Back in 2014, Wizards of the Coast released the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition Starter Set. In addition to the 32-page rulebook, the set included a 64-page adventure module, The Lost Mine of Phandelver. Not only was the Starter Set immensely popular, but The Lost Mine of Phandelver is still to this day considered to be one of the best-written adventures for D&D 5th edition. With the popularity of that module, it’s no surprise that Wizards of the Coast decided to expand that short adventure into a full-length campaign. And so, back in September they released the book Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk. This campaign takes adventures from level 1 up to level 12, and received excellent reviews upon release.
Much like previous D&D adventure modules, Beadle & Grimm’s has released a deluxe boxed version of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk. If this is your first time checking out one of my Beadle & Grimm’s reviews, then here’s what you need to know. The company takes official D&D adventures and does all the hard work of blinging out the adventures for Dungeon Masters and their players to enjoy. This includes NPC stat cards, reproduced artwork, custom handouts, full-sized maps, props, and more.
I’ve previously reviewed several Dungeons & Dragons releases from Beadle & Grimm’s, most recently the DM Vault for Keys From the Golden Vault, and the Steel Edition of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. For this latest set, Beadle & Grimm’s has made it a Legendary Edition, similar to one of their most popular sets, Curse of Strahd.
As with my other coverage of the boxed editions from Beadle & Grimm’s, this is not a review of the Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk adventure book from Wizards of the Coast. Instead, this will be a review of the copious amounts of content you get in the Beadle & Grimm’s Legendary Edition of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk. To warn you, there will inevitably be spoilers for the adventure in this review. While that won’t be an issue for any Dungeon Masters looking into running the adventure, prospective players of the campaign may want to not look too closely at all of the photos to follow.
Some Spoilers for Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk ahead!
What Is the Legendary Edition of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk?
The Legendary Edition of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk is a full box of tools for Dungeon Masters looking to run the Wizards of the Coast D&D 5e adventure, including the adventure itself.
The set retails for $349 and is available at the Beadle & Grimm’s webstore. It contains the following:
- The entire adventure, broken down into easy-to-manage booklets
- Area Maps – Poster map of Phandalin and multiple dungeons featured throughout the adventure. Large canvas map of the Phandalin region.
- A whopping 32 battle maps
- 5 all-new faction badges
- Harpers
- Zhentarim
- Order of the Gauntlet
- Emerald Enclave
- Lords’ Alliance
- 5 WizKids painted minis
- Unique DM Screen packed with Phandalin-specific reference info and featuring unique art on the front
- 19 in-world handouts that will thrill and immerse your players
- 60 encounter cards, including cards for all of the new monsters introduced in this adventure
- 43 magic item cards, including cards for all the new magic items introduced in this adventure
- Bonus adventures – 4 original encounters you can insert seamlessly into your Phandalin campaign
- Miscellaneous DM and Player aids
As opposed to the much larger box that the Legendary Edition of Curse of Strahd shipped in, this set arrived in a relatively compact container. This is a result of the decision to include a folio for the battle maps, instead of a poster tube.
Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk Map Folio
The Map Folio itself appears to be made of vegan leather, and is embossed on the front and the back.
It has nice texturing to the material, stitching of the seams, and a magnetic clasp. But you’re probably more interested as to what’s inside, so let’s take a look:
The first thing you’ll notice when you open the folio is a poster-sized map of the Phandalin region, printed on canvas. This isn’t the first canvas map Beadle & Grimm’s has produced, but it’s always a welcome inclusion in a set. It just feels delightful to handle, as if you were actually one of the adventurers, holding a real map in that fictional world.
There’s another poster-sized map as well, this one of Phandalin and multiple dungeons featured in the adventure. It is printed on heavy poster paper.
There are several letter-sized dungeon maps included in the folio. These are on cardstock, and feature convenient annotations to the side of the maps. The reverse side of each map has space to write down notes for each dungeon.
Finally, there are 32 Battle Maps, presented on the same thick paper as the poster map of Phandalin. These are double-sided, and of key dungeon locations. There is also a bonus map made specifically for random encounters.
Legendary Edition of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk – Main Box
Beadle & Grimm’s has produced wonderfully thematic handouts for all of their previous editions, and Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk is no exception. There are 19 in-world handouts, printed on a variety of different types of paper, that further the immersion into the game world.
Recently with their boxed sets, Beadle & Grimm’s has started to include several DM aids. One of these is the Element Cheat Sheet, which alert Dungeon Masters as to which items from the Legendary Edition are used in each chapter. The particular one from Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk is the most comprehensive so far, and a real boon when running a game.
Another useful DM aid is the Story Tracker. This is a convenient way to take notes on the progression of the adventure.
Similarly, there is a Player Story Tracker, which removes any potential spoilers from the story. Players can take notes and keep track of their own progress.
The last of the DM aids is a sheet to assist in character creation. It includes character backgrounds and hooks specific to the Phandalin setting.
Next up in the box is a Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk – Tales From the Warehouse booklet.
The Tales From the Warehouse are regular inclusions in Beadle & Grimm’s editions. They include 4 bonus encounters that can be inserted at different points in the adventure. As an extra bonus, some of the encounters have NPCs that will be kidnapped during the adventure, giving the players added incentive to rescue them.
Next up is the broken-out version of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk. The adventure book has been separated into 5 softcover booklets, for ease of carrying and reference.
Another common feature of the Beadle & Grimm’s editions is the custom Dungeon Master’s Screen.
This screen has been designed to included helpful content specific to running Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk.
A regularly recurring element from previous editions is the half-page artwork, which can be draped over the DM screen. There are 42 different pieces of artwork pulled from the Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk book.
Similarly, there are the always-welcome Encounter Cards, which can also be draped over the DM screen. While the players will view a picture of the NPC they are encountering, the DM gets a stat block as it would appear in the Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk book or the Monster Manual.
Once you’ve removed all those other things I’ve just shown from the box, you’ll find a foam insert with the last of the included items for the Legendary Edition.
There is a box of 46 magic item and blessings cards. These cards are nice and thick, with a smooth finish.
There are 5 wearable Faction Badges included in the set. While Beadle & Grimm’s have made pins or pendants for all of these factions before, these badges were created specifically for the Phandelver set.
While only the Platinum Editions of adventures, such as Wild Beyond the Witchlight, generally include miniatures, the Legendary Edition of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk is a notable exception. But you won’t get a full box of minis, just a select few. These are used in one of the boss encounters from the adventure, and one of the bonus encounters. A fun little extra is that the WizKids mind flayer miniatures in the set were painted especially for the Legendary Edition.
Finally, you have the ubiquitous Coin of Completion, which can be handed out at the end of the campaign. Additional coins can also be purchased on the Beadle & Grimm’s website if you want to give a coin to each of your players.
Legendary Edition of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk – The Verdict
Ever since the overwhelmingly positive reviews for the Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk book came out following its release in September, I’d been excitedly anticipating the release of the Beadle & Grimm’s Legendary Edition set. I was admittedly surprised that it arrived in such a relatively small box, but once I saw that they had decided to go with folded maps, it made much more sense. I’m slightly conflicted on the use of folded battle maps versus the rolled-up ones that you find in some of the other sets like Curse of Strahd. On the one hand, I dislike the aesthetics of creases in my maps. But on a practical note, folded maps easily lay flat on the table, and don’t require placing any weights at the corners to keep them from curling up during gameplay. Additionally, the entire set of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk takes considerable less space to store and transport than the Legendary Edition of Curse of Strahd.
As always with Beadle & Grimm’s, the contents of the boxed set are top-notch. While the majority of the images found throughout are taken directly from the Wizards of the Coast book, there is bonus artwork and cartography from Tales From the Warehouse which is just as high quality as that done by Wizards of the Coast. The writing of the bonus encounters is equally skillful, and provide some interesting story beats that expand the campaign.
I wholeheartedly support the growing inclusion of DM aids in Beadle & Grimm’s boxed sets, and was happy to see that trend continue in the Legendary Edition of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk. As I’m currently running a campaign with the Legendary Edition of Curse of Strahd, I can attest to the fact that an Element Cheat Sheet for that set would make my prep for our games considerable faster and easier.
One thing that I was surprised to not find in the box were any pre-made characters designed specifically for the campaign. I have grown used to having those in the Beadle & Grimm’s sets, so it was a surprise to not have any make their appearance here. Admittedly, I don’t personally advocate the use of pre-mades, so it wasn’t a disappointment for me. But some may feel otherwise.
I would have loved to have seen more miniatures included as well, but also understand that would have driven the cost of the set up, probably into Platinum Edition levels. And yes, you can always go buy some of the WizKid Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk miniatures separately. But still, who wouldn’t have loved to have gotten a mini of this NPC to put out on the table along with their Legendary Edition set?
Despite a couple of small quibbles, the Legendary Edition of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk is another fantastic set from Beadle & Grimm’s, and well worth the cost of entry. There’s so much here that will not only help the Dungeon Master in running the campaign, but it will delight the players and really bring them into the world. And as a campaign generally takes a year or more to complete, depending on how often you meet to play, the entertainment cost over time becomes an excellent investment. With Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk, you have one of Wizards of the Coast’s strongest adventures, coupled with an excellent set from Beadle & Grimm’s. It’s a winning combination.
For more information or to make a purchase, visit the Beadle & Grimm’s webstore.
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of the Legendary Edition of Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk for review purposes.
Steven Depolo</a>, used under Creative Commons license.</p>
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