power as the ability to time travel is extremely significant.
Once in the future, Thor meets with the innocent citizens of the world who want Zarrko gone. He devises a plan where he has one of them dress up like him while Thor himself follows behind in a black cloak. Zarrko easily traps the fake but then has to contend with Thor. He fires a, “delta-electron gun” which is supposed to send Thor into another dimension.
This confirms that not only does time travel exist in the 616 universe but so do other dimensions. Again, this is a hugely significant revelation. While Thor isn’t especially known for going to other dimensions or time traveling, a vast number of other 616 characters are. This just establishes the groundwork.
As big of a revelation as that is, we still haven’t seen the limit of Thor’s power. He is able to prevent himself from going to this other dimension by simply exhaling with “Hurricane Force!!” This prevents the dimensional door from closing on Thor and he escapes. This is a pretty big power increase once again for Thor. And it makes the reader who was wondering if Hulk or Thor is stronger think that perhaps Thor has a huge advantage.
Thor is not out of trouble yet as an army of giant robot monsters take his hammer from him. If we remember the old rules of Thor’s transformation we realize that in 60 seconds Thor will become Dr. Donald Blake who is no match for the mechanical monstrosities. It also begs the question of how the robots can lift the hammer considering it is only supposed to be lifted by those worthy of Thor’s power. Thor losing his hammer is a fairly frequent occurrence in the issues to come so we’ll leave that as a dangling question for now.
Of course, Thor does vanquish his foes, both the robot army and Zarrko himself. It’s not until after Thor returns and everyone is defeated that we see Thor change back into Donald Blake. This is somewhat significant because the reader gets the impression Blake is less necessary to the story. In fact, a secret identity never made much sense for Thor anyway but he has to have one because that’s how all the Marvel heroes start out. In time he’ll lose that and readers will get to focus just on the part they enjoy, Thor himself.
All in all, this seems like what would be a fairly standard Marvel story. There is a villain who is defeated by a hero and there’s a little bit of inventiveness in it with the time travel. I doubt the creators of the issue realized the amount of significance these events would have but looking back on it as a reader it is a vital issue.
Next up on the reading list we’re going to get hot under the collar again as we visit Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch in Strange Tales #102!
Hey horror fanatics it’s me Slick Dungeon, back to review another episode of the Netflix series Archive 81. Just a quick warning there may be spoilers for the first three episodes below so be warned before we get going.
The first episode set our story up with Dan being hired to restore videotapes found after a fire at a building called the Visser. Through these tapes we see the perspective of Melody who is doing a study of the residents of the building. The second episode ratcheted up the connection between the two characters by revealing *spoiler* Melody was being treated for mental health issues by Dan’s father. There is also the potential implication that the two of them possibly had an affair.
While watching these tapes Dan keeps seeing things that don’t make sense. He sees strange images at times, there is a song on the tapes he knows his sister played right before she died in a fire, and there seem to be times where Dan is almost talking directly to Melody.
In this episode, it gets weird. There are times as a viewer where we can’t tell if Dan is dreaming, hallucinating, or somehow actually seeing what it seems like he is seeing. We get more of the backstory of Melody in this episode and start to see that almost everyone at the Visser has something more going on than what it appears on the surface.
There is a subplot with a girl named Jess who seems to have some kind of seizures on a regular basis. While in real life when we would see this happen, we’d all probably have Melody’s reaction which is to want her taken to a doctor to be treated, this is a horror show, so there has to be more to it than that. There is a priest and Jess’ mother who seem to think exorcism is the right approach. There’s clearly some connection between the Visser, Jess, Melody, Dan and Dan’s father all happening at once but it’s still too early to say what it is.
I think one of the most interesting things about this series is that it’s kind of subverting the trope of someone being stuck in an isolated space where horror is happening. While Dan is largely on his own, and he knows this can be bad, the company he works for seems to have people watching him. They have cameras everywhere but they also have a groundskeeper woman who seems to know way more about what he is doing than she should.
This flips the script a bit because usually we want to scream at people to leave the location they are stuck in. Dan can actually leave, and does. But still, there’s something about these tapes and Melody that keep calling back to him. In addition, there were a couple of big reveals in this episode. I won’t get into them here just in case people haven’t watched this far but there was one story with Dan’s friend on the outside that really surprised me and again subverted expectations.
So far, this show is really clever and ratchets up the horror to a high degree without showing much gore or anything overly gruesome. I’m really curious where it will go next.
Hello dungeon crawlers, it’s Slick Dungeon here. I know how daunting it can be to be a Dungeon Master (or Game Master for any tabletop role playing game). Fortunately, the internet is full of helpful resources. Personally, I find YouTube to be one of the best resources when I sit down to plan a game. I’m going to give you five YouTube channels I think are extremely useful for various reasons. I’ll let you know what they are and why I like them. These are not in a particular order because they all serve a different purpose.
5. Don’t Stop Thinking
Don’t Stop Thinking has a great How to Play series
The Don’t Stop Thinking channel on YouTube is fun and informative. There is a fantastic series on how to play Dungeons & Dragons that breaks down the rules into simple and digestible videos. Plus, they are animated and the host has a great sense of humor so the videos are very entertaining as well. A lot of times when I have new players who are intimidated by the big books of rules I refer them to this channel. It might take a few viewings but you’ll get a great sense of how the game is played if you watch.
4. Dungeon Dudes
Dungeon Dudes is great at going in depth on rules, giving tips to Dungeon Masters, has great guides for players, and has a really fun live play game called Dungeons of Drakenheim
If you want to go a little more in depth on the rules, Dungeon Dudes has you covered. They have a huge backlog of videos where they share their best advice for Dungeon Master and Players. They always have an interesting and lively discussion and to top all of that off, you can watch them play in their own campaign to see how they put their own advice into practice. These videos do tend to be a little on the longer side, usually around 30 minutes but they are all well worth a view. If you are a player, they have tons of advice on how to optimize your characters, get more out of combat, and just generally be better at the game.
3. LUnch Break Heroes
Lunch Break Heroes is fantastic at fleshing out a story so you have a better idea of how to run a campaign as a Dungeon Master
If you are anything like me, you like using the pre-written modules in 5th edition. The trouble is, as comprehensive as those are, they don’t always flesh out the full story. Lunch Break Heroes is great at taking these modules and rounding them out in a way to make the module feel fully realized. It also saves a ton of time on preparation if you watch these. So far there are playlists for Curse of Strahd, Rime of the Frostmaiden, and Lost Mines of Phandelver, all of which are incredibly helpful. You may not end up using all of these ideas but you’ll definitely pick up a few.
2. AJ Pickett
AJ Pickett dives as deep as you can go into monster and environment lore. Great for a bit of background flavor when you need it
Sometimes you want a deeper, richer, history of a creature you are using or the part of the world you are creating. AJ Pickett has you covered in this department. He has fantastic videos that dive as deep into the lore as you can imagine. After watching his videos you’ll know why a creature is there, what it wants, and where it came from. This can be immensely useful for a Dungeon Master who needs to have something to say when her players succeed on a history check.
1. Mathew Colville
Mathew Colville is great to watch for philosophy of the game
Mathew Colville also has a series of videos about how to run the game but his are a little different. I wouldn’t say these come in bite sized and digestible videos. Matt does tend to talk a lot and at a fast pace. I’m not saying that’s bad, in fact I find it quite entertaining, but it can be a little hard to follow. However, what Matt brings that other channels do not is his philosophy of the game. He has thought for years about how to run Dungeons & Dragons and what different influences have had on the game throughout the years. Anytime I watch one of his videos I find myself thinking about what he said and usually it helps to shape my own attitude to the game.
There are literally hundreds of YouTube channels I could list here all about Dungeons & Dragons but these five are the ones I tend to turn to the most often. If you know of a great D&D channel let me know in the comments. And, if you want more tips like these, subscribe to my newsletter.
Tales to Astonish has sort of become the Ant-Man show at this point. While there still are other features in this book, the biggest draw is Henry “Hank” Pym who has developed a serum capable of making himself the size of an ant. He also has a cypernetic helmet which allows him to communicate with the insects.
Apparently, since we have seen him last, he’s been out adventuring and helping the public. In the first two stories of Ant-Man, it was pretty much just Hank Pym who knew he had these capabilities. In this issue, we see him free some bank robbers who are trapped in a time-lock vault. The cops are there to arrest the men once Ant-Man let’s them free so they don’t suffocate. While the public seems to know Ant-Man is a hero, that’s about all they know about him. He just shows up at the right place at the right time to do some good. Turns out when you can communicate with millions of ants you have a pretty good idea of what is going on in your city.
Meanwhile, “the commies” are learning about Ant-Man and devise a plan to use Comrade X to trap him. They, of course, want to know his secret so they can apply it to their army.
So, yes, this is once again, yet another story involving the cold war. We have to take into perspective that things were pretty frightening as far as the nuclear arms race went and people were legitimately fearful at the time. It stands to reason this would be reflected in popular culture, including comic books.
The story is fairly standard. Henry gets trapped but he uses his helmet to help escape. He also uncovers the fact that Comrade X is really a woman who claimed to have fallen in love with Comrade X. She was just in disguise. Hank had found her rubber face mask when he was hiding in her pocketbook at one point.
There isn’t much here that I would say is incredibly significant in this story but it does do a couple of things. It sets up Comrade X as a possible return villain and since Ant-Man doesn’t have a main nemesis yet, this could be a possibility. More importantly, the story does establish Henry as a public hero, albeit one the public doesn’t know much about. Down the road when superhero teams are formed, Ant-Man will be involved and that’s only the case because the public does know about him. After all, it would be pretty easy to never let the public see what you are doing when you are the size of a tiny insect.
Hey horror fans, it’s me, Slick Dungeon back to review the second episode of the hit horror series Archive 81 on Netflix. Be warned there will be some spoilers for episode one and two below. If you’re ready, set your camera down and take a look at the review below!
The first episode of this series did a good job of setting up a mystery with our main characters Dan and Melody. Dan is in our present while Melody is in our past. Melody was making a series of videos for an academic paper on a building called the Visser. Dan restores old film, video tapes, etc. for a career. Dan was hired by the mysterious group known as LMG to restore tapes recovered from a fire at the Visser.
This episode gets into strange territory, starting with a commercial for some kind of DNA tracing technology by a company called Wellspring. This also happens to be the name of the episode. The commercial was so realistic I honestly wondered for a moment if Netflix had suddenly begun putting ads in its shows.
The story moves forward with Dan restoring more tapes and us seeing flashbacks of Melody. On Dan’s end it’s clear people are watching him and he has limited access to the outside world. On Melody’s side she meets more of the residents of the building and let’s just say, they are far from normal. There definitely seems to be something under the surface that is out and out creepy. It’s too early to tell exactly what it is yet but definitely enough to make the viewer want to keep watching.
As the episode goes on we see more of a connection between Dan and Melody. They seem to be connected as Dan’s father has now shown up on the tapes. There is also a clear connection due to a song that Dan hears but is also showing up in the tapes with Melody.
Around the last third of the episode things get very bizarre for Melody and the threat of impending doom is palpable to the viewer.
This second episode is continuing the trend of having a pretty major reveal near the end. I’m not going to say what it is here but I can see why people have been binging this one. I’ll hold my judgement over the whole show until the end but so far the first two episodes have been well worth the time.
Hello dungeon creatures and crawlers, it’s me Slick Dungeon. I know I’m a lot of issues behind here but I finally bought the fourth issue of Arcadia put out by Matt Colville’s MCDM productions.
I love this magazine because it’s full of amazing art, has great, useful articles for your at home games, and is written by some of the most gifted creators in the TTRPG community. Each issue has so far delivered. They are a good deal at $12 a piece right now but if you buy the bundle of the first three issues it’s $18 so I would highly recommend going with that. You can buy your copies here. Just a note that I am not associated with MCDM so I’m just recommending buying this because I think it’s good, not for any other reason.
I took a look at all the articles and want to give you my hot takes so far. If you don’t know what Arcadia is and you want to learn more about it before reading about issue #4 you can start at the beginning and check out my post for issue #1 here.
Also, if you want to go even further in depth about issue #4 you can see the Q&A with the creators below.
Arcadia Issue 4 Q&A
The Artwork
If I was told I could only give you one single reason to check out Arcadia, my choice would be easy. It’s the artwork. Even if you read every single word of the issue and can’t find a single thing to use in your game (which is really unlikely) there is a piece of artwork here to inspire you. It’s consistently high quality and in fact, I think it at times outdoes the artwork in the official Wizards of the Coast materials. If you don’t believe me, just take one look at this cover.
Issue #4 cover of Arcadia. Artwork by Grace Cheung
I don’t know who this guy is or what his story is before reading the issue but I know I want to use him in my campaign.
Letter From the Editor
Typically, I haven’t really mentioned this section in my past reviews but they mention something here that I think is worth highlighting. They mention due to a Patreon survey they will be concentrating less on fully packaged adventures because most of the people reading the magazine want new creatures, items, etc. so they can use them in worlds they are creating. While there’s nothing wrong with that, I hope they don’t decide to completely drop adventures because I personally find them really useful. I love when I find an adventure which can take a session or two to drop in my campaign. It helps me save in preparation time and to me that’s invaluable. The rest of the letter is just what you would expect but there’s a couple of jokes in there that might make you chuckle.
Swimming Through Sand to Sea
One of the more innovative things in the first issue of Arcadia was a new set of rules to use for mounts. It gave us some new creatures and items to use for those who were tired of using standard mounts such as horses. In this article, Willy Abeel, is back to provide us with creature to mount for those hard to reach places such as dungeons or underwater.
As far as the magic items go here, several of them are neat and fun, but you’ll want to really think through whether you want to grant these to your players. Some of these items mimic some pretty good spells so use caution. Pretty much all of the items do allow mounts to go to places they normally can’t though and that can be really useful for players. No one wants to leave their trusty mount behind just because it can’t swim or fly.
As far as new mounts go, there are options for Axolottle, which is a type of salamander, Chuul, Bulette, and Purple Worm. While all of these will depend on the situation of your party and your gaming table, I love the idea of having and unusual mount. I particularly like the Chuul and Bulette mounts. But again, if you are the Dungeon Master, take caution before giving your part any of these. Some of these creatures are pretty strong and a huge asset to any party. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it, I’m just saying be sure you really want to.
My favorite thing in this article is the Omnimounts. These are enormous creatures who can traverse continents, or even planes of existence, with ease. The example given is of a giant Purple Worm that wants to travel long distances. The twist is, if the party rides this mount and doesn’t travel far enough for its taste, it takes payment by swallowing the riders whole.
I wish there was a lot more to the Omnimounts and it sounds like there may be an article in future issues but otherwise I’d say this article is about equal to the mounts article in the first issue. Since we’ve seen this one before, more or less, I’m giving it a B.
The Chained Library
The Chained Library is a location housing powerful tomes of knowledge. If this is reminding you of Candlekeep, you would not be wrong. However, in this library, no one is allowed to read the books, not even the librarians because they are too dangerous. The idea here is that there are certain books out in the world full of danger, even if used with good intentions. There are NPC agents of the Chained Library described here who work both within and outside of the library.
There are also several magic items and books described in this article mostly having to do with trying to suppress dangerous knowledge. It’s clear if the player characters were to get their hands on one of these books, there would be a high cost to pay for whatever advantage they might get from it.
While I like the idea of the library as a location, I really like the idea of the NPCs from the library trying to get a book from the party. I think I may insert some of this into my Curse of Strahd campaign as I think it works well with a magic item from that campaign. The artwork for the library and for the “Eyeless Guardians” is really cool and I’m definitely inserting those into my campaign.
There’s also a nice little map if you do decide to use this as a location in your campaign. In addition they give several adventure hooks in case you do want to get your players here.
While I do think the location is neat, I can’t say it’s totally original, just because we already have a cool and interesting library in 5th edition at Candlekeep but it’s still a fun little place. If there wasn’t a Candlekeep I would give this one an A but because it’s slightly less than original I’m giving it a B+
On the Road Encounters
This article offers five encounters meant to be used for lower level players traveling from one point to another. You can increase the challenge rating by swapping out monsters if your players are up to around 8th level but beyond that these would just be a minor distraction no matter who you fiddle with it.
The first encounter involves a group of Kobolds who took over a toll bridge and guardhouse. It’s a fairly standard encounter but there are a couple of unique things about the leader of the Kobolds.
The second encounter has the players defending a group of merchants from a bandit attack. This sounds fairly straightforward and possibly even dull, however, it’s not. This encounter really encourages players to do something they don’t always think of. Prepare for the fight and make traps to stop their enemies. I think these kinds of encounters can be really fun and if done well, show players that out and out melee combat is not always the right option.
The third of these encounters involves a moral quandary. The party comes upon a duel between a noble and a peasant where the peasant is severely outmatched by the noble. The party can do the right thing and help the peasant out but if they do, there’s a good chance they will be in deep trouble in the future. There is also a sidebar with a couple of nice twists on the situation that I like.
The fourth encounter is a bait and switch encounter where four people come out of the woods claiming to be hostages. In reality they are Bandits and lead the party into an ambush. This is one of those encounters that can work well but if the players get suspicious it can just turn into a melee ordeal. There’s nothing wrong with that, just know going in that it’s possible for it to end up that way.
The final encounter is more of an NPC. He’s a cartographer who is painting on the side of the road when the characters come upon him. He is secretly on a mission to find the treasure of a dragon and is looking for warriors to assist him. For this one, I see two ways to play it. First, you could have the characters for once, meet a relatively calm and normal NPC to make your world feel more full and vibrant. It’s good sometimes to see things that don’t actually affect the party in any real way happen to provide a sense that the world still moves without them. Secondly, you could use this character as a gateway into a much larger and longer campaign. If you do that, I would suggest using this encounter first out of all the encounters and lead the characters from there.
While I really like the idea of the second encounter most, I don’t think there is enough new here to make this a great article. It’s got some good ideas and again has some great art but I feel like we’ve seen variations of all of these encounters over and over again. Still, everyone is going to need these kinds of encounters to keep a game going so I’m not saying not to use them.
For this one I am giving it a C.
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Adventuringly yours,
Slick Dungeon
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