This is a great season module with the call backs to various modules. A new dm will need to give the players the options on what parts they want to handle first. And it is the players choice to end the module early. I would tell DMs who have the whole season to copy off the NPCS from other modules who appear here and let the players run them.

This module is simply too big for its time slot. It has roughly 50% more substantive combat encounters than it should--especially if you choose to also run its secret missions. Aggressive cutting--via calling encounters early and forcing players to make decisions--is absolutely required to keep it moving.

To speed things along, consider ignoring the "Crowd" feature and having the players start combat essentially at the door for the first combat. Similarly, consider dropping or reducing "fodder"-type enemies (veterans, hobgoblins, cult guard, &c) from later encounters to keep pace. You could also have Ellisande appear randomly, brutally kill a backline enemy, then run off just as quickly. Given her ultimate "mysterious, murderous waif" vibe, this could help build her up for future visits.

This, IMHO, is one of the better Tier 2's out there for Season 1. DMs running it should focus on making the time pressure papable. The NPCS are memorable (one returns in Season 2 with a dramatic character arc), and the final encounter is challenging tactically.

Very satisfying to play or run.

I enjoyed running this module a lot for the overall experience it had and the amount of depth and roleplay potential that goes into it. My only issue which I think is on my group more than the adventure is the focus on the Green Dragon. They felt they needed to try and directly and continuously involve the Green Dragon that really from the story was there more as a background piece than as a critical need. I dig this as the intro adventure for Phlan's true experiences with the cult and I enjoyed running it right after Hoard of the Dragonqueen.

The Pinnacle of AL Season 1

Tyranny In Phlan is as good as it gets for Adventurer's League Season 1. It's the module that encouraged me to run the entire season as a traditional campaign. After nine modules of build-up, it smartly ditches the traditional investigation phase, preferring to get straight to the action, offering significant changes to the state of the campaign world and meaningful opportunities for players to lead those changes.

The module is pure payoff for earlier modules, reusing characters and locations previously established to potentially great emotional impact. The individual encounters are well-written, and easily reshaped by GMs for different player groups. There's an epic scale here that the first season of Adventurer's League simply hasn't previously reached, even in the ostensibly epic "Corruption in Kryptgarden".

That said, it's not flawless. It suffers from the Adventurer's League format, being both internally constrained by its requirements to run in a short timeframe for essentially random groups of players, and externally constrained in that none of the previous AL adventures were written with this module in mind, and so few of its key concepts are foreshadowed, and none of its NPCs are as well developed as they could have been. The impact of certain NPC fates obviously has much less impact if players missed meeting those NPCs, haven't been given reason to care about them, or (in a worst case scenario) got them killed in a previous outing. The lack of any real support for the Phlan setting - no modern maps, no location guides, no detailed history - also makes this less than it could be.

On top of all that, it's a little inconclusive. The villain of the story isn't defeated here - and in fact isn't even defeated at the end of the season. The plot doesn't wrap up for another three years, and when it does, it takes place in an Epic module that's difficult to scale to standard tabletop groups. A great experience for players attending Adventurer's League in the day, perhaps, but frustrating for groups wanting to experience it at home.

Still, this is what D&D should be - memorable moments, epic stakes, real consequences. Enjoy.

This is a well-written mod. At first reading of the, I was able to envision everything in my head easily. The best thing about this adventure is the emotion; it allows for a lot of RP (from the DM, at least). I think it is a great mix of combat and RP, and fast-paced as well. I like the wild-card in the tree; she allows for an easy way to help out a struggling party.

I'm not familiar with the season 1 story, I picked this out as a one-off for my group, so I wasn't as connected or familiar with the NPCs, but I still was gut-punched by the fate of one of them. It made me want to run more of the season.

Great combat. Love a good city under seige module. There was a great variety of foes, and options for both stealth and talking their way out of things. Good for two of the pillars at least.

Excellent module, with tremendous plot movement for the season and some very difficult / involved combats. There are a lot of tie-ins to other modules from this season, so it would be best to have already played the previous modules. The combats are deep, several with high CR opponents, even a high-level spell caster. The DM needs to be prepared for this module to take quite a bit longer than the alotted four hours unless the group is both small and efficient.

great game, fun at tricky, the players are put on the max here, good storryline also

see ya

bjarne bremme (bager)

I love the continuity this season's storyline has with the modules. This seems to be the build up before the climax, and is equally as exciting.

This module does a great job of pulling together several cool NPCs from earlier modules in this season. So characters who have played thru the season as a campaign will really enjoy this one. But this will require a lot of extra prep if you haven't run the earlier modules and won't be nearly as satisifying. This module has secret missions for the Harpers and the Lords Alliance. I especially liked the Harpers secret mission because it showed that the Harpers aren't all goody-two-shoes and are able to do what is necessary to advance their interests. The final boss fight includes a shield guardian. You'll definitely want to carefully review how shield guardians work. Per the AL admins, the shield guardian is not available as treasure despite being present. But if you are running this in a home brew campaign, getting the shield guardian and amulet could be really cool.

Howdy to you ADVENTURERS!!! Tyranny in Phlan was great! A HIGHLY DRAMATIC scene opens upon a tavern of great repute! There is drama, delight, and some sadness. Those familiar with the season one plot line will have a tear jerk. While the draw of a secret mission MOD is strong Other rewards are great. I've been player and DM for this. My advice (the worst vice is advice hehe) is not to be afraid to scale for a very strong party compostion. A group with significant AoE can decimate encounters. I liked most about this MOD, that it presented many options for characters to accomplish and many plot twists to make them think twice about the directions they wanted to go. Kept us second guessing and fun was had by all!! pick it up!!! ALL THE ADVENTURE!!!! xVxORIONxVx

I believe this to be my favorite AL adventure that I've run or played; admittedly, that's a relatively small sample size but for me it ranks easily with "Defiance in Phlan" and "The Marionette."

I really love that this adventure is so bold as to change the underlying premise of the rest of the season. "Tyranny" is a keystone in melding the convenience of drop-in play with the engagement of campaign play. It doesn't matter in what order you play the prior adventures of Season 1, and it doesn't really matter in what order you play the other Tier 2 adventures of Season 1. The presence of so many recurring NPCs provides an easter-egg pleasure for consistent players as well as the opportunity for resonant DM character arcs for a tightly-knit table of players. As such, "Tyranny" provides a trophy of an experience for the first adventure Level 5 characters play; and a thrill of anticipation for the upcoming adventures.

It is true that there is more setup here than in other AL titles; one danger for DMs is in luxuriating too much in the "cut scenes" (if I'm using videogame terminology correctly) that propel the party from one encounter to the next. However, my worry about getting out the relatively-lengthy boxed text in a concise period of time lent an appropriate urgency to the narration.

This module rewards prep time spent by the DM; reviewing notes on the recurring NPCs, checking stat blocks for special abilities such as flight; referencing spell lists to understand the deadliness and use of spellcasters. For example, in between the two times I've run this module, I reviewed the rules of the spell "death ward" and it made the relevant encounter memorable in a welcome-to-the-big-leagues kind of way.

As other reviewers have said, this module has a lot of backstory involved. It's best if your players have done a lot of the earlier modules so they know the characters involved. I had a group who hadn't done any previous missions and they were totally creaped out by Elisandre and her blind goat.

This module is intrigue light and combat heavy so if that's how your players are tweaked they'll probably enjoy it quite a bit.

This was a good sandbox adventure with lots of plot. I like how much control the players had over important events in the game, and I love that they brought back some past favorite NPCs. This was the first adventure I encountered that gave much such detailed stratagy as to how the baddies would react to various situations. It was both helpful, yet a bit limiting, too, as those stragagies got them killed a bit faster. lol

With so much going on I really appreciated that the writers broke this up into 5 sections. Bite sized pieces if you will.