As someone who fills the DM role in my main D&D group, I am always looking for new inspiration for our game. Whether it’s new characters, potential side-plots, or dastardly new enemies, I am always keeping my eyes open for new modules and fan creations to sprinkle in for my players. Recently, I was reached out to about checking out a new, folklore-horror-inspired D&D 5e supplement, The Crooked Moon, from Avantris Entertainment. One of my favorite things to do around various holidays is come up with a special-themed one-shot focused solely on silliness, while also giving me a chance to test out some ideas or mechanics. So, coming in right at Halloween, I thought I’d check it out. I wasn’t expecting a 628-page behemoth and one of the absolute best 3rd-party supplement books I had ever laid my hands on, though. Flipping through its pages, The Crooked Moon left me with a crooked smile and a head full of ideas.
The result of an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2023 that resulted in nearly 28 thousand backers and just over $4 million dollars, earning it the title of “Biggest 5e Kickstarter,” The Crooked Moon offers Dungeon Masters and players alike an eerie toybox of new toys to tinker with. Crammed within its 600+ pages are 15 new subclasses, 13 new species, 40 spells, 14 feats, 26 special upgradable items, and 85 monsters based on various folklore tales, and that’s just scratching the surface, to say nothing of the massive adventure for characters starting right at level 1 all the way up to level 14 and beyond!
Looking through my box, everything was clearly a premium-quality release. Along with its blue ribbon bookmark, everything with The Crooked Moon is adorned with gorgeous and unsettling pieces of art. The owl-like Azureborn with its large eyes or the strange mummy-scarecrow-raven hybrid horror of the Harvest Terror give this world of Druskenvald and The Crooked Moon an identity all its own, one that I have never come close to encountering.
In the titular adventure campaign of the book, The Crooked Moon begins with the players receiving tickets for the mysterious Ghostlight Express, a train that ferries souls to the afterlife. Soon you are stranded and will have to contend with hordes of the dead, monsters, and worse creatures that lurk in the mist. What transpires will put players into the rampaging path of fallen heroes, gods of sin, and the Crooked Queen. Admittedly, I have not yet had a chance to run any of my players through the campaign, but perusing the notes and session info for DMs makes it clear that The Crooked Moon will be an intense experience—emotionally, mentally, and difficulty-wise—and I can’t wait to start rolling dice and going through it.
There is PLENTY to this book for folks that sit on the other side of the DM screen too. As this book is all focused on folklore, this extends to the various new species that you can create characters with. Now you can play a Groot-like tree horror as a Gnarlborn, a bowler-hat-wearing Curseborn werewolf, or, perhaps my favorite, the possessed scarecrows of the Harvestborn. Each of the 13 new species comes with its own unique special traits that are great for both RPing and making them mechanically interesting, such as the Harvestborn’s “Gift of the Green,” which lets the character touch the grass and heal another creature for one of their hit dice up to 30 ft. away. Touch grass indeed. Honestly, all that is missing is some horror-inspired Tin Man, and you’d have all you need to run a Wizard of Oz party through the adventure—but I suppose you could just use a Warforged.
The Crooked Moon also offers some fun new subclasses to try out, too. The Path of the Experiment Barbarian will give you that Frankenstein’s Monster vibe, a Sinner Rogue that wields the new Jinxcraft, and a Bard that’s really good at whistling with the College of Whistles subclass. Sure, a whistling Bard may not seem as intimidating as a Frankenstein Barbarian that looks like Groot, BUT what’s not to love about a jolly ol’ Bard that has spent too much time mastering how to whistle and fend off legions of the dead while whistling a cheery tune?
There is so much to love found inside this tome, regardless of what role you find yourself in during your TTRPG gaming nights. You can snag a digital PDF version of The Crooked Moon for $42, a beautiful physical hardcover version for $72, or an extra-premium Deluxe hardcover version for $122. The high price tag, particularly with the digital PDF, is the only real blemish on the product. Not to say I don’t think it’s worth it, more just that for a digital version, that’s not a small amount to spend, when physical versions of other books go for just as much, if not slightly less.
As an extra nice touch, Avantris has made two versions—one for the 2024 version of 5th Edition and the original 2014 5th Edition—so fans of either are set. If you want extra goodies like those decks of reference cards and such, Avantris also offers bundles. While the prices may be higher than other books you may be used to, what you are getting is also a premium product that will dwarf many of those books, too. Plus, remember, whistling Bards.
As someone who has run a homebrew campaign with my own world, lore, and history, it always excites me when I find products like The Crooked Moon that transform creative worldbuilding into something this refined and fully realized.. There is a reason that The Crooked Moon ended up being the biggest 5e Kickstarter, and for game groups looking to inject some horror into their D&D game or want some really interesting new options when making characters, I highly recommend snagging yourself a copy. Now, I’m off to plan my special Halloween one-shot with some of the treats found here under The Crooked Moon.
You can get yourself a copy of The Crooked Moon over on Avantris’ website
We were provided a review sample of the Game-Ready bundle.
