I was, at first, a little worried that this adventure might be too similar to one of the missions from DDAL07-01 A City on the Edge. Thankfully I was wrong - we all had a blast! Part 1 seemed a little awkward - my players didn't jump in to the opportunity to gather information from the crowds without a little nudge, and weren't particularly interested in betting on the early race.

The race, however, was really engaging and fun for all of us. I made a cheat shett with all the important info to help me keep track of each leg of the race, which helped me keep the action moving. On the surface it was similar to the dino race in the intro adventure, but there was a nice variety in mounts and challenges to keep it fresh, and to give every PC a chance to shine. The adventure concluded with an unexpected battle against undead dinos (how cool is that!), and another clue to the sub-plots threatening Port Nyanzaru and Chult.

This was a fun and fast-paced adventure - one of the few that I actually got my group though in pretty close to the recommended time of 2 hours.

Another 5-part "intro" adventure to familiarize players with the new season/setting, introduce key faction contacts, and help new players learn and enjoy DnD. I enjoyed taking a little extra time to describe the exotic locations and peoples that are part of the season 7 storyline - it is a bit different from most of the prior seasons and pulls the characters deeper into the story. With the other season intro adventures I was comfortable pretty much just diving into the action, but this one felt like it deserved more flavor.

The five missions included a nice variety of tasks and styles. A mini dungeon crawl with some traps, a skill-based competition (cool idea - nice to chellenge with something other than combat) and pit fight, a brief foray into the dangerous wilds of Chult (providing a preview of things to come in the hardcover and other season adventures), a jaunt through puzzles and traps (note there are some inconsistencies between the text and the map for Mission 4) to deal with an undead menace, and finally a double-cross leading to the discovery of and confrontation with the yuan-ti bad guys.

I enjoyed this more than the other season intro adventures. The players were able to satisfactorily complete the missions and uncover one of the plots against Port Nyanzaru. I really appreciated the "Tricks of the Trade" suggestions on roleplaying various NPCs - these helped me add variety and flavor to the story without needing to spend a lot of prep time. This increased the roleplaying and interaction - don't try to limit the missions to 1 hour each if you don't have to.

This is a good fast-paced, linear dungeon crawl. It can be a bit challenging for the DM to keep up with all the behind-the-scenes activity (kobolds spying on and attacking the party, falling back, repeating the cycle). I've had players come up with some creative ways to deal with that issue, so be sure to encourage a little out of the box thinking. As noted in the module, the encounters with the kobold inventors can vary widely, depending on what they throw at the party and how the dice fall. The good thing is, that makes it more fun and challenging! This adventure can be difficult without good opportunities for a short rest. Another reason for the players to think on their feet and not just charge ahead blindly - though that can be entertaining too!

Depending on how much the characters talk with Sik'Garuk, they may or may not discover the linkage with Forge of Fury. That doesn't really matter to this adventure, but if your players are like me and enjoy unraveling the mysteries as they progress it would be good to try to work the information in. If the party destroys the kobolds before learning who they work for, you could try to insert some evidence - maybe a small shrine with their boss' name scrawled in draconic or something?

This is a good intro adventure, especially for new players. It's pretty linear, but intentionally so - it's designed to get you through the 5 modules quickly and be able to learn the game. There aren't a lot of opportunities for extensive role playing, but again that's the design. I liked that there were several humorous situations - tiny goblins and talking rocks, etc. The only complaint my players had was that they were disappointed all the treasures had already been looted. There was other loot to be found, which partially made up for it, but it was frustrating to have the locations of the caches from "One of the most famous treasure hunters in the Realms" - and get there too late.

Dues for the Dead is a fun dungeon crawl with some good opportunities for role-play. There are also some areas where strategic and creative thinking are rewarded. An interesting aspect of this story is that the Kelemvorites strongly discourage wanton looting of the 'residents' of Valhingen graveyard, which I think is a great lesson for newish players. It may also be a way to make the point to any 'looting hobo' (not quite as annoying as a murder hobo) that there are consequences to your in-game actions. My suggestion is to have Doomguide Glandon withhold the GP reward from the players if he is aware of them looting the dead (though I'd probably still let them keep the magic item reward) - this will further emphasize that their actions were at the very least leaning toward evil, without severely punishing them. I would n't reveal this to the players until the end of the adventure - let them make their own choices and deal with the results!

I'm sure many people have noted that part 14a refers to a trap in part 12 that doesn't exist. I just added a Magic Mouth trap (similar to part 3), but anything that would alert and attract the zombie guards from 14 would do.

I think it is super cool that this adventure links back to the Pool of Radiance, a piece of D&D history. But for some reason, the adventure is written to minimize the chance of the PCs actually figuring that out in-game. I would like the wizard to leave behind a little more evidence, so the players could have the "Ah Ha!" moment that I had while reading the adventure background.