Dungeon Masters Guild
Browse Categories
$ to $















Back
pixel_trans.gif
Other comments left by this customer:
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
DDAL04-05 The Seer (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/30/2024 14:31:48

I've been running and remixing the DDAL04 Misty Fortunes and Absent Hearts adventure series of modules as a single campaign for a group of players via play by post, so certain things don't translate fully. The big thing being I forshadow the hooks for the modules ahead of time as I built the village of Orasnou for the players and the runtimes of the modules don't matter as much in PbP.

What I liked: Overall a fun short little adventure. There's a mix of roleplay (I expanded a lot on the two Vistani families in my campaign), combat, and the twist with Lela is fun.

What I didn't like: Even though it's 2 hours focused on level 3 PCs, it feels like the combat is too easy. I added way more zombies, and a few ghouls/ghasts and that helped. I also brought Alina and the wolves back from DDAL04-02 the beast because the module references wolf tracks, and then forgets about them. This felt like a copy editing error.

Overall: Pretty fun, I like the idea, I changed things up significantly to meet my needs, but most of that was particular to my campaign and not a fault of the module itself.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-05 The Seer (5e)
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
DDAL09-04 The Day of the Devil
Publisher: D&D Adventurers League
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/10/2024 14:56:51

I am in the process of running all of DDAL09 as a campaign, so will be reviewing each adventure as I run them. For context, I ran 4 adventures in this campaign already, a homebrew one where the party needs to get out of Elturel with as many civilians as possible as the city is being sucked into hell, and then Baldur's Gate: Fall of Elturel, also on DM's Guild for a different group of adventurers, finally I have run DDAL09-01 through DDAL09-03.

What I liked: This has been the high point of the campaign so far. Starts off with a bang, the party had spent time developing ties and relations with the Flaming Fists and refugees. I also introduced Duke Portyr earlier in the adventure to help develop a rapport with the group. I gave him sympathies to the Elturel refugees and it made his assassination very impactful, as well as the encounter with the devils in the crowd very chaotic. I also found that the chase was really fun for the players, but to incentivize them I changed two things. 1: I made it so they noticed the cultists (who were corrupt flaming fists from the previous adventure) going to the warehouse and were chasing them. 2: I had them overhear that other cultists were already at the warehouse to incentivize getting there as fast as possible and not fighting the traveling cultists, it became a race. The tracking of progress by landmarks was really really nice, I liked that bit of flavor. The defense of the warehouse was also a lot of fun, having the cultists come in both sides helped keep the party on their toes, really just fun overall. Same with the reveal about the angels and introduction of Fai Chen (although I forshadowed him to give some more impact).

What I didn't like: Small things.

  1. Gharizol needed to be a chain devil and have some buddies, he got burned down way to easily by my players, even when I bumped him up to a Barbed Devil. He also needed meatier thugs instead of just cultist statblocks. They were not real threats.
  2. Fai Chen needed some background info given, I did it myself, but it would have been nice in the module.

A great way to end the player character's time at Baldur's Gate, a very solid recommendation to anyone to run!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL09-04 The Day of the Devil
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
DDAL09-03 Hungry Shadows
Publisher: D&D Adventurers League
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/10/2024 14:45:47

I am in the process of running all of DDAL09 as a campaign, so will be reviewing each adventure as I run them. For context, I ran two adventures in this campaign already, a homebrew one where the party needs to get out of Elturel with as many civilians as possible as the city is being sucked into hell, and then Baldur's Gate: Fall of Elturel, also on DM's Guild for a different group of adventurers, finally I have run DDAL09-01 through DDAL09-02.

What I liked: Again, the idea here is really intruiging. Learning more about Gharizol and the cult of Zariel, a mystery involving someone being killed with no visible entry or exit. A secret cult lair to explore, this is good stuff!

What I didn't like: Again it comes down to the details. I basically took the idea and the maps and redid the map keys (which are poor) and the details. I game more info on the cult to discover and motivate the players, I gave a better sign of the summoning (and the fact that something killed Sands and then broke the door down out toward the secret entrance). I also think that the first optional quest doesn't add a lot of value as is. What I did was use it along with some general details to help the party discover the murder more naturally, pointing clues at Sands' house for them to go check it out without having to be told by the Flaming Fists. But the second Optional Quest doesn't feel optional, that is the conclusion of the adventure.

Two weak mysteries in a row, the nice thing is the investigations seem over now that Gharizol has been flushed out. And I have heard good things about the next adventure in the series!



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL09-03 Hungry Shadows
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
DDAL09 Behind Infernal Lines - Digital Map Pack
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/10/2024 14:43:39

If the only thing you use from this map pack is the WONDERFULLY done Wandering Emporium, it's worth 2 bucks, even if you don't run these adventure's it's still a great map for your Descent into Avernus campaign.

But it also comes with great maps for the adventures, made running them really easy, thanks!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL09 Behind Infernal Lines - Digital Map Pack
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
DDAL09-02 Stopped at the Gate
Publisher: D&D Adventurers League
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/09/2023 14:40:52

I am in the process of running all of DDAL09 as a campaign, so will be reviewing each adventure as I run them. For context, I ran three adventures in this campaign already, a homebrew one where the party needs to get out of Elturel with as many civilians as possible as the city is being sucked into hell, and then Baldur's Gate: Fall of Elturel, also on DM's Guild for a different group of adventurers, and DDAL09-01.

What I liked: The attempt at continuation from the previous adventure is nice. The focus on an area of Baldur's Gate other than the parts in the Descent into Avernus book is also a nice addition to flesh out the city. The overall idea of Descendants of the original Hellriders being targeted by a Serial Killer/Fiend is really nice. The immigration paperwork as the introduction to the city is also a fun bit of roleplay.

What I didn't like: As 4 hour adventure, the structure here is really weak. The goal of this adventure should have been taking the initial seed of mystery from the end of the last one (Who/What is Gharizol and what do they want) and spending 2-4 hours investigating it. But this murder is fairly weak. We are given hints at other murders to look at but no details to help coroborate a pattern, and the logic of the murder doesn't make a lot of sense either. I ended up stripping the details and building a node based investigation, different clues at several murder sites and that gave the party room to breath and put the pieces together themselves instead of just having NPCs telling them what happened. I also cleaned up the timeline of the murder to be more sensible. finally I used the first optional quest as that introduced the cult of Zariel in Baldur's Gate, but not the second one since it seemed like a pointless distraction.

Overall, it's a fun idea, but needs a lot of extra love and work to make fully functional.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL09-02 Stopped at the Gate
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus Complete DM's Bundle (maps, guides, cheatsheets and more)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/24/2023 14:29:16

Especially for the price it's an easy recommendation. If you want to spend $10-15 more bucks to expand and solidify your Avernus Adventure, pick this up.

There's a ton of resources, some guids to help walk through more confusing parts of the book, maps references.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus Complete DM's Bundle (maps, guides, cheatsheets and more)
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
DDAL09-01 Escape From Elturgard
Publisher: D&D Adventurers League
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/24/2023 14:26:18

I am in the process of running all of DDAL09 as a campaign, so will be reviewing each adventure as I run them. For context, I ran two adventures in this campaign already, a homebrew one where the party needs to get out of Elturel with as many civilians as possible as the city is being sucked into hell, and then Baldur's Gate: Fall of Elturel, also on DM's Guild for a different group of adventurers.

What I liked: This has some great flavor, and a nice structure! The set up of getting the caravan together with refugees and supplies works really nicely it. It allows time for short and long rests during travel so the level 1 party doesn't get TPK'd purely through attrition, and there are some dangerous encounters here to play out. A particular hilight is burning Inn.

I have enjoyed this conflict between the Dungeon of the Dead Three and the Cult of the Dragon, I'm looking to expand on that in my campaign. I also like the NPCs they have unique art and personalities, and have made my caravan come alive.

I also liked the murder in the caravan, definitely helped remind the party of the stakes and dangers but I talk about it more in the what I didn't like, as written it didn't make a lot of sense.

What I didn't like: I have two issues, one more minor, and one that decently bothered me.

  1. The minor one, for an adventure called Escape from Elturel, it kind of brushes off the escape. I would have liked a travel and encounter table as the caravan travels across the River Chionthar to help flesh out what is happening in the Western Heartlands while Etlurel is gone, as well as more opportunity for the adventurer's to defend the caravan and RP with the NPCs more.

  2. This second one is enough of an issue that I changed that part of the adventure. The whole mission to get the poet and bring him into the Caravan felt very contrived. I ended up giving him an artifact of the Hellriders, a tablet that needs translating (it's fake because of his whole thing at the end), so that Elturel citizens would be interested in what that means. His "murder" is interesting, and I kept it, I feel it makes more sense now why he would get murdered to make it seem like this was a powerful relic that needed protecting. The tone of this part of the adventure just didn't match the rest.

Overall a really nice start to the series, looking forward to running the rest!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL09-01 Escape From Elturgard
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
DDAL04-04 The Marionette (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/13/2023 12:29:07

I've been running and remixing the DDAL04 Misty Fortunes and Absent Hearts adventure series of modules as a single campaign for a group of players via play by post, so certain things don't translate fully. The big thing being I forshadow the hooks for the modules ahead of time as I built the village of Orasnou for the players and the runtimes of the modules don't matter as much in PbP.

What I liked: This has been my favorite adventure of the series so far! Very thematic and evocative! Glovia is a great vilian with a tragedy surrounding her evil. Her husband as well as their daughter are great set pieces inside their haunted manor. The use of horror in the adventure is fantastic and everything is nice and creepy. The vision ahead of time is great, as is the the undead attack. This adventure isn't perfect, but it's truly excellent and the multiple paths through the manor and ability to explore it are great.

The challenge is dialed in to, I had a player die after some very poor in character choices and unlucky dice, and that helped amped the horror up to.

What I didn't like: Again this is MINOR stuff.

  1. Glovia would have been nice to get fleshed out and some attachment to her earlier in the adventure, maybe if she helped go follow the wagon.
  2. Some copy editing errors, the harpies have been cut but are still referenced here and there (I ended up running them).
  3. Laszlo just disappears? That's it! Again overall really fun!

Some very minor alterations I recommend:

  1. I introduced Glovia way earlier in the campaign, during DDAL04-03 to build a relatinoship with the party.
  2. I included the harpies to drain more resources of the party and make things more challenging.
  3. I added Stress from Van Richten's Guide along with the Horror elements
  4. Here's the big one. Add another Ghoul/Ghast as Glovia's bodyguard, and a couple rounds in the encounter with her, have Laszlo and some Zombies/Skeletons come breaking through the lab window. Make it a 3 way fight for more tension and opportunity to bring his journey to an end as well as hers!


Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-04 The Marionette (5e)
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
Encounters in Avernus
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/13/2023 10:37:31

I paid $6 and got a lot of great tools to mix into my Avernus inspired campaign. There are a bunc hof different encounters, some longer encounter chains to flesh out parts of the campaign, just a great toolset for any DM running advntures in Avernus.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Encounters in Avernus
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
Rescuing Lulu From Elturel: Descent from Waterdeep Series
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/13/2023 10:30:58

This adventure doesn't always match the tone of the rest of Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, but it provides an EXCELLENT city primer and gazette. I took all the sights and several of the encounters and used them to design my own version of Elturel that my players needed to escape from as it was falling to start the campaign. It's a great alternative to establish connection to the city and the stakes involved!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Rescuing Lulu From Elturel: Descent from Waterdeep Series
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
Creator Reply:
Cameron, thank you so much for your review and for your appreciation of the adventure as a primer and gazette that transforms Elturel into a sandbox with over 2 dozen fully developed locations! I just wanted to comment that while there are many ways this book can be used (i.e. just with Descent to Avernus, or just with Tyranny of Dragons), as noted in the description, it is designed to be used for people who want transition from Waterdeep: Dragon Heist into Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. As such, the "tone" as you note, is very much a mix of the city crawling with memorable NPCs and sometimes zany circumstances that one finds in Waterdeep, while the cult in this story serves as the transition device to begin to deepen the tenor of the campaign and prepare the party for the darker vibes of Avernus. If you ran the Maiden's Leap Wedding/Event (the final chapter) I hope that you noticed that under the stage the stakes and the feel of the encounter are very much in line with Avernus, including bringing in what are likely the first devils the party has encountered. I love that you were able to use this adventure and its amazing Meshon Cantrill maps to start your campaign and make Elturel your own starting point for Descent into Avernus. I just wanted to point out that the intent of this adventure was never to match the Avernus tone, but to transition from Waterdeep to Avernus. Thanks again for your review, it brings me a lot of joy to hear about how Rescuing Lulu from Elturel unfolds on other tables!
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Baldur's Gate: The Fall of Elturel | Roll20 VTT
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/13/2023 10:17:50

For a lazy DM, this is a great alternative to the opening of Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. It's a nice little level one adventure that sets up the the threat of the culto of the Dead Three as well as showcases the disappearance of Elturel. The additional backgrounds are also really nice. The VTT bundle was great as I didn't need to worry about doing any roll20 building myself. I basically grabbed it, and then read the adventure half an hour before we played and we ran it having a great time!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Baldur's Gate: The Fall of Elturel | Roll20 VTT
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
Baldur's Gate: The Fall of Elturel | Roll20 VTT [BUNDLE]
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/13/2023 10:17:29

For a lazy DM, this is a great alternative to the opening of Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. It's a nice little level one adventure that sets up the the threat of the culto of the Dead Three as well as showcases the disappearance of Elturel. The additional backgrounds are also really nice. The VTT bundle was great as I didn't need to worry about doing any roll20 building myself. I basically grabbed it, and then read the adventure half an hour before we played and we ran it having a great time!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Baldur's Gate: The Fall of Elturel | Roll20 VTT [BUNDLE]
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
Baldur's Gate: The Fall of Elturel
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/03/2023 12:10:32

For $5 there is a lot of value here.

Some info on Elturel, a great character backgrounds to include in your campaign, and a wonderful alternate adventure and hook to get things started. A lot of value to add to your Descent into Avernus campaign for the price!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Baldur's Gate: The Fall of Elturel
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
Elturel's Darkest Day
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/03/2023 12:07:59

It's pay what you want, which is fine, but there's just not much content here. The outline of an adventure, a small encounter, that's about it. It's fine, but not very inspiring.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Elturel's Darkest Day
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
DDAL04-03 The Executioner (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/19/2023 18:19:04

I want to be clear that I ran this adventure in 2023, after the patch by the author.

I can't speak to the original state of the adventure, but I had a very fun time running the patched version. It's a fun, simple little mystery with plenty of opportunity for players to make meaningful decisions regarding the treasure they find and what things they dig deeper into.

What I liked: Roleplay heavy, it has a lot of opportunity for social checks, skill challenges, and the ties to the previous adventure and the next one are a lot of fun. Ther are some nice red herrings that end up leading to the final conclusion in a fun way.

What I didn't like: It's combat light, and definitely sets the characters up to have potential conflict with certain NPCs but at the same time tells the DM "don't let that happen." The full movements of the badguy for this adventure don't make full sense. I think it could be cleaned up even more, and I did so while running it. The final confrontation's lead up is a bit travel and the information isn't placed in an easily digestible manner, so I had to reread a few times to understand what was happening.

Overall: It's overall fun to run with the patched version, and leads very nicely into DDAL04-04.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-03 The Executioner (5e)
Click to show product description

Add to Dungeon Masters Guild Order

pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 15 (of 145 reviews) Result Pages:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 ...  [Next >>] 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items