​A space hulk by Unchartedworlds, level not listed
Written for Sea of Stars
  There are several very different, very powerful, aesthetic traditions in the science fiction genre. Ground-based sci-fi has your grimy dystopia, your cyperpunk mohawks, your sword & planet, your Fallout mutants, it’s all over the place. In the space travel mainstream we have the shiny/idealistic Star Trek, with every line clean and sharp, every suit clean, utopian social assumptions. As a deliberate contrast there’s the “used future” look of classic Star Wars, manifested fully in Firefly. Then you have the “realistic” 2001: A Space Odessey designs that are based on current space technology. On the fourth and final hand, self-consciously retro smooth-lines-and-chrome designs are their own branch, a vision of the future built from the science fiction of the 1950’s…and that’s what we have in this one-page-space-wreck adventure, The Griffin:
  Our plot is a bog standard as it gets. The titular ship has sent out a distress call due to rogue meteor storm, which smacked it around and took it offline. As so often happens, one of the meteors had a mutagenic zombie virus on it which infected the crew. Couple that with the ship’s AI going insane, like they do, trying to crash into a nearby planet…yeah, you’ve been here before. It’s cozy. Salt in the fact that the ship was transporting an alien predator that got free in the disaster and we’re officially hitting every single note.
  I’ll be friendly and say what I liked was the look of the thing, even the false creases from paper-folding. The adventure gets a nod for remembering that spaceships have an outer space side, with one of the critical repair paths only reachable via dangerous EVA. Nice that the ship has a weapons locker that either you get free access to if you meet the security officer first, or else you loot and make the SO really mad, that’s good.
  At this point you know I’m not some reviewer hyper-fixated on originality, but what can be improved here starts with thinking outside of the box a little bit more, space-hulk-infested-with-zombies-and-insane-AI is probably the single most common trope in the entire genre. At this point, something like an android that wasn’t evil/deranged would be the twist. Even if you are going with the tropes, a little more effort would help. How many injured crew in the medbay? What motivates the crazed AI? Is there anything to use the alien tiger against? Stuff like that can elevate even the most basic of plots. Also it’s pretty but the flow of the map is a bit unclear.
  Knowing nothing of Sea of Stars specifically, I’ll still say the best use case for this is as a S.O.S. one-shot, because while I enjoy the look of the map, it’s a bit hard to extract as a useful bit. None of the other parts are worth extracting.
  Final rating? */***** with a sorrowful sigh, not a shout of anger.  

A dungeon by Francisco Lemos, level not listed
Written for Knave 2E
  Welp, we’ve got the first of I’m sure many, now we’re in the era of Knave Second Edition. I haven’t read the second edition, but apparently it takes the elegant little 6-pager and inflates it with more content to make a complete(?) game, so…maybe these will be more complete adventures? Mr. Lemos here has made a sixteen-page product for a twenty-three-room dungeon with some real-deal art and solid formatting/visual design. In addition to the keys, there are decent tables for rumors, found books, treasures, mutations, and gear. It’s going with an isometric map, but instead of doing the whole confusing bit, Lemos instead breaks it down by section and keys those little bits, which is a welcome change.
  The tale of the dungeon it fairly standard, it’s a former temple to a long-departed chaos god, one dedicated to transformation and mutation. The god is gone but there’s the titular sacred flame at the bottom of the long hole that makes up the central spine of the dungeon, a source of mutations. Mushroom folk (adorable), blindfolded monks, and a mutant sorceress-blob make up something like a faction setup, they all have goals for what its worth.
  So, what I liked here were mostly the artistic decisions. The sketches aren’t all to my taste, but they’re well-done and are designed (mostly) to enhance to game by showing players “this is what you see”. The very detailed isometric map being broken up into sections helps a lot in the running of it. I like the mutation table. There’s also some decent work on the books (all have beneficial knowledge to overcome certain challenges) and treasures. I like the golem being made of bricks with a withered mummy inside.
  Once you dig down a bit, though, what can be improved is please make a less linear map. Despite the isometric design, the whole affair is a stem-and-branch design that only barely makes use of the third dimension, which is a real pity. The lack of any provided scale is also extremely detrimental to the play of the dungeon in any system that doesn’t operate on puppies and rainbows for the distance measurements. Factions are a good idea even in a dungeon this tiny, but a bit more effort could be spent of their rival goals. Polite and friendly conversation between both sides should not be the easy solution. Numbers being undefined in the keys are a frequent issue too, along with random encounters not being location-relevant. There’s a whole side-quest involving bandits and a lost mushroom child and rescuers that lurkers in the encounter table and could be completely nonsensical based on where its positioned.
  I’m going to guess the best use case here is “place as a Knave one-shot”, but it’s not nearly precise enough to be used in more concrete systems without a lot of effort. A few bits are worth extraction, though, like the aforementioned golem and the mutation table.
  Final rating? **/***** because it’s a great object d’art, unfortunately with some real gaps for running as a full up adventure. Cute mushroom guys though.

  Check it out today...it's a marvelous collection of adventures, I wholly endorse them, already used three of them in my campaign. Enjoy, and take notes, because next year's contest is only six months away.

  It's coming. Perhaps tomorrow, assuming I can wrangle Affinity Designer to stitch the pdfs well...Adventure Sites II will be dropping to the world for praise and acclaim. 
  In the meanwhile, whet your appetites with my own Adventure Site submission, Fog Valley Retreat. As usual, it's PWYW, so try before you buy, but I've run this twice, once as an AD&D one-shot and once in my own homebrew system "live" in the campaign, both times it was a hoot. The judges mostly enjoyed it, but you better believe I've incorporated feedback, as all the submitters should feel free to. 
  Check it out, play around with it, and take some notes...because Adventure Sites III is only half a year away.

​A dungeon section by Tobias Adam, level 3ish I think?.
Written for OSE
  A mystery is herein solved; looks like the reason my filter caught a new glut of itch.io free adventures for Actual Real TTRPG Systems is that there was a Jaquays memorial game jam. As an objective anthropologist, I do not frequent whatever dark corners brew these things, but it appears as if some of the idea is to make dungeon pieces that link to others. It’s certainly an idea, but I’ll be evaluating these as independent dungeons, because trying to evaluate the whole mess would be exhausting and I’m sure they’re not very compatible. In this one, at least, we have a deceptively one-page entry that this madman put out in 17”x11”. Whoa. It’s a fourteen-room-dungeon with two different random encounter tables, amazing how much doubling the size of your page will let you put in an OPD.
  The location is a chapel, evidently lost, dedicated to a dragon god of sorts evidently but no details there. It’s not highly thematically linked together but there are a few “factions” that’ll enable dynamic play, there’s a one-eared ogre who’s hunting a fae ear-stealing gnome, being hunted in turn by lizardmen who are annoyed by cattle rustling. The map is highly interlinked and stuff like an earless annoyed hoblin and a fire beetle swarm that works like a trap all works together. Shockingly dynamic for such a tiny little zone.
   What I liked first and foremost is this little map, it is awesome for its scale, less Jaquaysed more Calabi–Yau’d…such interconnection. The interactions are all very organic between areas, too, and that weird ear collector fellow trades knowledge of secret doors for fresh ears, that’s just a perfect mixture of weird, macabre, and gameable. Treasure is pretty decent, too…only ~3.5k in gold, but a lot of magic items with them all being either well-hidden or obvious but dangerous to take, solid design. I like the way that both the sentient monsters and the treasure also build to a larger world…there’s a danged treasure map, that’s so refreshing to see. The fire beetle nest under a chasm-with-a-bridge with a treasure chest across the gap is also a great set-piece. Oh, and random encounters have numbers, not “dX of monster”.
   With all those praises, what can be improved? Well for one thing this might seem churlish after my previous praise, but the dungeon is a bit overstuffed. It’s good stuff, but it’s a LOT of good stuff to be stuffed into a couple 25x20 grids. It’s also clearly not written for OSE originally…the gold-to-magic ratio is a hint, but there’s also a DEX check called for which is nonstandard practice. The lack of stats for things like rats, ogres, or fire beetles is annoying but defensible, but I’d bet a lot of money that “ear collector” isn’t in the OSE core bestiary, give us stats brother. A little more of an eye on usability would go a long way.
  I’m going to say the best use case for this is as a sublevel, as intended. In a much bigger dungeon this little complex knot becomes a little less stuffy. The use of it as an independent dungeon is definitely defensible, though.
  Final Rating? ***/***** is the best I can do here but I’d love to see what the author could do with a bigger dungeon, stuffing things less and letting it all breathe more. Good going.

  The judges have rested from their labors. Thirty entries were weighed and measured, their virtues and flaws accessed. We agonized, we sweated, and we sighed. But all five judges have given their rankings, and after a surprisingly tight fight, we have the eight finalists all selected for inclusion in Adventure Sites II, soon out free for the community to delight in. In no particular order, our finalists are:
  Sausages of the Devil Swine, by John Nash. A classic B/X dungeon for levels 4-5, Sausages delighted and intrigued with its Porcs, undead sausage links, and of course Porcus the Demon Prince of Gluttony. Strap on your curly tails and don't look too closely at the meat grinder, we have pigs to slaughter.
  The Cleft in the Crag, by  J. "Graveslug" Allen. A fully-committed OD&D romp for levels 4-6, Cleft takes all the raw enthusiasm of the LBBs and turns them up to eleven, offering an artifact hidden by incredibly powerful bear-pegasus, lizardmen caves, giant slugs hidden by illusions, tricks, traps, and of course PILLARS OF LAW THAT EXPLODE CHAOTIC'S EYES. It's a huge site and one I've actually since run in my game, with great success and only minor PC blinding.
​  The Calid Cryo-Caves, by Jeff Simpson. A way to freeze and toast level 3-5 characters in 7VoZ, the caves are volcanic but inside a glacier, populated by strange fossil undead and a multistage endboss that's as memorable as it is adorably illustrated. The scale of this one is just about perfect, sometimes you just need some caves for tonight's adventure and these will hit the spot.
 The Pit of the Red Wyrm, by Jakob McFarland. FINALLY. It took us two years, but at last we got ourselves a proper dragon lair. Written for S&W levels 4-6, Pit embraces the weird and the wild with pepper-eating berserker cultists and morlocks serving in the steaming confines of a geyser-carved temple. Probably the best map of the whole contest, it's a three-level multi-step triumph of exploration and discovery, loaded with heavy statues in loot. And, once again, IT HAS A DRAGON.
  Troll Market, by Rob S.  Don't focus on the the title's "troll", what this low-level AD&D adventure actually is is an elf-infested fairy mound, complete with a kidnapped witch's son, an illusionist hanging in a cage on a tree, an evil debauched elf noble, and weird fey merchants in a somewhat plane-shifted location only reachable under a waning moon. This thing drips so much flavor that the undead brothers Grimm are soliciting Rob S for more stories. 
  Barbican of Blood, by Mitch Hyde. Baby's first Tomb of Horrors, this 6-8 AD&D adventure takes the concept of a vampire lair and decides to get mean about it. The titular barbican, a keep garrisoned by a Renfield knight, is probably the highlight, but the linear gauntlet of pain beneath is loaded with good idea after good idea, perhaps to the point of being overstuffed, but "too many good ideas" is the most forgivable of sins.
  ...and now we come to the winners, who each get a Merciless Merchants adventure and a huge heaping helping of glory. First, silver-medalist and Penultimate Champion is...
  The Copper Circle, by A. M. Jackson. Tenser's Floating Disk is one of the two first-level spells that magic users have to quest for, right? Well Mr. Jackson supplies us an entire floating dungeon to quest for it, complete with pygmies (greys), floating disk traps, and a polymorphed dragon of all things, all with a nice set of treasure and enough XP to make the whole party happy. Wildly imaginative, gonzo as heck, and there's a small chance that it winds up giving your level 1 party a functional UFO. That is D&D, baby.
  ---
  Finally, ultimately, we come down to the top, and this time around it's not just first place, it's far and above first place. All us judges had some disagreements at times, but this one was in first, second, or third in every single judge's list. It is...
  The Tower in the Lake, by Matthew Lake. Not just a thing of skill, but a thing of beauty. Starting with one of the most common tropes in the world, "wizard's tower", B/X level 3-5, Mr. Lake takes the concept and turns it into a fresh, interesting, and dynamic environment by sinking the tower into a lake with magic keeping the water out. Monsters are used in interesting ways, with cute new custom monsters and old standbys both keeping everything active. At twenty-two rooms this is just about maxed out in terms of adventure site scale but your players won't care, it's brilliant. 
  So, Matthew Lake, claim your prize and get yourself to Burger King for a crown, because you are this year's King of the Adventure Sites. Bask in the glory and fame good sir, and make sure your artist gets gigs from this too.
  Thanks again, everyone, for submitting. It has been an absolute delight to run this contest, and I'm already looking forward to next year's. Thanks to all the commenters, and an especial thanks to all the judges once more, you were all machines. Watch this space for my announcement when the compilation hits DriveThruRPG, once again it's scot free for everyone in the community to download and enjoy.
  ALL HAIL MATTHEW LAKE, KING OF THE ADVENTURE SITES

​A one-page-dungeon by Logen Nein, levels 1-3.
Written for Tales of Argosa
  Hello, we have another Jaquays Memorial Jam thing, looks like one page+map was the format. Mr. Nein is a familiar name around here in the Crapchute, I think not an idiot but also not one of our top performers…and this sucker is DENSE. Thirty rooms in a single page? That sounds like a mistake. However, it is written for a specific system (albeit an obscure one) and there’s a genuine level range, so that’s better than some…
  Our story is pretty simple, ancient dwarven mine (with minecart rails, rar) is occupied by off-brand serpentmen, currently being invaded by gnolls. Salt in a few undead, standard underground critters, and a lake wyrm snoozing in the cave’s pool. Not a very “plotty” dungeon, in the end, with a couple killable bosses and a dragon that’s more of an environmental hazard. Loot and monsters are decently detailed because there’s an actual system in mind but does mean I’m at a loss for what “Lair Treasure, 10HD” indicates. Still our noble author has even courteously linked to the free system manual, so fair enough.
  Feel like I’ve said this before, but what I liked initially is the lovely map’s look, even with my aforementioned aversion to minecart rails the overall map is clean, clear, and pictured environmental details enhance the descriptions. Once you study the details a bit more the map’s more linear than it first appears, but choices do matter and there are enough descriptive clues to give players an idea which way leads to what. I like the dragon-ina-lake hazard for low level parties and its well telegraphed. Secret rooms are set up well. I’m impressed with the density of the keys, they aren’t concerned with singing to the soul, rather conveying efficiently what’s needed to make each room interesting. The system being used has a modern set of keyword-style conditions which lets a lot of shorthand help him out.
  Now for what can be improved…lots, I’m sad to say, and I’m going to ignore potential improvements gained by adding another page or two. The situations have some potential here and there but unfortunately the whole is rather inert, which is sad given the two factions present really do have some energy available if there’d be a little more interaction. Write for every result on the reaction roll, basically. There’s something a lot of these “dungeon section” jam entries lack too, the multiple entrances/exits hurt a “flow” for exploration, making the movement on the map more directionless than it should be.  Without knowing the system, I can’t say for sure, but I’d think a little more magical opposition would go a long way for encounter variety too.
  Still the best use case for this would be as an “adventure site” in a big Underdark crawl, ideally for this very bespoke little Tales of Argosa system. It’s not perfect for independent situating, but it’s nice for caving. There’s also a long-term campaign hook that is a low-level area with a high-level dragon threat to come back to later.
  Final Rating? **/***** without a lot of fanfare, it’s something well work checking out for the sheer efficiency of the format. 

  It's time. The judges have judged, and the scores are being collected. Five judges there were, looking over the offerings. A huge benefit of submitting to the Adventure Site Contest is that each and every entry gets reviewed. Opinions will vary and you'll see a lot of difference in each judge's judgement, but try and take the feedback to heart. Every one of us appreciates the creativity and courage it takes to send these things in. I hope it was a useful exercise for everyone, and I would love to see all the adventures make it out into the wild. That being said, here's where to see the various judges' opinions:
  Owen Edwards did all his reviews on his YouTube channel, looking at half a dozen adventures each time. He's the most positive of all of us, I think you'll see him impressed with what each writer is doing in every case. If you see a map or adventure site that really floats your boat on his channel, come to the Classic Adventure Gaming podcast's discord, every writer should be contactable there. 
  JB of B/X Blackrazor is, by contrast, going to be the hardest of us judges to please. The man slammed out a heroic 1-review-per-day pace, giving out five stars twice and yet still averaging only in the two-star range. His tone will be a mixture of acerbic critique and grudging praise and he'll be the first to admit he's opinionated, but don't shy away from his harshest comments, he hurts because he cares. Hey, he even gave my entry only two and a half stars, and I know that's a darn good dungeon. My advice as a module-cobbler is never to ignore detailed criticism, it can only make your writing stronger. I promise JB likes you as a person. 
  Although I also think he got a little burned-out with that pace, not sure if he's going to be in the judge's wig next year. 
  Grutzi once more wasn't able to finish all his long-form reviews, but what's there is balanced and comprehensive, and I'm sure if you didn't get yours long-form, reach out and he'll be delighted to tell you what he thinks. Halflings are the first way to his heart but the man is more than anything else focused on how he can take what's written and play it at the table, which is the top priority for all of us but most pure in Grutzi's blog. 
  My own set of reviews will be running down a pretty standard formula, in case it wasn't clear. First I'll do my paragraph of standup riffing on whatever enters into my head, but then I'll go plot->map->monsters->traps->treasure, wrapping up with the overall impressions. I don't have star ratings typically because for one thing, the main rating with the one out of 29 (this number on entries minus me this time), but for the other thing because you are all amazing and beautiful artists of wonder and joy compared to my standard itch.io experience. I wish far more of you could be included in the compilation, but I remain committed to the eight-adventure limit. Nothing here was unredeemable and I hope my personal appreciation for the submissions comes through. 
  Scott M. went above and beyond, writing about 50% more words in total review wordcount than the total wordcount of all the submissions. I always hope to give actionable and useful insight from my reviews, but Scott? Scott comes alongside you and gives you warm, insightful, and careful advice up down and sideways. His reviews are by far the most writerly, with an eye for how best to hone your craft as a wordsmith, not only as an adventure maker. He's a great adventure writer in his own right, check out his blog, he should get a lot more page views after the titanic efforts of his judgement.
  Thanks again to all who submitted...now watch this space to hear WHO WILL BE CROWNED KING OF THE ADVENTURE SITES.