[Free RPG Day 2026] Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

—oOo—

Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire is a scenario for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. It is published by Loke BattleMats and is designed to be played with four Player Characters, each of Third Level, and completed in a single session, two at most. The set-up is simple. The village of Oakhaven is best known for its tranquillity and the Brightspire, a beacon lighthouse that baths and protects the town and its inhabitants in a reassuring light. Now, however, long cracks have formed in its walls and the light atop its height is sputtering. Already, the Brightspire’s keeper, Wrenna, and her apprentices, have entered the tower and descended into the crypts underneath to investigate the situation. That though, was three days ago and none of them are returned, leaving the villagers concerned and Sprocket, Wrenna’s Zephyr Cat familiar, is agitated. With help at least a day’s travel away, the villagers ask the Player Characters for help.

Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire is a straightforward dungeon with two large areas, one to explore and one where the Player Characters will confront the scenario’s villain. To get to these, the Player Characters need to open the door to the tower which involves a puzzle. Whilst the scenario gives multiple ways of solving this puzzle, these are all for the characters rather than the players and there is no way to work out how to solve the puzzle without the roll of the dice. Fortunately, this is the only real negative aspect to the scenario. Below is the first of the scenario’s two set pieces, the ‘Arcwell Chamber’. This has a Lair Feature, ‘Blinding Strobe’, which is the Arcwell flaring randomly—as seen as by the sputtering light atop the tower—which here has effect of temporarily blinding anyone in the room! When this will happen is rolled for randomly each round on a twenty-sided die and in addition to the Player Characters making a Saving Throw against the effect, the players can guess which number the Dungeon Master rolled on the die. If successful, their characters close their eyes to the strobing light just in time. Of course, the monsters in the room are not affected by the ‘Blinding Strobe’ effect.

Below is the ‘Ancestral Vault’ of the family that built the Britghtspire. Here the Player Characters will fight the scenario’s villain, hopefully rescue Wrenna, and discover the real reason why the Brightspire was constructed. Both set pieces are well designed and both will challenge the players and their characters, but one nice touch is that the designer clearly highlights (though in pink rather than the suggested purple) when a particular ability of one of the Player Characters will be useful in a scene.

The advice for the scenario begins with ‘5E in 5 Minutes’, a very quick guide to Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, followed by an explanation of the scenario’s adventure, the hook to get the Player Characters involved, and an explanation of the background for the Dungeon Master. All of this is easy to read and prepare, and there is advice too, on how to run the dungeon, including adjusting the difficulty as necessary, and so on. Of course, Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire being published by Loke BattleMats means there are maps for both levels of the dungeon and counters for both the Player Characters and the monsters as well as Wrenna and Sprocket. Four pre-generated Player Characters consist of a Human Rogue, a Human Ranger, a Human Fighter, and a Human Cleric. These are all fully fledged characters with backgrounds, suggested actions, and a key phrase as well as their stats.

Physically, Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire is well presented. The artwork is decent, but the maps are very good. This should no surprise given the publisher. One nice touch is that references to monsters, items—magic or not, and clues are colour-coded to make them easier to spot.

Dungeon Beneath The Brightspire is an easy, solidly designed dungeon to run with relatively little preparation time. It can be run as a one-shot, a convention scenario, or run as part of a campaign. Lastly, of course, Sprocket is very cute—and the Dungeon Master will have fun roleplaying him.