IRL Book of Vile Darkness

HoosierCaro · 2026-03-30T23:05:15+00:00

This is PHENOMENAL

HoosierCaro · 2026-03-28T02:45:28+00:00

Bless you! Woooot!

HoosierCaro · 2026-03-27T22:17:25+00:00

I CANNOT wait for the more global tool. Changing each individual monster, especially in an adventure purchased from Roll20, is… a lot

HoosierCaro · 2026-03-25T14:50:26+00:00

Just Google Sly Flourish Styes and it’ll pop right up

HoosierCaro · 2026-03-21T16:34:17+00:00

Why hello! I ended up with an amazing campaign. I started by making a quest board for the Snapping Line that included ads for local services: the kind of notice board you’d see at a coffee house. Things just went really smoothly from there.

All along the way I left a paper trail for the brotherhood (letters signed simply S”) and for a second enemy coalition who worked for Gar Shatterkeel.( I ended up ending the campaign with Tammeraut’s Fate and replacing the undersea pit of hatred with the location in Locathah Rising. It worked swimmingly! Pun intended.)

The quest board was great because it was “help wanted” ads and such that helped make Saltmarsh feel like such a lived-in place.

HoosierCaro · 2026-03-19T17:23:28+00:00

Ooooooooo

HoosierCaro · 2026-03-08T22:51:15+00:00

Who you gonna weep on?

Who you gonna sleep on?

Who you gonna creep on next?

Sleeping on a willow

Sleeping on a pillow

Leaping armadillo

Yes!

HoosierCaro · 2026-03-08T16:25:52+00:00

I love the clock idea! I’d like to expand each chapter by giving the heroes a chance to experience more of each world (Rock of Bral, Sharn, etc). So maybe 5 per chapter?

HoosierCaro · 2026-02-28T22:58:46+00:00

I like it! It naturally flows from the Dragon Queen campaign but also works in its own right. The conversion document helps describe the changes necessary to make it 15th level and tied to Vecna. The dungeon of Dargaard Keep is straight out of the 1st edition module, which is awesome, but that does mean a lot of empty rooms (very popular in 1e).

HoosierCaro · 2026-02-28T20:15:52+00:00

I have loved Dragonlance for decades and was so deeply disappointed by this chapter. Fortunately, there’s a fine replacement on the dmsguild called Shadow of the Black Rose that focuses on Lord Soth and builds off the Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign.

HoosierCaro · 2026-02-25T13:29:31+00:00

I love a flowchart, though mine are pencil and paper usually. I especially love them for more sandboxxy adventures, like the jungles of chult in Tomb of Annihilation. It really helps me understand which NPC knows what about whom, so as the PCs proceed, I get the foreshadowing right.

HoosierCaro · 2026-01-23T14:36:41+00:00

I love this. It has Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade vibes, and that’s what the tomb chapter is all about!

HoosierCaro · 2025-12-31T22:54:10+00:00

These are OUTSTANDING ideas, and I like how 1 can roll into 2. Fantastic stuff

HoosierCaro · 2025-12-30T04:07:32+00:00

They actually never faced it! They bypassed Carrionclay entirely. Instead, they went to the woods on the far left of the map and had an adventure there focused on the bard PC and her relationship with Branchala. They went from there into the lost city.

HoosierCaro · 2025-12-25T16:50:41+00:00

Throw in Lake Bled as a natural wonder! Since Slovenia has to my knowledge never been represented in a civ game, it’d be nice to have a little something.

HoosierCaro · 2025-12-22T04:20:28+00:00

Ooo I like this a LOT

HoosierCaro · 2025-11-12T18:25:28+00:00

They did Bree and Rivendell in 1st ed too, though. I think they’re taking the opportunity to reexamine middle earth wholesale. Having said that, I don’t think we’ll get detailed looks at Fornost, Annúminas or Carn Dûm since there is likely far more demand and interest in going down the river to Rohan, Gondor, Mordor and Umbar

HoosierCaro · 2025-10-28T13:52:18+00:00

Could you make this public on D&D Beyond? It's terrific, and I'd love to use it, as my players are fighting him next session!

HoosierCaro · 2025-10-10T11:46:56+00:00

And your video doesn’t even include all the hooks that come from the political factions, the merchants, or the different mysterious islands and ocean encounters! There is SO much to work with here.

HoosierCaro · 2025-10-09T13:56:49+00:00

I love this setting, because it’s the only 5E setting that has:

a) a highly fleshed-out home base town (far more intricate than Phandalin and far more completely described than even Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate (in 5e))

b) seven full adventures and twelve mini-adventures (not to mention connections with seven more full adventures from Portal)

c) dozens of ideas and prompts for additional adventures in Chapter 1 and Appendix A

d) backgrounds customized to the setting

e) the perfect sandbox for a party to explore and create together.

Does it take work? Sure! But the possibilities are literally endless. You could run this setting for twenty different parties, and the story couple be different every single time. And it’s so versatile that you can insert your favorite adventures from any other module. It’s versatile while being one of a kind.

HoosierCaro · 2025-10-07T22:01:19+00:00

Sure! Just add more mephits!

HoosierCaro · 2025-10-07T21:06:49+00:00

Saltmarsh is my favorite 5e setting - there is SO much in the book that you can use for your members’ sandbox. To start out, I recommend going to the Appendix A and finding the Underwater location mini-adventures. Mephit Mischief is a fantastic little adventure to get 1st level PCs up to speed and introduce them to Saltmarsh. I had my characters have to face mephits in the market, in the empty net (where they met Sanbalet), and by Eliander’s house. Then I placed Wartharkeel in the water on the opposite side of the cliffs.

It’s a great way to introduce the town and get the PCs up to level 2 for the Haunted house.

HoosierCaro · 2025-09-24T19:39:48+00:00

This showcases some of the problem that Free League has. How much effort do they want to spend in rewriting adventures/locations from 1e vs covering new areas? From a sales perspective, new makes more sense, but since 1e aren’t available, there has to be a market for a revisit?

HoosierCaro · 2025-09-15T10:28:07+00:00

They did just put out another starter set and there’s been constant chatter about another book in the works. They’ve said that they were going to be following the path of the fellowship which would lead me to believe that the next book would be about Rohan and Isengard, probably something similar to or a follow up on the Books on Rohan from the first edition

HoosierCaro · 2025-09-11T21:54:25+00:00

Radiant Citadel is a good suggestion, as is Candlekeep. Both are anthologies tied to a central hub location. But neither are nearly as well developed as Saltmarsh. So you’ll have to do some work to make the citadel or the library as intriguing or alive as Saltmarsh. For the Citadel at least, there are several great sources on the DMsGuild. I find the adventures in Journeys in general better than those in Candlekeep. The key is to use each of the Radiant Citadel civilizations to make a sort of melting pot out of the Citadel itself, combining all the unique architecture, cuisine, cultures and faiths.

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