Shadow Operations (2020) is a collection of eleven short, single session adventures for Spire. Each runs about three pages and is brief enough to make them essentially zero prep while also being rich enough to provide a complicated challenge.

We have a birthday party turned assassination attempt. There is a bit of industrial espionage, in which the players will be tasked with discovering the power source of an unusual locomotive. There is a highly politicized wedding that must go on. There’s the peace treaty that needs to be forged between two squabbling gangs that are both friends of the revolution. There’s a reality warping theatrical performance that needs to be protected, a couple good old fashioned prison breaks, one occult rescue and a corpse-knapping.

My two favorites are a little unusual. First is “These Feral Saints,” by Pam Punzalan, in which a reincarnated drow saint has to be found before rival factions either imprison her in their collection of holy relics or sacrifice her to their own god. Of course, the saint isn’t really a saint, and that spells a whole lot of trouble for everyone involved. The other is “House of Leaving,” by Sharang Biswas, a clever riff on House of Leaves that sees the players hunting for a scholar who is in possession of important research. Unfortunately, not only has the scholar disappeared, but their entire office. There is lots of weirdness in this one.

Fab Adrian Stone art throughout! Worth the price of admission on its own.