Review of Within the Cursed Mine

Within the Cursed Mine, written by Shane Collins, is a brief adventure designed to be played in less than two hours.

In this side-trek adventure PCs are sent to apprehend a notorious outlaw hiding somewhere in a wilderness of forest and mountains. Enlivening the journey - which is largely handwaved away to get to the meat of the scenario - is a selection of random encounters, including a starving owlbear, a bear caught in a trap, and even a secret entrance to the former mine where the outlaw is hiding out.

The heart of the adventure takes place in Longhorn Caverns, once a prosperous iron mine that was eventually abandoned due to orc attacks and a penchant for cave-ins. Recently a cave hydra (a new monster, a smaller serpentine cousin to the standard hydra) has taken residence in the caverns, largely oblivious to the outlaw in its midst. Longhorn Cavern, brought to life in a beautiful map, consist of eight encounter areas including giant spiders, the cave hydra's lair, and the outlaw herself, who's story is surprisingly sympathetic despite her lawlessness - the author does away with the standard trope of the grizzled, ruthless, narrow-eyed outlaw to create a more nuanced character. In a nice twist that adds drama, there is a 10% chance of minor cave-in every fight within the cave. Nice.

With an eye towards utility, each encounter is broken up into three sections, each denoted by an icon: GM Notes, Monsters, and Treasure. This decision makes the adventure easy to read and run at short notice because it does away with extraneous details. We get just enough detail to run a session, no more, no less. As descriptions are by definition a bit threadbare, GMs desiring greater detail will want to spend a few moments preparing beforehand.

New resources introduced here include the afore mentioned cave hydra and a new magic item, arcane crystals, which allow the user to recover spell slots.

Design is topnotch. Within the Cursed Mine is full-colour and beautifully illustrated, well laid-out with usability front of mind, and boasts colors maps of the caverns and the wilderness where it lays.

Looking for a plug-and-play adventure that requires no preparation and can be completed in a short evening? You can't do better than Within the Cursed Mine.