The Lair of Amanitus

By Armored Storyteller Publishing
Self Published
OSE
Levels 5-10

It features a dragon’s lair with a fungal Green Dragon served by Chaotic Mycelian

cultists and other fungal dangers. It is high risk, high reward.

This eight page adventure features a small dragons lair with six rooms. A couple of ok imagery bits don’t make up for the absence of joie de vie. 

It’s eight pages. Except drivethru says it’s ten. Except it’s spreads, so it’s fourteen pages. Oh, and you don’t get an option for non-spreads …. You’ll take your spreads and like it!

Let’s see – there’s a new wandering monster system called Risk & Danger. It’s exactly the same as a normal wandering monster system. Great. And all of the wanderers have some little bit extra to them, just the way I like it. Except the little bit extra is “You’ve intruded in to their territory and they attack!” or some such. “They Attack!” Man, there’s no need to put extra words to it if its just going to be that you’ve stumbled on them and they attack, or some derivation thereof. 

Formatting is ok. Each room starts with one sentence “This cavern has stalactites and stalagmites.” It’s pretty basic and really does not much. Then there’s a bullet list of what’s noticeable, and another of what’s not immediately noticeable. And then, maybe, some DM notes ot monster stat block or trap details or some such. Meh. It’s ok. It’s essentially a read-aloud summary and a DM notes summary, with the other text being specific to certain things that need more detail. Like I said, it’s ok. I think it gets a little long, but you can scan it, 

If you ignore the “intro” sentence, then the what’s noticeable section provides some decent imagery. “A haze of dust and particles float about in the air. • It’s humid and strange fungal growths cover the walls and ground.” That’s not too bad. I can quibble with “strange” as a conclusion/abstraction. And covers the ground isn’t the most exciting description of that, but, overall, the read-aloud substitute descriptions are not terrible. 

Interactivity is all over the place. It’s only six rooms, and there’s a decent number of enemies to stab. Not the best recommendation. But, also, there’s a dead adventurer that can give a clue if you speak with dead on him. Nice! The dragons got what looks to be decent treasure (for lower levels) but the magic items are all book. There is a heavy fungus theme, with the usual assortment of tricks, traps and fungus themed monsters showing up.

There are some misses. If the dragon detects you it doesn’t change anything … except now there are eight more vegipygmies in the room. Exciting. And, sometimes the descriptions ARE lacking … like the room with 20 of them in it. Or, formatting misses, like telling us deep in the text that there’s a dude chained to the alter in the room. I think I might notice. Or, if I don’t, then maybe but it in the Things I Might Not Notice Immediately section. 

It’s six fucking rooms man. In fourteen pages. What do you want man? Something different? Something special? Oh no honey, not for two dollars. It fulfills its purpose in life in being inoffensive and not very remarkable. But, also, it’s rather dull and straightforward, with none of the wonder I might expect in an adventure with lots of fungus and a dragon. It’s fine. Really. It’s fine.

“It doesn’t make me regret every decision I’ve ever made in life. But, also, it does nothing for my ennui.” 

This is $2 at DriveThru. Preview is four pages. Enjoy those spreads … although it does give you a good idea of what to expect in the adventure.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/424995/The-Lair-of-Amanitus-Campaign-Drop-Dragon-Lair-A1?1892600