Dungeons & Dragons: Volo's Guide to Monsters Late Review

Review copy courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.

A little late to the review party as usual, but better late than never.

Pros

• Lots of full colour art (as we have come to expect of this edition)
• Lair maps are included
• Quite detailed descriptions of a subset of creatures from the Monster Manual (beholders, giants, gnolls, goblinoids, hags, kobolds, mind flayers, orcs, yuan-ti)
• New races seem alright but closer to half-elf than human in terms of abilities though more play could change my opinion
• 124 (give or take a couple if I miscounted) new stat blocks of creatures and NPCs (most of which are humanoids) with those not mentioned in the first chapter being treated the same way as monsters in the Monster Manual

Could Go Either Way

• Again, there is a Forgotten Realms focus though it is subtle (similar to the Monster Manual)
• The book contains notes by Elminster and Volo, many of which are trying to be comedic. You might find some of them a waste of space if you don't find them funny. They are similar in frequency to the notes in the Monster Manual.
• If you played D&D heavily in previous editions, you probably already know a lot of the lore of most of the creatures presented and can make your own version using the creature creation rules in the Dungeon Master's Guide or your own personal system

Cons

• Some repetition between the stats section at the end and the creature descriptions earlier (usually in different words)
• At 224 pages, it's around 30 pages shorter than an adventure and much shorter than the core books released so far but at the same suggested price
• No PDF*

* Denotes nitpicking.

The standard cover for Volo's Guide to Monsters. 

Introduction

Volo's Guide to Monsters was officially released for the 5^th edition of Dungeons & Dragons on November 15^th, 2016. Instead of focusing on a location, this book instead focuses on monsters as they are in the Forgotten Realms. The majority of the book focuses on giving background lore on creatures from the Monster Manual (98 pages) as well as stats for new creatures and non-player characters (99 pages not including lists). Mixed in are 13 new player character races (18 pages), 6 of which are monstrous.

The Internals

First and foremost, this book is focused on monsters. Adventures until now have contained a bit of everything. There were a few new monsters for the adventure, quite a bit of effort on the setting, the adventure itself and sometimes a player option or two (spells, etc.). This book is kind of like that but there is no adventure. Instead we get about 124 new stat blocks and a lot of lore and description of the monsters. Some groups are described more than others (chapter 1 is the majority of the lore and it covers 9 types of creatures).

The Monsters

The majority of stat blocks in this book focus on humanoids of different types (there aren't very many new undead, which you all should know by now are my personal favourites). The table of contents of the book is provided on the Wizards of the Coast website and has an alphabetically ordered list of all of the stat blocks contained within the book. As mentioned before, I counted about 124 different stat blocks. Some of these monsters are variants of already existing monsters. While this doesn't compared to the the number of stat blocks in the Monster Manual or the overall length of that book, it is still a good amount of new monsters. You can also create more monsters for your players by using the new races presented in the book, which I go over below. Most of the monsters provided are at a challenge rating of 10 or below. Below 10, they are fairly well spread out. The first chapter also has quite detailed descriptions of lairs and example lair maps for beholders, giants, gnolls, goblinoids, hags, kobolds, mind flayers, orcs, and yuan-ti. Those creatures get the most focus and the most detailed lore explanations.

One of the images from the book showing beholders. Some of the new art is very nice like this.

Some of these are non-player characters such as new types of wizards. If you've been looking through the DMs Guild, you probably already have some variants of these (more don't hurt but you probably wouldn't want to pay a lot for them). They are not the majority but there are a few. I don't think the book is as well balanced as the Monster Manual. There are some that are more situation and silly. There are also some nice variants to already existing monsters and some creatures that caught my eye (how have we not had elder brain stats before this?). For these reasons, I'd recommend a quick skim of that table of contents provided on the website.

The stats in general are fine and present some interesting tactical opportunities. There were some rare cases where I thought the math seemed odd, particularly for NPCs based on character classes. One particular example I noticed is the differences in health for different kinds of warlocks. The one with the highest spell casting level doesn't have the most health even though it matches the constitution score of the one with the most health. If this bugs you, I'd bump up the random health component to spellcasting level * d8, giving you a different variant you can use (the basic formula for NPCs based on a player class seems to be level * hit die + level * con modifier). However, this is the exception not the rule.

New Races

As mentioned previously, there are 13 new races for players. 6 of these are monstrous races, which are races that were previously presented in the Monster Manual as monsters that players would face (bugbear, hobgoblin, goblin, kobold, orc, and yuan-ti). The races in general are not as simple as humans. They tend to have more feat like abilities. This is why I compared them to the half-elf. Right now I don't think they are much better than what we already have and that they make a nice addition to the current line up. Since they take up so little of the page count, I can't recommend getting the book purely for the new races. It does present the opportunity to make new variations of those races though, which is something I like seeing as a Dungeon Master. As with the monsters, I'd recommend a look through the table of contents to help make a decision over buying the book.

The Writing

The closest book I can compare Volo's Guide to Monsters is the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide if it was a Monster Manual. They are both shorter than the core books. They both also focus heavily on lore and as such rely on the quality of the writing. There was lore in the Monster Manual but Volo's Guide to Monsters has a larger portion of its page count devoted to lore. Not all creatures get equal treatment though. The first chapter focuses on beholders, giants, gnolls, goblinoids, hags, kobolds, mind flayers, orcs, and yuan-ti. That first chapter is also responsible for quite a large portion of the page count.

The writing is as we've come to expect in this edition. It describes features of a creature's character or place in the world and does so in a way that makes the creature interesting. If you didn't like the Monster Manual because it was too much lore and not enough stat blocks, this part of the book won't be for you. There are some minor errors but almost all of them don't detract from the meaning. When they did, I was able to figure them out after a reread (this only had to happen a couple of times). I got the impression that the lore is focused mainly on the Forgotten Realms. However, it gives off the impression that the book is trying to use that setting as an example to inspire.

Throughout the book there are notes by Volo and Elminster. They are similar to the notes presented in previous books like the Monster Manual only this time they sometimes argue with each other. If you don't find it funny or entertaining, you probably won't appreciate it any more than in previously published books. However, it does highlight the attempt to add some character to the book instead of making it just a listing of monsters (something I feel they've done a good job of doing here and in the Monster Manual before it). It also gives options and different behaviours in place, which along with the notes and explicitly mentioned some things aren't known helps make it seem less authoritative.

The trouble is that quite a bit of the lore isn't new. If you've played through Storm King's Thunder, you'll know a lot about giants already. Likewise, if you've already read material about these creatures in previous editions the lore probably won't be as important to you. Some people might like to see what they kept, removed or changed though. It does act as a nice collection and provides a large amount of details for the creatures highlighted in the first part of the book. The good news though is that the monsters take up a good portion of the book, probably about half of the pages, so there are still quite a few useful pages if you want those stats blocks. If you've already made your own, would rather make your own versions of those creatures, or just don't care for the ones listed in the table of contents, there is less reason to buy the book.

If you are new though and liked the Monster Manual, this is very similar and you'll probably like it. You'll just be wishing there was even more. It's about 30 pages shorter than the recent published adventures (they tend to be around 255 pages long). It's longer than the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide but it also doesn't share that book's discounted suggested retail price.

The Art and Book Build Quality

The art is also as we've come to expect. Some of it is recycled (I could swear I saw some before in the Monster Manual) but quite a bit of it is new as well. There are also some maps provided as example lairs of the creatures that are discussed in detail in chapter 1. I really like this and I hope that books with an emphasis on monsters will continue to include a few going forward. The visual is very helpful when the lair is being described and it makes it far easier to run the creature during play.

Defects

The book in general is the same style as we've seen before. My particular copy was generally good, though I'd still recommend taking a look at the cover, the binding, and checking for stuck together pages. I didn't have that issue in this one (a little bit less than perfect binding on the first page is my only nitpicky complaint) and any issues I did see seemed to have been done during shipping (it looks like someone discus threw it into a pole because of the marks on the cover). I'd still recommend keeping an eye out when picking one out at the store.

Price

The best prices I could find doing a quick search were $29.97 on Amazon in the US and $38.85 in Canada. If you go to your local hobby store it'll probably be more expensive but you'll be able to support them. These prices may change with time as well. 

What I felt Was Missing

Again, we are missing a PDF. I would've liked a PDF bundled with these books since the beginning but they are extremely helpful when searching through stat blocks for monsters such as here. As far as providing things for monsters, this has all of the elements you'd expect (monsters, and lore) as well as some that are very nice to see (lair maps). I just wish it was a little bit longer so that it would be matching the length of the published adventures. Some more undead in particular would be welcome since they are a common type of enemy. Don't expect monster tokens like the 4e Monster's Vault either. 

Summary

It's basically a miniature Monster Manual with a heavier emphasis on lore and containing some new player race options. Beholders, giants, gnolls, goblinoids, hags, kobolds, mind flayers, orcs, and yuan-ti get the majority of the attention with the entire first chapter being devoted to them. Included in these chapters are details about their lairs (not just lair actions) and an example map in a style very similar to Storm King's Thunder. Despite being shorter, it's still the same suggested retail price. If you don't have an issue with that you'll probably enjoy it. Around 50% of the book is new stat blocks, totally about 124 new stat blocks, with the majority of them being humanoids. If you already know the lore of the listed creatures from previous editions, you are probably here for the new races, to see what changed/was kept, and/or the stat block. There is new art but there is also some that is reused. I also wish it was 30 pages longer to put it in line with the length of the recently published adventures. To make your choice, look at the table of contents. If you like the creatures there or want the more detailed lore for those 9 creatures, you'll probably like it. If you already know the lore and prefer to make your own stat blocks, there's not much I can say. I generally found it an enjoyable read and I like having more monsters to throw at my players. It's not a book I'd recommend for someone who is trying to get into D&D, since I think the core books are far more important. It's a nice addition afterwards when you want new monsters, more lore and/or like the look of the table of contents.

Other Stuff

• Reading over this book, I noticed 14 minor typos and mistakes. They didn't influence meaning but one of two of them were written in an ambiguously so I had to reread them. If you've read the Monster Manual, you'll be fine.
• Free parts of the book are available on the Wizards of the Coast website including the a table of contents that shows the names of all monsters provided
• One particular example I noticed is the differences in health for different kinds of warlocks. The one with the highest spell casting level doesn't have the most health even though it matches the constitution score of the warlock with the most health. If this bugs you, I'd bump up the random health component to spellcasting level * d8, giving you a different variant you can use (the basic formula for NPCs based on a player class seems to usually be level * hit die + level * con modifier)

The Hound of Cabell's Tomb Review

A review of the adventure The Hound of Cabell's Tomb, which can be found on the Dungeon Masters Guild.

Pros

• Small and quick adventure scenario with a focus
• Plenty of opportunity for role-playing
• Can easily be dropped into a campaign as a side-quest
• Requires only the basic rules to run (perfect for newer Dungeon Masters)
• Contains a handout (I found it best to open it in a browser instead of Adobe Acrobat so that the text was displayed correctly) and map
• Printer-friendly version present
• Free (well, pay what you want)!

Could Go Either Way

• It'll probably be short without the role-playing component (quite role-play heavy)
• There is a riddle component (I wouldn't let this turn you away if you find them hard though because there is still an ending if it isn't solved)

Cons

• Map will need to be recreated with tiles (it's not supplied in a printable form)
• It may not last you the entire session, being only 5 pages in length, especially if you don't role-play it out heavily (be prepared with more or run it as a side-quest, especially if your group goes through role-play quickly)

Note: The adventure has a handout that says “on the date shown” but doesn't write a date. I'd recommend writing a date that fits your campaign minus 400 somewhere on handout, probably close to the signatures.

Introduction

The Dungeon Masters Guild has become a good place to find quests. Many of them are shorter and as such make for good side-quests or quick one shots. One example I ran across recently, and I thought was worth mentioning, is The Hound of Cabell's Tomb. Requiring only the basic rules to run, it's a nice little adventure that has a rather good atmosphere and allows for many interesting situations. Me and my players had a good time with this one and it's an easy read.

Art

There are 3 pieces of art in the adventure including the cover image. They make the package look more polished and the map itself helps make sense of one of the encounters. The map is also provided in a separate PDF file in a full page form. It is, however, not ready for printing as a tactical map like some of the other maps I've looked at before. I wouldn't recommend blowing it up either as it will degrade the image, though if you don't mind it being a bit blurry it is an option. You will probably end up having to recreate it using some sort of tiles or just running it using theatre of mind. If you usually use theatre of mind anyway, this will cause you no problems.

The Adventure

The adventure covers the classic situation of a deal with a devil and the cost that results. As is important with this kind of adventure, there are some characters to role-play and some interesting situations that result. The final combat encounter in particular has the potential to be very memorable when run correctly. It will require the players to be a little clever though.

Being a bit clever is a big part of this adventure. Finding a way out of the contract requires that the players are on their toes and think things through. However, even if they can't, the action continues and there is an ending. It's not the happiest ending, but at the very least the players come out feeling like they made a difference even if things didn't work out perfectly. I really like this touch of the adventure. The players are given choices to make and room to be creative but they are not the only ones who are acting or thinking. This sets up some very interesting twists and options, not all of which are on the player's side.

Getting the players to the point that the adventure starts is part of the challenge and different options are provided in the adventure. However, how you handle this affects how long the adventure runs for. Role-playing heavy groups won't have too much of a problem stretching it longer but I'd be careful about jumping quickly through it. It really benefits from a buildup and taking your time but not dragging your feet. This is especially important for new Dungeon Masters who might want to get to the combat. Doing so, however, will make it fly by and not have the same impact. Don't be afraid to talk and role-play through this one to get them there.

Conclusion

I like this one. I really do. It kind of hits my weaknesses but I think The Hound of Cabell's Tomb makes for a very good adventure to run as a side-quest. It has a good length for it and is easy to incorporate, assuming a good aligned group. I'd recommend a look at it at the very least. The map can be re-purposed if needed, the stat block can be reused if needed and elements of the adventure can be reused in rather big parts as well (the final combat encounter in particular can be used in different ways). However, it comes together as a whole nicely in my opinion. The author has other adventures as well so don't be afraid to look through those too, and throw some money their way if you like their work and can afford it.  

Dungeon Master: Rules are Guidelines

As a tabletop RPG Game Master, Dungeon Master, or whatever else you want to call me, I spend a lot of time reading rules, making rulings on rules and making house rules. Rules are an important part of games. They have consequences on how the game feels and what kinds of themes are expressed. Extremely relaxed healing rules take away from a game built around survival. However, at the end of the day, the rules in the books we buy are really just guidelines. This is especially important for newer people who have never made a house rule before.

Rules are Tools

The rules we use are tools to allow us, as the Dungeon Master or Game Master, to create the games we want. That means that we can change them however we wish in pursuit of that vision. However, players should be aware of rule changes we might make at the start. They might not like our changes, they might have better alternatives, or they will just need to know in order to make properly informed decisions. You can express a surprising amount about your world through the rules you use. 

This also means that not all rules have to hold in certain situations, just like in typical fantasy/science fiction. In space people can float around. Who's to say that a parallel dimension will have fall damage or not grant everyone spider climb? The rules should be appropriate to the situation. They should also allow your players to have fun. The main goal is to run a game your players enjoy. In some cases, it may be a very deadly game where characters spend weeks recovering from combat. In others, it may be the kind of game where your players go through armies before lunch, at which time they go on a new epic adventure. Regardless of the vision you choose, the rules you use should help further it and make it more enjoyable.

From Campaign to Campaign

There is nothing saying that each campaign has to have the same rules. You can add new rules as you see fit in order to bring the world you want to life. The most common modification I've seen so far is that people change the duration of rests and methods of healing. Having faster rests makes things more “heroic” and having longer rests with more restrictive healing meaning that combat becomes something to fear as well as to avoid. In political or horror based games, this has a large impact on the game.

Most Common Changes (According to Me)

• Rest duration
• Potency of healing
• Spell lists
• Classes (added, removed, gutted, etc.)
• Extra bonuses (everyone gets bonus at character creation)
• Weapons (adding new gunpowder weapons, removing longswords and similar later era weapons, etc.)

So don't be afraid to add some rules, modify some rules or even completely remove some rules. They should serve your game, make sense, and be fun for your group.

Also, happy new year!

Dungeon Master: Creature Twists

I recently wrote about bosses in tabletop role-playing games and one of the things I mentioned was using twists. What I meant by twists was some kind of monster ability that changes the tactical situation. I only devoted a little bit of time to twists then and I hope to expand on it now. Remember that these kinds of twists are different than a plot twist.

When Is It Needed?

The most common times I see I need to add a twist is when there is a “boss” or when the encounter is composed of a horde of the same creature. When it's a horde, finding a few different creatures can go a long way to helping remove this kind of problem, assuming the added creatures are reasonably complex enough or result in different tactics. The other things I mentioned in my previous article still apply and can be used instead of or along with twists. You should also consider them in situations when you want to expose your players to something new.

Not Only For Bosses

Boss fights aren't the only time an encounter can turn into a slog. Adding a bit of variety to the enemies players face can greatly change the feeling of an encounter. It might make sense to throw as many skeletons as your party is big. However, do this a couple of times and it can get old without twists.

Don't Forget About What's Already There

I've seen often that a Dungeon Master, especially when starting out, will forget about the actions presented in the Player's Handbook. A couple of big ones such as hide and disengage are rarely forgotten but many of the others are. Allowing your horde of zombies to grapple players instead of just throwing attack after attack opens many tactical options. There is also something unsettling for players to see their fighter in the front rank pulled back by zombies, opening a path to the delicious wizard right behind (every zombie knows that wizards taste better). Remembering these options is particularly important for creatures that have fewer options in their stat blocks (zombies are one such example). There are also some items that already open up new tactics for enemies and players. Just also remember that these items may fall into the players hands, opening up new tactics for them too.

The current rules already give something similar to legendary creatures through the use of legendary actions and lair actions when in their lairs. Doing something similar can help change things up. Make sure these new actions aren't all similar though or you'll run into a similar problem through overuse. They also won't be as special and impressive when they do show up. Keeping legendary and lair actions rare helps to keep them legendary instead of commonplace.

Movement

One of the most common methods I've seen to add a twist to a character is to play with how they can move. Flight, teleportation, and becoming incorporeal all allow a creature to have a very different movement style. They also prevent the party from cornering the creature and hitting it until it dies. The creature will be able to escape a turn later (in the case of flight it might need to make a trade for some attacks of opportunity).

Tactical Options

Does the creature want to do a lot of damage to one target or less to multiple? Does it want to do a lot of damage or send a player flying through the air, giving the creature some distance as well as leaving the player prone when they land (maybe let the player roll to land on their feet)? Maybe the creature gets advantage for having an ally close by. The idea is that the creature needs to make a choice between effective alternatives. These alternatives can be situational. If they are it means that the players may need to alter their play style in order to prevent their enemy from using their ability. Also don't forget that standard actions aren't the only kind of action. Bonus actions and reactions can also be played with in order to make new interesting and challenging encounters.

Game Changers

If you look through some of the classic D&D creatures, you'll find there are some abilities that completely change how encounters go. Medusas are a classic example of a creature that completely change how an encounter needs to be approached due to their special abilities. I'd also include abilities such as “Frightful Presence” and auras in this class as well. The end result is that the ability incentives a certain kind of play, forces a choice between different disadvantages (turn to stone or be unable to see the medusa), or forces a puzzle to be solved (using a reflective surface against a medusa).

Too Many

While it can be very useful for making an encounter different, this kind of thing inherently adds complexity on the side of the Dungeon Master. If you are putting your party against 12 skeletons, having 12 different twists and keeping track of them all is usually not feasible because of how much work it. Having 4 skeletons all using the same twist can be enough. Remember to keep in mind the trade-off between making the encounter more complex through things such as twists and the difficulty of running the encounter.  

Dungeon Master: Boss Battles

Play video games for a little bit of time and you'll probably run into a boss battle. In tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, there might be times that a party will end up taking on a single creature or bad guy. Often times it happens to be a dragon. People who are used to video games might find it natural to throw in a boss fight. However, they are some of the hardest encounters to design and run. It's easy for the players to just steam roll the poor lonely creature or to turn the encounter into an overlong test of endurance instead of an interesting fight. With this in mind, I hope to present some of what I've seen on this topic. 

They Aren't That Great in Video Games

I'd argue that most boss battles in video games aren't very good. There are a few that might be well designed and fun but from my experience there are many more that are a slog to get through at best. If you come from mainly a video game background, don't feel like you need to have one. Some creatures will prefer to go in groups. There is nothing wrong with that. Even “bosses” in games often appear with minions. Don't force them in just because it's a convention in video games, and a convention I feel fails more than it succeeds. You can boil down this advice to “why bother?” but I'd argue that isn't such bad advice. Don't have one for the sake of having one. A possibly deadly encounter that propels the story forward can be done in many different ways, and it is what we should be aiming for.

Sometimes It's Unavoidable

Some creatures and some people prefer to be alone. When given the option, players will try to go about their business as safely as possible. As such, it really shouldn't be a surprise if players try to corner a big bad when they are on their own. It really only makes sense. However, doing so can force us into a “boss” fight. If the party worked for that opportunity, it could be very reasonable to let the players have an easier battle. It could also be very reasonable to let the party gang up on the target. If not, the “boss” has their own strategies they can employ to try and turn the odds better (call guards, escape, summon creatures using magic/items, find a good tactical position, etc.). They may try to run away when they realize they got into such a difficult situation. This results in a change from beating on a bag of hit points to trying to chase and corner the big bad. What this tries to do is change things from a slog to a different kind of situation.

Less Room For Error

Games have a number of things that are different than tabletop role-playing games. Saving and loading means that the margin of error for players can be far smaller in a video game than a tabletop one. You don't have the luxury of reloading and I find players prefer to move forward instead of being stuck anyway. Chance, however, still plays a big role in tabletop role-playing games and it means the tide of battle could turn against the players through no fault of their own. For this reason, be careful with constructing encounters where the math could easily go either way. At the same time, remember that players will need to discover the weaknesses of their enemies as well as tactics as they are playing. This means we can't expect the kind of perfect play we could if reloading was possible. A player who's already failed a couple of times can jump straight to the tactic that works: our players can't.

Bag of Hit Points

The usual failure I see from “bosses” is that it devolves into the boss being surrounded and beaten until dying. Combat encounters tend to be most interesting when things change from round to round and as a result tactical options are presented. These options mean decisions need to be made and weighed. Avoiding this pitfall is usually done by adding some kind of “twists” to the boss (maybe they can teleport away when surrounded, have special actions such as legendary actions or lair actions, they can fly, they can try to keep the party at range, etc.), adding support for the boss through goons (also known as henchmen, minions, etc.), creating an environment that allows for many tactics or has its own twists, or adding other goals to the encounter. The advice involving adding more creatures to the encounter kind of moves it from a “boss battle” and more into a dangerous and story important encounter. I don't see the problem when the encounter is fun and allows for more options.

Damage Out

A party of adventurers can do a lot of damage in one round. If the “boss” only has one attack, it will probably have difficulty keeping pace. It's my interpretation that this is one of the reasons legendary creatures get legendary actions (and lair actions when in their lair) in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. These extra actions give the legendary creature more attacks per turn and help it to keep pace. If you take a non-legendary creature and run it as a “boss”, you might see that the encounter is easier than challenge rating might seem to show because of this. You might also see that it's harder than expected because the creature had an ability that lets it hit above its rating (intellect devourer can be hard to take down without at least one death even at higher level).

Enemy Twists

A wide range of things can be given to a “boss” to help make them more interesting. I typically call them twists since they change encounters from what otherwise would be expected. Flying, and teleporting are ones I've seen commonly used. These two options give the “boss” more tactics they can employ and also help prevent being permanently surrounded and beaten into submission. There are many other twists you can employ. Giving a particular item to the boss (item to turn them invisible, etc.) is often the way chosen to add this twist. However, the item needs to add something significant. A few +1s here and there isn't enough to change the tactical considerations. You also need to account for the item possibly falling into the hands of your players. Legendary actions and lair actions are elements that I would describe as being very twist like and they are already in D&D 5^th edition. However, you might want to add more or add some more craziness to keep things interesting.

Goons

Adding more targets is an easy way to get around the surrounded “boss” issue. The minions allow for more complex tactics, different targets, and force players to work to get close to the boss in order to surround them. It also means that the “boss” doesn't need as many hit points to be a challenge since some of the damage is being shifted to the henchmen. There are many ways to do so. If in combat, the “boss” might call for help from nearby. If the players snuck into the big bad's tent to try and assassinate them, such a move is very reasonable. There are also magical means to gain allies. Powerful demons can summon weaker demons to help them and a necromancer might be able to raise some nearby skeletons to help out. They don't all have to come at once, as the calling for backup example shows. Doing so forces a bit of a time limit on players since they need to take care of the “boss” before too many reinforcements come.

Environment

The area that an encounter takes place in allows for different tactics. The way players act in a 10 foot wide tunnel will be different than a dense forest, or a desert. Hazards such as large drops (for throwing people into), lava, fires, and flowing water (doubly so for vampires) again provide more tactical options for players. The environment is also tied into how well both players and creatures can employ stealth, cover and flanking.

What's the Goal?

The goal in an encounter is important. The goal in an encounter might not simply be “hit the boss until it dies”. The more general goal of “sending the evil being back from where it came” allows different options. Can they dispel it? Can they trap it in an item or use an item to weaken it (obtaining the item involves a large quest but renders the final boss battle easier)? Can they interrupt the ritual before its finished, meaning the “boss” will just fade away? All of these are aimed at fighting the bad guy directly. Maybe just keeping them busy for long enough to free the prisoners and trapping them in the cave will be enough. However, in this case, freeing the prisoners could be the main goal. This change forces tactics to be different, especially if the bad guy will try to kill or take the prisoners hostage when they realize what is going on.

Player Side

You don't have to focus only on the side of the enemies. Giving your players an extra option or two in combat helps make things more interesting. Many of the things I mentioned earlier such as environment and goals will affect both sides. Even something like a necklace of fireball with a single bead can greatly change the methods employed in an encounter. If players have more options and are better equipped, you can also safely throw more at them.

Modular Inn – Map-Tile Set Review

Review copy of Modular Inn – Map-Tile Set courtesy of Black Scroll Games.

Pros

• Made for the 1 inch is 5 feet standard scale.
• Beautifully done inn tiles. The lighting from candles and windows is very well done.
• There are 55 different tile images here (not including doors, walls and corners), 30 of which are populated with items (the other 25 are empty in order to allow you to allow to populate them yourself using printed items though quite a few of these are variations with different lighting)
• Door pieces, wall pieces and corner pieces allow for open walls and not filled in corners to be filled in and result in a better looking final result.
• The set, as the name “Modular Inn” suggests, is modular and allows for many different combinations.
• VTT use is considered and files for that specific purpose are provided in .jpg form.
• Draft tiles are provided in order to plan out an inn before printing a large number of tiles.

Could Go Either Way

• I personally really like the 3D style that Black Scroll Games uses for their terrain but it might not be your thing if you prefer a 2D art style.
• Your campaign might not include combat in an inn, which isn't as common as a classic dungeon, and as a result you may prefer to role-play through the situation and not use a combat map. You could still use it to map out your inn, but it wouldn't be as useful. If you are planning some combat encounters indoors, this set will look a lot more tempting.

Cons

• The great lighting, which gives the set a great daytime appearance, doesn't work for night.
• There isn't a staircase going down tile (you can get around this by using the staircase tile that's present and overlapping it with another, but for more complete workaround see below).

Introduction

On December 6th 2016, Black Scroll Games released a set of tiles to help Game Masters easily create inns for their tabletop games called Modular Inn – Map-Tile Set. These new inn tiles are in the same 3D style as The Keeper of the Realms, which I reviewed earlier and liked. It was perfect timing too, since I got them in time for a D&D game that involved an inn combat encounter.

The Tiles

There is quite a large variety of tiles included in the set. From bathroom to kitchen, the common rooms you can think of are here. The more exhaustive list is kitchen, bar, cellar, bathroom, fireplace, stable, bath, table and chair in the open, and fireplace. Some of these also have different variations, resulting in 30 different tiles populated with items. There are also staircase tiles that show stairs going up a floor. There isn't one for staircases going down, which makes it a little difficult to make a second floor that mirrors the first. However, I was able to get around this by covering everything but the staircase on the staircase tile with the other tile I wanted to use and then covering one row with the next tile (this is to keep the same number of squares). You could also leave one of the walls open, representing where the staircase would be, and overlap one row of squares afterwards so that they match. As long as the overlap doesn't produce odd results, you can get away with this. Just like with The Keeper of the Realms, empty versions of the tiles are provided as well. This allows you to decorate the room yourself if you'd like.

The tiles are detailed nicely and there is some serious attention to detail. Extra doors are provided in order to provide easy entrance to other rooms you might attach. There are also corner pieces added, which are a really great idea. Since the set is 3D, the outer edges of the map are the walls in perspective. This means that when you combine tiles, there will be a gap between the beams in some cases and the corner pieces fill this part in. Similarly, there are also wall pieces that allow walls to be added to any of the tiles present.

In the files there is also an option to use a less vibrant colour overlay. It gives the tiles a different look when used and in the case of tiles with windows, gives it a cloudy day look. Light still comes through the windows in this setting though. I like having the option between the two though.

There are smaller draft tiles with references to the pages where the full sized tiles can be found. If you don't want to print everything in one go and only want to grab what you need to save colour ink or something, this is very handy.

The Art

The tiles themselves look very good. Just look at the sample images here. The 3D style adds a perspective that really gives the tiles a sense of depth even though they were on paper. The lighting also adds to this while also looking very nice. Some tiles have windows that let sunlight in. This sunlight is rendered and further helps to give the tiles a sense of depth. The stables in particular have strands of light coming from outside through the wood and they really add something to the appearance as well.

The grids aren't obvious on this tile even though they are meant to be used with the standard 1 inch is 5 feet miniatures. This means that the stone floor components are visibly rough as you'd expect from stonework, even though they do conform to a grid. The result is that the grids fade into the artwork. The wooden floor components use the same style where one of the 5 feet section may be made of multiple smaller planks.

Other Considerations

Inns aren't as common a site for combat as an underground dungeon is from my experience. However, if you are planning to run a few inn or indoor encounters, this set will look very tempting. The tiles can be quite easily used for the interiors of houses, particularly bigger ones. Instead of an inn, you can use it for a rich person's big house or for a feasting hall. For smaller sized houses, you can quite easily combine the kitchen tile with another tile and form a small house (for space reasons the owner might roll out their bed on the ground at night). This doesn't work in all cases though because some tiles have too many tables. The bedroom tiles also have 2 beds, but if you need to you can always cut these out yourself from a full tile and place them in the room if you bought the PDF version. The down side is that it wastes some ink.

What I felt Was Missing

Often when players finally reach an inn, it's night time. A fair number of the tiles have windows and show sunlight coming through. You can use the reduced saturation option to try to make it look more like night time and rationalize that the light is moonlight, but I don't think it's a perfect solution since it seems a bit too bright still. It would have been nice if the rooms had windowless versions as well and windows could be placed the same way the doors can. These windows could then be made dark and these windowless tiles could be used for both windowless rooms and dark times of day. This may be unreasonable for the printed sets but would have made for a welcome addition to the PDF document.

As mentioned earlier, there isn't a staircase going down tile or cut-out. This makes it harder to mirror the first floor in the second floor. This means you either need to get clever with covering up parts of one tile with another to have things match, just remember that the first row of a particular tile would be the stairs, or design your inn in a way to account for this (have the main area have a high ceiling and have the rooms be over the kitchen and behind the bar). I also thought it would be nice to have a ladder alternative for the cellar since it would be helpful to make the interiors of smaller houses.

The empty tiles are a nice option. However, the tiles have some very nice items that would have been very nice and useful to be able to place myself. The ones off the top of my head that come to mind would be tables, chairs, chests, boxes, and beds. Having these would allow for basically any interior area to be made. This probably would have also been unreasonable for the printed set. This isn't that big of a deal because I can still cut these features out myself though it would be a bit inefficient from an ink perspective. It also doesn't matter if you have these things from another source, such as 3D printed items or a different set. 

Price

The price is posted here. At the time of writing, it's $7.95 for the PDF, 19.99 for a physical printed copy and 19.99 for both a PDF version and physically printed copy. Black Scroll Games occasionally have some deals as well, which may be worth keeping an eye out for if you feel the price is too high.

Summary

This is a really good inn set despite a couple of things that hold it back from being my ideal set. Having a going down staircase piece, some options for night time, and including some of the items used on the tiles to help populate the blank tiles would have left me with no complaints. It doesn't stop the set from being a very good set for making inns, especially if you like the Black Scroll Games 3D art style. The number of tiles (55 in total, 30 of which are populated with items), the details, the art, the .jpeg files for VTT use, and the lighting effects all help make this a good set in my eyes. I'll be using it going forward when I need an inn encounter. I recommend a look at the images provided on the product page to help decide. 

Dungeon Master: Rewards

As players achieve objectives, destroy enemies, and manage to loot their way from start to end of an adventure, they get rewards. Money and treasure are the most common types of awards but there are others that can be given as well. I hope to list a few different options in the hopes that it will help someone out there.

Items and Money

Paying people in goods (including magic items) or money is extremely common. It's the default reward system in most role-playing games. For this particular section, I am referring to a one time payment.

Favours

When you make powerful friends, it makes sense that you might be able to call in a favour. Paying off a massive gambling debt, joining on the players' side in a battle, or presenting lavish presents every now and then are all examples I've seen in the games I've run and played in. Depending on how friendly the source of the favour is, there could also be conditions attached.

Allowances

You might not be able to spend it on anything you want, but from your family or other connections there might be a certain amount of money set aside for necessary things. The most common form in the games I've played in is a living allowance (basically giving you a room and food for free) or a guard/troop allowance (giving you so much money to hire guards and other personnel). You can also give your players access to some services, such as a limited amount of magic casting at a temple that they helped.

Fame

Doing something super impressive will probably leave a lasting impact. Even if they might not have tangible benefits like a money reward, bards may choose to immortalize the character(s) in song and they might get other benefits such as a free room. This is different than the above allowance since the allowance can be spent anywhere. In this case, these are benefits given to the character in appreciation of what they did and will greatly vary on a person to person basis (in some cases, it may even be hostility). It could very naturally open up opportunities that the players did not previously have. Maybe now the king will meet with the players. You might also choose to tie the characters into future games you play. I've never seen a player not liking seeing a statue of their previous character in a campaign set years in the future.

Skills

Ever have players come back from an alien realm having lost their sense of fear for creatures? Or have your players spend 5 years in a foreign land and learn the language through exposure? Or maybe they were imbued with a special magic as a result of a freak accident or perhaps the blessing of a mysterious being? Some of the rewards players gain can directly improve the capabilities of the characters in combat and other skills. I'd recommend doing it sparingly unless campaign reasons give a good reason for it (all your players are the avatars of gods on earth and their avatars have been steadily getting stronger, for example) but it's another tool to reward players over the course of the campaign.

Contacts

Knowing someone who knows someone can be an extremely powerful thing. Even without something more tangible, being able to get the ear of the next in line to the throne presents new options to the player and also allows for all kinds of new stories to be created by the Dungeon Master. I will say that it's important that they are a real option over the course of the game. Making them only an option when you as the Dungeon Master want them to tends to feel cheap. Contacts are already part of the game and as the players level they tend to expand their sphere of influence. Contacts are often combined with some of the other rewards mentioned earlier, such as favours and fame.

Story Progress

Not everything needs to reward players. I've had quite a few players enjoy taking an action that they knew would not reward them. However, it was what their players would do and lead the story forward. Doing the right thing in a situation can be its own reward, especially when it leads to more story. This is especially true for players that play for the role-playing aspect.