Rumble in the Jungle - A jungle encounters comparison contest

As soon as the Tomb of Annihilation was released, we're pretty sure many writers out there had already began to dream up encounters or adventuring material for it. Since only the 'Guild Adepts' were able to gain the advantage of knowing what was going to be included in the book, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that their offerings would be the most sought after. Only time would tell of course.

Today we have four individual products, all of which promise to cater for some of our Tomb of Annihilation needs. However, this post is a comparison contest between them all, rather than a full review. Which product will pack the biggest bang for its buck? How useful will they prove to be? Was the 'Guild Adept' advantage a golden handshake? Or did waiting to see how punters reacted to its arrival turn out to be a cleverer strategy?

Let's find out...

This comparison will rate each of the following four products based on Cost (value for your dollar), Appeal (is it a pretty or professional looking product?), Usability (ease of use for a DM), and Originality (how exciting, clever or creative is it?):

1. Encounters in the Jungles of Chult - A Guild Adept product from James Introcaso, Will Doyle, Shawn Merwin, Lysa Chen, Cindy Moore, Robert Adducci and Rich Lescouflair. It comprises of 10 encounters, 7 new monsters and is priced at $3.99. Released on October 29th. 
2. Jungle Treks - Six short adventures to supplement your exploration of the Jungles of Chult by veteran D&D writers Teos Abadia and Eric Menge. It is priced at $4.99.  Released on October 31st. 
3. Encounters in the Savage Jungles - 23 jungle mini adventure/encounters project managed by Jeff Stevens in a co-operative of 17 creators from the Dungeon Masters Guild. It is priced at $6.95 and was released on December 13th.
4. 100 Jungle Encounters - As it says, 100 individual encounters detailed by Casey Willis, a DMs Guild producer. It is a Pay What You Want product  (we paid the suggested $1 amount) and was released on November 1st.

The first thing you will notice is that three of these four products were published two weeks after the release date for the Tomb of Annihilation campaign book. So it is possible to for a non 'Guild Adept' writer to publish content within the same time frame as the official products. Which is quite encouraging if you do publish content in the Dungeon Masters Guild.

So let's begin this battle royale. Seconds out, round one! Ding-DING!

Cost.

1. Encounters in the Jungles of Chult is an official product, its priced reasonably low at $3.99, and contains a host of new content. But let's just focus in on the encounters, as this is what we're here for. It's 21 pages, but 10 of those pages are cover art, contents or replicated monster stat blocks. That's approximately 1 encounter per page. This values each encounter at around 40 cents. We would normally say that this fact alone demands a 5 star rating when it comes to cost, however, since this content requires that you have purchased the Tomb of Annihilation campaign book, we can't help but tie them both together some what. ★★★★☆
2. Jungle Treks is created and published by a pair of very experienced writers, and it shows. It has been priced at $4.99 and comprises of 6 individual encounters over 36 pages (4-6 pages of fluff and replicated monster stats). This means that each encounter will cost you around 80 cents, double that of 'Encounters in the Jungles of Chult'. All of the offerings here though, are bulkier and way more fleshed out - a full evenings session in each one. Due to this, it's not hard to give this collection an excellent star rating.  ★★★★☆
3. Encounters in the Savage Jungles. This offering taps into the talents of 17 individual writers and amasses 23 encounters (not including the 15 other mini encounter seeds). That's a lot of content. Each of the main encounters range from 1-3 pages long and the product has a price tag of $6.95. This means each encounter costs approximately 30 cents. That's a bargain, and since the quality has also been kept at a decent level, we have no choice but to offer up 5 stars for value for money. ★★★★★
4. 100 Jungle Encounters is a compilation of 100 jungle 'seeds' of encounters. Simply put, for a dollar, you can own 100 interesting ideas on how to keep your players busy between adventures in the Jungles of Chult - or any jungle for that matter. There are quite a few of these 'seeds' in the Tomb of Annihilation campaign book, plus Encounters in the Savage Jungles has 15 of their own. We do love these and they represent great value for money. Even though this title is 'pay what you want' we thoroughly recommend that you pay at least a dollar, as they are worth it. ★★★★★

And the winner of the Round One is...

This is a tough one, since they all represent good to excellent value for money. However, we HAVE to give this win to Encounters in the Savage Jungles for introducing a total of 38 new encounter ideas for just under $7. Go buy it now. 

Appeal.

1. Encounters in the Jungles of Chult as we already know has been created by Guild Adepts for WotC themselves. Expectations are high for the level of 'sex appeal' here and it doesn't disappoint. This looks and feel like a direct extension of the campaign book. The art is copied across from the main book, which is a nice touch and the layout of each single page encounter is again just what we come to expect. It is quite frankly hard to mark this down, so long as you like 5th Edition style and formatting that is. It is beautiful and worth every one of the 5 stars we have rated it. ★★★★★
2. Oh man! Jungle Treks threw a curve ball with this offering. We personally love the 2nd Edition styling here, but we also know that not everyone will feel the nostalgic buzz we get from reading it. Even though the styling is retro, so is the layout. For some of the newly minted members to the Dungeons & Dragons community, the appeal of this product may represent either a breath or fresh air... or a lack of appreciation for how much we used to cram onto one page. For that reason we will mark it down. Also even though this is one of two products which have maps, they have an less than profession quality to them, and the art used is of course stock art. That in itself is not enough for us to mark it down anymore though. ★★★★☆
3. Encounters in the Savage Jungles. We would expect nothing less than a quality finish from some of the writers in Jeff's collection here. The experience in publishing DMs Guild content shows here and the additional thought and care poured into it is palatable. This is the only product which has professional quality maps. No brainer, it's another 5 star rating from us.  ★★★★★
4. 100 Jungle Encounters. The look and feel to this product is very sparse, however they have still made us 'feel' like we are reading a very good imitation to the 5th Edition styling we all have come to appreciate. They decided, for whatever reason, not to go hunting through the free stock art which DMs Guild readily supplies. Which is a shame really. They could have taken a few more hours to layer in a nice image or two... just for flavours sake.  ★★★☆☆

Round Two goes to...

Again we have to give the round to Encounters in the Savage Jungles for trying really hard and creating some awesome bespoke map images which match up really well with it's own internal style. Many of the products which do well on the DMs Guild do replicate the 5th Edition styling as much as they can. We're not saying that this is always the best way to go, but it can look professional and shows that you are working hard for the readers of your content.

Usability.

1. Encounters in the Jungles of Chult follows the 5th Edition lead through and through. It mirrors the level of information and helpfulness given to all DMs, which we have come to expect. However, we believe that this sometimes is not enough. Encounters in the Jungles of Chult lacks maps, or any adventure specific sketches and art. Some of you might say that this additional information is superfluous to running each encounter. That maybe so, but a good map helps to paint a picture in the DMs mind, which in turn can be readily communicated to your players. These encounters are well written and fit nicely onto one page, and this earns a big tick in our books. Unfortunately though, we have to mark it back down again for not providing a print friendly version. For a product aimed at the DMs Guild, we would have hoped that a Guild Adept would have understood that. Finally we think because the creators here have mindfully discussed where in ToA that this content would be of most use, this again is a big plus point. ★★★★☆
2. Jungle Treks as we mentioned before has a retro feel. The layout is kind of like a hybrid between 2nd and 5th Edition. These guys fit A LOT onto one page. This is useful, but can be a little hard on the eyes to read though. This product sets up a useful guide on how to digest it's content and keeps to its own internal organisational structure very well, There are maps included too. Even though we found the style to be endearing, as a DM you simply want the content, clean and without any fuss if possible. As discussed before, a printer friendly version is almost a must for high quality DMs Guild titles nowadays. Jungle Treks doesn't skirt around the issue of where to play these encounters in ToA either. We can see that Chapters 1 and 2 are clearly the best times to spring one or two of them, but they do take the time to help us decide on where to place them in our campaigns. I feel that this product tried really hard to help the DM by organising itself well;  failing only to spread it out for an easier read, or provide a print friendly version. ★★★★☆ (3.5 stars)
3. Encounters in the Savage Jungles. Well this offering provides excellent organisational structure too, giving us DMs a brief synopsis plus a CR rating plus a 'type',  all up front. It looks and feels familiar to us, the maps are gorgeous and the internal art tells us a story. But just like life there are always 2 sides to a story, and this is a challenge for several of the encounters. Without warning, some of the content seems to dip well below par - please take a look at our full review - here. The challenge you have is picking your way through the inconsistencies in detail, due to the diverse range of creators. It might sound picky, but this product doesn't feel consistent through and through and this threw us a little. The question is, will this leave you feeling on edge as a DM? Probably not. One last thing is there was only a small attempt to help us link this content up with the campaign book, which we had to mark it down for. But if there were more consistency here, I haven't a doubt that we would have given it 5 stars again. ★★★★☆ (3.5 stars)
4. 100 Jungle Encounters. A very very simply offering here. Wonderful in it's simplicity of design. Roll a d100 and take it from there. You really can't get any more elegant, however - we have included this product in this contest for a reason. And this was to compare and contrast. 100 Jungle Enocunters is very DM friendly, but it offers very little in detail. So most of the work is done by the DM. It's hard to knock it down on that point as ease of  use is very high, but the level of use is limited by your imagination (as it should). Full marks (tentatively). ★★★★★

Round Three belongs to...

Hardly a knock out victory, but 100 Jungle Encounters won on a technicality. This was that it offered a lot less in detail and could not be marked down for it. Feels like a win by default, but a win it is.

Originality.

1. Encounters in the Jungles of Chult is not done in a way which makes us feel blown away by its audacity or creativity. The individual encounters vary from feeling tropey or benign like 'River Hop' or 'We Delved too Deep'. All the way to utilitarian like 'Jungle Chase' or whacky and weird in 'Pyramid of the Moon'! The whole idea of a series of encounters was approached in a straight laced way. Therefore we can't offer much more than a mildly excitable 3.5 stars here. ★★★★☆ (3.5 stars)
2. Jungle Treks is different. They have tried to really flesh out their encounters so much so that they have become mini adventures. Also, a nostalgic nod to a previous edition of Dungeons & Dragons counted against it in usability, however in this category it becomes one of its strengths. You will talk about some of these mini adventures with your mates in the future. They have some guts, humour and bravado about them. Which are traits we feel a deadly campaign should welcome with open arms. This product is creative, it understands it place, yet still amuses us with a cheeky grin and nod. Comparably, this title offered us the most to get 'excited' about. ★★★★★
3. With the breadth and depth of content in Encounters in the Savage Jungles one would expect quite a high rating on this, and so it should. Jeff and his writer colleagues, collectively created a diverse product. One with funny moments, horribly mean and evil moments, some nice new objects and items: please you have to check out Daddy, the intelligent magical dagger. Please. And even though this mixed bag of frogs and spittle excites us, we still can't get away from the fact that there was no risk taking with regard to the design. It's lush an all... but not 'exciting'. We believe you can go a long way in this industry with a winning personality, and Encounters in the Savage Jungles just doesn't quite hit top marks, this time. ★★★★☆
4. 100 Jungle Encounters. It's a random d100 table. Lots of effort and thought has gone into some of the encounter descriptions, they are hilarious and really creative. You seriously have to read them, download a copy now - it's $1. Our major hump with is that it follows simple path, which makes it very utilitarian, but not exciting. Sorry folks - it's good, but not as good as some of the other offerings. ★★★☆☆

The final round goes to...

Jungle Treks! It had to win one of these to be honest. It is an excellent example of fun, even if it hurts the eyes a little.

And the winner is?

That's it! We have rated 4 great products which can demonstrably add excitement and value to your Tomb of Annihilation campaign. But you came here to find out which one we think is top frog didn't you? Here are the final results:

In last place is 100 Jungle Encounters scoring a respectable 16 out of 20! 

The joint runners-up spot goes to both Encounters in the Jungles of Chult, and Jungle Treks scoring 16.5 out of 20. 

Top spot and winner of our Rumble in the Jungle is Encounters in the Savage Jungles with a final result of 17.5 out of 20! Weldone to all those involved in it's making and we look forward to your thoughts on our little round up. 

Disclaimer:

We love D&D. We adore creativity and focus on the language of surprise and awe. Sometimes we may seem overly critical of some writers work. It's not because 'we be hating', so please give us some credit. Pushing writers to grow and consider both the DMs and players perspective is what we live for. Yeah, we can be mean, it's easy to be critical. However we see the beauty in all your work and will continue to bring that to the surface too. Finally, all our links presented here on this page to the DMs Guild are spiked with our affiliate membership code. If you click though to the DMs Guild site from this blog, we own you forever. No! I mean we may see a few cents thrown our way for recommending a title or 2. Show us social media love. Don't troll.