It’s funny how things start. A pebble rolling down a hill becomes and avalanche. A leaf falls in a swift river and is carried on a wild journey far, far from the tree from whence it fell. Such was how the writing and development of The Dread of Dynwel progressed. In 2016 I convinced my girlfriend to play a solo session of Dungeons and Dragons. Her druid Mara had an adventure in a town I’d created that day called Three Arches Bridge. That adventure took Mara from level 1 to level 2. We had fun, but for a true experience we needed to play with a group. At a table.
The monthly Saturday game I organized was meant to be causal. Minimum prep, whoever shows up plays, and everyone has a good time. The group met every month and a full-fledged campaign including elements of Spelljammer and Planescape soon emerged. The campaign culminated in an invasion of the world by space liches which the party thwarted in style. Somewhere during that first playthrough I got the idea to play the campaign again with another group of friends from high school. To refine it.
A lot changed in the tabletop roleplaying space between 2020 and 2023 and is, even now, in what I’d call a continuous state of flux. Even as I was finishing the third and final playtest (plus getting the document I’d poured years into ready) the OGL crisis almost derailed me. Work slowed.
But I’d come too far, and I’d see it through. Not that I’m a fan of the sunk cost fallacy, but I’d made something I was really proud of, and it was time to get it into the world. I’d learned how to use Foundry VTT, Dungeondraft, Photoshop, InDesign, and Wonderdraft over those years. I read adventures from WotC, some on the DMsGuild, and past edition adventures which were highly recommended by the tabletop roleplaying community.
I did the thing. I’ve only now, two months since I released the adventure, realized how glad I am that I stuck with it. I hope folks have fun playing it. There are a lot of great encounters, traps, NPCs, monsters and whole sections which can be dropped into any campaign. I’m particularly proud of Chapter 7 which features a mysterious disappearances in the Forgotten Realms city of Scornubel. I put all the experience and advice I’ve absorbed over the years into it.
The adventure includes new monsters, magic items, lore, in-world documents and handouts, cool and quirky NPCs. Plus, details on running monsters in a fight or talking with them. With over fifty maps and two hundred tokens for use with VTT play I’ve tried to make it accessible to new and veteran DMs alike. The only problem with living in the golden age of ttrpg publishing is there’s so much good material out with more coming for not only Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, but every other tangential game. Getting noticed is difficult. But as a creative person, I don’t really have a choice but to keep creating. I hope you’ll join me on this journey.
If the world’s gonna burn, we may as well roll initiative.
