I "bought" this in July of 2018, but didn't get around to actually trying it until December of 2018. Also, I'm an idiot. This is the shiznit!

Actually, looking closer, I grabbed it for free with plans on paying if I like it. So I'm buying it with money this time. Buy yourself a beer or something, cause I know I'll be toasting all the time you've saved me (going forward - did I mention that I'm an idiot?)

SUPERB PRODUCT, continually updated as well (like 5 or 6 times since I got it the "first time!")

Review originally from January 2019. Edited to add dates above and: Shwaffle has been busy and unable to update the file since the end of 2018 (ver. 1.63), as far as I can tell. I still use the program when I can, but there are frequently cases where the monster in the adventure is not supported by this file yet. For what IS included, the file is excellent and super helpful!

I wonder if there is a way to crowdsource the data entry to make Swaffle's job at least a little easier. I'd certainly be willing to fill in some data on a database or whatnot.

Excellent introduction to Icewind Dale! Plan to use this in lieu of some of the book's opening quests. Being four 1-hour adventures provides a DM / group with maximum scheduling flexibility too. Having also experienced it as a player, I can say this is a fun set of adventures to play, no matter which side of the screen you're on.

The actual rules for season 9 (effective September 2019) are a vast improvement over season 8. A little trickier to keep the right records, but not too much. I really do like the actual rules that were implemented.

My poor rating is more for the delivery system.

Best would be if there was a dedicated page on the WOTC Adventurers League "start here" page including all the stuff any player might need, with a link to the DM specific stuff on another page.

But if it absolutely can't be placed there for ease of location and access, it absolutely should be super simple to find here! The pack ought to be "pinned" such that it is the first thing to show up when a user clicks on the "D&D Adventuers League" tab in the "Browse Categories" section. As it is, even searching for "Player Pack" fails! My only recourse has been to create a bookmark to always take me back to the "Player & DM Pack." If I can't tell a new player in two sentences how to find the applicable rules / documents, that is a severe problem.

While the utility of this NEW, STREAMLINED AL(XGE) Log Sheet cannot be emphasized enough, the stark nature of the document is self-evident.

Rather than bold black boxes, brightly colored boxes could be used for the Treasure Point location. I intend to pre-print a bunch for my players and will color in the bold boxes with a highlighter. I think I'll use green, since the Treasure Points are kinda like money.

==== The above was written upon this document's initial release in late July of 2018. After the Adventures League admins published what are being called the "final" documents on August 26 (v8.1), the modifications to the sheet to include ALL the relevant new features of the treasure / magic / advancement / logkeeping system are even better. I never would have thought of stickers, but they're probably on sale somewhere for the end of the 'back to school' shopping season. This will make explaining the changes to all of my AL players a breeze! No more of that "can you help me with the adding"! I like this so much that I bought it twice.

I don't know Phil personally, but I owe him a beer.

Outstanding! This adventure is a lot of fun, easy to set up and run, and always gets a positive reaction from my players. I've run it three times so far. I especially like the sandstorm encounter where the characters have to decide what to save from the ravages of the desert. The battle at the gate is likewise outstanding, especially with the hordes of enemies up on the wall! I ran this one based on other reviews, and can say it was definitely a great one to run!

If this was a stand-alone module, I'd give it a two. There really isn't much here, but it does serve to bridge the story from A Day at the Races to Whispers in the Dark, both of which are very good and so this module is the least part of a pretty good whole. The transition from Races to this module could be smoother, but the DM would have to have read / prepared both. In fact, it is probably worth the time / effort to read and prepare all three modules at the same time to get a better feel for the overarching plot. It does introduce Wadamu, who is a fun little grung for the DM to roleplay. The conflict in part one, on the bridges, has potential to lead to a fun chase scene; but we didn't have the "extra time" to allot to the chase. The jungle / flood encounter was a lot of fun to DM, with characters slipping and sliding all over the jungle. The actual danger here was pretty minimal, however, and the party of 2nd level PC's basically escaped unscathed. The "big fight" in Part 3 is pretty underwelming too. My group took a long time here, but it was a lot of youngsters so I wasn't surprised. The adventure total is pretty short, only about 12 pages of module before you get to the bestiary in the back. An experienced group of players could probably do the adventure in less than 2 hours, leaving some "extra" time to more fully explore the chase scene and maybe the jungle trek / flooding scene too. Don't skip this one when doing the trilogy, but don't expect a lot out of it either.

Excellent module, with tremendous plot movement for the season and some very difficult / involved combats. There are a lot of tie-ins to other modules from this season, so it would be best to have already played the previous modules. The combats are deep, several with high CR opponents, even a high-level spell caster. The DM needs to be prepared for this module to take quite a bit longer than the alotted four hours unless the group is both small and efficient.

I found this to be a very fun module to run, though there are some concerns. The module is in two main parts, the race and the fight.

The race, and the preamble to it, were overall very good. As others have said, the "hook" is rather weak, especially for PC's "new to town." The betting system is particularly weird with multiple dinos all possible winners. We explained this away by saying you were placing more exotic bets, but regardless the end result is unsatisfying.

The actual race was a blast to run, and my players all said they really enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun to just make up descriptions to what the dinos were doing, what the PC's efforts were resulting in, and what their opponents were doing. The race did end up being swingy, with my group doing well out of the gate and on the pteranadons, but it took a lot longer than it probably should have to find the right bricks under water. I found that I had to fudge the other teams' dice so they would either stay competitive or not run too far ahead. Of course, that allowed the other teams to catch up and almost win the race, making it close and exciting. That was me, however, not the dice. More so than most mods, I think this one benefits greatly from a DM keeping things close to the end. It was also fun to bring out my inner Jeff Probst and really get into some of the descriptions. In the end, even my group of six level-one players (three totally new) were able to succeed enough at the challenges to make it fun and exciting.

After the race, there was a pretty big fight. This was a tough fight for all 1st level characters since the big one can one-shot almost any first level PC except for a raging barbarian. The module says it is optimized for 3rd level, so go easy on your firsties. The "investigation" part of the module where the players are all supposed to piece it all together could stand to be much better fleshed out too.

I've run this one twice, and I'll probably run it a few more times because it is just a fun, different adventure for players to try different things in. I'll probably get parts 2 and 3 of the trilogy and see how they go, even though quite a few reviewers say there isn't much of a connection between this one and those two.