Humblewood: Shock In Stormcrag by Jordan Richer & Verity Lane

I was so thrilled to finally be able to stop by my local friendly game store for Free RPG Day 2024 and snag a whole bunch of loot. While showing off my haul to my friends, one of my Space Gnomes on our Discord server asked, mischievously, if this meant that I would run the Humblewood one-shot I’d picked up for them. I laughed and told her to give me a week to read it over and decide. It took me less than a day and I was all in.

But because I have the game master’s usual completist urges (more or less: I’ve still managed to last this long without owning any of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition core rulebooks,) I wanted to read more of the source material so that I’d feel adequately prepared to answer any questions my players might bring up. Hit Point Press was selling “imperfect” copies of the main Humblewood sourcebook for only $10 plus shipping, so ofc I had to take advantage of that excellent deal.

The core book itself is a delightful, absorbing read that I’m planning on reviewing when I read through the campaign included at the end, either in preparation for running it or, more likely, after giving up hope that someone will run it for me. I was a little chagrined to discover that the geographical area covered in the one-shot is actually described in a whole different book, oops. Fortunately for my anxiety levels, my players who also own the core set haven’t mastered the geography of the setting either. That was a relief, as well as an impetus for all of us to buy more of HPP’s books. Never let it be said that participating in Free RPG Day doesn’t generate sales, publishers, as I know I’m not the only one of my friends to give HPP my money after picking up this adventure.

Humblewood: Shock In Stormcrag itself is only about 13 pages or so but is excellently done. I’ve run enough RPG modules to know when an adventure is written by people with loads of experience on both side of the GM’s screen, and this is definitely that. H:SiS also feels like it was extensively playtested, from the multiple hooks to get the party involved in the goings-on, to the comprehensive stat blocks and magic items sections in the back. The only thing that would make this handout perfect would be the inclusion of sample character sheets in the booklet itself. While I can understand the multiple reasons they weren’t included — printing costs; the likelihood that players would want to bring their own characters to the table; the desire to drive people to the website, where they can download free character sheets thoughtfully built especially for this one-shot — for the purposes of Free RPG Day it would have been more convenient to have those packaged with the rest of the adventure.

That is pretty much the only and very minor criticism I have of this product. It’s really one of the best D&D advanced-level modules I’ve ever run. It’s written for a level 6 party, which I’d never handled before in D&D, but had no trouble with because of the way this booklet is designed. Essentially, your adventurers are asked to investigate the sudden disappearance of the elderly capran sorcerer who lives on the outskirts of Haver’s Cliff, a small town built at the base of the Stormcrag Mountains on the continent of Wesden. From the striking cover alone, you can tell that the party is going to eventually have to fight a dragon-like creature. Saying any more would be telling. What I can safely say regarding the plot is that it’s a strong adventure in four acts with a bunch of original and intriguing ideas. It also has excellent background information sections, in addition to smart formatting to assist the GM in running the adventure.

The accompanying art, including a map, is perfect, tho there are places where the purples and browns run into each other in a way that mutes the overall effect. The module also includes plenty of links and QR codes to access further aids and information. Honestly, this is one of the most compact yet immersive guides to introducing both GMs and players new to Humblewood to the wonders of the setting. It’s also a great module for those who’ve already enjoyed exploring this plane, as the prior official adventures for the setting were all written for levels 1 through 5. My group and I had never actually played in Humblewood before, but we all had a great time. I loved it so much that I offered to run the whole campaign for my friends, tho the difficulties of scheduling even online sessions have made that a tentative prospect at best.

I’m not sure where you still might be able to find physical copies of this adventure — your LFGS is your best bet — but you can definitely download the module, a bunch of character sheets and other reference materials at HPP’s website. I highly recommend it, especially for lovers of anthropomorphic high fantasy adventure.

Humblewood: Shock In Stormcrag by Jordan Richer & Verity Lane was published June 22 2024 by Hit Point Press and is available from their publisher website.