In 2025 I’m reviewing zungeon zines. They’re stream of consciousness and unedited critiques, just like Bathtub Reviews, but they’ll be a little briefer. The goal here is a little different: I want to spotlight what a craft-based, just-do-it approach to module writing can do.

Council of Invisible Eagles is a 3 page dungeon for Old School Essentials by Matheus Gran. Gran has been an active member of the Advanced Fantasy Dungeons community for some time, and completed a SLIMDNGN translation to Portuguese, but as usual, it won’t affect my review. In it, you explore the corrupted lair of the Eagle Monarch. It’s also available in Portuguese.

This is a simple 6 room dungeon, but Gran adds some flourishes that make it really sing. The Eagle Monarch has a tangible, but recognisably bestial goal, that make it easy to imagine how it can be implemented into your campaign (it wants kill all rodents as a way to ascend to godhood). There’s a nice d3 table of random encounters, which is the right number for a small dungeon. The smell makes it impossible to rest in one empty room — lovely touch. The map is lovely and visual by O Elefante. Lots of funny touches too — why aren’t these particular eagles invisible? The monarch just likes looking at them. The Harpies have their own horde, hidden from the Eagle King. The invisibility is caused by spores the King harvests — which can be co-opted by the players.

All of these show that Gran knows what makes a module tick. How to make something small and simple, interesting to dungeon play. It’s interactive. It’s fun. I’d prefer a little more personality provided to each of the factions — what do the eagles want, how does the Eagle King want, why are the Harpies both on his side and acting independently? But overall, this will give you a solid night of fun play, and it’s designed to drop straight into your campaign. Neat stuff.

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