Adventure Site Contest - Lipply's Tavern

Hobbitmaxxing for the modern man

An offering from fellow dread judge Grutzi, this charming little site hides dark secrets in it's midst. Written for ad&d characters of levels 2-4, it describes a small tavern with a storied history, demons in the basement and orcs in the ruins. Let's dive into it.

First off, this adventure site manages to squeeze a massive amount of history into it. It does this by use of a slightly smaller than comfortable font and no line spacing. It does hurt skimming somewhat. The main key about this history though is that it manages to be both specific and generic. The tavern was owned by a halfling adventurer. He made his fortune by bargaining with a demon, and then trapping her in the basement by use of his adventuring prowess. The demon in the basement tainted the tavern until it drove someone to burn the evil place down. Burning it down didn't really improve anything, but it did kill Lipply, who died a miser's death in his basement trying to save his ill-gotten wealth, Now Lipply's ghost, the demon, some spiders, a group of orc, and a group of halfing's lead by Lipply's son Gav are all over the ruins trying to get something out of it. Enter the players

The main thing I light about Lipply's is how much flair it has without sacrificing playability. This are *feels* very distinct, though it plays like a pretty standard dungeon crawl. Noise making incurs wandering monster checks, but it's called making a **ruckus.** Guest rooms have ruined but lavish beds, places the fire didn't touch are are obviously parts of a working tavern, and clearly one run by halflings. I particularly like how the atmosphere get's more sinister as you delver deeper in. Strange achemical labs, a spider lair, the room calimed by the orcish shaman. There are many hints to clue attentive players in that this was not just a normal tavern, if they are careful and attentive.

The map is easily parsable, and I believe a DM could pull this out and run it with little to no warning ahead of time, and give a good night of gaming for his group. The only real downside of this assesmnet is that I have very little to say about it overall, it's just good. The only minor ding is how cramped the layout is, but I think it's a worth price for the thing itself.

Sail On,

ShockTohp