Kobold Press will soon be bringing out another installation of the Campaign Builder source book series for D&D and other systems, Dungeons & Ruins. And while the Kickstarter may have ended back in May last year, I've just spotted a sneaky PDF preview on the Kickstarter page that I thought I'd have a little peek through in the month before the scheduled release, to whet my appetite for "dusty crypts and lost caverns."
The PDF preview contains 12 pages, including the proposed table of contents, with a first look into the Malign Magic and Mechanisms section that goes over a bunch of curses, diseases, hazards, and traps for use in D&D and beyond. Not only does it feature a load of pre-designed traps, it also helpfully breaks down the anatomy or 'elements' of a trap, such as its trigger, effect, and deactivation method.
The PDF also goes through some funky, system-neutral roll tables for creating traps, which I'm going to have endless fun with when I finally get around to running the next session of my Dolmenwood campaign. This is something I love to tinker with across all the best D&D books and beyond, because having roll tables at my disposal keeps me from getting stuck in the choice paralysis that comes with designing dungeons.
I'm now realising that I shouldn't be buying source books detailing things I actually enjoy designing, I should be using books like this that let me roll all my homebrew dungeon traps up without having to think too hard about them. That way I can offload some of the mental strain of dungeon building, and spend my valuable time weaving webs of political intrigue and diabolical plots.
What kind of traps might I design with the preview?
There are loads of potential combinations in the Campaign Builder: Dungeons & Ruins Preview PDF alone, from traps only detectable by deciphering a warning, to those that can be bypassed with a keyed item, and even traps that create new barriers for the party to bash their heads against.
I rolled one up myself that will see my band of adventurers getting into deadly trouble as they enter a new area if their passive perception is too low. This could be if they decide to go for a splash in a fountain – something I'm 100% sure one of my current party members would do – or wander into a flower patch, for example. The effect given is "Magic Complex", which the PDF goes into slightly more detail about:
"Complex traps continue to execute on rounds after activation instead of triggering once and being done. For example, a trap that slowly floods a room is a complex trap." So from when the trigger springs, the trap itself will enter into initiative order and take turns "making successive attacks or maintaining an effect that changes over time."
These tables have gotten the cogs whirring in my brain, at least, and it leaves some stuff open to interpretation while giving examples for the not-so-straightforward options.
Those who backed the Kickstarter campaign should be getting their 256-page hardcover copy and 12-poster map folio some time in February, though Kobold Press has been quiet around the exact dates. Those awaiting the $499 handbound leather edition will have to wait until March, sadly.
Even if you missed the campaign, you can preorder the Hardcover copy of Campaign Builder: Dungeons & Ruins now on the Kobold Press store for $50, which will drop alongside a bundle discount coupon for the Dungeons & Ruins PDF on March 15. Or you can just nab the full PDF for $35.
For more recommendations, why not check out the best card games or best two player board games.
