Adventure Structure
While I like the idea of looking at things and finding out what's wrong with them (so you can work on fixing them), I'm not sure this new style of adventure writing hits that mark. For one thing I don't know what kind of things were "wrong" with the previous style of writing, but my guess is they needed to write adventures that from the ground up were designed to accommodate different playstyles.
One thing to be aware of if you're going to run this module is that you will need to do more work to prep as a DM than you've had to with previous adventures. The new style has absolutely no handholding (i.e. boxed text that you read/paraphrase to the characters). It tells you who the players are in a scene, what they know, and what their motivations are. It's then up to you to take it from there.
If you're an experienced DM this may not be a problem for you, and may very well be how you've been handling the adventures in the past anyway. But if you're new to the game, or don't have a lot of time to prepare, then these modules may not be for you. They almost feel more like a campaign setting resource than a classic adventure.
Adventure Content
Having said the above, I enjoyed this adventure. I like the "hunt around town for clues" types of adventures, and this one hit the beats for me. It had a clearly defined objective, some puzzles, and at the end of the adventure you (and the players) knew you had reached that objective. It then sets up the next adventure. I feel this stands in stark contrast to part one of the next trilogy (DDAL08-04 - A Wrinkle in the Weave). Editing/proofing errors aside, I enjoyed this adventure--just plan accordingly for prep.
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |