Dungeon Masters Guild
Please choose which option you would like to add to your cart.
Narrow Results
$ to $















Back
pixel_trans.gif
Cottage on the Long Road $3.95
Average Rating:4.8 / 5
Ratings Reviews Total
7 6
0 2
1 0
0 0
0 0
Cottage on the Long Road
Click to view
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
Cottage on the Long Road
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Dave M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/11/2021 17:46:36

This is a fun intro-adventure, but it falls into the trap of the various monsters (the Oozes and Gelatinous Cubes, specifically) not really making sense. I swapped them out for some basic undead -- and introduced a homebrew monster, the Necrotic Ooze, which was basically a regular ooze but made up of viscera -- to keep the necromancer's tomb feel, and my party loved it.

If you're running a small party and missing key roles, Beau can easily act as a Cleric or Rogue Sidekick, given his background, even though he'll be one-handed after the party takes care of the Crawling Claw.

I totally recommend this. :)

Update, 6 months later: I'm going back through this adventure to flesh out my GM binder, and something that stands out is the disparity in how much the NPCs are fleshed out -- admittedly, this could be because some play a bigger part in Yearning to Breathe Free, but I not only don't have that, but this is presented as a standalone adventure and should, well, stand alone.

The three NPCs presented are Criella, the owner of the titular cottage; Wan Bai, the owner and operator of the Dashing Satyr (the classic "start at an inn" trope); and Beaumont, a half-elf acolyte who just happens to be Evil Dead'd to a Crawling Claw.

In my own game, their order of importance goes like this: Beaumont (as we had no healer / cleric, and I upped his stats to be a basic cleric sidekick), Criella (she's the quest-giver, and the players spend at least a couple hours with her as her home is six miles away from the Dashing Satyr), and finally Wan Bai (who was practically a throw-away character; just a busty Shou barkeep).

The amount of info given in the book about these three is exactly opposite that: Wan Bai gets 4 paragraphs, Criella gets 3, and Beaumont gets a little less than 1. So, as written, I can tell you the entire backstory of the barkeep; half the backstory of the quest-giver; and next to no backstory about the potential ally you find halfway into the adventure.

Oh, and the necromancer who cursed the tomb under Criella's cottage, as well as Beau's hand? He has a name, and he wants to be a lich REAL BAD. That's about it.

So, now I have this sidekick character who is seeking to have the curse on his hand removed (the players came up with this, on their own, and said "a Remove Curse spell is too easy..."), and have next to no info on who the now-lich is.

That said, this is still a really strong module, and I absolutely recommend it. Just expect to have a lot of blanks to fill in if your characters latch onto Beau.

Oh, a final thought: There's not really a reason given why the tomb is suddenly reanimating, except that maybe it's been 100 years since the necromancer left. In my own Waterdeep: Dragon Heist game, using the Waterdeep Background Hooks splat elsewhere on DMs Guild, one of my players had a history with ex-Red Wizard Kaevja Cynavern (WDH pg 158), so I had her and a bodyguard tomb-raiding in Carrion's Chamber (Room 10) through a cave-in entrance that the stream passing Criella's land had eroded into place. Since she makes an appearance in Dragon Heist, I had the two parties separated by another cave-in, and Kaevja's bailed because they were outnumbered.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Creator Reply:
Speaking as the author, I am 100% in favor of necrotic oozes! Glad your group had a good time, and I hope you'll toss that variant up on the Guild!
pixel_trans.gif
Cottage on the Long Road
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Eric P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/26/2020 09:51:59

This is a neat little encounter to add to anything. Our PCs are already a Tiefling and a Fire Genasi so they were not overly suspicious of the poor cottage owner. Any be integrated into any campaign, I would recommend this module!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Creator Reply:
Thanks so much for the review! Glad to hear your group enjoyed it!
pixel_trans.gif
Cottage on the Long Road
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Jean H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/10/2019 01:03:01

This is a fantastic little adventure. It's well written, with a great story, and enough background to allow for a decent amount of role-playing and to create hooks into other adventures.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Cottage on the Long Road
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Mark A. G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/24/2018 09:30:22

Awesome one-shot! You will find it to your liking if you like a combat-heavy dungeon crawl.

My party went through the whole session over 3.5 hours with four players at level 2 with a free feat. I feel like it was just the perfect difficulty with a LOT of close calls. At level 3, IMO, it would be an average difficulty for a 4-man party.

I played this as a one-shot for a campaign break for Yearning to Breathe Free. It's a great way to add more to the setting, especially if you allow the players' progress to affect if Criella ends up with a habitable basement or not as an extra stop for the Brimstone Trail.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Creator Reply:
Thanks so very much! I'm glad to hear they made it and that you had a good time! Looking forward to hearing how the rest of the Yearning to Breathe Free campaign goes! -Travis
pixel_trans.gif
Cottage on the Long Road
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Christian E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/30/2018 02:33:02

This is a nice, short adventure of approximately 4 hours runtime which can be run as a one-shot or fill out a session of an ongoing campaign. Of note: The adventure can be incorporate seamlessly into the Storm King's Thunder campaign because the location of the inn (Dashing Satyr) lies along the way the characters will have to traverse for a quest in the campaign. The inn is described in detail, including the offered items, and the proprietor Wan Bai has a nice background story attached to her. Especially noteworthy are the maps which are offered. They are of the highest quality and will get the players into the right mood.

It has to be mentioned that the promoted level range of 1-3 has to be treated with caution. In most cases, a party of level1 or 2 will find their demise in this dungeon if the DM plays it by the book. This holds especially true if the players are beginners. The DM will have to adjust the difficulty of the final boss and one trap the characters encounter along the way if a party of level 1 or 2 should be able to prevail.

The adventure also offers room for further story developments. The whereabouts of the true villain remain unknown, and either the characters or the villain himself might decide to force an encounter at a later date.

In conclusion: You will have fun, so go right ahead and get it!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Cottage on the Long Road
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Sarah R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/23/2018 07:22:43

This adventure is a good way to introduce players to Dungeons & Dragons 5E. It is pretty short and sweet and uncomplicated and achieves the right balance between social interaction, investigation and exploration and combat, making it a pretty wholesome way to get the full D&D experience. New DMs should be able to run this adventure without too much trouble, since it's written well. The black and white art looks beautiful and the maps look gorgeous as well although JPEG versions of the maps would be nice, especially for VTT users.

This is a great way to get more people to play in my opinion.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Cottage on the Long Road
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Chris K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/08/2017 08:36:40

A good introductory adventure that can be used for a one shot. Full review here.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Cottage on the Long Road
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bum Y. K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/14/2016 11:33:55

Great beginning adventure with fantastic backgrounds for NPC's which make for good role-playing. I used this as a launching point for a home-brew campaign that involves an uprising of persecuted Tieflings in Waterdeep where the lich from this adventure plays a pivotal role. Everyone was first level so I had to nerf the monsters to avoid a TPK but 2nd or 3rd level party should be okay.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 8 (of 8 reviews) Result Pages:  1 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items