A regional adventure for levels 3-6, by Brynjar Mar Palsson
Written for Shadowdark
   Note, this one came in as a review copy, along with a very touching heartfelt message from the author…Mr. Palsson, as you may recall, wrote one of the first itch.io adventures I actually liked, Brigands of Bristleback Burrow. Apparently, my review was the first such he’d received, and he found it encouraging. He’s done a few other dungeons over time, which I’ve bumped into from time to time. Now he’s graduated from “a dungeon” to “full-up regional sandbox campaign” with the hefty tome before us. Legacy of Iskald is a hundred-page (‘zine-size) epic of genuinely impressive scope, written for Shadowdark of all things. I’m impressed by the ambition.
   As always, I don’t review adventures based on artistic merit, but there is a lot of effort represented here. Most of the art is black-and-white, with the occasional full-page or even double-page color spread setting mood. Every monster and most NPCs have portrait sketches, and I like…most of them, slightly uneven quality/style is to be expected when you have multiple artists and illustrators. Some of the stuff is really quite gripping, and several illustrations made me laugh. This isn’t a no-value-added thing or something just to break up text blocks, when we run something like this at the table, having example illustrations to flash to the players is really nice. Otherwise, formatting is competent and Shadowdark-standard, with generous margins, well-delineated tables, and the usual custom slightly-annoying but nevertheless readable Arcane Library font. Writing is casual, almost conversational in places, but very easy to parse.
   I had an experience that I believe most of us have had, where I mainlined the Sagas of the Icelanders and immediately started building a campaign based on them. In my own case it was set in an alternate Greenland, icy and bleak and cold at the edge of the world. This is another one of those, although it is not set in a real-world version of the earth, it’s still obviously built by someone raised on the sagas. It’s a good setting for D&D-style adventure, if you told me that actual historical Vikings believed in a gold=XP system I’d believe you. Couple that with the myths of the Norse being fully populated in D&D monster manuals and in all cases optimized for “hit it with sword” solutions, then you’re in the zone anytime you’re D&Ding the Viking Era. Even if it is in Shadowdark.
   A word on the Shadowdark system…it isn’t ideal for all that a regional campaign requires, notably lacking any kind of overland travel system (pre-Western Reaches Kickstarter), and also not overly focused on character death rules during a long-term play. As is tradition, the author improvises via hacking. First we have importing from other systems, in this case using Cairn’s watch system for overland travel and ACKS II’s heroic death rules for giving XP to new replacement characters. There’s also new stuff, like calendar and weather systems, travel and seasonal mods, and of course a ritual
tracking chart…
   …because, hey, there’s a ticking clock in this regional sandbox adventure. Actually several, but the biggest is a bunch of fishmen (the cultfish) trying to figure out a control ritual to enslave a local dragon who’s been chained for centuries beneath the mountain by the region’s long-departed warlord. There’s also a troll-wife desperately trying to keep the peace between a fighting pair of greater elementals, a centipede-using shapeshifting hag trying to poison everyone in the area and imprison them in nightmares for decades, some harpies raiding around, a mercenary company of were-creatures looking for lost members, a massive ice floe with dozens of wrecked ships haunted by cursed undead, and the usual petty set of side quests too. It’s a packed adventure, with a lot of various sites that all funnel into a central dungeon.
   Which is unfortunately going to be the source of my biggest complaint in this whole affair, Hrimskegg’s Tomb. I love the idea of the dungeon…it’s a central area accessed from four different locations throughout the region, rife with multiple factions, designed to be visited multiple times to complete multiple objectives throughout the region. Everything happening centers around this dungeon, and its themes are strong, complete with a final area containing an abused dragon who’s been chained here all his life. Brilliant stuff, compelling, interesting, and perfect as an anchor for a regional sandbox…but it’s all stuffed into twenty-four room tiny (5ft square) dungeon:

   It hurts to see. The dungeon itself isn’t even bad, I like the flow, I like the rooms, I like the traps and monsters and interactive bits, they’re all great. If this was one of the itch.io standard eight-page dungeons, I’d be giving it five stars. It’s written with that use case in mind, even, and for that it’s great. But this is a tiny little area that an efficient group can knock out in a single session. Since its Shadowdark, you don’t even have the 5E excuse that combat takes forever, fights are actually pretty fast here. This thing just needed 3x or 4x more rooms and a lot more space occupied to properly fit its role in the adventure. And maybe a couple more levels.
   It’s even more of a pity because there are other dungeons here in this region that show bigger scope. I love them, an overrun barrow filled with angry revenants and the Norns, an ice-crevasse filled with unique light-avoidant undead and a faithful ghost retainer seeking the heir of his master, the hag’s lair, a heist-ready inn/merchant shop, and a tower in the cliff…all of these take advantage of the third dimension, all of them are a good size for what’s being asked of them, and all of them have good design. The author can make a good adventure site. I just wish the main one had been a full-up proper dungeon.
   Regional adventures live or die based on the personalities, goals, and resources of the various factions and people within the area and this one is really excellent with that. Most of the people and monsters here have distinct personalities and are working some kind of angle, usually something that’ll lead to utter disaster for the region. This whole zone is a mass of a dozen different ticking time bombs, which is perfect for a sandbox. Freedom is infinite, but there should also be NPCs freely bumping around to destroy things if the PCs screw up. There’s also the Requisite Rival Adventuring Party around, complete and utter dirtbags. Love it.
   The other things I look for in an adventure like this are cool and interesting sites and magic and we’re solid here, too. Menhirs, swamps, giant primordial trees, a volcano (and YES IT MIGHT ERRUPT)…everything here is fun and interesting and conveyed on the map pretty darn well. This is a region filled with adventure and intrigue, just asking to be explored. There are a ton of new/custom monsters that work well, and although I might could wish for more new magic items, those that do get made are all useful and interesting.
   If you can’t tell from my tone, I really like this adventure. The central dungeon’s whiff at scale is mostly disappointing because the region does do such an excellent job at making everything else so big and epic. Level 3-6 is the “X” in B/X and it’s right and proper to step out of the dungeon and into the sagas. Legacy of Iskald does this for Shadowdark better than anything else I’ve seen and it looks like something I’d have a blast playing with even as someone who is not the biggest adherent of the system. It's here if you wanted to take a look.
****

By Jeff Simpson, for Seven Voyages of Zylarthen (or anything, really)
This is not really an adventure, or a site. This is a situation, something possible to find on a random encounter table perhaps, with the focus here on a frozen tableau with a warrior and a wizard standing in front of a dead thief, watched over by an angel. Angel has frozen them in time to wait for a rando party to wander in and render judgement.   
   It’s a quirky idea, entertaining enough, but certainly not what we’re looking for in ASC. That being said, if you like the idea for your random encounter table, it’s got some interest. All three mortals (warrior, wizard, thief) are brothers, with the wizard getting tricked by a devil, tricking the warrior in turn, and the thief for once in the whole history of the hobby NOT responsible for causing issues. Said devil can be summoned to also weigh in, but condemning him just gets an attaboy from the angel and doesn’t do much else. Rewards are an ancient sword of chaos (if you condemn the warrior), a spellbook (if you condemn the wizard), or the angel’s gavel (as war hammer, if you condemn the devil). Refusing judgement keeps everyone stuck.
   Some parties would hate this, some parties will love this, ymmv. I don’t have much else to say about it, other than being continually charmed by Jeffe’s impressive art:

​A gauntlet adventure for 0th-levels by Dimme van der Hout
Written for Shadowdark
   Okay, back in the saddle. Always a bit of a letdown after the end of Adventure Site Contest judging...we haven't announced winners yet, but now it's back to the Monday grind. Let's start with a sure winner, then, a top finalist in the Shadowdark RPG Independent Game Jam. It's a 0-level gauntlet. With a ten-room dungeon as the content. Over 11 pages, formatted in spreads of all things. Ah. Back to the ol' reliables I see.
   Story is that you're all a bunch of nobody scrubs from a sad village hunting after a giant boar in a nice traditional hunt and you bump into a sunken keep formerly owned by a Mr. Tusken, who wandered away and left his half-elf wife sad and her being sad made the keep sink into the ground and the keep needs to be traveled through because...reasons. 'kay. All the boar/village stuff is kind of handwaved anyway, it's just Gauntlet In the Most Literal of Senses.
   Okay, okay, I've been spoiled by ASC III, let's be fair. What I liked here was the look of the little map. The riddle-handout is nice, that's a nice little puzzle offered by a fairy who gifts a magic +1 dagger if the answer is given. I like the d100 treasure table, I'll use it for a decent mudcore list. I like that there's a hook for future quest in a riddle where Lord Tusken (yeah, that's his name) met his final rest. Good idea.
   Honestly, that means the first of what can be improved is just "expand stuff more". The hook is abstracted, the village has no ingame content, the boar itself is kind of forgotten...c'mon, help a brother out here. Improving the map for anything that gives exploratory potential would be good too, this is just a linear run with a couple little spokes. Despite having a vertical element, none of the height is taken advantage of...just kind of miss on the map overall. It's not nearly deadly enough to be a proper funnel experience. AND MORE BOAR HUNTING IN THE GIANT BOAR HUNT PLEASE.
   Alas, best use case is probably just "strip for parts". If you want a Shadowdark gauntlet, that's fine, I don't hate you, but there's better out there like Trial of the Slime Lord. Unfortunately, outside of the aforementioned little d100 treasure table and some genuinely nice little evocative pieces of art, there aren't really even a lot of parts I'd want to strip here.
   Final Rating? */***** Sigh. We're back alright. 

​For a mystery system, Levels ?
By J. Coffery
Local ranchers find livestock brutally slain and consumed. They offer the party up to 200 gp worth of leather goods (including armor) and other mundane equipment to investigate and stop. One clue: tracks from a large humanoid point to the Ghostlight Mesa.
The local priest warns the party about Ghostlight Mesa. On full moon nights, the spectral lights dance along the mesa edge, believed to be spirits of . Rumors of a vast silver horde have attracted adventurers, but few have returned with riches. He offers blessings if they chose to explore..
   Hey. Hello everyone. We’re done with Adventure Site Contest reviews. Check back here soon for all judges’ finished rankings synthesized into the top-8. That being said, I do enjoy reviewing all adventures, big or small, and some noble soul sent in something to the Adventure Site Contest that broke the size restriction (3 pages) but otherwise has some really fascinating ideas, so worth looking at it.
   First off, I do want to note this is a very odd-looking design. Landscape not portrait, three or even four column, AI-generated village “map”, little Grok-made skinny sasquatch illustration. Strange stuff. Workable, just oddly arranged.
   Okay, so, story is Wyrd West. Ghost lights up on a mesa, ruined cliffside village, sasquatch-wendigo Old People hunting rancher livestock, it’s got a nice western coat of paint. Now the cliffside village is occupied by a goblin tribe who’ve lost half their members to a Shaggy Man, so there’s a lot a negotiation stuff there potentially too. It’s a western coat of paint, but you can also do it in D&D, no worries.
   Maps are a wonky little Grok-illustration isometric village and a linear little Shaggy Man Lair, neither particularly interesting but both perfectly serviceable for what’s needed with this scale. Villages getting broken out via key can be a little awkward for running but hey, I could fight a pitched battle against a tribe here. I like the rubble-cave in branch that later links to a buried treasure room. Not everything has to be hyper-exploratory, but no bonus points for interest here either.

​   So in above you see one obvious hazard in a rickety rope-bridge, classic. Most of the rest of the threats are desert animals, hazardous predatory tumbleweeds, and said goblins plus the sasquatch-wendigo (pretty much just a skinny desert bigfoot aka the Mogollon Monster). The goblins are Chaotic Evil but willing to negotiate, with goals and purpose, while the sasquatch-wendigo is Chaotic Evil and just a fight-monster that eats victims mid-fight. Nice and scary fight mechanic, but missed opportunity to not have two houses alike in dignity here. I do like an order of battle with the goblins.
   Treasure is mostly obsidian weaponry, silver ingots, and turquoise jewelry, low value vs threat level if this is B/X or AD&D. The magic items are an obsidian (thus breakable) javelin of lightning or a turquoise bead Thunderbird Necklace that acts as either feather-fall or a tossed stunning item. It can be recharged by putting it out in a thunderstorm, which is very cool, good design.
   In the end, despite this being above the ASC text page limit, this is an adequate if rather small and insubstantial site. Love the flavor, western but it can go anywhere in a standard game world that has a mix of mesa and desert somewhere in its hinterland.