If you ever wanted to take a step away from that endless world-building and give your players a break after those numerous plot twists that cracked them, this supplement is exactly what you need.

Mini Dungeons 1: Caves is a collection of 3 adventures crafted by P.B. Publishing & Loot The Room. A silver best seller that features caves, as you can already tell, which fully embrace the theme. Inside you will find:

• Lizard Folk Tunnels
• The Cavern of One-Eye
• and The Lair of Frostingbite

Disclaimer: We were provided with a free digital copy of this product.

Content

Remember that time when the party ignored all of your carefully placed hints and decided to travel in the complete opposite direction? Yeah, it happens. Don’t be sad, I got you covered. These adventures are made for seamless drops in ongoing campaigns. They are easy to set up, quick to run, and you could even connect them together in one mini campaign.

The plothooks are straightforward but varying:
In Lizard Folk Tunnels, you come across a kidnapping and a cave filled with reptilian encounters, while in The Cavern of One-Eye you descend into orc-infested tunnels, and finally, in The Lair of Frostingbite snow-oxen have gone missing, but what does that have to do with a hungry dragon?

Each story can stand alone, but stitching them together is definitely a satisfying progression.

Encounters

As for the encounters, they are compact but clever, balancing exploration, combat and roleplay. They follow a clear sense of escalation across the trilogy, as they grow dangerously into a dragon! You can scale them up or down depending on your party’s strength, without interrupting the game’s flow, which is especially handy if your players are tougher (or squishier) than expected. And you’d better watch your step, as that dung encounter is full of … surprises! A personal favorite, this dung is camouflaged against the earth, waiting for you to step right in, only to end up covered in dung. You also gain a disadvantage on Stealth checks until you clean yourself or ask a fellow player to aid you. It is silly, unexpected, and exactly what turns a one-shot into an unforgettable experience.

Layout & Art

The layout follows the 2-column style, with boxed text for read-aloud information easily distinguished in the supplement. Big headers along with bold text are also present, and scaling guidelines for each encounter to tune the difficulty according to your needs. Each part flows logically, with enough functionality so you probably won’t have to worry about flipping between the pages. There are maps for each mini-dungeon, beautiful and simple, making them easy to read at a glance.

Art mixes black and white with colorful illustrations in a way that enhances the supplement without cluttering the pages. On the cover, we are kindly greeted by a cute dragon, as you can see in the image right here.

The overall presentation balances an old-school charm with modern usability.

Extras

Although I’ve already mentioned it above, the scaling options for adjusting the encounters are a nice extra touch that I appreciate. Moreover, Appendix A provides two stat blocks for Kobold Commando and Kobold Hunting Drake, while in Appendix B, you will find a magic item called the Cowbell of Reproduction. (I’ll let you guess what it does).

Final Thoughts

Overall, I believe that Mini Dungeons 1: Caves is a nice toolkit for short but flavorful games. It is easy to run and flexible enough to be dropped into any campaign. It serves as a nice break between bigger arcs and is ideal for game masters who like to keep caves at hand just in case. Have you tried it yet? Would you dare step into the cave?

Stay crafty and enter the cave,
Your new favourite author.

This post contains affiliate links. By using them, you support the blog without any extra charge being applied to you.