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Rise of the Necromancer Pay What You Want
Average Rating:4.5 / 5
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Rise of the Necromancer
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Xandalf R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/13/2024 07:13:52

This Adventure is excellent!!

It was my first go at DMing and i managed it with 7 Players, although it became a bit too easy. It is very well written out and has some cool mechanics and ideas (Storm, Repel Minions), perfect for players and DM's that are new to the game.

I added a bit of flavor to interact with my party: I added an NPC with relations to one PC that has been missing from the village, who was in the caves as a ghost that could be freed with the scroll. I added some challenging puzzles for the doors and a very simple skelet encounter after my party was like 1 hour in the graveyard to get them moving and as a combat tutorial.^^

Now I'm looking forward to part two, but I need to bridge the level gap.. Which led me to start building my own whole world with factions, politics, gods, regional conflicts etc. in which the Necromancer/Underling storyline is embedded.

I also made a second attempt with another group of absolute newbies to D&D and they loved it! Thanks a lot Craig!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thank you Xandalf for the insight into your new life as DM, 7 players is a lot to manage on your first attempt so I applaud you for seeing it through and from the sounds of it enjoying it. Love the idea of the missing relative as an additive hook and the combat tutorial should go fairly easily using cannon fodder like enemies such as the skellets. I wish you many more hours of fun behind the screen and hope the further modules in the series make things as easy as this one.
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Jack W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/29/2023 02:53:17

Ran this last night with a party of 3 level 3 adventures as a side quest. Everyone had a great time. This had some great mechanics and ideas and ran in 3-3.5 hours.

I gave the necro a legendary action to heal himself on a touch attack by the amount of dmg inflicted (2d8) just to give him a bit more challenge.

Really liked the horde mechanic, and the incantation. Really freaked out the wizard and barb with the phase shifting ghouls, they weren't expecting that.

Gave the barbarian a +1 temp 1 hour bless to his axe after he set the souls free in the soul chamber to give a bit a flavour as they gathered around in thanks.

Replaced the wall guard skeletons with a large tunnel of burried skeletal arms to add a bit more creepiness but kept the rest of the mechanic the same.

Really good module, easy to add flavours and merge into an existing campaign. Really well timed for a single session. definitely going to try and drop the follow up modules in



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hi Jack thanks for the input and advice on potential modifications to the module. Sounds like the party had a handful dealing with the Necromancer. Wish you and the party all the best in your future adventures.
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Daniel R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/16/2022 07:48:33

Just ran this adventure with a party of 3, my first time running a game as a DM and my players throughly enjoyed it! I tweaked a few things and my party threw some curveballs like wanting to visit the graveyard where the restless souls were before the cavern. And the look on my players faces at the end, total shock, making them want to take down this Underling! Good first adventure, we did it in 2 sessions.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hi Daniel, so glad you and your party enjoyed this adventure and welcome to life behind the screen. Lets hope you and you party can take the fight to the Underling and I wish you many fantastic hours of gaming ahead. If you have any questions feel free to ask and I will be more than happy to help you out :)
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by KG P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/13/2022 19:52:13

I was able to string this one-shot together with a previous one I did by having an NPC in the very beginning aquainted with an NPC in a previous one shot. The best thing about this adventure is the very end. There's so much going on, and who doesn't love a good Death Shield and arcs of green lightening summoned by dark magic? No one I want to associate with, that's for sure!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hi KG, glad you and your team enjoyed the adventure. Hopefully your party will be itching to see how deep the rabbit hole goes further down the line. Remember to always set the scene. "You walk into a cave" is much less enticing to the players than "You creep into the mouth of the cave, darkness enveloping you as the sound of the world shrinks back behind you." Smells, sights and sounds can really help quieter players engage more. I wish you many more hours of happy gaming my friend. Thanks for the review.
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by asasdasd b. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/08/2022 03:34:40

I really liked how the whole adventure is written. I've used it to introduce a friend of mine in how to do run an adventure as DM. Although I had to translate it in italian, this is written very nicely, easy to access al to the newbies. I'm going to buy its whose series. Well done!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hello, thank you for the review and I am glad you and your friend enjoyed the game. Hopefully the rest of the series lives up to your expectations :) - happy gaming!
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by josien d. l. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/12/2022 07:38:56

I ran this adventure for my players and I loved it, but more important my players loved it. (even tho my players like to de-rail everything I say as a DM, there is enough space in this adventure to add your own flavor, or in my case a little bit of force)



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hey Josien, glad you and your players enjoyed the adventure. I encourage all DM's to add their own flair and enthusiastically give my permission for you to all change or mix up any of my adventures. Happy gaming!
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Joshua J. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/09/2021 15:26:25

Actually a fun read, great ideas for spells, as a DM, the campaign makes you think about how to balance a fight wehre you have hordes of undead, being controlled by one dude, and the strain that it might put on both the players and the BBEG. Run this one semi regularly with players that are new. VERY FUN.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hi Joshua, thanks for the review. Glad you are having fun and showing the newcomers the ropes and getting their imagination going. Sometimes I feel like the official modules just don't have the detail and grit that some of my favourite fantasy novels have for example and so I try to get some of that into my D&D. Keep up the good work sharing the hobby with others and happy adventuring.
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Je S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/13/2020 04:22:17

Great, creative starter adventure! I can't run it at the moment, but it was a fun read and it got the wheels turning. I saw a complaint about "mindless-evil" alignment; personally I liked that, and I think it will give most DMs the info they need to play those little buggers.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hi Je, hopefully youl get to put the game into action soon and im glad you liked the story - I always think that if you have a good story then then laughs and fun will come easily. Thanks for the review.
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Adam H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/25/2020 17:16:45

I've been playing D&D for a few months now. Got a few friends together for their first taste. The wind trial at the begining was great, our barbarian was fumbling his axes.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Welcome behind the screen fellow DM. Just a little idea I had one day walking back from the shops against the wind! Use anything you can think of in your games to keep it fresh and the good times will keep on coming too. Happy gaming!
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Dan E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/24/2020 08:20:26

So I downloaded this one shot adventure, and I've really enjoyed the premise. However while I think the overall maps/stories/pacing is good, I am walking away with some reasonable criticisms of the mechanics. In no particular order:

  • All the monsters do 'damage'. Not necrotic damage. Not slashing damage. Just damage. No damage in 5e is untyped.
  • Some of the monsters are resistant to conditions that don't exist: 'groggy' and 'sleep' for example. The closest for sleep would be 'unconscious'.
  • Several of the monster HP averages are not calculated correctly. For example, the average of 2d8 + 4 for the Underling's Ghoul is 13, not 15.
  • Some monster 'attacks' are described in the adventure but not the stat block - for example, the DC 10 strength save for the skellets. Is this referencing 'grab 'n' stab'? Or a different action? Can the skellet both leap and attack on its turn?
  • There are spelling errors all through the document, it gets really off putting when you're reading a page and there's a handful of typos.
  • There's a few sentences that use 'they' multiple times to refer to different things: 'These small but fast creatures leap on and grapple each player and unless they succede a DC 10 STRENGTH check to remove them - they will suffer 1d4 damage.'
  • Some alignments do not exist: 'Mindless evil' for example.
  • There's some really loose language: 'if battling multiple opponents'. What do you mean by 'battling'? Can't you just say 'up to two'? Do they need to be next to each other?
  • Some monster traits I just don't understand. The ghoul's 'phase shift' for example. It says once per every 15 HP lost, but the ghoul only has 15 HP. And then goes on to say 'once per round'. 'from/to a party member' - does this mean you need to be next to a party member to then phase shift to another one? Why not just use the standard teleport action? Be clearer on triggers and conditional actions.

Overall, this adventure while fun would benefit significantly from a proofread and a consideration of the mechanics and language. Future adventures should also consider the use of existing monsters in the monster manual which have already been balanced effectively, and are largely known entities, to reduce the above concerns.

Edit: Just wanted to say I appreciate the creator responding to my review below. I totally am a GM that prefers adventures to be fairly 'by the book', which allows me to add my own personal flairs. But I also appreciate where the creator is coming from, and can reflect that most of my criticisms are definitely not game breaking.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hi Dan, Thanks for the in depth grilling! I have already made it more streamlined for anyone wishing to take on the adventure next as I have went through and cleared up some of the very valid points you've made. Some of these are me editing and not removing previous instructions (my bad). Some of these are down to a simple slip of the finger while typing. Hope you managed to amend the mistakes on the fly and get it playing smoothly for your group. Appreciate the honest criticism and taken it on board. I do write these things myself and spotting your own mistakes is wayyy harder than finding others. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say your the sort of player who does it by the book (not having a go) - I ALWAYS take a module with a pinch of salt, even the WOTC official ones and especially free ones online. I also like to add my own flair (monsters + game mechanics etc) to make it more personal and keep my players guessing. There's only so many times you can kill a group of skeletons or goblins when starting an adventure before it gets a bit tedious. I have used official monsters stats for these creatures (all apart from the skellets) and added an ability or two that doesn't break the game to make it more interesting. JUST REMEMBER - you can always make it up and still have fun. Hope you got some laughs out it though and again thanks for the honest review.
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Robert H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/23/2020 16:50:04

SUMMARY What a fantastic and well-thought out adventure! Creative new monsters, interesting environment, and fun puzzles! My players had a blast and it was VERY easy for me to DM.

DETAILS I DM for my sons and their friends (11yr-14yr). I used the first half of Dead Man's Party (an old 3.5 adventure where players investigate a haunted sanitarium, but just as an adventure hook, no comedy) and the second half of this adventure (everything underground and some of the town) to make an entire milestone level-up adventure. It was straightforward for the players to figure out how to proceed, but there were enough puzzles for them to not feel railroaded.

The final encounter with Zeilver required me to draw it out on a grid, but it's pretty easy and took less than a minute. The map is very good (even without the grid) and provides a lot of tactical elements the players can use. The mix of creatures allowed my players to investigate and then plan a strategy to take down the necromancer.

I felt that Zheilver was a bit weak (my L4 players had to take down a Wraith to get to the underground), so I pushed him up to a L7 Necromancer, with appropriate spells. That made for a challenging encounter along with a spellbook treasure for the party Wizard.

I originally downloaded it for $0, but after the successful play, I will buy it again for $10. Great job!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hi Robert, thanks for the review so glad to hear you and your son and his friends enjoyed the adventure. Nice job tying it into the older quests - nice to revisit the old settings now and again to see how different the game is these days. The final boss map is not mines so I am not able to edit it with a grid for the battle but seems like you were able to fix that sharply. Good job making The Necromancer a little tougher to beat, can't have the party breezing through the final encounter of the questline. Honestly I can't thank you enough for the generous generous support - please let me know your details and I will send you a discount for the next two modules in the series as $10 is more than enough.
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Bevan p. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/10/2020 08:36:00

Party loved this story a lot and wanted to continue with the next part. Reading part two right now and im excited to how the story turns out 100% would recoment for a nice easy story. few spelling errors but all round great story.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hi Bevan, thanks for the review - means alot. Glad you and your party enjoyed the adventure, now go stick it to the Underling in the next one! Ive been through the module(s) twice now to fix spelling errors so if any have escaped my spellcheck I can only apologise. Good luck for the next one though - be sure to let us know how they go too.
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Joseph M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/11/2020 17:03:19

My group LOVED this adventure. The unkillable skeletons were actually my favorite part as they PCs were one hitting skellies all the way up to the skeleton guards, and suddenly they had to use their heads. It was great to break up the hack and slash. I just bought the next two installments, and look forward to running part 2 next week.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for the review, so glad you and your party enjoyed the story and hope it all goes well in your hunt for The Underling! Its my favourite passtime is to think up ways to derail the plans of the party in order to keep them thinking. Have a brainstorm session yourself with tricks and ideas to implement in games - can really throw a spanner in the works!
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Michael D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/16/2020 04:59:19

I was dissapointed in this adventure. There were both spelling/gramatical errors but also what I considered rules/implementation issues that were jarring. For example the invulnerable skeletons which could only be bypassed using a specific item elsewhere? Why not simply describe it as a magical lock - Otherwise a "boss" you expect tier one characters to be able to defeat should not be able to create such an obstacle.

Having read through the other two modules in the series, I will not be using them with my players.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hi Micheal, its sad to hear that you have not given the module a shot with your players before sending in a review. I can only say give it a try - if you don’t like it then fair is fair. After all, what do you have to lose in trying? I’ve fixed as many spelling errors as I could find but if some have slipped the net of my spellchecker then I can only apologise for the trouble it causes. On a note of the skeleton wall guard, his is a game of made up fantasy - everything is possible in my eyes otherwise you lose the fun. Let us know if you do decide to give it a go.
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Rise of the Necromancer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Wilson O. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/06/2020 11:40:34

This is a well thought it, smooth playing campaign. The descriptions and maps made things very easy to understand and run. My only gripe (and it's a very minor one) is that there were a few grammatical errors. Absolutely worth picking up.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hi Wilson, thanks for the honest review and I hope you and your crew have a load of fun with these adventures. I have had a look through the module and am fixing some of my least spectacular grammar and punctuation errors. Will have it sorted asap - thanks for the reminder :D.
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