Before we dive into the So, You Walk Into A Tavern review, I’d like to thank Sign of the Dragon (Marco Bertini and Marco Fossati) for sending us a digital copy of this work for D&D5e; thanks to it we will be able to have fun imagining various and original inns and taverns.
You can find this small compendium on the Dungeon Master Guild store at the cost of $ 3.95, about 4 euros, only in digital version.
Many adventures for D&D, since its first edition, begin in a tavern. These are perfect places where you can make the characters meet and get to know, and make them experience the first, fundamental, social and environmental situations in the game world.
However, designing a tavern is not so easy, especially when you do not want to create a trivial one. To our rescue comes So, You Walk Into A Tavern with 23 pages full of options to make each tavern or inn truly unique.
Taverns or Inns?
Presenting a similar place for the characters, no matter if you are playing a one-shot or if you are in the middle of a ten-year campaign, may not be immediate; even the most experienced DM may find it difficult to improvise an environment that is stimulating and not just a filler.
The terms “tavern” and “inn” have, over time, begun to overlap. Yet these are, in fact, two places with differences not to be forgotten when it comes to providing a description to the players. For simplicity we can say that a tavern is a place where it is possible to drink and eat; an inn, on the other hand, also offers rooms for overnight stays.
After we decided this category, we can begin to decide its size. So, You Walk Into A Tavern, provides a handy chart according to the lifestyle options presented in Chapter 5 of the D&D5e Player’s Handbook.
Having defined the first characteristics of the structure, we can begin to delineate it with more precision. Will it have one floor or several? Will it be elegant or shabby? And will it have a stable or a warehouse available for the patrons? Each of these options can be defined according to your taste or, to add some spice to the narrative, by rolling the dice.
A Versatile Tool
So, You Walk Into A Tavern, as evidenced by this review, is a toolbox; that provides the master, even the laziest and most unimaginative, quick and easy to use tools. This brief supplement, in fact, allows you to define down to the smallest detail the tavern in which the players will enter.
The index, alas not without some typos, allows you to navigate well in the text allowing you to quickly find what you are looking for.
Tables, Tables, Tables
In short, it doesn’t matter whether it’s food, drinks, music, customers or staff members; So, You Walk Into A Tavern, with its 23 pages pleasantly illustrated, allows you to define every detail of the game environment with a simple roll of the dice.
Whether it’s an NPC ready to offer them a quest, a sudden brawl caused by a drunk patron or a creature suddenly breaking in, mealtime is usually the most exciting time.
Also for these infinite possibilities, So, You Walk Into A Tavern proposes practical tables that will appeal to those who want to hypothesize the most varied possibilities.
So, You Walk Into A Tavern Aesthetic
As you can see from the images accompanying this review, So, You Walk Into A Tavern, fits in well with the style of the most famous role-playing game in the world. The illustrations are fanciful enough to guarantee useful suggestions in describing the scenes to the players.
The text has a classic and legible font and is divided into two columns; we can also find frequent tables and precise references to the other manuals used for the statistics of any NPC or creature.
Conclusions of the So, You Walk Into A Tavern Review
So, You Walk Into A Tavern is not an essential module for playing D&D5e, as this review suggests. However, it is a well-thought-out work to help Dungeon Masters make those moments of the game that risk becoming a boring filler more compelling.
So grab your dice, paper, and pen, and get ready to design your ideal tavern!
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