I've run this adventure with two groups of players -- one that's combat-oriented and one that's roleplay-oriented -- and both groups had a great time. The combat group had plenty of encounters to make them happy, while the roleplay group had opportunities for negotiation and deception. The roleplay group also had a couple of players who were intent on setting up particular traps around Old Parnast, which they were able to put to good use during the final battle. Creative players should be able to find aspects of the adventure suited to their skills, even if they have not been through other adventures in season 5.
Since this adventure is particularly reliant on preparation and anticipation, I recommend running it for experienced 4th-level players. Less-experienced players will probably need guidance in what kinds of training they can offer or what options they have early in the adventure, and low-level players may need coaching so they don't end up dead during the tough set of encounters at the end of the adventure.
With the combat-oriented party, we finished just within 4 hours. With the roleplay-oriented party, we took about 5 hours to finish.
The main problem I ran into with this adventure was with the missing stat blocks. Orc war chiefs, orc scouts, and orogs are all mentioned in the text or adjustment blocks but are not in the appendix. It would be nice if this could be fixed so DMs with a weak party won't need to haul out their MM in the middle of the adventure. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed running this adventure with both groups of players and am curious to see how a third group is going to tackle it.
|