Bangin’ Jeff Easley cover on CM2: Death’s Ride. Unfortunately, like the cover of CM1, no such thing happens in the adventure. The painting is rad enough to have a second life as the main image for the Challenger series D&D DM screen, though.

Anyway, we’re only two modules into the Companion modules and the new Companion stuff is out the window. Politics? Kingdom management? War? Nope, a big old wilderness sandbox. True, there are elements of the Companion stuff — the barony of Twolakes is a Dominion, the module ends in a mass combat — but the bulk of it is dedicated to exploring a wilderness to unravel a mystery. The region is pretty detailed for a 32-page module, with several key locations and a lot of NPCs (potential allies all) getting profiled. The adventure sites are pretty good, too — a castle, a temple, a dragon’s lair, a tower, a village, a swamp, each revealing part of a plot to take over the barony from it’s rightful rulers. The encounters are suitably high powered — my favorite encounter involves six hydra that are disguised as a grove of trees by illusion spells. That’s a toughie. And while there is no skeletal rider, there is a big blue dragon hanging out here too. The challenge is here. The stakes feel high, even! It just doesn’t really deliver on the nebulous Companion promises, even if players can take control of the barony at the close.