Review copy courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.
Pros
Lots more art. It’s pretty good, and the painted ones in particular were nice to look at. Some of it is more cartoony and not my thing. There’s a problem here though. Look below in the cons.
Lots of full colour maps. I like that.
Could Go Either Way
Not much in the way of new creatures.
Not much in the way of new character options. No power creep, and nothing new.
A return to Phandelver. If you don’t care about it from the original starter set at the start of this edition, then it’s not a benefit or an issue.
First half is a lot more typical D&D. 2nd half is a lot more weird, almost horror like. Some people only want one or the other. But for people who like both, it’s a delicious combination.
Adventure goes up to 12th level. It’s a nice level range that allows for interesting challenges. But it also doesn’t go all the way to level 20. And high level play is an area many people feel is most challenging, and could benefit from some more aid to players.
Cons
It’s a return. It should be possible to link the previous adventure here into a bit of a campaign. But it’s not an option as written.
If you try to put these two adventures together into one, you’ll see right away that many maps are reused. That means if you did try to run one after another, your players would play through the same encounter locations twice. Without a break, it’s not so good. It’s more tolerable with a break, like if you haven’t played Mines of Phandelver since release. But really, it redoes that previous adventure and then continues forward.
The reuse extends as far as the art and images. I don’t like paying again for something I already have.
* Denotes nitpicking.
.png "Shattered Obelisk Cover") |
| The cover for Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. |
Introduction
It should come as no surprise that I like long campaigns, and also low level adventures. So I’m happy to see and read large adventures spanning large level ranges. One of the best received and classic adventures in this edition of D&D is Lost Mines of Phandelver. In this new adventure, players are back to the famous town. Is the return worth the time? Let’s jump right back in.
The Adventure
New Player Options
There is not much here. Moving on.
New Monsters
Not much here either. What’s nice is that some of the monsters here are less common, and they tried to give several a personality and motivations. I’d always take well designed encounters with
What You Need to Play
Everything is normal here. You’ll need the Monster Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide. For monsters and everything else you’ll need to consult those books.
The Adventure Itself
The adventure takes players from level 1-12. The scale of things is also pretty wide. The players will visit many places, all centred around the town of Phandelver. Also integral to a previous adventure, players will get to know the area, town, and inhabitants well over the course of the adventure.
The adventure can really be split into 2 parts. Part 1 is a more typical D&D adventure. Goblins, rescuing villagers, adventuring, it’s pretty classic and also borrows many elements from the adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver. Those who like the more classic D&D experience will like this section. It borrows not only the location, but also maps and encounter locations completely. The encounters are different, as well a show it ties into the overarching story in this adventure. However, it means you’re getting a different version of an existing adventure. And instead of being an adventure from 3 editions ago, it’s from the start of this one. So it’s quite recent. You’ll probably have to choose Lost Mines of Phandelver or this one to run, as one character can’t really do both easily. And if they did, there would be too much repetition. I wish it kind of worked as a sequel that could be run right after as well, though over-levelled for a little bit until the events catch up.
The 2nd part is the news stuff. It’s also where things get weird. The adversary the players fight against is a big threat to the town they grew to know. It’s also an alien threat. Reality can become complicated as it gets more and more warped. This part goes into a wildly different direction with elements of horror too. I liked this part, and I liked the characterization they have. No-one is very deep here, but what’s here is efficient and effective.
I personally liked that weirdness. It helped make the adventure not overstay its welcome by changing things up. However, it’s something your players need to be on board with. I can see some groups finding the start too derivative and boring, while others finding the 2nd half to sudden and out there. But for those who like both, it really it’s really a delicious combination that you couldn’t get otherwise. The general progression of the story and where it leads is fun and interesting. So I had a lot of fun running it.
The ramp up from the earlier section is particularly handled well. The choices of locations help give a good impression, and there’s some dungeon delving for the parties who like that sort of thing. Still, effort is spent on giving character to the, erm, characters. It’s not to the depth of Strahd or something. Typically what you see is what you get. However, you do need some characterization to start the role-playing so it can evolve into something more.
The combat encounters are fine, but also not super special. It’s at its best when a puzzle element is at play, or some character building is being done. Often monster choice helps to tell a story through the environment. The tactical considerations though are not as exciting. The presence of cover, accomplishing other objectives, or quirks for certain encounters really isn’t here. I do wish at least one adventure in this edition really tried to go for some tactical encounters and be the best combat adventure of this edition. What these encounters do, especially in the 2nd half, is bring the character of the location into the encounter.
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| An example of some of the better art from the book. When it's not reused, it can be really beautiful. |
The Art and Book Build Quality
The art is mostly what we’ve come to exist. Some of it is very good and done in this painted style that I like a lot. The scenes depicted are also interesting. Weird creatures, warped reality, and other such odd sights that is nice to see brought to life. There is also my less well liked cartoon-y style present, but that was a feature of this edition for a while already.
The big issue here is much of the art, even for maps, is from the older adventure. They call it a re-imagining, but it also means you get less new art in the book than others. For art lovers, it’s an important thing to consider. That said, the 2nd half of the adventure is brand new and also completely new art. This includes new locations and maps. It would be nice for the maps to be slightly different, and completely new visuals being made for this book like some of the previous ones.
I had no issues with the book itself. Binding was good. There were no stuck pages, improper cuts, or any other issues I experienced earlier in this edition. Of course, I could’ve just been lucky this time. But it’s a good sign when my copy isn’t mangled. Instead it was as perfect as I could expect.
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| The sort of thing to expect from the 2nd half of the adventure. Weird, isn't it? |
Price
It’s the new usual price. Nothing different here, though I do wish they tried to make each book cheaper. It’s hard to keep up.
PDF Version Critique
For a long time I’ve asked for a combined PDF and book version. We now have one, but they’re more expensive. Always worth noting. Really, it comes from D&D Beyond. If you don’t like D&D Beyond, you’re unfortunately stuck. Also, to access it you need to log in. That makes it not quite as convenient as a PDF you could just always access on your machine. The closest they come is to have an app so you can read the modules you purchased from your phone. It’s convenient, but still requires logging in so not really an option if you’re going up to your cabin with no internet.
What I felt was Missing
The adventure really would be interesting to people who played the previous adventure in this location, but there’s no way to tie them together. Not even a mention really. And in fact, many aspects of the first part of the adventure is recycles from the older adventure. So it would mean players play through the same maps twice. I really wish more of an effort was made here to make that first part more of a supplement to the original adventure, instead of a replacement.
Free Stuff
Nothing here. I really do miss those free introduction adventures for people.
Summary
So here we are. It’s an adventure that goes from a tradition fantasy into something more weird. That transition and the level range all make for an interesting adventure. The problem is that it’s also a re-imagining of a previous adventure for the first half, complete with reused images and maps. All of that makes the adventure less impressive if you’ve run Lost Mines of Phandelver before, and harder to recommend compared to other adventures. This is even more so the case if you’ve gone through Lost Mines of Phandelver recently. I did enjoy the 2nd half where things got weird, but it’s also hard to recommend someone buy an expensive book for half of it. If it’s your first time visiting Phandelver, it’s a more appealing option. However, this adventure lacks the “ease of use” compared to its predecessor.
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