A New Adventure for Groups and Duets
The Proving Glade has your characters arrive in a small settlement that has a big problem. The forest, its lifeblood, has seemingly withdrawn its bounty. Others have gone in, only to return hours later confused about how they got out.
Will your party have the wherewithal to navigate the treacherous forest, pass its surprising tests, and uncover what’s truly going on?
I wanted a forest adventure that felt alive and busy. I also didn’t want every encounter to be solved with the swing of a sword. The Proving Glade is about questioning value, morality, judgement, and redemption.
The Adventure Includes
- A 3 to 4 hour one-shot designed for parties or 1-1 play.
- A new Sidekick stat block: Daelin Hoofbane, ranger extraordinaire.
- A new custom creature: the mysterious and powerful Alseiad, a glade nymph of incredible beauty.
- 2 new maps: One region map for the forest around Quaervarr near Silverymoon and one battle map for The Hydra’s Mire.
Product Review:
The Proving Glade is a quick (14 page) one shot adventure that is more exploration than combat themed (although there is combat to be had) as the player(s) search for a missing hunter and a many mouthed beast dwelling in the forest. The adventure proper is laid out in three distinct chapters. The first is primarily focused on exploring the forest with a variety of woodland encounters. The second chapter is comprised of two encounters that require the player(s) to make choices about how to overcome some obstacles. Traditionally these are the kind of ‘moral choice’ type of encounter that video games like to throw in to add a ‘are you good or are you evil?’ measure that ultimately doesn’t mean anything; I’m pleased to say that this is implemented to much greater impact and effect (whether the player realises it immediately or not) and should be a pair of fun encounters for the player(s) and something that will be equally as satisfying for the DM. The final chapter starts with a role-play encounter that really lays on the theme and the flavour of the setting and then concludes with the showdown with this adventure’s big bad. This final chapter is where the player(s) earlier moral choices will come to reward or punish them….
Jay G.
The Proving Glade has classic fantasy-story vibe about it, and in spite of being relatively combat-lite manages to integrate a good number of classic D&D monsters into it’s encounters.
If you’re looking for an easy-to-run one-shot that is hiding some surprising depth under it’s straight-forward veneer please check out The Proving Glade.
You can read the full review here!
The Adventure Continues
This adventure would work as a natural bridge from our Crystalline Curse Trilogy. The trilogy will bring your adventuring party up to 3rd or 4th level. The Proving Glade is good for 4th to 5th levels. And In the Heart of the Forest is optimized for 5th-6th level play.
If you want to add in some awesome material between the trilogy and our new adventures, check out our Patreon! Thanks to our generous Patrons, you can find a sample of what you receive every month on our website.
DMs should always remember to scale and balance combat encounters to fit the needs of their table! Additionally, outside of the Crystalline Curse, our adventures are not “hard-linked” but fit a region that makes them compatible. It will be up to you as the DM to weave them together narratively.
The RPG Writer Workshop
This adventure and In the Heart of the Forest were written as part of an awesome program called the RPG Writer Workshop. If you have ever considered getting into publishing your own material on DM’s Guild or any other platform, consider participating when it opens back up.
The practical tips, generous resources, encouragement, and advice from this great program were incredibly helpful and appreciated.
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Arx724 says
Hey. I’m interested in running a smaller game, but would like to stay away from level 1&2 so I’m considering giving this a go. Is this adventure something that’d work well with two players? Is it balanced for PC+NPC and could I just replace the NPC with a player (and just have the NPC not exist in combat)? If not, re-balancing the fights for an extra player shouldn’t be too hard.
I’ll probably pick it up regardless, but wanted to inquire a bit first.
Jonathan says
Greetings!
This adventure would be perfect for a small party of two led by one DM. The adventure includes text to that effect, but I would have the NPC around and controlled by the DM in order to provide some extra aid in battle or guidance as needed.
Let us know how it works out for you! Thanks for checking it out!