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D&D 5E: Compendium of Dungeon Crawls Volume 1
200 pages, Hardcover
Published March 19, 2024
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 22, 2025
For those who don’t know, a “dungeon crawl” is a role-playing game term for a strenuous adventure scenario whereupon killing monsters and finding treasure are the centerpieces of the story. Though also used for other genres of role-playing games, the term is most often used for games of the Medieval Fantasy genre. And, what this book, this ‘compendium’, does is provide 6 major scenarios, which would take significant time and effort to play through, and 12 short encounters, which are more of a single-encounter type than a prolonged adventure. The rules for the scenarios and encounters are compatible with the 5th edition of a certain fantasy role-playing game which, for some reason, probably related to trademark or copyright, cannot be mentioned in the book itself. When it needs to be mentioned, the game is referred to, obliquely, as “the first fantasy role-playing game,” which leaves it unnamed. But, at a guess, I would say that the letters D and another D are probably involved in there somewhere.
The levels of difficulty of the various longer scenarios are rated, going from a 1 (Low) to a 12 (Fairly High). These scenarios involve an adventure in a haunted dwarven mine, an assault against a camp of froglike warriors, an incursion into a wizard’s tower to keep a powerful magic item out of an evil sorcerer’s hands, a battle to keep a powerful warlord from being brought back to life to continue his conquering ways, an assault into a dragon’s lair, and an escape from a desert raiders camp-which will include an encounter with yet another dragon. The smaller adventures are random encounters that can take place when the adventurers are either in towns or on the road.
Each adventure/encounter comes with maps for the area, lists of all of the challenges faced in it, visual aids, and a backstory as to how the characters may have become involved with that particular adventure. The master of the game is also given hints on how to present the story as it develops, what levels and types of characters would fare best in it, and suggestions on how to alter parts of the tale to make it better fit their particular role-playing world. Because, the best thing about these scenarios is that, though they are well-developed, each is without enough specific detail to keep it from fitting in with a game master’s own world. He can fill in what’s necessary and drop it into his game world wherever it would fit. The same is true of the smaller encounters as well. This is a very well-put-together tool for people looking for new ideas and adventures to test their players out with. As such, as it does a good job of what it sets out to do, and is easy to use and effective, I can give it a 4 out of 5 star rating.
Maurice Wendell Lewis Jr.
5/22/2025 1:28 PM
The levels of difficulty of the various longer scenarios are rated, going from a 1 (Low) to a 12 (Fairly High). These scenarios involve an adventure in a haunted dwarven mine, an assault against a camp of froglike warriors, an incursion into a wizard’s tower to keep a powerful magic item out of an evil sorcerer’s hands, a battle to keep a powerful warlord from being brought back to life to continue his conquering ways, an assault into a dragon’s lair, and an escape from a desert raiders camp-which will include an encounter with yet another dragon. The smaller adventures are random encounters that can take place when the adventurers are either in towns or on the road.
Each adventure/encounter comes with maps for the area, lists of all of the challenges faced in it, visual aids, and a backstory as to how the characters may have become involved with that particular adventure. The master of the game is also given hints on how to present the story as it develops, what levels and types of characters would fare best in it, and suggestions on how to alter parts of the tale to make it better fit their particular role-playing world. Because, the best thing about these scenarios is that, though they are well-developed, each is without enough specific detail to keep it from fitting in with a game master’s own world. He can fill in what’s necessary and drop it into his game world wherever it would fit. The same is true of the smaller encounters as well. This is a very well-put-together tool for people looking for new ideas and adventures to test their players out with. As such, as it does a good job of what it sets out to do, and is easy to use and effective, I can give it a 4 out of 5 star rating.
Maurice Wendell Lewis Jr.
5/22/2025 1:28 PM
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