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CCC-NBDD01-01 Clever
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/18/2020 19:22:28

Love the premise and the end reveal is something that can be a lot of fun. I totally hammed up the "villain monologue" moment, did the whole Dr Evil style reveal where the boss was petting a white guard drake, fondly named Snowball. Made several adjustments. Reduced gladiators to other humanoids around CR3, but maxing HP for them. For the gang in the alley, I did martial art adepts (dragonborn) with reflavored descriptions of the adepts unarmed effects to give them a street tough flavor. I also added in a kobold master thief that was initially hiding in the back of the alley. For the package delivery, I made the mage an enchanter, used a tortle druid instead of the standard druid, exchanged some deinonychus for dilophosaurs and the allosaurus for a pachycephalosaurus (see Beasts of the Jungle Rot for those other stats, and yes, AL legal product). For the boss, I upgraded to a giganotosaurus (Jungle Rot again), and made his lieutenant a dragonborn gladiator in the room with him and Snowball. I didn't bring in the minor dino waves for this fight and it was plenty challenging.

Overall great theme and my players had a fun time. Really works well if you're still doing other Chult adventures like I was with this group.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
CCC-NBDD01-01 Clever
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for your review and for playing! Those are some great adjustments; I especially like Snowball. I'm glad to hear your players had fun!
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Weapons Expanded Vol. 1
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/28/2018 00:33:05

While the idea of making weapon choice stand out more is a good one, this product falls flat in execution of that idea. It confounds the game by adding a large number of new weapon properties that are part rip-off of class abilties and feats that already exist, and part duplication of weapon effects already in the core rules but turned into weapon properties, with just a dash of hot mess thrown in. The specialization mechanic is poorly implemented as another front-loaded class feature at level 3 making multi-class dips even more enticing, almost necessary, than they already are. The author even neuters rogues entirely below level 3 with this system, making finesse a specialization property which denies sneak attack to melee rogues at the point and with only 2 specializations, such rogues pretty much have to put it all into rapiers, dagger, or shortswords to be effective - a complete illusion of choice.

After reading through this, I don't even care what kind of new gear they cooked up in Volume 2. It's not going to be enough to save this abysmal attempt that forms the basis for the new stuff.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
Weapons Expanded Vol. 1
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Hello there, thanks for the review, and allow me to express my apologies that you did not find it up to your standards. I understand that it adds a new layer of complexity, but given the simplicity of the system, especially on this area, I personally judged that a bit more of complexity would not be such a hindrance. This is a matter of taste, and you clearly disagree with the thoughts I put behind this, it is understandable and unfortunate. I am not sure what "duplications" you entail, but you later commments leads me to believe you are unsatisfied with what effectivelly was a nerf to finesse. To which I'd adress that finesse grants a ridiculous boon to the valor of dexterity, after all, not only does dexterity decreases your chance to be hit, but you can also use it offensivelly with different weapons? So this small set of rules tries to cut it back a bit. As far as rogues are concerned, I find that they tend to spend most of the time sticking to 2 different finesse weapons, and maybe a bow if they don't like using daggers(I'm yet to see a rogue who doesn't just use rapiers, daggers or small swords, all weapons that have bonuses to them, besides just finesse). As for options, being able to specialize in 1 weapon with finesse, and another with different properties if they'd like to have more variety to them, unless they'd rather just specialize in 2 weapons with finesse, or they could be more ranged oriented and specialize on those, specialize on short crossbow, stick to a place and enjoy advantadge by not moving, or maybe be risky with a shortbow and keep trying to go for the critical sneak attack, or even specialize in one ranged and one melee for finesse. They indeed have an issue at level 1 and 2 and would require ranged weapons to enjoy the benefits of sneak attack. This is a problem, I'll acnkowledge that point. But those are also levels which most games skip, unless said games are actually introductory to new players, which should not be using variant rules. But I'll recognize that, if I expand or revisit this matter, this problem should be adressed. The options are there, if you do not find them enjoyable, I apologize that you are not satisfied with the content, and suggest that you change it so finesse is a free atribute, if you believe this would improve the effect that this ruleset would have on your table, all finesse weapons have other specialization properties after all. Like anything tabletop, feel free to make any alterations necessary to further enjoy this. There are similarities between two properties and two feats. Charging from lance and the charger feat, the first one is considerably weaker than the feat, and the feat allows you to use it with any weapon; and opportunistic property and the second part of the polearm master feat, I gave the property to weapons that would actually be used to attack enemies that came within range (so no glaive or quarterstaff), and you still do not get the benefit of the second attack. You could say I made this second feat pointless, and you'd be somewhat right, but I'd criticize it for limiting weapon functionality for the sake of it being a feat. I could go more into it, but it's in both our interests to keep this as brief as possible. There are some non-attack actions that you can do in combat, and I have used the specialization mechanic to add them to some weapons that can use the action as part of the weapon attack, that is true, if you think that is unappealing, well, I apologize then. As for multi-classing, it's always important to remember that multi-classing is a variant rule to 5E, so overall design for the system should not be based around it. Alas, I did consider it. Pushing specializations as something pertaining to level 3 rather than 1 as to discourage it, as taking a "3 level dip" is quite the hefty price, if you're following that particular variant rule. Then again, since this is a variant rule and the system itself was not designed around variations, and as a result, caused that one issue for level 1 and 2 rogues, clearly I should not have taken multi-classing into account. But even if I didn't, your critic about multi-classing would just be that much harsher. All in all, I AM terribly sorry you have not enjoyed this, but I hope I have somewhat made you understand the thoughts that went into this, and can only hope you'd reconsider the harshness of your review, and if not, I can do nothing but strive to do better.
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Hello there, thanks for the review, and allow me to express my apologies that you did not find it up to your standards. I understand that it adds a new layer of complexity, but given the simplicity of the system, especially on this area, I personally judged that a bit more of complexity would not be such a hindrance. This is a matter of taste, and you clearly disagree with the thoughts I put behind this, it is understandable and unfortunate. I am not sure what "duplications" you entail, but you later commments leads me to believe you are unsatisfied with what effectivelly was a nerf to finesse. To which I'd adress that finesse grants a ridiculous boon to the valor of dexterity, after all, not only does dexterity decreases your chance to be hit, but you can also use it offensivelly with different weapons? So this small set of rules tries to cut it back a bit. As far as rogues are concerned, I find that they tend to spend most of the time sticking to 2 different finesse weapons, and maybe a bow if they don't like using daggers(I'm yet to see a rogue who doesn't just use rapiers, daggers or small swords, all weapons that have bonuses to them, besides just finesse). As for options, being able to specialize in 1 weapon with finesse, and another with different properties if they'd like to have more variety to them, unless they'd rather just specialize in 2 weapons with finesse, or they could be more ranged oriented and specialize on those, specialize on short crossbow, stick to a place and enjoy advantadge by not moving, or maybe be risky with a shortbow and keep trying to go for the critical sneak attack, or even specialize in one ranged and one melee for finesse. They indeed have an issue at level 1 and 2 and would require ranged weapons to enjoy the benefits of sneak attack. This is a problem, I'll acnkowledge that point. But those are also levels which most games skip, unless said games are actually introductory to new players, which should not be using variant rules. But I'll recognize that, if I expand or revisit this matter, this problem should be adressed. The options are there, if you do not find them enjoyable, I apologize that you are not satisfied with the content, and suggest that you change it so finesse is a free atribute, if you believe this would improve the effect that this ruleset would have on your table, all finesse weapons have other specialization properties after all. Like anything tabletop, feel free to make any alterations necessary to further enjoy this. There are similarities between two properties and two feats. Charging from lance and the charger feat, the first one is considerably weaker than the feat, and the feat allows you to use it with any weapon; and opportunistic property and the second part of the polearm master feat, I gave the property to weapons that would actually be used to attack enemies that came within range (so no glaive or quarterstaff), and you still do not get the benefit of the second attack. You could say I made this second feat pointless, and you'd be somewhat right, but I'd criticize it for limiting weapon functionality for the sake of it being a feat. I could go more into it, but it's in both our interests to keep this as brief as possible. There are some non-attack actions that you can do in combat, and I have used the specialization mechanic to add them to some weapons that can use the action as part of the weapon attack, that is true, if you think that is unappealing, well, I apologize then. All in all, I AM terribly sorry you have not enjoyed this, but I hope I have somewhat made you understand the thoughts that went into this, and can only hope you'd reconsider the harshness of your review, and if not, I can do nothing but strive to do better. EDIT: Tell you what my friend, you're absolutely right about the rogue problems, and I really should not have tried to appease to something like multi-classing, I have an easy solution to it, feel free to recheck the announcement on the product page and the pdf.
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Map Pack: DDAL 7-02 Over the Edge (Complete)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/31/2018 17:58:33

Great maps. Easy to setup for Roll20 following Gail's instructions. I always here players commenting at how nice the maps look and I think they really add to the VTT experience.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Map Pack: DDAL 7-02 Over the Edge (Complete)
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DDAL 7-01: Maps - A City on the Edge: Missions 1 - 5
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/31/2018 17:56:05

Top notch maps. The full color is great. The details included really add something to playing on VTT. The cherry on top: Gail leaves simple, yet effective instructions for sizing them quickly on Roll20. I really can't recommend these enough.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL 7-01: Maps - A City on the Edge: Missions 1 - 5
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DDAL05-18 The Mysterious Isle (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/21/2017 17:13:04

Felt like a decent introduction to tier 4, aka we can ROFLstomp things. The adventure mostly uses monsters of really low CR given this is for characters of level 17+. It's made more interesting by being underwater, which will likely hamper most weapon users, and the choice of monsters that get advantage on attack rolls once characters are below max HP. However, with water breathing readily given out, spellcasters will destroy those monsters with little effort. To increase the challenge, I gave every monster maximum hitpoints for its hit dice so that combats would last a few rounds.

My bigger disappointment doesn't lie as much with the author, though they could have adjusted things. The boss monster chosen is a CR17, but it's nothing more than a sack of HP and big attacks. Spellcasters shut it down quickly. For a creature like this, WotC should have given it legendary actions and saves, something the author could have added to it as has been done in other AL modules.

Overall, a good first look at world-changing power wielded by players and letting them be the badasses they are at this tier.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-18 The Mysterious Isle (5e)
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DDAL05-15 Reclamation (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/11/2017 16:51:23

Very similar encounter design problems as DDAL5-14 Reeducation. Lots of relatively low CR monsters that can't meaningfully affect PCs and get steamrolled. Again, I did quite a few thematic substitutions to up the challenge. Additionally, I feel like the changing demiplane used in most of the adventure could have been better utilized to create interesting environmental factors or traps in the encounters, but everything was just bare stone rooms - boooooorrinnnng.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-15 Reclamation (5e)
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DDAL05-14 Reeducation (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/11/2017 16:48:00

Most of the encounters involve lots of monsters with CR that are too low in comparison to the target APL. PCs walk all over the monsters because of this. I went through extensive thematic substitutions to really bring a challenge to my players (ended up with 5 level 16 PCs on my version of very strong). They said they felt challenged and a little scared, with one person dying at one point.

I also think the map size is not ideal in some respects. The hallways should be at least 10 ft wide to help avoid excessive bottleneck tactics and the Lab room should probably be 10-15ft more in each dimension because of the number of combatants.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-14 Reeducation (5e)
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DDAL05-01 Treasure of the Broken Hoard (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/11/2017 16:45:51

Perfect series of short adventures for getting into a new season or for breaking in new players to D&D. There are great comedic moments with the miniature giant, the galeb duhr stuck in the pyramid, and even the notes left behind by giants that looted ahead of the players. The adventures quickly showcase different kinds of monsters and highlight various tactics - multiattacking beasts, swarm-fighting things like kobolds, exploding enemies like magmin or mephits. Finally, it sets the tone of the season and hardcover (SKT) in the 5th of the mini-adventures as the players come face to face with a powerful giant and get some background information.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-01 Treasure of the Broken Hoard (5e)
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DDAL05-03 Uninvited Guests (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/11/2017 16:35:42

Great follow up to Black Road, but with hooks for players that didn't play DDAL5-02. Player choices and dice outcomes have an effect as the module progresses. The author did a great job anticipating the major branching the story could take. NPCs are well fleshed out and players get a chance to start getting invested in the tier 1 setting of Parnast. Throughout the adventure, there are few great NPCs to use for comedic effect and RP opportunity - the local boy, the fey prince, the satyr drunkard. The final encounter makes great use of environmental effects and plays on the heroic ideal of coming to the rescue, creating tough choices for players and increasing the combat challenge without making the monsters tougher.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-03 Uninvited Guests (5e)
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DDAL05-02 The Black Road (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/11/2017 16:20:28

Solid tier 1 adventure. For a target of 2 hours, I felt that this adventure did a great job of having a hook, the middle, and a conclusion; it felt very well encapsulated for a stand alone. The author did a great job anticipating player choices, giving the ability to handle some encounters in different ways and then had potential repercussions to follow up on some of those actions. The sand storm was a great player decision point as they needed to figure out what would be best save from the caravan and how to accomplish that. Incredibly good starter adventure for season 5.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-02 The Black Road (5e)
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DDAL05-17 Hartkiller's Horn (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/11/2017 02:19:13

Sets out for a very epic feel to the story, and in some ways succeeds. The box text prose is very well done, painting great imagery in every scene. It pulls in some incredible lore to tell a story, but the story isn't about the player characters and their actions. This kind of writing is not well suited to a D&D adventure. Players need to be center stage and the story should be theirs.

You find a reborn demi-god of the giants that came back from the afterlife. Very cool, even if some characters may not like his ideas of a kingdom of giants ruling the world and treating smallfolk as children to be protected. Where this has a problem is in hooking the players to begin with - go check out those strange noises in the mountains even though the evil giant lord just came and laid out a challenge to the Lord of the Vale before he completely destroys the town. Facing that situation, most heroes would be trying to help evacuate villagers or finding some way to accept the challenge and defeat the giant lord, not go wandering in the mountains.

Many groups will face the Beast of Talos, the stronger but more dangerous option for helping Hartkiller. The Beast is very deadly - a remorhaz with half-dragon template, a behir's constrict for stronger parties, legendary and lair actions, legendary resistance, and the ability to go second in combat if it doesn't go first. It will wreck parties without too much effort from the DM, so put them on the ropes, but expect you may have to ease up.

Finally, the party returns, probably with Hartkiller in tow and the challenge between Hartkiller and Ryndolg begins. As written, the players really can't effect this, instead getting a pathetically weak encounter as some giants from the horde try to take advantage of the situation. It's weak because it's a single giant with a hobgoblin devastator after a long rest. That's right, fully charged player characters against 2 enemies. Most parties will have the action economy to just overwhelm this fight really quickly. Want to make things more interesting and more tied in to the rest of the season's tier 2 storyline? Keep reading for what I did.

First, set up a very deadly encounter - multiple giants, icespire ogres, couple of the hobgoblin wizards (I'm going back to re-work mine). Next, I used Parnast Under Siege as inspiration to pull in various groups from the other tier 2 mods this season and used them as end of round effects determined randomly to show how the pitched battle was bleeding over into their skirmish. Adbar dwarves fire a volley of crossbows doing damage to all enemies. A Bloodrider comes charging through doing damage to a random enemy and knocking it prone. Some Frontier Scouts harry the enemies, giving the players advantage on their first attack in the next round. An Alabaster Guard jumps in front granting players resistance to the first damage they take in the next round. I narrated things happening in the duel and other skirmishes with giants and Vale troops while the players took care of theirs. When that was done, I ready the concluding prose and wrapped up the adventure.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-17 Hartkiller's Horn (5e)
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DDAL05-04 In Dire Need (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/10/2017 18:53:07

This adventure is great for showing parties that they can't always go in spells blazing and swords swinging. They are pressed for time to rescue besieged dwarves and find themselves facing off with several dozen ogres. Realizing those odds, players start getting pretty creative about accomplishing the rescue mission that gets complicated with also trying to get out with a large stone tablet of useful information about runic magic. It's just sandboxy enough to let players stretch their creative legs but keeps them focused on an objective where time is not on their side.

The only downside I find is the magic item. Basically a repeat from a previous season with some not-quite-5e-rules changes that technically combines two items into one without changing rarity. Some people are going to like it, but probably only because it's magical armor.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-04 In Dire Need (5e)
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DDAL05-05 A Dish Best Served Cold (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/10/2017 18:37:31

Great adventure that has a little investigating, probably some negotiating, encounters with entertaining aspects, and a story of betrayal and a lust for revenge (the titular dish served cold...). It establishes some of the tense relations around Stagwick between smallfolk and giants with potential war, and divided attitudes among the smallfolk with the self-appointed borderguards that don't really want to listen to the king. It's unfortunate that the rest of the season doesn't do anything to follow up on the story awards from this adventure or the general situations presented.

As a 2 hour module, it includes a few "random" encounters for DMs to pick from as the party travels. The ettin one can be played up for lots of comedic value, and the treant one is another opportunity for face characters to really shine. In all of these, there's a nearby river that's slightly magical and makes for some fun tactics and entertaining situations.

The magic item is highly desirable by pretty much everybody, increasing the ease of replay for this adventure. You will rarely be short players because of the interest in the item.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-05 A Dish Best Served Cold (5e)
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DDAL05-07 Chelimber's Descent (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/10/2017 15:44:28

I've read and heard many complaints about this module, but for me, those seem to be based in players being out of their comfort zone and not getting to just fight things. I think that was a good choice for this adventure, especially as a tier 1. Very early on if players are going through the season storyline, they have a few hours of thinking and reasoning instead of just hack'n'slash. There was some fun religious lore for magic & elemental deities that players could learn about and the shrines rewarded players for being respectful of deities instead of just looting the place.

For the second level, the riddles were a bit tough. DMs have to try and make sure that players fully understand the elemental relationships and see the tablet handout for when they first get to level 2. Otherwise, they are pretty handicapped with figuring out the puzzles to safely pass through the doorways. Though the doorways are not very dangerous, and I would consider increasing the damage they do for incorrect phrases to make them an actual challenge. Players will likely need hints that the room they are in is just as important as the color of wall they are trying to get through. To that end, the authors should use better descriptions for the fire and air rooms to make it obvious which element they are related to instead of nearly identical descriptions.

The undead encounter is fitting and can have a few moments of RP until it becomes obvious that the players can't succeed in their mission without dealing with the incalcitrant Librarian. I did play around with ghasts/ghouls as a substitute in this encounter for a more Donner party-esque feel to the monsters' reasons for being there.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-07 Chelimber's Descent (5e)
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DDAL05-06 Beneath the Fetid Chelimber (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Peter W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/10/2017 15:28:17

Pretty well put together. The monster choices make some sense, but other options could be better and I'll outline further down what I did for a Deja Vu run that had several players that had previously done the adventure. The hook is a bit weak and doesn't link to the rest of the tier story very well, but you have a fight, meet a fun NPC and find clues to go further, resolve travel in a swamp, then explore a large island and fight off its current residents. The island does have the potential to get painful for a party very fast as the monsters can all be drawn to loud noises pretty quickly. This should definitely be run immediately with its companion DDAL5-07 for a better play experience. I don't think they should ever have been seperated to begin with and should have been a single adventure together.

The swamp travel is ridiculously easy with what's provided in the adventure. The author pretty much handed the players advantage and a +5 bonus to the roll, virtually guaranteeing no chance of failure. Having the map is what should allow them to proceed, not grant advantage. Feetor is a very fun fella, but +5 on a check is huge! I would rather he give +2 at most or no help at all, just having the rolling character make a save against his stench after having him so close "helping" as they travel.

Some suggested change ups for the monsters: 1) Change the weird for something else grabby-pull-you-underwater. I settled on a chuul, but crocodiles or giant octopuses could easily work as well, possibly with half-dragon template applied to help make up the CR difference.

2) I found bullywugs and giant toads to be a fun switch for Mama and her boys. I applied bullywug adjustments to the thug NPCs for the boys and to the druid NPC for Mama. Probably not quite as damaging as half-ogres, but plenty of fun and made a lot of sense in a swamp setting.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-06 Beneath the Fetid Chelimber (5e)
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