A few years back, I got a copy of an Epic Encounters booklet at Free RPG Day, and while I thought the idea was cool, I found that particular “encounter” to be so hyper-specific, that I simply can’t imagine it ever working naturally into a game I might run.  Fantastic Lairs has a similar core idea, but makes it work much, much better.  It’s essentially a collection of twenty three “boss fights” that you can use in ongoing games.  And while it’s clearly written with D&D 5e in mind, it wouldn’t take a great leap of imagination to translate many of these into other games of your choice.

What makes this different from the Epic Encounters booklet I read?  Each of these location based encounters/mini-adventures, are set up in a way that allows you a lot of leeway in modifying and adjusting as needed.  You can, if you’re so inclined, run most of them as one-shots.  But if you want to weave them into an ongoing game, the authors give you some advice and resources to do just that.

As it is an anthology, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.  Not in quality, as they all seem fairly well presented, but in theme and content.  There are several lairs that I can’t imagine ever putting into one of my games.  Those Who Are About to Die, for example, is simply not the kind of scenario I’m ever likely to run.  I don’t find gladiatorial combat especially interesting, and as a player, the idea of getting captured and forced to run my character through it is the RPG equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.  However, as I was reading through Sticky Toffee, which at first didn’t seem like it would be for me, I was already mapping out how I might introduce Auntie Bea and her sweet treats early on in a campaign as just one shop among many in town.  Then drop hints as time goes on, before a big reveal.  I might change what she truly is, or modify some of her plans.  But the substance is there for something cool.  Another scenario, The Remembered God, jumped out at me as being a possible replacement for the creatures at the heart of The Isle of Dread.  Those things don’t quite work for me, so modifying the threat to be something more like The Remembered God is intriguing.  

Each scenario has some background, various characters, and info needed.  Then a map with keyed locations, as you would expect.  There’s then a little section on modifications you might make to either make the scenario better for lower level PCs or higher.  There’s also a section with ideas for what might happen in the aftermath.  And finally, a bit of advice on how you might expand the lair, or weave it into a larger setting.

My only real complaint with the book is the maps.  They seem fine.  But they’re small and in digital (I assume) color.  So some of them are actually quite difficult to use.  I would much rather have had simple, black & white maps.  These seem like maps intended to be used on a virtual tabletop, but as I only have the physical book and don’t really use VTTs, that isn’t much good to me.  Maybe that’s a me thing.

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