Almost a year ago, I shared my thoughts on Sorrow’s Ruin by Blaise Wigglesworth. Today I am reviewing a companion accessory for the aforementioned Sorrow’s Ruin called Secrets of Valeguard Spire. Please note, you will need the Sorrow’s Ruin adventure for this pay-what-you-want title to be very useful. You COULD use it and adapt to another adventure but you’re not likely to.
Secrets of Valeguard Spire
Writer: Blaise Wigglesworth
Publisher: DMs Guild
Cost: PWYW
Product Length: 16 pages
I remember Blaise’s previous work being a well-written adventure with a lot of depth for additional exploration. An accessory to that adventure seems like a no-brainer for anyone looking to build upon that adventure into a more involved arc. It will also be a great tool if Blaise continues the story arc himself. Valeguard Spire is also well-written and it’s short. The DM will be able to read through the accessory and make a few notes and be good to go as far as implementation is concerned. It’s an inspired product that will make a more immersive experience with Sorrow’s Ruin or any adventure built around it (Chronicles of Sorrow appears to be the overall story name). Blaise took care to do nice formatting and include some really great maps of the Spire itself.
The ring of the Valeguards is a unique magic item that gives the PCs a cool ability to teleport back to the Spire. If the wearer is called back to the Spire they can choose to do so as often as they are called. However, if they want to initiate the teleporting they may only do so once per month. I like this check on the ring’s power so the wearers can’t simply ditch a combat or sticky situation.
Final Thoughts
I know this review is brief but there really isn’t a lot to the accessory (~2,000 words) that I can speak to at length. It is short. But that’s not to its detriment. Most of the 16 pages are really nice maps of the various levels of Valeguard Spire and those are useful even outside the context of anything to do with the Chronicles of Sorrow. This is a small, but effective, product with a very specific goal of creating nuance in running the author’s other work. It gets the job done. It probably could have been included in Sorrow’s Ruin but I understand that Blaise created this after that adventure was published and has plans of expanding his first adventure into additional entries whereupon I think this product’s usefulness will be more pronounced. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
