This module has a good mix of role playing and combat. It also has a good mix of needing skiils. It directly involves several factions. The combat is challanging without going overboard.

As both a player and DM of this module i wholeheartedly recommend it as an opportunity to engage in pillars OTHER than strictly combat. Make no mistake - there is combat. But the memorable and unique personalities in this story give ample opportunity for a really fun and complex game.

The Scroll Thief is one of my favorite mods from the first season.

There is plenty of time for investigation, Roleplay and fights in the mod. It helps deliver a real sense of place for Phlan- you get to know the city a bit, and it reminds you that you live in a place with people and neighborhoods, not just a flat map.

I do recommend that you play with this with 5 or fewer players, as the time needed for investigation and RP can go long if there are too many folks wanting to go different directions.

One of the tricks I used was to print out a "flat map" of Phlan, an color in where the players lived, grew up (in two cases) and how they knew some of the NPCs already. It will draw your players into the adventure.

"The Scroll Thief" focusses mostly on investigation and role-play as the players attempt to tie together several recent thefts of books from around Phlan. There is a combat encounter in the mid-point and a series of accelerating time-sensitive encounters as they close in on the culprit, capped off by a interesting and challenge combat encounter with a monster not often seen at low levels.

This is an excellent adventure for players who like roleplay and mysteries. The first half of the adventure may leave those players who like only combat a little bored. In my opinion, this is a good thing. The story is compelling enough that this pushes these sorts of players to engage in, if not to embrace, roleplaying. As the later third of the adventure proceeds into a fast-paced series of combat encounters, the pacing is really excellent.

1st level characters are at risk for 1-shot kills during the final encounter, so DMs would be wise to telegraph the potential lethality through their descriptions leading into the encounter.

FIVE OUT OF FIVE. My favorite module. An honest to goodness MYSTERY. Rewards clever characters and players. Makes skill monkeys shine but still leaves plenty of good combat for the action oriented. The drop is highly sought after so there's always someone looking to go back and revisit this module. BUY IT NOW

This is my favorite module out of all the ones I've played, and very fun as a DM. There's a large variety of NPC personalities that are very fun to play as a DM/interact with as a player. A great mix of role playing and combat. I love that all the factions have a chance to get an extra renown from doing something related to their organization, not just one. A load of fun for players and DM's alike!

One note to DM's: I had a mixed level party that counted as a strong party, so I changed the shadows to specters. Be careful with mixed-level parties, as lower level adventurers can easily die from that life drain. Good to provide a challenge to a strong party, but a level one character won't stand much of a chance.

This remains one of my personal favorites from the first season of the AL. Whenever I have to run off the cuff at a convention or for an extra table at my FLGS, this is my go-to module. The NPCs are all unique and memorable, the plot is open-ended enough to give the players some freedom of exploration without making it very likely for them to go off the rails, and best of all, you get to fight a dragon! Can't recommend this one enough, major props to the author.

The Scroll Thief is a great mystery adventure set during the Tyranny of Dragons in Phlan. The adventure has some really great descriptive notes to set the tone and atmosphere of Phlan, with important leads around the book district, "Scholars Square" and an invite to one of the many inns to set the adventure rolling. This was quite interesting as it opens up an area to allow the imagination to roam the dusty streets and bazaars. There is a small encounter, which we played via theatre of mind, which worked great.

The adventure allows the DM to verve slightly off tracks because its quite easy to pick up the trail of what the characters need to achieve. Occasionally you may scratch your head wondering why the characters missed the next plot hook, but with so many different NPCs it shouldn't be difficult to steer them back on course.

My favourite part of the exploration was as the plot thickened with a murder of a scholar in Mantors Library. The talk with the head curator and scurrying off into the Archives. For whatever reason, I pictured this crystal clear in my minds eye, and from there on the adventure just continued to gather steam until the final encounter in the Twilight Marsh. There was one fatality at the end, bad luck on a roll and one very sneaky enemy. However this peaked the challenge rating, the player left in good spirit.

I'd recommend watching one of the uploaded streams on youtube first so you can understand any issues the module presents. Other than that, the module is well written, easy to decipher and plenty of decent combat and conversational pieces.

Our table enjoyed the game a lot.

Played as part of Quest of the Week.

Murder mystery meets dungeon crawl. Surprisingly well-scaled - I ran it with a 3-party 1st level group and they all survived (barely). A few of the underground encounters could have been omitted, but overall the pacing is good. A good quick Tier 1 that will leave the players happy.

This is the one that has it all - dungeons AND dragons.

This module has really well fleshed out and interesting NPCs. The social interaction and investigation is engaging. Running this the first time is definitely in my top 5 memorable D&D moments of all time. Players still talk about this one - remember to never stand in a line when charging a black dragon!

Builds extremely well off of the setup of the previous adventure, and it contributes to a vibrant understanding of Phlan as a city. Could be worth picking up and running just for being able to add the treasure as part of your DM rewards, but is an outstanding example of what great adventure writing can look like as well. Great pacing - gradual buildup leads to an explosive climax.

*This review is written from the standpoint of an Adventurers League game

*Review contains spoilers

Overview – When a series of unusual thefts occur around the Scholar’s Square in Phlan, the adventurers are hired to investigate. Surely there is nothing sinister about a few books being stolen, is there? The adventurers will discover that threats looming outside of Phlan are seeking the source of great power, long hidden beneath the city. And the key to that power may just lie in a few stolen books.

General thoughts – The Scroll Thief is a good combination of an investigation and dungeon crawl. The first section of the adventure will find the heroes looking into the three recent thefts, talking with the victims of the crimes, and trying to find any threads connecting them. Eventually, they’ll learn the identity of the thief, a recent hire at the library in Phlan, and follow his turbulent path to a final confrontation. The wealth of social interactions make this a great adventure for those wanting more than just combat, but the combat in the adventure is still fairly challenging. The NPCs are all well developed and varied, making for a very fun adventure to DM.

Combat – Focused in the second half of the adventure, there are a variety of interesting encounters, including a black dragon wyrmling.

Exploration – While the adventurers will almost certainly visit all three crime scenes, the ability to choose the order and backtrack if necessary gives it a little more of an open-ended feel.

Social – There are great social interactions, and thoughtful characters have the opportunity to be rewarded for their creativity. Not only do the characters need to interact successfully, but the players will have to be thoughtful and creative in order to pursue all the leads in the adventure. Players less inclined to role playing may need prompting or additional clues if they get stuck.

SUMMARY(SPOILERS): This is one of my all-time favorite modules for DnD Adventure's League. The players spend the first half of the module investigating the disappearance of several important but seemingly un-connected scrolls and tomes. There's a lot of role-playing involved in the first half of the module which allows players to get to know the city of Phlan, several recurring and important NPCs, and just have a good experience for players who are looking for something other than a hack and slash game.

The second half is a lot more combat as the players pursue the thief now turned murderer. They descend into a library's vaults which haven't been explored in quite a long time. After leaving the library via the sewer system the players get a chance to fight their first iconic enemy and to measure themselves against a true TPK encounter.

PROS: Lots of role-playing in the first half, good amount of memorable combat with creatures which have affects or must be handled in a specific way rather than just hacked down in the second half, memorable NPCs, the city of Phlan becomes real, and the magic item is sure to be wanted by someone in every party.

CONS: Time. As a DM I don't want to shorten this module at all or to railroad the party but without a bit of railroading this module could easily be stretched to 6 or 8 hours if you want to fully play out the role-playing encounters or allow players to explore the thefts themselves.

I'm surprised that no one has done a review of this module considering how long its been around and how often i've seen it played.

To start, The scroll thief is another one of the Tier 1 modules that has many mystery elements to it. In the early instance of the game your players are sent to investigate clues in a series of robberies across the town of Phlan. If your players follow the clues, this can lead them to a variety of individuals who seem to all be likely suspects. However as the story unravels you find that the veins of this investigation reveal much more being played in the background that gives insight into the much bigger picture of what is truly going on in phlan.

High notes:

• Learning more about the Dragon Cult
• Learning more about the citizens of Phlan and the establishments around town
• Cool fight at the end
• Great rewards for completing this adventure

-Downsides: None really :/