Nearly two years have passed since the partnership between Wizards of the Coast and OneBookShelf entered into the "partnership" that lead to the creation of the Dungeon Masters Guild (DMG) website. With release of the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition System Reference Document (SRD) and the DMG platform, Wizards of the Coast has been at the head of a pretty steady stream of new D&D content. Finders Keepers is my first opportunity to review something specifically created for the DMG, so let's have at it.
Finders Keepers is a big plot point D&D 5E adventure. Created by Janek Sielicki, it's an adventure of unordinary fare, written for 20th level characters. Just in case you're like most of us masters of dice who've never reached such epic status, included with the download are two separate files of 20th level pregen characters for each of the twelve major 12 classes: those with magic items, and those without.
The assumption is that the DM will be fitting this adventure into an existing campaign, so the DM is given a bit of lattitude in working out how to fit this adventure into the greater scheme of the campaign. Depending on how the DM wants to begin the adventure, the player characters have traveled to the Forgotten Realms city of Phlan and have arrived just in time, or happen to just be there, to fend the city from the attack of an ancient red dragon. Whether the dragon is defeated or not the player characters will be drawn to the dragon's lair on the mountain. Once arrived at the lair, the player characters will discover that the ruler of Phlan, King Adran, has been betrayed by member of his inner circle. The betrayer is the catalyst of recent events, including attacks on the settlements surrounding Phlan (which drew the King to the country side) as well as the attack of the city by the red dragon. The betrayer covets an artifact from the dragon's hoard which enables a dimension hop, involves the accent of a dead god's dreams, and a chance at acquiring a Book of Keeping (Monster Manual pg. 311).
Granted, the opportunity to play an adventure with 20th level characters will likely be its own selling point for some. As with most adventures there are a number of potential choke points within the story of Finders Keepers, which might require some adjustments. The only question is whether the adjustments in this adventure are beyond what is typically required by a DM. While I think this is fact the case, it might not be for your group.
For instance, Finders Keepers doesn't address how many characters might be best for a successful adventuring group. A simple suggestion could have helped this module. The pace is (or will be) a bit forced. The first choke point is created pending whether the red dragon is defeated. Behind the DM screen there will be a desire to get things rolling after this event, while the characters (again depending on how many are at the table) will be more apt to be licking their wounds. Being fair, the writer partially acknowledges this. Most of the difficulty is that the story has a lot of moving parts, some of which will only make sense (in my mind) or only allow your group to move through successfully, via DM fiat. This is of course pending your player group and/or whether the how or why elements of an adventure ever come to your table during or even after it's concluded.
The PDF comes in at 71 pages total, 54 pages of adventure and section towards the back of the book for designer notes and an ad for Janek Sielicki's other D&D 5E adventure. The 20th level pregenerated characters are separate PDFs.
The Table of Contents includes hyperlinked chapter headers. Text is standard double column format. The illustrations are plentiful; including a mix of black and white illustrations as well as images in full color, vector graphics. This product includes a basic building outline map of the city of Phlan, map of the dimension palace and the dragon's lair. All the maps are printable, while the palace map and the dragon's lair include labeled and unlabeled versions. There are eight maps total in jpeg format.
Overall, I think Finders Keepers requires a bit of refinement and will in order for it to be effective at the table, even beyond scoping it for 20th level characters. There is certainly enough to work with. But, whether it hits your table, I'll leave to you.
Disclosure: This review uses affiliate links. For the month of November, the proceeds of all of my affiliate links on EN World and from my blog (Within the Dungeon) will be donated to Stacy Dellorfano's Cancer Fight Fund (direct link to the Fundly site). Finders Keepers was provided free of charge for the purpose of this review.
contributed by Jeff Duncan
Finders Keepers is a big plot point D&D 5E adventure. Created by Janek Sielicki, it's an adventure of unordinary fare, written for 20th level characters. Just in case you're like most of us masters of dice who've never reached such epic status, included with the download are two separate files of 20th level pregen characters for each of the twelve major 12 classes: those with magic items, and those without.
The assumption is that the DM will be fitting this adventure into an existing campaign, so the DM is given a bit of lattitude in working out how to fit this adventure into the greater scheme of the campaign. Depending on how the DM wants to begin the adventure, the player characters have traveled to the Forgotten Realms city of Phlan and have arrived just in time, or happen to just be there, to fend the city from the attack of an ancient red dragon. Whether the dragon is defeated or not the player characters will be drawn to the dragon's lair on the mountain. Once arrived at the lair, the player characters will discover that the ruler of Phlan, King Adran, has been betrayed by member of his inner circle. The betrayer is the catalyst of recent events, including attacks on the settlements surrounding Phlan (which drew the King to the country side) as well as the attack of the city by the red dragon. The betrayer covets an artifact from the dragon's hoard which enables a dimension hop, involves the accent of a dead god's dreams, and a chance at acquiring a Book of Keeping (Monster Manual pg. 311).
Granted, the opportunity to play an adventure with 20th level characters will likely be its own selling point for some. As with most adventures there are a number of potential choke points within the story of Finders Keepers, which might require some adjustments. The only question is whether the adjustments in this adventure are beyond what is typically required by a DM. While I think this is fact the case, it might not be for your group.
For instance, Finders Keepers doesn't address how many characters might be best for a successful adventuring group. A simple suggestion could have helped this module. The pace is (or will be) a bit forced. The first choke point is created pending whether the red dragon is defeated. Behind the DM screen there will be a desire to get things rolling after this event, while the characters (again depending on how many are at the table) will be more apt to be licking their wounds. Being fair, the writer partially acknowledges this. Most of the difficulty is that the story has a lot of moving parts, some of which will only make sense (in my mind) or only allow your group to move through successfully, via DM fiat. This is of course pending your player group and/or whether the how or why elements of an adventure ever come to your table during or even after it's concluded.
The PDF comes in at 71 pages total, 54 pages of adventure and section towards the back of the book for designer notes and an ad for Janek Sielicki's other D&D 5E adventure. The 20th level pregenerated characters are separate PDFs.
The Table of Contents includes hyperlinked chapter headers. Text is standard double column format. The illustrations are plentiful; including a mix of black and white illustrations as well as images in full color, vector graphics. This product includes a basic building outline map of the city of Phlan, map of the dimension palace and the dragon's lair. All the maps are printable, while the palace map and the dragon's lair include labeled and unlabeled versions. There are eight maps total in jpeg format.
Overall, I think Finders Keepers requires a bit of refinement and will in order for it to be effective at the table, even beyond scoping it for 20th level characters. There is certainly enough to work with. But, whether it hits your table, I'll leave to you.
Disclosure: This review uses affiliate links. For the month of November, the proceeds of all of my affiliate links on EN World and from my blog (Within the Dungeon) will be donated to Stacy Dellorfano's Cancer Fight Fund (direct link to the Fundly site). Finders Keepers was provided free of charge for the purpose of this review.
contributed by Jeff Duncan
