Having just wrapped up my second campaign running Ruins of the Grendleroot by Mike Shea, I can confidently say it’s my favorite published campaign. The setting of Blackclaw Mountain is made for classic adventuring and brings a thrilling mix of cosmic horror and high fantasy to the table. In addition, the adventures in Ruins of the Grendleroot hold valuable lessons for us as Dungeon Masters and adventure designers. Whether you’re a DM looking to run great games or an aspiring adventure writer, there’s a lot to learn here.
Location-based, single-session adventures
Each adventure in Ruins of the Grendleroot revolves around a specific location, like an ancient underwater temple, a village of zombie gnomes, or a forest of iron. This focus around a location gives players agency to explore and approach it however they see fit. This design allows for a player-driven adventure while keeping prep of a single location manageable for the DM. As I have argued before, focusing on single-session adventures can lead to more streamlined, engaging, and coherent games.
The variety of adventure types is another strength of Ruins of the Grendleroot. One session might see the party defending a village, the next retrieving a powerful artifact, and another stopping an ancient ritual. The shifts of adventure models keep the campaign fresh while maintaining a cohesive tone.
Pacing with optional encounters
Optional encounters are an effective tool for managing pacing. Need to slow things down or add tension? Introduce an extra encounter. Ready to wrap things up? Skip an encounter. Ruins of the Grendleroot makes this easy for us DMs. Encounters will be marked as optional, allowing us to adapt the adventure on the fly to the time we have.
In general, this shows us how important it is not to hang on too tightly to encounters. As DMs, we should always be ready to drop or add encounters to facilitate the flow of the game.
Clear hooks and goals
Each adventure in Ruins of the Grendleroot starts with a clear hook and a well-defined goal. The stakes are made clear by NPCs in the beginning of an adventure, and the characters receive concise quests for each adventure. This clarity makes it easy for players to stay focused and invested in the adventure’s outcome.
What can we learn from this? Don’t be too complicated. Keep hooks and goals simple. Strong hooks simplify our job as DMs while giving players a reason to care about the adventure.
Practical tips to enhance Ruins of the Grendleroot
If you’re running Ruins of the Grendleroot (or any campaign, really), here are two tips to enhance your sessions:
- Hand out character secrets beforehand. We can come up with a secret for each character which ties the character to the current adventure. This adds personal stakes, deepening the motivation of individual characters.
- Customize magic items. The adventures don’t have a ton of magic weapons and armor. It’s worth our time to come up with custom magic weapons, spellcasting focuses, or armor to tie loot to individual characters.
Run Ruins of the Grendleroot!
Ruins of the Grendleroot is fantastic, and I highly recommend running the adventures therein. But beyond delivering exciting adventures, we can learn from the book as well. By focusing on locations, remaining flexible with encounters, and providing clear and strong motivations, we can run better games and design better adventures.
You can buy Ruins of the Grendleroot here: https://shop.slyflourish.com/products/fantastic-adventures-ruins-of-the-grendleroot-pdf-map-pack.
