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Rory Toma
Mini-Dungeon #023: The Aura of Profit
For 4-6 Characters of Level 1
The Aura of Profit takes place in an underground lair that serves as an alchemical laboratory. Fritz is an alchemist who has an underground laboratory in the poor section of the city. His experiments produce wastes that run into the sewer and enhance the effects of alcohol. Several local innkeepers have seen sales plummet, as their patrons can’t hold their liquor anymore. They think that there is something happening underground, where a strange odor has been detected under one of the taverns. They have asked the PCs to investigate.
5E Mini-Dungeons are single page, double sided adventures for D&D 5th Edition which are setting agnostic and are easily inserted anywhere in your campaign.
$1.99
5th Edition, Mini-Dungeons1 review for Mini-Dungeon #023: The Aura of Profit
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An Endzeitgeist.com review
This pdf clocks in at 2 pages and is a mini-dungeon. This means we get 2 pages content, including a solid map and all item/monster-stats hyperlinked and thus, absent from the pdf, with only deviations from the statblocks being noted for the GM. Unlike most 5E Mini-Dungeons, this one does not come with VTT-maps or player-friendly iterations, which is a bit of a bummer.
Since this product line’s goal is providing short diversions, side-quest dungeons etc., I will not expect mind-shattering revelations, massive plots or particularly smart or detailed depictions, instead tackling the line for what it is. Got that? Great!
This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players may wish to jump to the conclusion.
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Still here?
All right!
So, in the poor section of town, Fritz has an underground alchemist’s laboratory – so why would the PCs try to stop Fitz? Well, his alchemist laboratory creates waste that makes people more susceptible to alcohol, which directly influences the profits of innkeepers all around. So, the PCs will have to stop Fritz – if only to prevent alcoholism skyrocketing. The dungeon as presented is surprisingly varied – we have an engineer-wizard, minor constructs (short-hand statblocks included) and some neat traps, some of which are obviously nonlethal. Big plus for the 5e-version: We get full stats for Fritz! Two thumbs up for going the extra mile there!
Oh, and know what’s kinda cool? Fritz is not a bad guy – he can actually be convinced to make modifications that negate the detrimental effects of his alchemical refuse.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard and the pdf comes sans bookmarks, but needs none at this length. Cartography is full color and surprisingly good for such an inexpensive pdf, but there is no key-less version of the map to print out and hand to your players. The pdf does sport one nice piece of original full-color art – kudos!
This makes me happy, it really does – Rory Toma delivers a captivating, fun mini-dungeon herein – with things to do beyond killing everything, a mix of traps and roleplaying and an interesting “adversary.” The topical background story also makes sense and opens potential for further adventuring – what if an evil character gets wind of Fritz’ mixture? Kyle Crider thankfully has gone above and beyond in conversion: Diverse challenges, sample stats, hyperlinks all in order – no complaints on my part!
Seriously, what more can you ask for from a small, humble 2-page module? My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars plus seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.