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Dungeon Delve is a collection of short adventures, also known as delves, each designed to be played in one four hour session. There are 30 adventures with one adventure per character level. This book contains all of the information necessary to run these adventures including maps and monster statistics. The Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide are also required to run the adventures contained in this book.
Appearance
This book is 191 pages and maintains Wizards of the Coast's high production values throughout. There is very little traditional art in this book, though what there is of it does an excellent job of depicting various aspects of dungeon exploration. The bulk of the art consists of encounter maps. Each adventure has a small map at the beginning of the description and each encounter has an enlarged portion of that map. The double column layout is easy to read with "read aloud" text set off by red italics and encounter hazards, monsters or traps, set off in green boxes. Each monster description has the abilities shaded so they are easier to read.
Setting
All of the delves are setting neutral. A short, two paragraph, back story is provided to give a bit of a narrative hook to the adventure but little else is provided. This is a very useful feature as a DM can then, if desired, insert these delves anywhere within their campaign world.
Characters
There is nothing in this book that is directly applicable to characters; there are no new powers, feats, magic items, etc. This is a very welcome change from the older edition where each book had at least a couple of new feats or spells to entice players to purchase the book as well as DMs.
System
There are no new mechanics introduced in this book. The first chapter discusses the concept of a delve and how to generally alter the delves. This chapter also introduces a more competitive option where story and narration are bypassed and the focus is on the game aspect.
Each delve begins with a short narrative that provides a brief back story to the adventure. Included at the end of this narrative is one sentance that details which Map Tile set the delve draws from. Map Tiles, sold separately, are a set of heavy cardstock, full color maps, die cut into different shapes. These maps allow for quick set up of an encounter. Also in each delve are bullet points for expanding the delve beyond the three published encounters. Most of the suggestions are for adding more encounters to the delve.
The three encounters are laid out in the standard format established by Wizards of the Coast. Each encounter starts off with a title, encounter level and a collected list of all creatures encountered. A set up section is next which typically includes text to be read to the players setting the scene. Included here as well are additional bits of information that would be revealed by successful skill checks.
After the set up is a tactics section which give the DM guidance as to how the various monsters would fight. This section is particularly useful for new, or less tactically savvy, DMs as it provides overall guidance as to how the monsters would act in the encounter. Included in this section are the statistics for each type of creature, or trap, in the encounter, for example an encounter that has ten goblin cutters, will only have their stats listed once.
The next section describes the features on the encounter area including illumination level, ceiling and any other notable features which are typically features that provide cover, are difficult terrain, etc. Illumination is important as lower visibilities affect combat rolls. Also included in many of the delves are sidebars which provide additional tips on easily overlooked rules and how they apply in each encounter.
In Play
These delves run quickly and provide many interesting tactical challenges at the table. The monster balance is well thought out and provides enough of a challenge to threaten the characters without assuring total annihilation, as some encounters do in other published modules, e.g Keep on the Shadowfell. This reviewer feel that this balance is one that is essential to the enjoyment of Dungeons and Dragons. It keeps the danger level, and by association excitement level, high but does not foster an environment of overly paranoid characters who are constantly afraid of being wiped out in a single encounter. Conversely these encounters are dangerous and a group of characters who do not work together tactically will probably see the loss of some of their party members.
Conclusion
Dungeon Delve provides a collection of short, well balanced adventures for both the new and busy DM. This book would be an excellent way for new DMs to get experience in running short adventures using Dungeons and Dragons. This book would also benefit more experienced DMs by having short adventures available that are completely ready to run, for those times when the ability to prepare is short. This reviewer has found the book useful for providing additional adventuring opportunities for the characters. For example if they are close to advancing to the next level, they could run through one of these delves and acquire enough experience point to make it over the threshold.
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