The most entertaining DnD adventure I've ever read

Down Among the Dead on Kickstarter: kck.st/3XJG34F
Completely Unfathomable (S&W): bit.ly/Unfatho...
Completely Unfathomable (DCC): bit.ly/Unfatho...
Knave 2e Adventure Jam: itch.io/jam/kn...
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QUESTING KNIGHT PATRONS
Allen Opperman, Angel of the Dawn, Doug Vieira, Dwayne Boothe, Dwiz, Elliot Heigert, fikle, J. Case Tompkins, James Endres, Jose Trujillo, Klozee, Kurtis Bright, LeMorteGames, marzan, Paulie, Ricardo Sedan, RollStats

[@QuestingBeast]

Down Among the Dead on Kickstarter: kck.st/3XJG34F Completely Unfathomable (S&W): bit.ly/UnfathomableSW Completely Unfathomable (DCC): bit.ly/UnfathomableDCC Knave 2e Adventure Jam: itch.io/jam/knave-2e-adventure-jam My RPGs (PDF): bit.ly/QuestingBeastPDFs My RPGs (Print): bit.ly/QuestingBeastBooks Newsletter: bit.ly/TheGlatisant Patreon: bit.ly/QBPatreon

[@rynowatcher]

Love the return to reviews. Seems like it has been a while.

[@jeremytitus9519]

Gotta have been like a hundred years

[@themerrymushmen6390]

JASON-SHOLTIS-IS-A-GENIOUS, and that's all.

[@Madkingstoe]

So happy to see this being reviewed. I had no idea what to expect from this book when I bought it, but I was intrigued by the idea of "gonzo" gameplay and I heard good things about the writer. I was absolutely blown away by how inspiring this adventure was - from the opening "hook", to the many interesting and hilarious elements of the adventure. I became an immediate fan and was quite shocked the book hadn't gotten more attention. I hope this gives it the boost it needs so more people can discover how great this adventure is (and hopefully Sholtis will continue to expand the setting). If you want the TLDR version, this adventure feels like Flash Gordon meets Journey to the Center of the Earth.

[@joeg451]

I love the ape monster with the daily schedule. More adventures should do that!

[@MitchellHudson]

Take a close look at the map at 9:30 of this video. One of my biggest issues is that much of the map is corridors, these corridors lead off the map, rather quickly. That means there is a lot of work for the GM to invent new areas not covered by this adventure text. The main passages are only about 2000’ across. The party hits one of these passages immediately, in the lower left, if they turn left they are about 500’ from the edge of the map and wander into uncharted territory. Note the lower right. There is an underground city here but it trails off the map leaving this for the GM to invent. I’m not against leaving some things up the GM but, I found there was too much of that in this adventure.

[@QuestingBeast]

I would probably seal off many of the corridors leading off the page if I didn't want to expand things.

[@MitchellHudson]

@@QuestingBeast don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of great ideas and art in this but, at the table running this offers a few problems. My players ran off the map three times. For example the dwarf fortress spanning the chasm in the upper right, it looks really interesting, you have finagle your way inside to pass through, and… there’s nothing on the far side, unless you want to invent something yourself. You can’t dangle that kind of bait in front of players and not have something to back it up!

[@CheeseWyrm]

@@MitchellHudson I suggest that if you don't want them to finegle their way past the Dwarven Fortress - because you don't want to develop the far side - then don't make it an option. They can't go any further than the fortress. Events there re-route them back into your "DM-Zone" :)

[@MitchellHudson]

@@CheeseWyrm understood and it should be admitted that this is a weak point in the design. If you place a big juicy castle keep over a chasm in the party’s way, provided some other effects that encourage players enter it, they will want to explore it! There is nothing of note on the inside making the situation about getting to the other side. And, there is nothing on the inside. When the party gets to the other side it’s very likely the party will March off the map in 180’. There is another path off the map to the north, and another that leads back into defined territory. My point is to fill in this review with real world play tested information. It doesn’t sound like Ben play tested this or noticed these short comings. This module looks great, is fun to read, it’s less fun to play for these shortcomings. To really make this great, take Ben’s advice cut down on the words, and my advice and fill in the content. For example, give the interior of the dwarf fortress a write, maybe a map, make it an outpost where players can rest and trade? And before you say it, I know I could do this but, if you are paying top dollar for a 335 pages of adventure you shouldn’t have to make a lot of edits.

[@MitchellHudson]

I’d like hear from people who have run this. I posted a review in two parts on my blog. I think was fair and honest marking what’s good and what needs improvement. I wish more of these reviews were done by people who have actually run the adventures at the table. Sometimes things look great but less great at the table and the opposite can true also. Hearing first hand experience is more beneficial to the community. I hope Jason Sholtis can appreciate my honest feedback.

[@horsebattery]

This book is the ultimate distillation of unadulterated Sholtis-Gonzo. Great review!

[@Ogrebeef]

I just wrapped up a 5 year campaign in DCC using this! Completely agree that the map is a challenge and should have hexes, and I found it tricky to us at the table compared to other books due to the sheer amount of information. Fort Enterprise is a great example of that because there are so many main characters and their descriptions are separate from the actual locations they are found at. I found myself going back-and-forth frequently between sections which slowed down play. Spot on review for sure.

[@Ogrebeef]

Edited because speech to text is dumb.

[@mrmaxwell346]

So what are some highlights of tge campaign?

[@pk-vk3oc]

Nice! How could you have spent that long there? The dungeons seem ok sized but not exactly world spanning.

[@FoxTrick101]

Great review, Great book, Great host. I appreciate all the work you do for the TTRPG community.

[@delmonte4426]

So glad youve got this, I got the DCC product recently. Feels perfect for the system!

[@user-bm2zb3uh7k]

That cover looks absolutely stunning

[@artistpoet5253]

Sounds like a good read even if it doesn't see a table. Added it to my DTRPG wish list.

[@brettjenkins1645]

This would be perfect for my GOZR campaign!

[@delmonte4426]

GOZR??

[@brettjenkins1645]

@@delmonte4426 yeah! We use GOZR as our main ruleset and I borrow stuff from all over the place to give it a little more depth. Questing beast has a video on GOZR-check it out if you haven’t seen it!

[@broceollomon]

@delmonte4426 GOZR is a rules-lite science-fantasy game created by J.V. West. It's meant to play like the stories in Heavy Metal (the magazine and movie). You play as weird mutants in a vaguely apocalyptic wasteland. It's good, deadly fun.

[@timsanty3052]

This is THE most gonzo adventure I've ever seen. Goodman Games, give this man a job!

[@jamesdoyle6914]

I did not know Sholtis did the dungeon dozen blog. I always loved reading through that at work

[@TheDanielDFox]

This has been on my list for a bit, your review just convinced me to grab the print on demand. Thanks for the review!

[@cameronmaas2644]

The art in this book is incredible! I think this would be a perfect fit with the Black Hack.

[@swordsnstones]

awesome, these are my fav types of modules, who cares if it makes sense as long as its fun :)

[@thuglifegame7573]

Great review Ben! Such a great work. All GMs should read this.

[@jamiemcdonough6548]

I don't know if it's just me, but I like how that first time we see that one eyes, long tailed, long necked, lizard creature on two legs standing before a cave it could double as a big smiling face with one eye.

[@blackstone777]

I've been waiting for this! Have the two separate books, but now all in one! YES! BOUGHT IT!

[@Toddalotapodamus]

AAHHH! So similar to the module I started for you Knave Game Jam. I drew most of my inspiration from the Wizardry games, so hopefully the flavor is different enough from this. EDIT: Well, the gonzo nature of it at least.

[@rogerpenny1181]

Great review; I've gone and bought this!

[@Bluecho4]

Sounds wonderfully gonza. I love it.

[@broceollomon]

This looks really fantastic. I feel like i could use a lot of this piecemeal. Thanks for doing this review.

[@MenseParatus]

an amazing amount of work and love in that book, great review

[@delmonte4426]

The references to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (and various other Americana) is fantastic!

[@TheAurgelmir]

Love the reviews - have actually played a few of the ones I have seen on here as part of my larger campaign.

[@christophersbyers]

This is awesome, thank you for the review!

[@philalethes]

Thanks Ben, these guys seriously suck at promoting themselves and this particular product should be getting absurdly more attention than it's been getting.

[@Vezalin]

I really enjoyed this review. Very in depth compared to past ones that I felt were far too short and barely covered what was in the book. More like this please.

[@BX-advocate]

This is the type of adventure I would like to run... unfortunately not the type of adventure I can ever get a group to play.

[@oneheart537]

This looks amazing

[@MatsJPB]

i kind of love this. Like, a lot!

[@likeasonntagmorgen]

Friendly Malicious, that’s my character’s alignment 😆

[@cravensean]

I am going to be getting both this and The Dungeon Dozen soon. But I wish someone would make Sholtis re-release the Dimension Z comics he and some other folks were doing back in the late nineties. They were a lot of fun but I wasn't able to get all of them... They operated at the intersection of the Marvel Universe and Saturday afternoon monster movies. I made my music buddy read them when they were coming out and he still makes references to the Mighty Gurnalon and the Flying Atomic Skull. (Note to self: Flamin' Atomic Skull, for Pete's sake.)

[@sbenno1]

Hey, if we're considering running this with Knave 2e, is the DCC version or Swords and Widardry version more suited? I'm not that familiar with the rule set for either.

[@QuestingBeast]

These swords and wizardry version would be closer. Knave should be pretty compatible with very little changes

[@jamiemcdonough6548]

I appreciate the like my first comment got. To be honest I was afraid someone might tell me I got a detail wrong about the picture in the book I was originally referring to. I thought someone might say go back and look again it didn't have a long neck or it wasn't a lizard creature. Sometimes I hastily submit a comment on a video, then too late I question if that's how I really remembered what I watched. Hopefully everything's cool now. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

[@bromossunstarranger8706]

I wish Jason Sholtis made a KNAVE version

[@juauke]

Odious Uplands looks very cool! Operation Unfathomable has an interesting starting plot but I think I'll put the Nul Rod in the sandbox if I ever get to run it

[@juauke]

Glad to see you're back as well!

[@JohnSmith-nh2te]

Damn making me broke

[@JakAttack]

This looks super cool but sadly cuz I have dyslexia that big block of text stuff you mentioned at 10:15 def has me a bit put off

[@aurvay]

Why do I feel like this was created with DCC first and foremost in mind?

[@scottlurker991]

Welp, I'm sold.

[@Shattered_Entertainment]

Woooo new video

[@strawpiglet]

Can someone explain how the layout style is better now? I know Ben mentioned it before but I can't remember what it was.

[@QuestingBeast]

Modern layout uses bullet points, hierarchies, bolding, and so forth to divide up information. That way you can quickly scan a room description and know what's obvious, what's secret, what's loot, etc.

[@strawpiglet]

@@QuestingBeast Thanks!

[@jessefinch8861]

@QuestingBeast could you tell me why the S&W version has a lower page count than the DCC version? Is it just due to the DCC conversions?

[@QuestingBeast]

I haven't seen the DCC version, but I'm betting that it's longer stat blocks

[@MitchellHudson]

This sounds like it expands on the DCC version that was published earlier.

[@bolicob]

Looks neat

[@JAH711]

Which version do you think would be easiest to run with Shadowdark?

[@johnnyhall3]

I love this! How close is Swords & Wizardry to OSE?

[@aaronsomerville2124]

S&W is like Original D&D with all the supplements (I think they leave out psionics though). It's almost like playing with AD&D classes and monsters but with B/X combat. It should be seamlessly compatible, especially if using the OSE Advanced material.

[@johnnyhall3]

@@aaronsomerville2124 Awesome - thanks for the response, much appreciated. :)

[@Fo0tie]

Roll a save or buy this product 😅❤

[@davidsmith4749]

Yeah failed that immediately

[@blackstone777]

Rolled a 1. Oh DARN! 😂

[@47ronins]

Instant buy ❤

[@rustymcrobot]

I've really been into the idea of running Black Sword Hack. Do you think this would port in well into this system, and if so which version would work best?

[@fatihcihanhizlikan1427]

Reminds me of Oglaf. 😄

[@whiskeyvictor5703]

Is this compatible with old school, i.e. TSR-era, rules and their simulacra?

[@QuestingBeast]

This version is made for swords and wizardry, which is a slightly tweaked version of original dungeons & dragons. It would work just fine with TSR era stuff

[@whiskeyvictor5703]

@@QuestingBeast Thanks!

[@bearbeard6604]

Probably a coincidence, but the publisher's website for this book is down. Anyone know if a hardcopy of the game can be purchased through the punlisher, or is it only a print on demand from drivethrurpg?

[@QuestingBeast]

I'm pretty sure that it's only print on demand

[@zenithquasar9623]

Wish it wasn’t DnD!

[@QuestingBeast]

Steal the concepts and use your own stats

[@jl7487]

It isnt a dnd though....

[@QuestingBeast]

Sure it is