JP Coovert's Dragon Town Box Set is as Stunning as They Come

Deep under the charming village of Dragon Town, an evil, long forgotten, seems to be stirring anew. Residents of Dragon Town are mostly halfling farmers, whose magical apples bestow wonderful, helpful effects when you eat them. The Mayor of the town is a benevolent dragon, who lives in the ruins of the old castle. But now the mayor is missing, and strange monsters roam the streets at night.


Dragon Town and the Darkness Below, created by JP Coovert, is a rules-agnostic set of adventures for whatever TRPG you want to run it in. I'll get into the box set in a second, but first an introduction to the creator.

JP Coovert is a cartoonist and YouTuber, as well as a game designer. His soft-spoken, encouraging nature comes across in his videos, teaching how to unlock your visual imagination and bring it to your tabletop roleplaying game. He draws his adventures, explaining what he's creating, but also the why behind each choice. Learn how to draw monsters. Draw heroes. Draw maps of dungeons.

If Bob Ross and Mr. Rogers had a kid who played TRPGs, it would be JP Coovert.

His art is simple, direct, cartoony and whimsical. And his world building fits that aesthetic. For example, this one-page adventure flips the old D&D level-one trope of being hired to clear out rats from a cellar.

The adventures he draws on his YouTube channel he publishes and distributes through his Patreon rewards and on his online shop.

Dragon Town and the Darkness Below is a collection of his zines and associated adventures and maps, collected into a handsome volume with cloth binding and a bookmark ribbon. The deluxe box-set is that volume, plus maps, additional adventures, item cards, dice, tokens and more.

Opening the box, I was immediately struck by just how good the manufacture quality is here. The box, covered in beautiful illustration, is made so well and everything fits inside--with a blue ribbon to lift the perfectly snug contents. Delightful!

Under the book is a wrapped stack of postcard adventures and stat sheets for converting the agnostic monster descriptions to D&D5e or Nimble. And also a handful of one page oneshot adventures. Conversion for Shadowdark RPG is supposed to be coming REAL SOON, sold separately, because it won't be merely a table, it's a whole thing, with new monster illustrations and full statblocks.

I can't wait, so I'll be doing some kind of back of the envelope conversion for Shadowdark. At least in the short-term.

I think the whimsical style of the adventure will make an interesting mix with Shadowdark's deadly nature.

Then we get to the bounty of 20 full maps, a deck of 52 illustrated magic item cards, an adorable half-height GM screen, a themed dice bag and dice and 2 metal coins. This is so cool, and really fills out the whole package.

The whole package is REALLY a lot for $120, and it's all top-quality manufacture. Talk about an all-in whale package, but this isn't thousands, it's just over a hundred. And yes, it includes a PDF copy.

I'll have more to say after I run some of this, but the adventure feels like just the kind of thing I want to run... cute and deadly. Dark, whimsical fantasy.

Have fun!