Spoiler alert

The adventure DDAL08-02 is part of the Umbral Trilogy. It has its own call to action part which is relatively shallow. It could use some more depth, especially if none of the players ran the previous adventure. Regardless of the possible information it might be missing, the call to action should be enough to get the plot moving (EDIT Except for the treasure map hand-out). If players make the call to not be interested and ignore the plot hook provided, the adventure is over. If they choose not to follow the map, thats on the players, not the story. Players should know that AL modules will always have classic plot hooks and should be on the lookout for them.

Episode 1 and bonus objective A are both entertaining to run and play. For bonus objective A, a second page with information would make it a lot better. The text is a bit confusing as I belief at some point it insinuates that the dog can speak. Also who are these two houses, Dankils & Stonebridges. What is their beef? Is this mentioned in the Dragonheist hardcover? If it is, at least mention this and provide the basic information like season 7 modules. Furthermore whats up with the handkerchief with initials? L.S.? The answer is nowhere in the story, and to my knowledge is never mentioned in the trilogy conclusion as well. The combat is fine, and I liked the elegant clue that the dog had a rabbit in its jaw.

Episode 2 has all the elements for a nice dungeon crawl. I gave my group a chance to stealth past the skeletons, who were all facing North. I read a lot that people said this encounter was way to strong. It is strong, yes, however not insurmountable. People need to realise that its not 10 attack/round at all. As long as the skeletons remain mounted, the skeletol warhorse functions as a trained, controlled, unintelligent mount. Therefor it can only take the dash, disengage and dodge action and cannot attack. However if you are lacking damage, you can let the skeleton rider forgo it's attack to spur on its mount to attack. This increases the creatures chance to hit and its damage output. If the players kill the warhorse first, the skeleton drops (you can make it roll a dex save) to the ground and resumes attacking on its turn. If they kill the rider first, the warhorse is free to attack. The bonus objective is real fun to run. There are so many outcomes which gives the players the ultimate feeling they can influence the story. It doesnt say in the story, but I assumed that the ghost follows them, and then runs back when she sees the swarm of rats. Really nice bonus objective due to the many solutions (some not awarding the objective, however still conclusions). The last combat can be challanging for new DM's due to the spells of the portrait, but remains a fun combat in an urban encounter.

Episode 3 has all the elementals for a nice cliffhanger. This works perfectly if you play weekly, but if you are not playing weekly it might be good to have at least some more closure. I ended up running the first part of the third story to make up for this cap. This is not a problem, but I can see it being a problem for people that didnt buy the 3rd module. I see the intent, however this is why I think an alternative should be provided. The thing that bothered me the most about this adventure is that its never specified what is known about Artor Morlin. Are the characters supposed to find out that he is one of the masked lords of Waterdeep? On a diffrent note, the final room before the vampires lair. It says 10 feet by 15 feet in the text (map shows 15x15), and it holds 4 hostile creatures. 10x15 is 6 squares, 4 of them hold hostile creatures, leaves room for 2 players in that room, with a 5 feet wide corridor leading out. if you have a group of 7 players this would mean they are backed up, almost all the way to the previous room! I ended up making all corridors 10 feet wide and all rooms twice as large. I liked the touch of werewolves and how helpless players felt when they realised they didnt have silver. They ended up attacking the two wolves, would a werewolf stop attacking if you kill its lovely pet?

Overall I would give it 3 stars, however the list below lowered that to 2 instead.

• The magic item doesn't drop anywhere.
• There are a lot of errors in the text (description not matching the map).
• The map isn't marked with indicators.
• No printer friendly version
• The intro says 4 ACP / 2 TCP and the reward section lists 4 ACP / 4 TCP (read on Facebook AL DM that its 4/4, why not update the story)

Some that already passed in the review:

• No reason given for the characters to know that Artor Morlin is a masked lord of Waterdeep
• Lack of background information on key NPC's featured
• L.S.?

I'm sorry to leave this rating, however hope this inspires people to double check the content thats being released. 16 playtesters on the first page and nobody noticed these anomolies? Surely at least the magic item drop or the diffrence in rewards should have been spotted right?

DDAL 08-00 has tons of potential, and can be the foundation for an exciting adventure, however it does require a lot of preptime. Lazy DM's be ware!

Warning: this review is dark and full of spoilers!

Start-up: I have mixed feelings regarding the adventure start-up. When I ran this I emphasized the players to choose a generic antagonist. So no Orc Warlock of the Fiend, but a cult fanatic. Some of the players choose an appropriate villain, but many chose kings/dictators etc. The interesting character is a good method to reward players for writing a backstory, however there is a chance their work goes unrewarded. The challange was a disaster at my table, and only myself as the DM was able to supply a decent one using the adventure outline.

Running the adventure: I liked running the adventure, and my players enjoyed themselves as well. Unfortunately though, you could clearly see that combat oriantation is still in the players mindset. Nobody attempted to rescue the cat, nor did anyone attempt to save the patrons holding on for dear life. Only after I reminded everyone over and over again what the scene looked like. Whats even more confusing to the players is that some of them know Durnan and were puzzled as to why he didnt lift a hand when combat ensued. I tried to solve this by making him hindered by an all-out bar brawl that broke out when the characters attacked the Thugs. #drunken dwarves

There is a lot happening in the bar, and this makes it very confusing for the characters as to what is going on. Re-cap continually to ensure they understand what their actual quest is. In part two I loved the fact that Savra re-appeared from Princess of the Apocalypse. The puzzles in the mastermind are great fun. The assasination attempt is nearly undoable using surprise condition. The theatrical approach can be very rewarding. Again, I really like the three-way approach.

Finale: The adventure finale is ok. It concludes the adventure so that it can be run on its own, or as a stepping stone to the hardcover. If you do plan on running the hardcover afterwards, make sure you read it before running the adventure. There are some hints as to whom is important, but it will surely help you to make the connection more fluent.

Conclusion: Its an adventure with potential, however DM's do need to be of a certain caliber to make it work. Because of the small scale of the quests the "favor" reward works here. Interesting to see how this progresses further into the season. I'm still very interested to see how they are going to work around, "you are not getting gold for this quest". Lastly, the pillars of play concept is really good! Gives DM's a quick peek into the mindset of the adventure's creator.

THe courting of fire brings to the table a nice connection to other villains in the season 1 modules. It also supplies a well balanced adventure between dungeon crawl and investigation. Be carefull as a DM not to let your players just run in circles for one of the pitfalls in the investigation is that the clue to the next stage is only hidden in one place. Even though it is in one place, it is very easy to find, so shouldnt be a huge pitfall.

The dungeon crawl is nice, I liked the flavor given to most rooms. It was very unfortunate that most puzzles could be solved as simple as using a cantrip (Mage hand). The final fight is very rewarding. My Druid took some of the ashes as a flavor item, so it's defeniatly a memerable foe.

Its a good adventure to run on an off-night where you know focus will be at a low. You can easily autopilot this adventure if the DM's stears you to the hint needed for part 2.

Tales trees tell is a very nice adventure to run. I would advice to enhance the atmosphere using candles + music.

The disclaimer at the start really pays off, the creepy feel you can give to the adventure helps bringing it to life. Using a mixture of fey creatures is a really cool addition. Not all encounters have to be combat orientated (Pixie's).

It also features one of the iconic DnD creatures in the Displacer Beast. The iconic monstrosity which was fatal back then and will be fatal again in ToA as my groups Wizard is slowly dying.

The last encounter and the overall quest is also a lot of fun to sell to your group. It's not your basic, go there and kill the boss, there are alternatives which makes this a very good module.

A thousand tiny deaths really gives you the vermin feel that Kobolds are. It also supplies wonderful scenarios in which their silly inventions actually work. It gives players a look at the new Kobolds in Volo's guilde which bring some inventions of their own (Scorpion on a stick and some flasks).

Its great fun running this a as a DM. I will advice to look up Blasingdell in Tales of the Yawning portal. Furthermore you can also find information in Forge of Fury on the shute in the end.

The downside of the adventure is the wording on the "wall kobolds" and the fact that they can become deadly. The final scene can be a hard fight as well. But to bring that kobold boss to life is just a pleasure.

This adventure has it all! Roleplaying, combat, puzzle encounters and a nice rewarding finish.

The questgiver and its patron give a very nice mystique feeling ot the adventure.

The simple gobling encounter has an edge on so many other encounters in diffrent modules. The goblins have a goal, which gives them purpose and their right to be there. Following the next day, you can scare the group with the Zhents riding up and create some tensions. (If you didnt try and scare your group a bit at the strart its a good moment to name Adult Blue Dragons as inhabitants of the desert). After the riders, if the castle rolls up, the first thougth will be "Dragon". This thougth empowers the element, think on your feet and forces players to be creative. Dont be affraid to give them a hard time if they fail to grasp the need of the situation. Even when they lose a lot, bringing the statue to Parnast forces creativity then as well.

I personally like the encounter at the blockade more then the one that follows, but they are both solid final encounters before reaching their goal.

if you ran Tyranny of Dragons, it makes the town of Parnast a nice callback, which contributes to the adventure in a way.

This adventure contains 5 mini adventures that take an 1hour plus each. They are easy to run and execute and all have basic settings. Each adventure ties to one of the factions which is a helpful tool to introduce these to the players.

The three dungeon crawl adventures are very easy to execute as a DM and do have some fun elements/puzzles. The dragon theme is flowing through each and every one of them but its a bit vague. The one with the black market dragon egg operation is by far the best one. It gives the players a chance to be creative and will defeniatly generate clownly solutions with new players. The tavern puzzle is really fun, but it is a bit far fetched. Though I found it good enough to weave it into my hardcover campaign.

As stated earlier, they all have a Dragon theme, but its really out there. The best one is the 2nd one which creates a very scary induvidual for a level 1 party.

For beginning DM's I recommend running this one, it will build you some confidence since it's easy to execute.

This module from the first season is very fun to DM. It takes some DM skill to get the group going, and to keep them on the right track. Also in part 1 there is the danger of characters jumping aggresively on the supplied "distraction" in one of the NPC's. All in all its a well balanced module between some research and RP at the front and a rewarding combat as a conclusion.

The feeling you get throughout the adventure is a chase scene into the unknown. Very scary for the adventurers if done right by the DM. You can create this scary Libary tomb scene if you controll the information given in the module. Be carefull with the creatures in that scene, they can easily be deadly, with their resistance against most damage types.

I already ran this 3x and it is still one of my favorites to run. It gives new players a chance to get a taste of roleplaying and advanced players to shine in giving direction to the group. The reward in the end is a bit low given the challanges they face, but I'm pretty sure that a full 2nd level party will be happy once they've beaten the boss.

A city on the Edge is a very entertaining introductory adventure to the season. I like it that all factions get a moment to shine and all have personalities. The only thing that can be marked as a downside to the adventure is the fact that the personalities created for the factions are not inspiring NPC's in their own right. This can go both ways, making the adventurers feel more like heroes because the NPS's are all washed up. To highlight one, it has to be Soggy Wren. (SPOILERS) To be fooled in such a manner as a Harper is just silly.

All adventures give you a solid feel of Port Nyanzaru. I actually ran these mini adventures before starting the hardcover so my players had a feel of Chult and were familiar with some places in Chult. The flavor item in the first adventure is also very well thougth of and did make my druid very happy. The culture and ambiance of Chult is so rich, and you defeniatly find this flavor in the adventure.

The replay value of the stories as a DM is also high enough to run it multiple times.

Very solid adventures, which can easily be run in a store as well.

DDAL07-05 is a good adventure and the conclusion to the trilogy. This review contains SPOILERS.

Note that in this review the story will be rated on it's own and its prequil will not have any impact on the overall rating.

Part 1 picks off after the events of the previous DDAL07-04. The explorers have travelled to the lost city and will attempt to foil the Yuan-Ti's plan to summon Dendar the night serpent. Wanderlost no longer plays a part in the trilogy. The puzzles are easy on their own, however mix them with the potential combat while they are solving them and looting (during combat), it will make the encounter challanging and fun. What I really liked, as a DM, for this part is building up the tension. Really set the scene with the swarm of undeads appearing (The Walking Dead horde style).

Part 2 lacks a moment to rest. Characters can rest up before heading down the steps in the temple, but I doubt many groups will have this restraint. I loved being able to really set this creepy scene. In a store setting this is somewhat difficult due to the volume required. The encounter itself is very challanging. I liked the legendary creature and boss feeling to this battle. A true villain at the end of this trilogy, however unexperienced DM's will have an easy TPK on their hands.

The escape also had very nice narrative value. Again the mechanic to loot under pressure, big plus to explore these areas. The hard timer to escape isn't so much the cave collapsing completely, but more the swarm of undead becoming to much to handle, but this might be unclear. I skipped over the Wadumu betrayal. I know Grungs are evil in their hearts, but it had no extra value and it opens up a friendly Grung in Dungrunglung when running the hardcover. I actually made a nice Gollem scene out of it where tension was rising if Wadumu would throw the characters backwards into the hoard or help him up.

All in all, very high narrative value, really nice material to make a very solid creepy setting. The combat value of the adventure is easily lethal, which is good for a boss fight, however just a bit over the top.

DDAL07-04 A walk in the park is an adventure with loads of potential, however only experienced dungeon masters will be able to really utilise these hidden treasures. Maybe even more important is to sidestep this adventures deadly DM pitfalls. This review will contain SPOILERS, if you are going to play this adventure, please respect your dungeon master.

Part 1-A starts of divided, those who played the previous story DDAL07-03, and those who didn't. I really like this idea, to cover all the bases. If you're running this at a store, as part of weekly sessions, this really gives the DM material to introduce new characters if your group setup changed. I do want to advice to keep the same group, or run the story on multiple tables and rotate groups and DM's whilst keeping the "Yeah I played DDAL07-03". You can always use parts from A2, I used the cat to create a bond between Screaming Wind (Emerald Enclave) and Soggy Wren (Harpers). I do agree with most that having the potential that Screaming Wind legs it before giving the quest is very poor writing, allthough I understand the concept. A shy character in Port Nyanzaru from a faction that is not supposed to meddle in its affairs. Any faction representation should calm Screaming Wind though and only make a group roll the check if they intimidate her or do something foolish (would almost advise a group check). I for one liked the Rope Bridge Fish Hooks. Give characters a chance to react, if they fail to do so run a chase. I really like that these adventures explore rules from the DMG. Ensure combat after the chase or after the characters exit the shop, a little dice rolling between roleplaying is good for the RP-Heavy story. Part 1 ends after the satchel shop. In my opinion not really a unique selling point of the story. The merchant doesn't know anything and characters can easily get hung up here because it's their only lead. You can use the Thug encounter to interrupt questioning and let the Merchant flee. Wadumu is then able to talk freely after they have beaten the Thugs and if he helps in combat this gives him more of a trust factor. Don't just hand out the goggles of night, they need to be earned. They can either be given by Wadumu if you use the loyalty rules from DMG and they max it, or explore other fun options in Chult from the hardcover.

Part 2 is a fun way to introduce the group to the jungles of Chult. I really liked this part and gives the group a laugh. its a fun mechanic, just don't go overboard on it. Keep the pase moving, 20 mins is really the max for this part. The weak part about this chapter is, that it gives DM's a chance to screw their players. A player can really lose the feeling of being the hero of this story. Please ensure that this doesn't happen because this is a huge pitfall!

Part 3 is by far the weakest link in this story. Do NOT let Wadumu do everything! Again, he is not the hero of this story, the players are. Its such a huge pitfall to have a DM character like Wadumu do everything, and the story tells you to do exactly that. Instead, let Wadumu go in alone and let the characters sneak in on their own strength at night. If you do it this way, there is always the feeling that Wadumu is going to betray them, which brings some tension to the story. Let them explore the village as well by sneaking around. If they find any humans, they can always attempt to persuade them that they are here to free them from the Yuan-Ti control (instead of Wadumu doing so). Ow right the story was about wanderlost, it's here and even being crafted here, but even after running all 3 stories I'm not 100% sure why this was important, since it can basically be crafter anywhere as long as there is a Grung and a Yuan-Ti. Why isn't it more special and requires a shrine like the one in adventure DDAL07-05 to craft. Let the characters find out about this Lost city of Bulobo and the ritual which evidently needs Wanderlost and is the true key to DDAL07-05.

I for one am unsure why Wanderlost is being uesd to poison dinosaurs in DDAL 07-03 and now turns out to be used in a ritual to summon their all powerfull god. Why would you use this particular poison that can lead adventurers right to you, whilst any other poison will suffice. And if you summon Dendar, why would you need the merchant princess grip over Chult to be weaker? Isn't this all powerfull Yuan-Ti god supposed to devour the sun? That would pretty much make him strong enough to dispose of Port Nyanzaru's defences easily. In my opinion the addentures could have been better linked together and been more about Wanderlost.

As stated at the start, an adventure with plenty of potential, however poorly connected to the trilogy and contains huge DM pitfalls.

A day at the races is a well balanced 2 hour story for organised play. You really get the feel of dinosaur racing in this story. The story also allows starting DM's to unleash all that first timer excitement and energy into this story and it will only make the story even better most of the time. If you have the time, make it a 3 hour trip and really set the scene and introduce the characters to Chult and Port Nyanzaru. The hardcover has plenty of information/culture to really add some flavor to this module.

The story itself was average. The feeling crept up on me that dinosaur racing was the main setting and everything was ready to go, and only then, a story had to be build around it. Some motives were unclear and shrouded a bit to much. As a DM you really need to emphasize that it is the instability of the region that the enemy is after.

The adventure does provide enough backstory/hooks to be creative as a DM, even without the hardcover of ToA available. However some things might be unclear, for example that multiple bets can be made in a single race besides just betting on who wins. But as I said, there is enough to work with, I myself implemented a team that raced for the glory of Amn. I reflavored some things to suit the adventure better and make motives of the enemy more easy to comprehend for the general public.

All in all, this is a solid adventure and very suitable for running in stores, it will most defeniatly bring people back to your stores for follow up D&D encounters.