Crothian
First Post
No Spoiler Section
Book of Challenges is a different sort of book by Wizards of the Coast. It contains over 50 different encounters that can be inserted in almost any adventure. The book organizes them by EL from low to high. There is also some very helpful encounter advice in the book that will serve many people. It gives advice for running clever puzzles, designing mazes, designing logic problems, playing monsters smarter then you, controlling multiple monsters, and many other topics. This book is well done. The information is actually helpful and even a veteran of the game like myself can find some very useful advice in here. The encounters are very well thought out. At the beginning of each encounter it talks about what the party will need to be able to do to be helpful. For example it warns one that an encounter needs for PCs to be able to fly or else it will be much more difficult. Each encounter can easily be placed into an adventure. Also, each encounter gives great advice for scaling it up or down to challenge the part one needs to challenge. I really liked this book, and before I get to the Spoilers Section I’m going to mention the reasons why I did not give it a 5 out of 5.
It should be noted that this book is way more then Grimtooth’s Traps or Traps and Treachery. While those books are great and I use them to the chagrin of my players, the Book of Challenges goes farther and actually comes up with fully detailed encounters areas filled with monsters, traps, and puzzles.
1) All that great advice I talked about is spread through out the book. They did attach it to an encounter that uses the advice. For instance the advice that talks about making codes is right after the adventure that has a code in it. However, trying to find the advice when one is making his own encounter may be difficult if you can’t recall where it is. I would have liked to see this as an appendix with all the advice in one section. I think it would have more reader friendly and simpler to reference.
2) I know the game is called Dungeons and Dragons but does everything have to happen in a Dungeon? There are two encounters out of fifty plus that I counted (maybe one or two more, it was a fast count) that are not in a dungeon. Not everything happens in a Dungeon. Some of these encounters would be great in a wilderness or on the road type encounters. One encounter is a wilderness encounter that they created a back-story for just so they could place it underground. I like dungeon crawling. I think when it is done right it can be a lot of fun. However, I think this was the chance that Wizards could have started moving some thinking away from the dungeon crawl. All that had to do was have about a dozen or so not underground. It would have really been a statement and given great examples on how to do it.
3) Most of the encounters are violent. I can remember three that are not. I don’t mind fighting things, heck it’s a fun part of the game. But I really think Wizards should have placed more interesting role-playing encounters in here. Allow for encounters that offer character room to grow and explore their personality. Again, only about a dozen was needed. That is less then one out of four encounters in this book. They even have encounters that start out as role-playing, but end up fighting.
Spoiler Section
This is where I am going to talk about some of the encounters. So, if you have reason to think you are going to play through some of these you shouldn’t read this. I tried to give a decent review up top without spoiler info for those that might want that type of review. Now, on to the encounters. I’m not commenting on all of them as there are over fifty, but I will try to highlight some of the better ones.
Familiar Situation (EL1): This is a fun very low-level encounter. The premise is the party comes across a small abode and there is a man trying to get some animals back into cages. Basically, they are going to be familiars and he is transporting them but they all escaped. The players need to help coax the animals without hurting them. He animals are a Bat, a Cat, a Hawk, a Rat, and a Snake. I really think this would be a fun opening adventure for most groups. It allows for a lot of different skills to be used and there is not any real danger.
Close Quarters (EL 2): This would be one of those frustrating encounters for PCs. Basically you have a wyrmling green dragon that lives in a small tunnel. The tunnel is big enough for players to crawl through, but the dragon has the advantage here.
Bugbear Pit Fight (EL 3): I wish I had this encounter last year, as it really fits a campaign I was doing. Basically, there is a Bugbear that challenges people to fight in his pit. Of course, he tricks people into the pit and his goblins buddies reign down death with javelins.
Curse of Iron (EL 4): This is a trapped door with a puzzle on it. I thought the puzzle was clever, as it doesn’t need anything outside of itself to be solved. There is another way around this through disarming tons of traps, so I like that the alternative was given if the PCs go that route.
Mimic Madness (EL 4+): This is actually four different encounters all using mimics. The first is a mimc as a weapons rack that uses the weapons (polearm with reach, longs pear to set against a charge, net to entangle, and great sword) to great effect. The second encounter is just funny. Mimics can speak common, so they have a chest or other seemingly mundane item claim to be a dwarf, elf, whatever, polymorphed or otherwise cursed into this form. Can you imagine the PCs taking it home to study and try to “help”? The next one also uses the Mimics speaking ability. In this encounter the Mimic pretends to be a magical mouth or other type of speaking clue giving apparatus. Basically it tricks the PCs to come close to it where a pit trap is. The last one deals with two mimics and some mirrors. It is just a lot of fun with Mimics.
Trouble Cubed (EL 5): This is another series of encounters all dealing with the same enemy, the Gelatinous Cube. The best suggestion is having the Cube accidentally drink a potion. Imagine what a potion of spider climbing, or invisibility, or even fly would do to the normal Cube encounters.
All the Treasure, none of the Traps (EL 6): So, the party is going down a hallway and sees a trap that has been disarmed. The corridor turns and there are more traps all disarmed. That is what the party sees in this brilliant little encounter. They keep going and find all these nasty traps disarmed. They get to the end and find a rogue (the person disarming all these traps), however, the last trap got here. So, the party walks in and takes the treasure. Pretty simple right? Well, there is one last trap left. The one that resets all the formerly disarmed traps of the corridor they now need to go through. I really liked this idea.
Grotto of the Shocker Lizards (EL 6): This is pretty basic, you come to a large cavern and you get shocked as the shocker lizards hope you are their next meal. It does a good job of using the environment of the cavern to help the little lizards.
Hill Giant Madness (EL6): So, when are 3 Hill Giants EL 6? The answer is when they are diseased and cursed. This would be a funny encounter and clever characters don’t have to fight this one out. These Hill Giants are in bad shape, offer them a little healing and help and you might just win the day without the need for a great club smacked into your head.
An Object Lesson (EL 7): This shows how on creature can completely alter the environment. So, the group is walking through an old long abandoned dwarven home. A wall, a dresser, tables, and other supposedly mundane items attack them. Some, revert back to normal in the middle of a fight, other are normal to begin with and then attack for no reason. What’s going on here? Well, this one you’ll need the book to answer, I can’t give away everything.
Fire and Water (EL 7): This is a nice puzzle place with a few mephitis thrown in to really confuse the PCs. I think it was well done and could be quite fun.
Fool Me Once (El 7): Fun with long tunnels up. Basically the party would use fly or spider climb or other magic to help with the ascent. However, halfway up they get hit with a Dispel Magic Trap and hopefully fall. Well, they get past that and right before the top get hit with an anti magic field and probably fall again. It’s one of those that the DM sits and laughs behind the screen.
Troll and Pets (EL 7): This is an interesting encounter involving a troll and 2 Rust Monsters. It gives good advice for mixing and matching monsters so the encounter plays a little harder then normal.
Chuk’s Magik Shoppe (EL 8): It’s what every adventurer needs, a magic shop right in the dungeon. It’s an interesting idea and gives good ideas for playing less scrupulous NPCs. However, this is one of the few encounters that really left me wanting more.
Warding the Dead (EL *): This is a clever little room with pictures on the floor of different types of undead. Be careful whom you step on, bad things may happen. I really like the idea of making this tougher but involving some sort of combat across the floor.
Ladies of the Lake (EL 9): This is the wilderness encounter that is needlessly underground. I really like the use of the Nymph and the Dryad. And the honey trap with the raccoons will be funny when it hits the Barbarian. This has a good bit of role playing and figuring out of what the heck is happening. I think this might be the best Encounter in the book.
Watch Your Balance (EL 9): This is just neat. Basically a teeter tooter floor to divide the party and cause problems for those who try to stay on it, and then the Phase Spiders show up. This could really cause problems for a group.
More then Meets the Eye (EL 10): Fun with illusions. Is it a Dragon, if so where is it really, what’s going on? And the water fighting rules are very useful as well.
Formidable Opposition (EL 11): Everyone hates Mirrors of Opposition, so what happens when the Players only think they are fighting themselves? Another cleverly done encounter.
In Media Res (EL 11): What do you do when you run into two monsters fighting? This is a very interesting idea using a Grey Render and a Xorn. Who do you help? Can you figure out why they are fighting? It’s important, or is it?
Zyphur’s Cryptic Spellbook (EL 11): This is just cool. I really like codes and this hasa theme to it as well. Basically, this long dead mage organized his spells in odd ways. Some books would only have spells in it that all the words start with the same letter like Obscure Object. This spellbook a Dragon can’t even figure out, so can the Players?
Just Passing through (EL 12 +): This is a nice idea. They take a section of an underground are that gets plenty of traffic and show how many different encounters can happen in it each time the party goes through. Many PCs seem to think places are safe once they clear them out once, this will teach them otherwise.
Medusa’s Traveling Casino (EL 12): This is a great Role Playing encounter. It’s an underground Casino, and has two really cool games and an arm wrestling thing. Well thought and devious.
Beholder Dome (EL 15): Because Beholders are not tough on their own. Basically we have reflective floor and walls to help the beholder bounce his eye beams and we have a floor that won’t stay still.
Riddles and Prizes (EL 15): This is another one I was unhappy with. At first it seems like a fun game of riddles with a copper dragon, but it’s just a black trying to get the PCs to drop their guard.
Where’s the Party? (EL 17): A series of encounters unless the PCs can determine how the riddle works. Each room is anywhere and can only be left through magical gates that take you to another place. Of course, some nasty might be in that place as well. I think the why such a design and who built it are far more interesting then the actual encounter.
Primary Thinking (EL 18): So, you’re being attacked by many Iron Golems, there is poisonous gas filling the room, and you need to solve a riddle with keys. After you find all the keys of course. This could be tough for an unwary party.
Those are just some of the great encounters in here. The toughest is EL 22 so they do run the full range. I think this is a very useful DM resource not only for the many different encounters, but the encounter advice that is printed throughout the book.
Book of Challenges is a different sort of book by Wizards of the Coast. It contains over 50 different encounters that can be inserted in almost any adventure. The book organizes them by EL from low to high. There is also some very helpful encounter advice in the book that will serve many people. It gives advice for running clever puzzles, designing mazes, designing logic problems, playing monsters smarter then you, controlling multiple monsters, and many other topics. This book is well done. The information is actually helpful and even a veteran of the game like myself can find some very useful advice in here. The encounters are very well thought out. At the beginning of each encounter it talks about what the party will need to be able to do to be helpful. For example it warns one that an encounter needs for PCs to be able to fly or else it will be much more difficult. Each encounter can easily be placed into an adventure. Also, each encounter gives great advice for scaling it up or down to challenge the part one needs to challenge. I really liked this book, and before I get to the Spoilers Section I’m going to mention the reasons why I did not give it a 5 out of 5.
It should be noted that this book is way more then Grimtooth’s Traps or Traps and Treachery. While those books are great and I use them to the chagrin of my players, the Book of Challenges goes farther and actually comes up with fully detailed encounters areas filled with monsters, traps, and puzzles.
1) All that great advice I talked about is spread through out the book. They did attach it to an encounter that uses the advice. For instance the advice that talks about making codes is right after the adventure that has a code in it. However, trying to find the advice when one is making his own encounter may be difficult if you can’t recall where it is. I would have liked to see this as an appendix with all the advice in one section. I think it would have more reader friendly and simpler to reference.
2) I know the game is called Dungeons and Dragons but does everything have to happen in a Dungeon? There are two encounters out of fifty plus that I counted (maybe one or two more, it was a fast count) that are not in a dungeon. Not everything happens in a Dungeon. Some of these encounters would be great in a wilderness or on the road type encounters. One encounter is a wilderness encounter that they created a back-story for just so they could place it underground. I like dungeon crawling. I think when it is done right it can be a lot of fun. However, I think this was the chance that Wizards could have started moving some thinking away from the dungeon crawl. All that had to do was have about a dozen or so not underground. It would have really been a statement and given great examples on how to do it.
3) Most of the encounters are violent. I can remember three that are not. I don’t mind fighting things, heck it’s a fun part of the game. But I really think Wizards should have placed more interesting role-playing encounters in here. Allow for encounters that offer character room to grow and explore their personality. Again, only about a dozen was needed. That is less then one out of four encounters in this book. They even have encounters that start out as role-playing, but end up fighting.
Spoiler Section
This is where I am going to talk about some of the encounters. So, if you have reason to think you are going to play through some of these you shouldn’t read this. I tried to give a decent review up top without spoiler info for those that might want that type of review. Now, on to the encounters. I’m not commenting on all of them as there are over fifty, but I will try to highlight some of the better ones.
Familiar Situation (EL1): This is a fun very low-level encounter. The premise is the party comes across a small abode and there is a man trying to get some animals back into cages. Basically, they are going to be familiars and he is transporting them but they all escaped. The players need to help coax the animals without hurting them. He animals are a Bat, a Cat, a Hawk, a Rat, and a Snake. I really think this would be a fun opening adventure for most groups. It allows for a lot of different skills to be used and there is not any real danger.
Close Quarters (EL 2): This would be one of those frustrating encounters for PCs. Basically you have a wyrmling green dragon that lives in a small tunnel. The tunnel is big enough for players to crawl through, but the dragon has the advantage here.
Bugbear Pit Fight (EL 3): I wish I had this encounter last year, as it really fits a campaign I was doing. Basically, there is a Bugbear that challenges people to fight in his pit. Of course, he tricks people into the pit and his goblins buddies reign down death with javelins.
Curse of Iron (EL 4): This is a trapped door with a puzzle on it. I thought the puzzle was clever, as it doesn’t need anything outside of itself to be solved. There is another way around this through disarming tons of traps, so I like that the alternative was given if the PCs go that route.
Mimic Madness (EL 4+): This is actually four different encounters all using mimics. The first is a mimc as a weapons rack that uses the weapons (polearm with reach, longs pear to set against a charge, net to entangle, and great sword) to great effect. The second encounter is just funny. Mimics can speak common, so they have a chest or other seemingly mundane item claim to be a dwarf, elf, whatever, polymorphed or otherwise cursed into this form. Can you imagine the PCs taking it home to study and try to “help”? The next one also uses the Mimics speaking ability. In this encounter the Mimic pretends to be a magical mouth or other type of speaking clue giving apparatus. Basically it tricks the PCs to come close to it where a pit trap is. The last one deals with two mimics and some mirrors. It is just a lot of fun with Mimics.
Trouble Cubed (EL 5): This is another series of encounters all dealing with the same enemy, the Gelatinous Cube. The best suggestion is having the Cube accidentally drink a potion. Imagine what a potion of spider climbing, or invisibility, or even fly would do to the normal Cube encounters.
All the Treasure, none of the Traps (EL 6): So, the party is going down a hallway and sees a trap that has been disarmed. The corridor turns and there are more traps all disarmed. That is what the party sees in this brilliant little encounter. They keep going and find all these nasty traps disarmed. They get to the end and find a rogue (the person disarming all these traps), however, the last trap got here. So, the party walks in and takes the treasure. Pretty simple right? Well, there is one last trap left. The one that resets all the formerly disarmed traps of the corridor they now need to go through. I really liked this idea.
Grotto of the Shocker Lizards (EL 6): This is pretty basic, you come to a large cavern and you get shocked as the shocker lizards hope you are their next meal. It does a good job of using the environment of the cavern to help the little lizards.
Hill Giant Madness (EL6): So, when are 3 Hill Giants EL 6? The answer is when they are diseased and cursed. This would be a funny encounter and clever characters don’t have to fight this one out. These Hill Giants are in bad shape, offer them a little healing and help and you might just win the day without the need for a great club smacked into your head.
An Object Lesson (EL 7): This shows how on creature can completely alter the environment. So, the group is walking through an old long abandoned dwarven home. A wall, a dresser, tables, and other supposedly mundane items attack them. Some, revert back to normal in the middle of a fight, other are normal to begin with and then attack for no reason. What’s going on here? Well, this one you’ll need the book to answer, I can’t give away everything.
Fire and Water (EL 7): This is a nice puzzle place with a few mephitis thrown in to really confuse the PCs. I think it was well done and could be quite fun.
Fool Me Once (El 7): Fun with long tunnels up. Basically the party would use fly or spider climb or other magic to help with the ascent. However, halfway up they get hit with a Dispel Magic Trap and hopefully fall. Well, they get past that and right before the top get hit with an anti magic field and probably fall again. It’s one of those that the DM sits and laughs behind the screen.
Troll and Pets (EL 7): This is an interesting encounter involving a troll and 2 Rust Monsters. It gives good advice for mixing and matching monsters so the encounter plays a little harder then normal.
Chuk’s Magik Shoppe (EL 8): It’s what every adventurer needs, a magic shop right in the dungeon. It’s an interesting idea and gives good ideas for playing less scrupulous NPCs. However, this is one of the few encounters that really left me wanting more.
Warding the Dead (EL *): This is a clever little room with pictures on the floor of different types of undead. Be careful whom you step on, bad things may happen. I really like the idea of making this tougher but involving some sort of combat across the floor.
Ladies of the Lake (EL 9): This is the wilderness encounter that is needlessly underground. I really like the use of the Nymph and the Dryad. And the honey trap with the raccoons will be funny when it hits the Barbarian. This has a good bit of role playing and figuring out of what the heck is happening. I think this might be the best Encounter in the book.
Watch Your Balance (EL 9): This is just neat. Basically a teeter tooter floor to divide the party and cause problems for those who try to stay on it, and then the Phase Spiders show up. This could really cause problems for a group.
More then Meets the Eye (EL 10): Fun with illusions. Is it a Dragon, if so where is it really, what’s going on? And the water fighting rules are very useful as well.
Formidable Opposition (EL 11): Everyone hates Mirrors of Opposition, so what happens when the Players only think they are fighting themselves? Another cleverly done encounter.
In Media Res (EL 11): What do you do when you run into two monsters fighting? This is a very interesting idea using a Grey Render and a Xorn. Who do you help? Can you figure out why they are fighting? It’s important, or is it?
Zyphur’s Cryptic Spellbook (EL 11): This is just cool. I really like codes and this hasa theme to it as well. Basically, this long dead mage organized his spells in odd ways. Some books would only have spells in it that all the words start with the same letter like Obscure Object. This spellbook a Dragon can’t even figure out, so can the Players?
Just Passing through (EL 12 +): This is a nice idea. They take a section of an underground are that gets plenty of traffic and show how many different encounters can happen in it each time the party goes through. Many PCs seem to think places are safe once they clear them out once, this will teach them otherwise.
Medusa’s Traveling Casino (EL 12): This is a great Role Playing encounter. It’s an underground Casino, and has two really cool games and an arm wrestling thing. Well thought and devious.
Beholder Dome (EL 15): Because Beholders are not tough on their own. Basically we have reflective floor and walls to help the beholder bounce his eye beams and we have a floor that won’t stay still.
Riddles and Prizes (EL 15): This is another one I was unhappy with. At first it seems like a fun game of riddles with a copper dragon, but it’s just a black trying to get the PCs to drop their guard.
Where’s the Party? (EL 17): A series of encounters unless the PCs can determine how the riddle works. Each room is anywhere and can only be left through magical gates that take you to another place. Of course, some nasty might be in that place as well. I think the why such a design and who built it are far more interesting then the actual encounter.
Primary Thinking (EL 18): So, you’re being attacked by many Iron Golems, there is poisonous gas filling the room, and you need to solve a riddle with keys. After you find all the keys of course. This could be tough for an unwary party.
Those are just some of the great encounters in here. The toughest is EL 22 so they do run the full range. I think this is a very useful DM resource not only for the many different encounters, but the encounter advice that is printed throughout the book.
