A Good Adventure Mired in Sloppy Execution

I agree with the majority of reviewers: this module has a lot of issues. The TL;DR of it is, this adventure has some interesting ideas that would make it a fun adventure, but the execution is very, very sloppy.

Some of my major concerns:

• The adventure can end very early if the party fails a skill check, and there's no explanation of what to do when and if that happens.
• The adventure provides lots of wonderful flavor for locations you barely interact with (Ayakar) and next to none for important locations (Myth Nantar). The geopolitics on the ground in Myth Nantar between the Sahuagin and Sea Elves is especially lacking in cohesive detail.
• The story is convoluted and unfocused - it pushes you to investigate a murder with no payoff for the players. Players' efforts on this front are literally deflected back to the original goal of finding the Librarian. It is a weird and confusing railroad situation.
• The final battle/getaway is entirely on rails - you cannot stop the BBEG's escape (which would take a long while based on the casting time of the getaway spell), which is fine, but it requires the DM to put in extra work to find ways of obfuscating said rails.
• The bonus objectives run way too fast (a common issue with these Season 8+ features in adventures). This adventure is a 4-6 hour adventure that, when broken down by its own timing, is 4.5 hours max with the two bonus objectives.
• The encounter where the PCs are accused is a wasted opportunity. The clues are ambiguous and a stretch to in any way clear the party. And no explanation is given as to why one of the clues is of any concern or would in any way exonerate the party.

That said, there are some cool ideas here. The murder mystery could be used to better explore and understand what is happening in Myth Nantar. The travel to Myth Nantar has some interesting elements (assuming the party can FIND Myth Nantar). I feel like there's an excellent adventure underneath a mess of confusion and half-formed/executed plot devices. More infuriating is that major plot elements could be expanded upon without timing issues, because there is 1.5 hours not even accounted for within the current itteration of the adventure.

A DM trying to run this as-written is going to have a disappointed table - it's one that will require a lot of work and re-envisioning to make it interesting and fun. I honestly feel like this was an early draft that was never properly vetted and honed into a final product. My hope is that the author, whose other work I enjoy and respect, will revisit this module and release an update, because it has five-star potential.

There is some great stuff in this resource for spicing up Waterdeep adventures and beyond. Perhaps underrated or overlooked is that the lore contained for these new friends or foes can easily be extracted by players to create characters with backgrounds firmly rooted in the Forgotten Realms. In essence, it has elements that expands on the SCAG. Highly recommend!

This is my favorite installment of the trilogy. The PCs must solve the mystery behind the maps, which leads to a solid climatic confrontation that the DM can really run with. Like the second installment, the optional content is fairly well done here, and it can dramatically influence the final scene when included. And unliked the former adventures, it actually stands pretty solidly alone without the context of the former installments in the trilogy. It's the best of the Season 8 T1 adventures.

The second installment of a trilogy, this adventure is a surprisingly good middle. It suffers in the intro from the cliffhanger of the first installment, which left the adventurers hanging before the treasure hunt had concluded. But it's manageable with some good old fashioned DM license. But once things get going, this is a well-crafted module that makes good use of the optional content. It flows well-enough into the main narrative that you don't miss it if it's left out but does not feel tacked on when included. This module is a mini-dungeon crawl in a crypt, and it's a solid challenge, bordering on deadly if they murder hobo it, for a Tier 1 party. A creative DM and party will be able to work social interactions into this adventure, giving the PCs plenty of chances to roleplay. Like the first adventure in this trilogy, it suffers from a rough ending that is a mini-cliffhanger. All said, it's a very solid effort and worth playing as a four-hour module.

The treasure hunt premise for this adventure, by itself, is good. Each stop has some interesting interactions that hit the three pillars of play (exploration, combat, and social interaction). But it ends on a cliffhanger that isn't very satisfying. I feel, with a little more narrative effort, this could have been avoided. The optional content is weak and not very interesting, and literally feels like artifical add-ons when used. Overall, this is an ok adventure that could been better with some work on the ending and optional objectives.

This module could have been interesting, but is hampered by poor execution. It feels like this was an outline that was shoehorned into the new module format for DDAL. It delves heavily into Forgotten Realms lore, and as written, is a messy ball of confusion for the DM to unravel. Often, I had to re-read sections of this module multiple times to get an inkly of what was being communicated by the author. The meat of the adventure is written in a non-linear way that necessitates that the DM needs to do a lot of prep work to make this module remotely interesting or coherent. Overall, this module (and to be fair, the subsequent entires in the trilogy as well) needs a ton of fine-tuning (that will never come) and feels like a half-baked effort. In the hands of a skilled DM, this can be a fun time travel romp, but it won't be an easy task for the DM.

This is a different, fun, and quirky adventure mod that is a great way to introduce a party to Waterdeep. I enjoyed leaning into the ever-present "narrator" NPC, and the mystery is a perfect set-up for a new party. It leaves plenty of room for the PCs to make decisions and play it out their way.

I've DMed and played through this one a handfull of times, and I want to like it. The first part is an investigation that just feels thrown together and unncessary. I appreciate the effort to try and add some RP/skills opportunities, but this wasn't executed very well. I'd rather it had been skipped to allow more time for the last part of the adventure, which has been forced to be rushed every time I've run or played it.

The second section is by far the strongest. It's a series of solid undersea combat affair. I personally would have changed out some of the monsters used (fire-based attacks underwater - really?!), but it's not bad all in all.

The last part could be great. An RP or a solid boss battle opportunity, there is just never enough time for it to be run effectively.

So to sum up - a decent adventure that can be quite good if a creative DM takes license to clean up the messy parts.

There's an opportunity for a good adventure here, but the execution just falls way flat. The boss battle is severely nerfed to the point of being laughable, and given what you fight, it shouldn't be. The other enconters leading up to it are also pretty breezy to get through. This is one of those modules where a DM has to hack into it, make their own changes, and it has great potential; run as is, it's a snoozer.

I've run this once, and I have mixed feelings about this module.

Like many AL mods, there are numerous errors (e.g., misspellings, extraneous words leftover from old edits, maps without labels, etc.). Equally frustrating, there are a number of instances where some boxed text description of the scene would be helpfu. Instead, you are given information you, as the DM, will have to cobble together into a coherent narrative; not ideal for one-hour adventures, which really should give the DM all the help they can get. So, be warned: you will really need to do your homework to sort through errors, missing info, typos to craft a coherent narrative for the players.

Looking at the actual story and game play, this one falls squarely into the typical introductory adventure mod. This is a series of vignettes loosely tied together (errands for your faction bosses), so if you didn't like 7-01 or any of the past season "01's", you probably won't be a fan.

All in all, I liked half of the content, which is par for the intro-mod-course for me.

Mild Spoilers

• The first adventure is focused around a simple puzzle, which I feel could have used some better description in places. Honestly, it ended up being a throw-away adventure of two quick combats and the puzzle. I will say, the temple of doom-ish aesthetic was cool - a few "ughs" and sour faces from the players.

• The second adventure is a diplomacy and combat-focused jaunt, and on the whole liked. The players have a chance to really get into trouble if they murder-hobo their way through it, but otherwise have a nice chance for some roleplay. The battle is actually a solid challenge, and my players had fun with it. There are elements regarding the journey to the fortress that are rough (so like I said, do your homework to clean it up), but all-in-all can be a highlight.

• The third adventure is a big roleplay opportunity, and it might be my favorite of them all if it wasn't limited to an hour. I won't spoil anything, but it was a ball for me and my players. Again, it was really only mired by time constraints, which forced me to skip a lot of content. I wish they'd allowed this one to be a two-hour mod and cut one of the weaker ones.

• The fourth adventure is a puzzle and combat-heavier adventure. It's solid. The puzzle actually challenged my players a little (and punished them for their struggles). The combats were fairly cut-and-paste, but provided some challenge if the DM is clever. Sadly, the final battle just did not work as the author intended. Environmental hazzards just didn't come into play as the players ended it all very quickly.

• The fifth adventure is one I want to like, but it has some issues. The first half is rough - it hinges on not getting into it with the shrine's inhabitants and trusting a disembodied voice of a god they may know nothing about. Again, as the DM, you'll have to really be on your toes to make it all work. The final battle was pretty good though - a real challenge if run right. Again, the environmental goodies just didn't factor in. But the players enjoyed it.

A couple of final recommendations:

• Adhere strongly to the average party level (and size written for: 5 players). The power scaling just doesn't really work very well, especially with larger parties. I think that may just be the challenge inherrent in one-hour adventures.
• Although the players have a chance to pick which adventures they do when, I recommend leaving the last two for last. Otherwise, the progression will feel anti-climatic if you are running all five at once.

Overall, these five mini-adventures are pretty good for what they are: an opporunity to introduce players to Port Nyanzaru and give them a small taste of what lies ahead. The overarching scenario connecting them all is good fodder for low level players and introduces some of the groups of foes they will encounter throughout the season. The second adventure especially stands out for the race mechanic - very well-done! My only hard criticism is the character level rating. Some have applauded it being for levels 1-4, but from experience it's pretty boring if you are playing a level 3 or 4 character. This was written with level 1-2 characters in mind, so as a DM I would strongly discourage running this for (very) strong parties. The challenge level just doesn't scale well.

This is easily the most epic of all the Tier 1 modules to-date, and not just because it can be run as a mini-epic. The way the Tier 1 modules worked out for this season, they beg to be run in succession, and this is a great capstone to the event. There's a lot here, and I mean a lot. The challenge for the DM is to be economical and adhere to the mantra, "You cannot do everything as written" with this adventure. For example, while the Spineripper Den is a solid sub-plot encounter, you have to leave it out unless you are running this as a multi-table mini-epic. There's just not enough time, and the rest of the story requires the PCs focus their attentions elsewhere. Everything should be focused on preparing for the big battle and protecting your charge.

The great things is these two plot threads alone will keep your party very busy and engaged. The mechanics are very well thought out and can be adjudicated fairly quickly whilst giving the DM and the PCs plenty of room to be creative and clever. It also creates great moments to tie back into previous Tier 1 modules, making the consequences from those adventures important and real for the table. It's really cool when you have a table who has played the previous content together - it ties a neat bow on things. As the DM, you may just need to give a gentle hint to think about how those previous modules might play a role in their current situation.

My biggest gripe, and that of many other DM's, is the townfolk attrition rules for the final battle waves. It really penalizes weak and very weak parties, and it becomes a non-issue for most strong and very strong parties. It also does not help that the instructions for adjudicating it (when you remove monsters, calculating whether the party did well enough or not) are not clearly written. It took me several readings and consulting with fellow DMs to firmly grasp it. I know most DMs just ignore this mechanic for both of these reasons.

I also have to say, in my experience it's pretty difficult for the average party to not have collected enough points to make the final wave battles extremely manageable. I recommend that DMs consider cutting back on the number of allowable skill checks (usually 2 per PC per day) based on party size and strength - large very strong and strong parties can easily collect a wealth of points, limiting the epic nature of the final battle with Bad Fruul. I have run this module twice, and in both cases my party easily weathered the final battle section.

So if you are well-prepared, approach this module with the mindset of being flexible and adjusting some of the mechanics on the fly, this can quickly become an AL highlight for your PCs. In my mind, that makes this one of my favorite Tier 1 modules to run - it's a true mini-sandbox and a big departure from your standard DDAL rails experience. It has earned a permanent spot in my AL DM toolkit.

I ran this when it premiered at 1d4 Con, and it's a really good module. It has some clever traps throughout, and is sprinkled with enough combat opportunities to keep things interesting for the more action oriented players. Depending on your table, this mod can easily run over two hours (about three hours for my table of four) given that it requires a lot of problem solving.

My only real quibble, which was echoed by a player or two at my table, was the final room. It's more steampunky feel just didn't fit with the Netheresean mottif that colored the rest of the adventure. So it just felt a bit out of place and not in keeping with the general mileau of the module. It was a cool room, but it just felt wedged into a bunch of rooms that had a very different vibe to them.

Otherwise, my table really liked this module. Makes for a great set-up for White Plume Mountain and the second Epic of the season.

Completely agree with Kurtis R's assessment of the class. Some great ideas and options, but plays out as a very overpowered class that lacks coherence. I've already seen it significantly bend and even break a number of home games, especially when a party has multiple Mystics.

This is a solid module to transition from The Sunless Citadel to Forge of Fury, and it would even work nicely as a standalone mini-dungeon cave crawl. It has some flaws, but they can be overcome by the DM easily enough.

Warning: Some some spoilers ahead!

A few quibbles:

1. The hidden kobold commoner snipers are a clever idea, but I almost feel like they were included for fear the module by itself would not fill two hours. I ran one instance out of combat, and it took quite a bit of time to adjudicate. I would highly recommend DMs think through how to quickly adjudicate this development when out of combat. Otherwise, I'd just add only use them in encounters as pseudo-lair actions when the warrens are on alert.
2. I suspect the location of the "Da Door Sealer" trap is at the DM's discretion, but that isn't clearly spelled out.
3. It would have been nice if the traps had been placed on the DM map.
4. It was unclear to me whether anything should happen to the PCs when they navigate the underbrush beyond their clothes being a little torn up.
5. Should the giant badger cover his friends' escape or flee as well? I went with the former, but ideally this should be spelled out a bit clearer.

These are all relatively minor issues that arose as I ran the module, but as I said, this is a pretty solid offering. It's an interesting juxtaposition to The Sunless Citadelwhere kobolds are concerned. It threw my PCs for a bit of a loop after the relatively civilized encounters they had with Meepo and company. The use of kobold inventors - very nice touch as well.