The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.
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Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 3 does, of course, include a free gift. This is a set of character miniatures, essentially done in full colour on acrylic sheets. The four correspond to the four Player Characters given characters in Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 1. Thus they include a Human Rogue, a Hill Dwarf Cleric, a Wood Elf Fighter, and a Halfling Wizard. The tallest stands about twenty millimetres tall and each comes with a clear plastic base. They are easy to assemble and perfectly serviceable. It is a pity that there are no tokens included to represent any of the monsters that have appeared in each of the three issues of the partwork to date.
Issues of Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer contain sections dedicated to the seven gameplay elements—‘Sage Advice’, ‘Character Creation’, ‘The Dungeon Master’, ‘Spellcasting’, ‘Combat’, ‘Encounters’, and ‘Lore’—of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 3 focuses on just three of these—‘Sage Advice’, ‘Character Creation’, and ‘Lore’, although it does also include an ‘Encounter’ which is exclusive to the partwork. The ‘Sage Advice’ looks at the one thing and explains how it works. Or rather several things and explains how they work. These are ‘Conditions’ which covers Blinded, Charmed, Frightened, Restrained, and more. These are clearly and simply explained.
‘Character Creation’ covers several background aspects to the process. ‘Introduction to Skills’ provides exactly that along with an explanation of skill proficiencies and it is accompanied by ‘Skills Explained’, which details each of the skills in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Unlike in the previous issues where only the one is detailed; Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 3 describes two species. One is the ‘Elves’, the other is the ‘Halflings’. For the former, various Mythical Lineages are mentioned for Elves in Faerûn, such as winged Avariel and the shape changing Lythari, along with the Wood Elves, Sun Elves, Moon Elves, and Drow. Also given is some background to the arrival of the Elves in Faerûn and the cause of the Crown wars. Similar treatment is accorded to the latter, though the Halflings will feel much the same as in other fantasy settings.
The Wizard is the subject of much of the rest of the issue. ‘Wizard’ provides description of the Class, what Wizards do, their desire for knowledge, the importance of their spellbooks, the various schools of magic. Its companion piece is ‘Wizard Features’. Or rather, ‘Wizard Feature’, for whilst the Wizard cannot necessarily do quite as much as other Classes, this article looks at just the one, which is its spellcasting ability. Thus its looks at how the Spell Attack Bonus and the Spell Save DC works for the Wizard and then how a Wizard’s spellbook is used, how Arcane Recovery works, and what cantrips are. In comparison to the ‘Rogue Features’ article from Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 2, which just looked at the Backstab feature, ‘Wizard Features’ does not feel as one-note. For although it is covering the one feature, that is, spellcasting, there are several aspects to its subject, it is talking about more than the one thing. On the downside, it does feel more technical and of course, it is. Learning and casting spells is always going to be more technical than stabbing someone in the back.
Penultimately, as is now traditional in the partwork, the ‘Lore’ section proves to the shortest section in Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 3. ‘The Red Wizards’ continues the issue’s theme of wizards by examining the primary wizarding threat of the Forgotten Realms. This includes a description of their towering plateau home of Thay with its volcanically ashen skies, their lich leader, Szass Tam, explains what a lich is, and notes how Thay interacts with other nations, and in particular, how Red Wizards explore the surrounding lands in search of power and influence. It is a solid overview that nicely prepares the Dungeon Master for the last part of the issue.
As has also become traditional, the last part of Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 3 includes an encounter that at six pages long, is the longest section in the issue. In keeping with the issue’s wizardly theme, the encounter, ‘Adventure 1 – 3 The Tower of Iron Will’, not only involves a wizard, it involves one of the infamous Red Wizards of Thay! As with other encounters in the partwork, it is set in and around the village of Phandalin, in the Forgotten Realms, more recently detailed in the campaign, Phendelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. The Player Characters are hired by Sister Garaele, an Elf Cleric of Tymora, who maintains a temple of luck and good fortune in the village. A few days ago, she sent a scout, Naivara Rothenel, to investigate an observatory in the mountains nearby where she knew a Red Wizard had taken up residence. She wanted to know if the Red Wizard posed a threat to Phandalin and the surrounding region. Unfortunately, Naivara Rothenel has not returned and now Sister Garaele wants to find out what has happened to her. The encounter proper begins outside the observatory. The building consists of just eight locations, all quite detailed and all quite eerie, dark, and gloomy as it appears to have been abandoned. There is a small mystery here to be solved and a fight or two to be had, and the tone of the encounter is creepy and weird, but quite constrained. Since Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 3 was published in October prior to Halloween, the ghostly nature of the encounter feels timely and appropriate.
Physically, Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 3 is very well presented, in full colour using the Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition trade dress and lots and lots of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition artwork. So, the production values are high, colourful, and the writing is supported with lots of ‘Top Tip’ sections. The result is that Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 3 is as physically engaging as the first two issues, but the glued together spine and disparate nature of the contents highlight how the partwork is designed to be pulled apart and its pages slotted into the binders that will be available for Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer as a whole.
Now that Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer has reached its standard price, the question of whether it offers good value for money is difficult one to answer. Given their cheaper prices, the first two issues undoubtedly did, especially Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 1. Of course, price was always going to rise. This is how partworks work. So undoubtedly, Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 3 does not offer as much good value for money as either Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 1 or Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 2. Yet what it does offer is a reasonable set of plastic miniatures, some solid and useful information if you are new to Dungeons & Dragons, and an encounter that can be run in a couple of hours involving five people at a price less than that of a cinema ticket. In addition, it is strongly themed, from looking at Player Character Wizards and enemy Wizards to facing one of them in the issue’s encounter. And if the players have seen the film, Dungeons & Dragons: No Honour Among Thieves, they get the added bonus of facing a Red Wizard of Thay, so they get to be like the heroes they saw on screen. Further, the encounter, ‘Adventure 1 – 3 The Tower of Iron Will’ is exclusive to Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer and it does tie in with the campaign, Phendelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. So, there is value there if you look for it, and of course, it has to be remembered that Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer is not aimed at the veteran Dungeons & Dragons player or Dungeon Master, but those new to the roleplaying game and those wanting to learn at a gentler pace. For the veteran Dungeons & Dragons player or Dungeon Master, the extras like the miniatures in this issue and exclusivity of the encounter may well appeal to the collector.
Overall, Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 3 is better than you might think. It still feels expensive for what get, but for learning the world’s most popular roleplaying game at a stately pace with a gift thrown in, it is worth looking at.
Where Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 1 was undoubtedly great value for money, Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 2 does not represent as good value as that first issue did. Which is to be expected. This is how a partwork works. For the prospective Dungeon Master, the encounter, ‘Adventure 1 – 2 The Forgotten Vault’ is a decent enough continuation of ‘Adventure 1 – 1 King of the Hill’ from Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 1, especially if added to the Phandelver and Below – The Shattered Obelisk campaign. However it is used, the encounter at least offers a couple of hours’ worth of play. In fact, an experienced Dungeon Master could run both encounters in the space of an evening or afternoon. Overall, Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 2 is a good continuation of Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 1, but not as good as Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer Issue 1.
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