​Crapshoot Monday: This Free Thing I Found On Itch.io…Beneath the Iron Abbey

An adventure by James Melo, levels 3-6.
Written for Shadowdark
   Ah, the humble trifold. It is upon creatures such as these the itch.io pseudo-economy rests…simple trifold for Shadowdark, with simple words and easy formatting. There are a few oddities here…our author in this case has shelled out the money for an ISBN, of all darn things. Although there not one but TWO art studios credited, the cover image has the weird fingers I associate with LLMs (six fingers). Kind of a little confused as to how the product is suppose to get folded actually. But in such strange little deviations, we find our ultimate happy place in these little attempts-to-make-a-dozen-bucks products.
   The plot here ain’t nothing original, but it ain’t nothing wrong either. The prior in charge of the titular Abbey of the Iron Brotherhood is asking adventurers for help because his monks broke into a tomb in their excavations for the order’s founder. Actually he’s a secret cultist, all his monks are secret cultists, his demon boss is downstairs, and the adventurers are a sacrifice to free his boss? Sure, that’s fine. Big miss that there’s no statblock given for Fr. Evilbetray. Otherwise, wander around a little Dyson map and enjoy your cultist-and-undead random encounter table.
   Grudgingly I’ll say what I liked includes the puzzle, such as it is, enabling access to the not-dead-but-kind-of old knight, who’s a bit of a Last Crusade Grail Guardian. I like his magic shield…because for one thing, we need more magic shields in the world, and for the other, it’s very powerful with a light cast on it and -1d4 damage taken. I wouldn’t give it to my more math-challenged players, but it’s fun. Healing effigy that helps praying lawful characters is nice.
   Beyond that, what can be improved is going to be a long list. First and most fundamentally, a bit of level thought should be put into design before slapping “40% of the whole 10 levels” on it. Ancient Knights are just weak skeletons, cultists are scrubs, and even a Marilith isn’t that nasty. There’s also a complete and utter lack of treasure outside of that admittedly very nice shield. The map could also be improved by not caving in the stairs, of course. You have a third dimension handed to you by Dyson and you squandered it, dangit. Not a lot to explore here.
   I’m going to say best use case is to strip that shield for your loot tables and otherwise give this a pass. The map is adequate, the keys are okay, and the plot is functional, but most users would probably be better served to randomly generate their own tomb-beneath-an-evil-abbey.
   Final Rating? */***** without the slightest bit of annoyance, it’s fine, it’s workable, it’s just nothing special at all.