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DDEX3-08 The Malady of Elventree (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/27/2017 06:59:00

Can be quite a fun adventure if run properly. Luckily you don't need to spend forever planning out maps because there are lots of visual descriptions that will help with theatre of the mind. I enjoy the way the setting moves out from Elventree and into the Wilderness, some subtle ways to roleplay throughout and some tight encounters to test those meddling adventurers with themed encounters from the Underdark. Not the most favoured of loot, but if you enjoy roleplaying then you could run this several times with different groups and find completely different outcomes.

Recommended !



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDEX3-08 The Malady of Elventree (5e)
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DDEX2-10 Cloaks and Shadows (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/27/2017 06:38:50

I enjoyed running this adventure for my group of fairly new players. But I do want to point out that I think they were just let down by the poor setting for a season based on "The elemental Evil". I think the writers had a cool idea for a city suspense witch hunt, and well to be fair, it really didn't matter what cult was being hunted at the end of the day it could have been to do with anything.

i.e. Something bad happening in town, insert "random/any" cult in here.

There are plenty of other choices and options they could have taken to make a more "elemental" story feel like an adventure. DDEX2-1 Mini Adventure 4, had a whole story waiting to be explored with Umberlee and underwater travel. I just failing to see what a city has to do with any of the four elements. I guess the writers would say Political Intrigue can solve and answer every story plot. But Mulmaster needs to be more than just a city, it should have areas around the city to explore. I mean what kind of elementists, practice their arts in a City ?!

All of that ranting aside. The adventure is actually fun, and can be well roleplayed by the players, so there's definately some opportunity to have a good session !



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
DDEX2-10 Cloaks and Shadows (5e)
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DDAL06-01 A Thousand Tiny Deaths (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/27/2017 06:31:41

I was quite looking forward to the module.

Hoping there would be some movement in story towards "The Yawning Portal" in Waterdeep and thinking that's what the season was geared towards, I was let down, because it was a straight up, mini dungeon crawl with a bunch of kobolds. It took quite a while to set up the adventure and had dynamics in traps and hidden tunnels, that could have been thought out a lot better. No inginuity for the cavern layout. I think they tried to just copy Lost Mines of Phandlever because that was popular and gave it a twist. Which really doesn't work.

I ran the game with new players, and by the end of it, I really hadn't enjoyed DMing it.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL06-01 A Thousand Tiny Deaths (5e)
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DDAL04-07 The Innocent (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/27/2017 06:24:15

You can make this module work if you can invest time into creating believable maps or are good at describing the environment of Barovia and filling the characters in who may be playing Season 4 for the first time, that indeed Barovian mists are slowly swallowing parts of Faerun into the Demiplane of Dread. Convey this plot narrative, and you should be okay to whittle through the romantic thriller storyline which works when over simplified, and the encounters that are fairly straight forward.

I ran the module on Roll20 and added some terrain effects to the maps to give a good impression of a harrowing swamp land. I used purchased marketplace content from Gabriel Pickard "swamps assets" and generally this was ample to convey a feeling of dispair. However, creepy music on the jukebox helps.

Fun story, and good encounters.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-07 The Innocent (5e)
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DDEX1-06 The Scroll Thief (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/14/2017 11:03:03

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.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDEX1-06 The Scroll Thief (5e)
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DDAL04‐06 The Ghost (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/08/2017 13:03:04

The actual maps included in the mod are terrible, so I always use Gabriel Pickards assets to create custom maps (to the exact scale to remain AL legal) so with my custom maps made the adventure was pretty damn cool !

Part 3 of the mod was probably my favourite, it was well written to round the whole module up as a pretty decent adventure.

Part 2 is the highlight with the all star NPC Jeny Greenteeth. So I guess you haven't played Season 4 until you've encountered this hag. For this reason the mod makes a really good one shot.

Part 1 is the bread and butter of all good mods. Some decent exploration, a good and challenging encounter and the chance at some to shine at roleplaying (albeit slightly boring elves, makes it more fun that they are trapped in Barovia) The overall module has a good general feeling of loss, and exploring an entertaining realm.

It's a four hour mod, that could be run in that time with the right players and DM. I also like the module because it touched base with what was happening before the events of Barovia. Which I feel is important for adventurers league characters to feel a part of the big picture.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04‐06 The Ghost (5e)
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DDAL04-05 The Seer (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/08/2017 12:23:40

If you can DM this with a little bit of humour involved then you should be alright.

My players really thought that this ended up like some emo goth vampire scene which was hilarious.

The story is well produced and characters quite fitting and fleshed out for the adventure. Previous modules where there has been an emphasis on NPC continuity have felt a bit forced I'll exclude Aya Glenmir and Jenny Greenteeth.

The combat in the adventure is fair enough. It fits and thematic so I really am not going to say anything bad about the encounters.

If the players felt inclined to really really flesh it out, then you could play in 3 or 4 hours. However I can understand a table who nails the mod in two hours.

Worth a purchase for a one shot.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-05 The Seer (5e)
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DDAL04-04 The Marionette (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/08/2017 12:10:31

This adventure was fun to DM. The players enjoyed it too.

Part One starts the game by moving the characters away from Orasnou and to help with some errands for local families. (Although there is an editing issue with Harpies being mentioned but not actually in an encounter/confused me/however I think its safe to add or ommit them) Unfortunately this error sort of ruined the first part which isn't good.

Part two of the game is fortunately well written and quite interesting, with some practical and involved roleplaying being developed. Well the part I like about this roleplaying encounter is that it gives the characters a good chance at using their flaws and personalities. (I've noticed many AL games to skim over roleplay scenarios with "good cop" "bad cop" scenarios)

Part three is cool. It would have been cooler had the previous module DDAL04-03 not been pretty much the same scenario with Lazso get some payback on Orasnou. This encounter however is probably better than the whole of DDAL04-03.

Part four is great as it portrays a pretty good set up for the rest of the season. It would in practicality however make the whole module a lot longer than 4 hours. If a DM ran this whole module in 4 hours for their players, I would feel bad for those playing that game.

Overall I enjoyed the game, however its slightly let down by the error at the beginning and the misadvertising of the length of the module. Really good season four module!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-04 The Marionette (5e)
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DDAL04-03 The Executioner (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/08/2017 11:36:24

Characters are set in Orasnou for this adventure. There are a couple of issues I dislike about the adventure as a whole experience for the table.

The hooks in this module are plot hooks into previous and further mods. Nothing beats a stand alone with cameos. This mod was not it was hook, line and sinker mid season story with some bad flowing narration.

And this in fact made the combat second rate. Because it was lackey and his minions scenario. (No gallows, no ghosts, no torture devices or grand executioner scene)

The module would have worked better if they simplified the mod and added a "cool random" encounter half way through. Overall it felt a little too forced to keep the seasons story of Misty Fortunes & Absent Hearts running in the right direction.

The Executioner could have been a dark horror about an actual executioner, and I guess that's where this fell down for me. Instead it was about NPCs trying to move the story along.

The magic item is alright for face characters. The encounters quite dull and the overall experience was nothing to remember.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-03 The Executioner (5e)
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DDAL05-16 Parnast Under Siege (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/07/2017 14:30:02

Ran this game on roll20 and not with a multi table format. Firstly, multi table formats can be fun if you have the facilities! They can also be interesting as a one table experience. Plus its all highlighted and well edited where certain goals and events kick in for multiple tables. Good.

The maps are varied, with enough space, hiding spaces, obstacles and exploration on each map to make the encounters entertaining. Good

The story leads from previous modules (unsuprisingly) and in my game with a player who had previous played Giant Diplomacy this made the game a little more interesting for the table. The characters were fairly solid, and the NPCs were simple to roleplay. Nothing extraordinary. I particulary enjoyed the Etting encounter as a DM. "Shake my hand and seal the deal?" "No you'll kill 'em" "Okay pinky promise!"Good.

The challenge rating scales on a pretty steep curve. Going from simple, average to outright near impossible on the final stage. My players cried out for healing potions near the end, so make sure they stock up well before hand. Four waves of a hoard assault is demanding on any party. However it was very close battle and had they had access to the herbalist or trading post (which they do not) then they would have reached the end. I felt sorry for them because they were on the last wave, two characters down, and so they left to claim the XP and leave the big prizes. Good & Refreshing

Item Rewards over difficulty, the item rewards are decent. We have a magic item which has a high value for trade at any table, wizards may miss out because of the luxury of the item that does not require attunement either. The party I DMd for didn't get the prize but they had a handful of XP. Very Good

Length is generally how much time the DM and table are willing to invest. Its rare I can run a good or very good game under the time slot. Roll20 gives me a bit of time to access but shops will struggle and may need to break this into two sessions. My session lasted around 7 hours in one sitting Eeeek Fun though

Lots of good comments by the players, they didn't feel too robbed and the difficulty will make each adventure all the more satisfying.

There are much easier modules to run for new DMs but if you feel you are an experienced AL Module DM.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL05-16 Parnast Under Siege (5e)
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/09/2016 17:18:05

If you want an adventure that is value for money, and can give a long introduction to level 1 characters entering Barovia then this adventure is for you. I am planning to run the whole of DDAL04 so I was happy with the product of the written module here.

I ran the game much over time than what was expected. DDAL0401 ran for around 5-6 weeks. I really enjoyed spinning out Faerun and happily letting my characters feel the Forgotten Realms until dumping them into Barovia which is so much different a twisted. I love the contrast this module can create.

If you are running a homebrew game I would still recommend this game and adjusting some of the encounters. Plan ahead and you should be fine to get ideas from the module. Its a really good price for anyone with the Curse of Strahd hardcover book that wants a better more refined entry for level 1-4 into Barovia.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
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DDAL04-02 The Beast (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Alexander W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/09/2016 17:09:36

I just finished running this adventure. I did this in two 3 hour sessions. The players really did enjoy the adventure and picked up everything that was "suggested" by their DM. I'd love to add spoilers to this review and talk about how all the players understood the story and at which parts suprised them, made them laugh and made them think. We haven't got to crying yet. But I am close, I am so very close !

Seriously, I enjoyed running the game, it seems well balanced for the characters, the story for a DM was fun to set up and the land of Barovia is chilling and great to imagine !



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-02 The Beast (5e)
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