29 June 2025

Sneak Preview for Return to Perinthos - a Fundraiser Tribute to Jennell Jaquays

On Friday, 27 June 2025, my copy of Return to Perinthos: A Memorial Dungeon for Jennell Jaquays arrived on my doorstep, the output from the Return to Perinthos: A Memorial Book Fundraiser in the Memory of Jennell Jaquays crowdfundr campaign. 


Return to Perinthos
cover art by Curious Friend


Jennell Jaquays portrait
artwork by Curious Friend


Jennell sadly passed away due to unexpected complications from Guillain–BarrĂ© syndrome in Dallas, Texas, on 10 January 2024, at the age of 67.  You can read her full obituary at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/dallas-tx/jennell-jaquays-11623534 

Return to Perinthos is a collection of one-, two-, and several-page dungeons put together by the gaming community as a fundraiser to help defray the costs of Jennell's medical care and funeral expenses.  

The most-recent project update from 18 June 2025 mentions, in part:


We'll be working on getting Return to Perinthos fully live on our web store, Itch.io, and DriveThruRPG, so we are able to sell the rest of the books ordered to benefit Trans Lifeline. We will be distributing the digital version to everyone via DriveThruRPG once we have this up as well, and I will send one last update this week or next, so you know to expect an email from DTRPG. Trans rights and health care are even under stronger attack than when we started this project, so I'm very happy that we can do our part now.


Here's a sneak preview for some of the full Table of Contents and some dungeons that caught my eye during my initial flip throughs thus far:


Return to Perinthos
Table of Contents - 1 of 3


Return to Perinthos
Table of Contents - 2 of 3


Return to Perinthos
Table of Contents - 3 of 3

Halls of the Honored Dead
two-page dungeon by amarquis


Halls of Virdian Mist 
two-page dungeon by Attronarch, map by IdleDoodler


Map to Allan Grohe's Roundabout Level
a five-page dungeon


I met Jennell and gamed with her several times at the North Texas RPG Con in Dallas each year, as both a player and a DM, and she graciously participated in an early panel on mega-dungeon design that we organized at NTX#2.  

We've also supported her works at Black Blade Publishing over the years, and miss her kindness, humor, and brilliance.  

Allan.