Disclosure: I received a review copy of this product.
Limitless Adventures is a new (or at least to me) company that has been churning out a bevvy of products at a low price point for the Dungeon Master's Guild. Today I review the "Sword Coast Encounters" product, which provides 10 "random" encounters for your campaign, ranging from encounters of level 1-8 in difficulty.
This product is 13 pages, with 1 page being the cover, 1 page being credits and explanation (what the product is, contact info), and one page being the OGL information.
Right from the start, the encounters are interesting but simple; an injured blink dog, strange noises, a pack of fleeing goblins. Where these encounters are made interesting is the complications and twists that they take. The fey dog is (or could be) chased by displacer beasts, the goblins are fleeing an animated treasure hoard (which is a new monster), and the strange noises are a pack of kenku that seem to be luring you into an ambush.
These complications are presented as optional, and a good number of permutations to each encounter can lead you as a DM in different directions. The aforementioned blink dog could, instead, be sought out by a fey lord, changing the nature of the encounter drastically. Though the meat of these encounters is bare-bone, the possibilities are laid out very well. They don't necessarily serve as a full adventure or even encounter so much as they do a suggestion. But then, being meant to replace "random" encounters, they serve their purpose very well, and provide something that can be a diversion or an interesting punctuation to a campaign. They are flexible enough to fit the needs of any campaign, and ostensibly provide the statistics necessary for the encounter (each encounter revolving around a specific creature or NPC, and the stats for that creature are provided).
Some encounters are stronger than others in their implementations, but the strong ones really shine. The encounter labeled "Moral Quandry" plots out an encounter with a slain human that could lead to a fight with bandits, the interference of a wizard, an unscrupulous hostage, or all of the above. The interesting part of this particular encounter is the questions that it raises, and how it puts the characters in a unique position to judge and react to the situation.
The statistics, though culled from the SRD, are done well. The new creature, the "Living Hoard", is an ingenious new construct that makes the characters think before they act if they want to maximize their treasure.
All in all, this collection of encounters is an amazing buy for the price, and a good "emergency" go to for any DM, especially if you are running in the Forgotten Realms and the Sword Coast in particular. It is good where it counts. If you don't go for things like pre-made encounter ideas, you might not necessarily get much out of this product, but its worth a look if you are ever stuck for ideas or want to jazz up your encounter tables with substitutions.
I give this product 5 stars.
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