Dungeons and Dragons is a fun game, whether as a player or a dungeon master. Being the dungeon master can be difficult, though. It’s part memorizing rules, acting, writing, and people wrangling. Writing an adventure or an entire campaign setting can sometimes be the most difficult part of being a dungeon master. That’s why this week’s blog post is all pre-written adventures, it won’t help with rule memorization or the voice acting, but I can’t do everything for you.

Curse of Strahd

Ravenloft has been a part of Dungeons and Dragons since the very first edition. Curse of Strahd is the fifth edition’s return to the lands that the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich rules over with an iron fist. This adventure has more of a gothic horror taste than the usual D&D adventure. The part that got this one on my radar was that it has rules for using a Tarokka deck, a pseudo-tarot deck, to influence where monsters and artifacts will show up in the adventure. I can’t promise that your party will survive Strahd once they enter Castle Ravenloft, though.

Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica

Including this book in this post is a little bit of cheating. Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica is a campaign setting, but it does include an adventure for level-one players. This book is more if you want to run a campaign in the Magic: The Gathering plane of Ravnica than wanting a pre-written adventure that you can run players through for multiple level-ups.

Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus was last year’s season for the D&D Adventurers League. This adventure book is pure metal. It has everything from infernal war machines that the players can use to travel across the land to a war in Hell. Your players might also be interested in this one because of Baldur’s Gate 3 upcoming release.

Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount

This is another campaign guide, but it does come with four different introductory adventures! You’ll have everything you’ll need to run a campaign on the continent of Wildemount, which will mostly be of interest to people that are following Critical Role’s second campaign. If you’re not a fan, the three original subclasses introduced, Echo Knight, Chronurgist, and Graviturgist, are tantalizing for anyone. Echo Knights are fighter’s that use possible versions of themselves to help fight. Chronurgists are wizards that can manipulate time, while Graviturgists are wizards that manipulate gravity.

Waterdeep Dragon Heist

I will admit that before I read the reviews on Amazon, I was under the impression that this adventure book was more like D&D’s Ocean 11, but it’s more like Indiana Jones instead. Either way, this adventure will have your players spending more time finding clues and solving a mystery than fighting. If your players get attached to the city of Waterdeep, you can continue your adventure in Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.