Review copy courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.
Pros:
The quality of art remains
consistent (excluding dungeon maps, see section below).
This is the longest adventure in
this edition of D&D by pure page count at 320 pages long. I’ve
been complaining that the adventure books were a bit light page
count wise, so I’m glad to see this.
Each level of the dungeon has it’s
own unique scenarios and situations, making it a perfect place to
steal things for your own games. Like the idea of a dragon being
controlled by the sentient sword stuck in its head? Well, you could
steal the whole level and place it into a forest. I’ll be doing a
“Top 5 Things to Steal” article later for that reason.
The encounters have a good variety
of badies and situations, from beholders to lich, to social
interactions and insanity.
Could Go Either Way:
This is a really dungeon heavy
adventure. It’s not just room after room dungeon delving, as each
level has their own gimmick and events, but I think it really is
meant for the dungeon delver party.
The maps might rub you the wrong
way. They’re not the super detailed or styled like Curse of
Strahd,
and instead more like the
simple maps from
Waterdeep:
Dragon Heist.
This another adventure with a
Maps
and Miscellany pack. If you
want a nice collection of
maps from the adventure for
your use as a Dungeon Master,
it exists. If you never
liked the concept, well, not much to say. See
my review of the pack.
It
doesn’t have the same hook or urgency as other adventures.
Waterdeep: Dragon
Heist
had
players racing to try to get to the treasure first. Out
of the Abyss
had demons wreaking havoc on the world. Curse
of Strahd
had Strahd on the heels of players, and
their conflict needed to happen to escape the cursed realm they
found themselves in.
Here?
They are exploring for riches, glory, and possibly a side quest that
won’t even take them to the lowest level of the dungeon.
There
is art, but it’s not as loaded with
it
as books such as the Dungeon
Master’s Guide.
The
majority of the art is maps and the typical half-page chapter starting images.
Cons:
Could have really used a map of
which levels lead to which levels, and the page of the corresponding
gate.
I think it would’ve done well
with better hooks linking it to Waterdeep:
Dragon Heist.
It
feels disconnected when it could’ve felt like a natural
transition.
No PDF*
* Denotes nitpicking.
 |
| The cover of the adventure with our Mad Mage front and centre. |
Introduction
Dungeons
of the Mad Mage
is an adventure released
on November 20th,
2018 (yeah, this took some time to finish) taking
place in Waterdeep and picking up at
the level range right after Waterdeep:
Dragon Heist.
At
the point of writing this, I’ve run through 4 levels of the dungeon
and
read the book cover to cover.
I’d
say it’s a well written dungeon delve that feels like the dungeon
portion of Princes
of the Apocalypse
or the
dungeon portions of Tomb
of Annihilation.
However,
it doesn’t have the overland exploration portions of those and to
enjoy it you need to enjoy dungeon delving. And
with that, let’s delve straight into the dungeons.
The Adventure
New Player Options
We got nothing here for players. Don’t
expect this to be a source of stuff for your players, outside of
magic items that they can accumulate. I prefer this as it prevents
bloat and I want my adventures filled with stuff for the Dungeon
Master, but your mileage may vary.
New Monsters
This is a hard
question to answer succinctly. If you only have the Monster
Manual, these additional monsters are a nice addition to your
games. The catch is that many of these monsters have already appeared
in previously published books such as Mordenkainen’s Tome
of Foes. If
you have all of the other books in this edition though, you’ll see
that most of them are repeats. I
appreciate that someone who purchases this as their first adventure
doesn’t need to buy all of the other supplement books in this
edition, however they’ll be dead pages for those that already own
them. That said, the monsters
only take up ~8 pages, so it’s not much of a loss and still a very
long adventure by the standard of this edition.
 |
| An example of the chapter starting images previously mentioned. |
What You Need to Play
The rules now assume that you have the
Monster Manual, Player's Handbook and Dungeon
Master's Guide. You might be able to get away with using the SRD,
and basic rules along with some
personal creations. However
the adventure references
items, traps and monsters found in those core rules. The
result is that unless you are prepared to rewrite parts of the
adventure to get around your missing books, you’ll want the core
rule books to run it as intended.
The Adventure Itself
The adventure
starts off in the Yawning Portal inn and quickly jumps into the
different levels of Undermountain. Each level has its own set of
challenges, and as you’d expect the challenge rating of monsters
increase the deeper you go. The levels are connected through portals
that don’t allow creatures to pass unless they are prepared, or the
right level mechanically speaking.
The variety between
levels is wide and vast. From bandits and goblins, to githyanki on a
hollowed out asteroid, to a level touched by the Shadowfell, there
are a variety of challenges and situations to come across. These
feature combat encounters as you’d expect. There are also puzzles
and social interactions with denizens of Undermountain. Often you
leave the denizens behind as you advance to the next level. And the
adventure isn’t afraid to have the Mad Mage act silly. This gives
some personality, since they may be going through a deadly stretch of
dungeon and barely survive a trap, just to find themselves being
mocked or having a joke made at their expense. As an example, one
level has a biased announcer that following the progress of the
party.
There is also
plenty of room for Dungeon Masters to put their own fingerprints on
the adventure. Entire passages are left open for you to expand in a
Keep on the Borderlands style. And with the completion of a
level of the dungeon, there are side affects. Clear out a level and
leave, and the Mad Mage of the cover may have repopulated it with a
host of new beasts and monsters. This second part is largely left in
the hands of the Dungeon Master so as usual, be prepared to need to
spend some time preparing between sessions.
The multiple links
between levels through portals makes it hard to keep track of what
level links to what level. Just having an illustration or a couple
more columns in the chart to show where portals lead and what the key
is would be incredibly helpful.
The other thing
about this adventure is that it doesn’t have the same focus and
pressure as some other adventures in this edition such as Curse of
Strahd or Waterdeep: Dragon
Heist. There
are plot hooks and quests that will take you to different levels of
the dungeon, but there isn’t really a central goal to take you all
the way to the Mad Mage. Some of the plot hooks can lead to fun
adventures as you go to the level you are interested in, but as
written some have a minimum level before being offered. This means
your players would need to enter first, leave, and then be lured back
with the promise of riches from a new quest. And
even if they do bite, they might not make it all the way to the end
before finishing their campaign. In
that way it almost reads more like a book on the layout of
Undermountain and the goings on, and the quests are reasons to brave
the dungeon’s
challenges.
With
that said, the adventure is massive. At
320 pages long, it’s closer to the length of a core book than it is
to a standard adventure in this edition. And
many of the levels are good enough on their own to use for your own
adventure or arc. Some of
the layouts and traps are also clever. I
plan to do a top 5 reuse in the future for this reason. Of particular
note is an evil magic school for apprentices and would-be apprentices
of the Mad Mage, a level ruled by a twisted fallen angel, and a level
run by followers of Shar, goddess of loss, who are trying to bring
their level into the Shadowfell. The Shadowfell level is set against
the tragic story of a man turned death knight and his dragon friend
who followed his fall. Now long after the dragon, twisted into a shadow dragon, is left alone.
 |
| You know I like my undead. |
The Art
The art style is
what you’ve come to expect, and I’d still like to see more
realistically styled art such as the cover of Rise of Tiamat.
I still like the cover of this one, however. In that respect, it’s
generally good. The issue is that there isn’t as much of the rest.
I’d loved to have seen more depictions of some of the items,
carvings, and
scenes the players
come across. We have massive
caverns, and richly decorated buildings. We could even have a view
from space. How cool would it have been to see out from the dock and
see the planet below? I
generally love the scenery shots, and
they are a great source of inspiration for me. Please, next time have
more.
The
maps are simple, clear, and fine. However, they are by far not my
favourite in this edition.
I’d greatly prefer maps in the style of Curse of Strahd
or Black Scroll Games.
I like that extra detail that
helps the mental images just roll in. The
maps present here
do work, and are clear. However,
it’s fair to say they aren’t my style. I prefer more detail and
more colour.
Price
Another adventure another $50 cost in
the States and $64 in Canada. Well, that’s what the
MSRP says at least. As usual, most places have the book at a lower price.
Look around and you can save a respectable portion.
What I felt was Missing
I
really felt that this
adventure could’ve done with a map showing the levels of the
dungeon and the routes to get from level to level. It’s a
rather confusing
dungeon
with portals skipping over levels, and level
restrictions on portals thanks to a friendly ghost trying
to save your players.
I
also think a tighter hook to
Waterdeep:
Dragon Heist.
The
level range of the two adventures basically begs them to be played
back to back, but the connection between them isn’t really there.
It
feels more like a sequel taking place in the same place than one that
continues the story.
Some
more art could have gone a long way. There are long section without
any art, and most of the art either comes at the start of the
chapter, or from the maps.
Summary
This adventure is the dungeon delve
incarnate. It’s the longest adventure book in this edition, and
it’s basically dungeon from beginning to end. If you want Waterdeep outside of the Yawning Portal, go get Waterdeep:
Dragon Heist.
This
is you descending from the Yawning Portal through 23 levels of
dungeon. It has interesting events and gimmicks on the
different levels, and is a good place to steal from for your own
games.
That’s the good news. The bad news is
that if you don’t like dungeon delves, and the heavy exploration
(new locations, creatures, physical hazards, riddles/puzzles, etc.),
it could feel like a bit of a slog. It doesn’t have the plot focus
and constant pressure like Curse of Strahd
or Waterdeep: Dragon
Heist.
The
levels on their own, however, can be pulled out and used as their own
adventures. A personal favourite of mine is Vanrakdoom, involving a
shadow dragon, the shadowfell, the legacy of a death knight, and
the cult of Shar.
It’s
also not and
easy one
for your new Dungeon Master. This
adventure pulls out a lot of tricks such
as rules
from the Dungeon
Master’s Guide,
quite
a bit of tricky things to balance combat wise,
and there is a lot of room for expanding. Tunnels
are left for you to expand, and it’s
rather reasonable that your players may leave dungeons of
Undermountain that the adventure is named after and return later.
This
means you’ll need to repopulate
the levels of the dungeons and handle the aftermath largely on your
own. Such a thing can be exactly what experienced Dungeon Master’s
desire, but it
is something that the Dungeon Master must write themselves. There’s
quite a lot to like here, but if it’s not your thing it’s not
your thing, especially
when we have other great adventures in this edition.
Other Stuff
Reading which gates lead where
and what the minimum level to advance through the gate makes for a
rather confusing experience. I’d recommend looking ahead to what
gates lead where, and would’ve liked a map showing these links.
It feels very heavy on the dungeon
delve.
I can see some combat encounters
needing care. This definitely seems like one of the adventures where
you want many of the creatures to fight well, but not like grand
chess masters. Monsters should make mistakes.
This is an adventure where you
don’t want them to rest after every encounter. Such a thing would
bog it down. Instead, they should clear multiple rooms or even
floors at a time. And when things start, the creatures should react.
The condition of my book was
great. No issues at all.
