This mod gave my characters some challenge in social interacting, the sparring and the later encounters in the temple. They didn't really bother questioning the wight as he was undead, evil and also a guardian. I normally have at least one or two players that want to battle often within a session, but I do push even them to roleplay and use their skills within the game so all are included and this mod offers much for all parties along with simple problem solving.

Standard, basic, middle of the pack, mediocre... A rather plain and blend adventure with very little to no stand-out moments.

A wanted poster lead to the investigation of the thief's belongings, which lead to the characters finding a map, which lead to a hidden underground temple, ending in the characters investigating the temple and confronting the thief. A mixture between in-town roleplay, combat in pursuit, investigatin and puzzle-solving in a dungeon. Fairly standard plot all together.

The biggest problem with the module is it's linearity. The in-town conversations, the exploration, and the puzzle-solving are all very straight forward, leaving very little room for creative roleplay for both the DM and the characters. Although there is some little wriggle room of whom to talk to first in Phlan, or which section of the temple should be explored first, but the module felt very linear at large.

This is a well written mod, but to play it within the time frame alloted is very difficult. It took my players two three hour sessions to complete it.

This module has a little of everything but none of it stands out. It is the first of 2 crime modules if you do season one in order and so maybe putting something else between this and ddex1-6 might be a good idea.

This one went well. At the start it's quite similar to 1-6 The Scroll Thief, so maybe space them out a bit by doing 1-7 Drums in the Marsh before this one. (That would also make for good foreshadwing of The Scroll Thief)

DM Tips and possible spoilers: The rules of engagement for Spernik meant he stood around and helplessly pleaded with the adventurers to leave while they solved the key trap puzzle. Once they realized he had the two missing parts, the fight took place, and it was a fairly easy encounter for a strong party. I'm not sure how I could have handled that better.

This module allows you to meet some of the main storyline characters in the series such as The Lord Sage, Fat Mar (Tymora rest his soul), and LT Bolver. You get to go to Mantor's Library (which this won't be the last time) to do some exploration of the events that took place there. Overall this module can be quite short, but is rewarding from an RP prespective.

Pros

• RP Heavy
• Good EXP for time invested
• Good consumable at the end (if you get it)

Cons

• Enemies are a bit on the powerful side if not handled correctly

DDEX1-05 The Courting of Fire (5e) Fantasy Grounds Module: No. Old-style wasted/boilerplate pages. Magic Item Rarity: Rare Digital Certs: No (only physical certs existed; no longer in print) Spellbook: No

I enjoyed the Mod both as a player and a DM. I think it is generally well laid out, but to be frank, this mod works better as part of a campaign with no time pressure, than it does in a 4 hour AL window. I mean that both as a caution, and as a complement.

As a caution- you are going to have to know this mod, know what is important to finish on time, and what advances the story.

As a complement, you could spend a great more time entertaining your players, and giving them a robust experience in your world.

If you are a running a set campaign, with dedicated players, I think this mod will be a fine addition to your play time.

DDEX 1-5 The Courting of Fire is an average adventure with two main parts.

The first part covers being hired for the job of tracking a thief and finding out the information on where the thief has gone. The section has many interesting locations that are familiar to players that have played previous Adventure League Season One modules but for players who haven't it can be tough to get them to find the information they need, and to make sure they get enough information to be successful.

The second part is the meat of the adventure and starts when the players arrive at their destination. This is a basic dungeon crawl. Nothing really jumps out as interesting. The non-player characters are a bit bland and the monsters are common monster but not used in ways that make them interesting.

Overall it's an average adventure that is adaptable for home play and is ok in Adventure League use when your players are more familiar with Season One and the plotline and locales in Phlan.

I had fun running this one, but for some reason it never seemed to really click. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad module, but the times I've run it, it just never managed to move from "decent" up to "good" or "great", and I wish I could figure out why. None of the encounters or story elements are bad, per se, they just seem to be lacking something that would take this module up to the next level (as it were). If I ever figure out what I feel is missing, I'll be sure to update this review.

Really enjoyed the first combat of this adventure, but other encounters fall kind of flat. There are some interesting traps involved, but nothing that packs enough teeth to be a major detriment to the party.

This adventure does have a good introduction to Podol's Plaza, the library, and some NPCs that it ay be helpful to develop for later adventurers. However, if you were to only choose one "find missing book/scroll" quest in the first season, my vote has to be for The Scroll Thief.

GMing The Courting of Fire

I ran this one on the spot when another GM failed to turn up, so started late with no prep, and with table half full of new/younger players, and I had to end early; so fitting a 4 hr module into 2 hrs.

The investigations worked fairly well and the players go on their way, although I would probably try and limit the time spent here.

It was good to have an outdoor long range combat, although in my case the players actually had the advantage as they had longer range weapons!

The interaction with Spernik didn't really make sense, or does it make sense why he would have stopped pursuing his goal.

Maybe a sense of urgency could be generated by describing the sounds of the first room when the players enter; then the sounds of the second room when they finish the first underground encounter. If they delay, progress to the third, fourth, and fifth; and have the players encounter what is left.

It still doesn't make sense with the guards left at the top and how long it would take him to finish.

I'm also not sure about his reaction if he does encounter the characters, as it seems all over the place -- maybe he is just chaotic. Maybe a "team up for now, I only want one thing, you can have the rest" is a better approach. (And for real; if he gets what he wants, it would be silly to betray the agreement.)

In the end, we ran out of time, so I cut the last encounter. It was largely unconnected to the rest of the plot, so the players felt like it still had a conclusion.

Still, if I had more time, I think it would have been nice to see Spernik team up with the players for the final encounter (his minions giving 'help' actions). If he leaves with the one thing he wants, and the players get the rest, I think it would be a nice grey ending for a change.

Needs a bit of work, but passable. Maybe it could have rated higher if I had time to prepare; if I ever run again I will update.

Agreed with the earlier post. Time is the most difficult thing to manage with this module. There's a lot of chatting around, a lot of exploring/fighting/looting, and it's extremely easy to get sidetracked.

The parts about Spernik need a bit more clrification. There are also two things that don't belong anywhere in the module (Spy, and Bandit Captain). With time being such a sensitive thing already with the module, I don't think adding any random encounters would help a lot.

I still love all the detail and sidequests in this one module, but 4 hours for this is not going to happen unless you have a player who's already completed it once driving everything through, or a DM who's going to railroad their players forward (and aggressively at that)

SPOILERS

Sumamry: This module takes the players on a trip around Phlan as they are sent on an investigatory quest that later leads to combat and the confrontation of an undead creature most of them will want to run away from. The real strength of this module is it's ability to tie in places and people that have already been introduced in this season to make Phlan seem like a real city and keep the players interested in remembering NPC names and professions. The module also sets up the next module 1-6 splendidly and the two should almost always be played in back-to-back sessions so players can maintain that familiarity with the NPCs and places around Phlan. Many of the locations and NPCs from this mission continue to pop-up later in the season so if you're planning on running season 1 at all, 1-5 and 1-6 are not modules to miss. Timing is again something that needs to be watched in this module as there are so many people to talk to and DMs who like to give their NPCs life could easily find themselves adding 1.5 to 2 hours of gametime onto the end of the module. At times the DM may have to rail-road players to keep to the alloted adventure time.

Pros: Recurring characters, fleshes out Phlan, and sets up the next module beautifully.

Cons: Time, Time, Time. This module makes it very easy to go overboard on your timeslot. DM may have to cut some of the fun out to keep the players moving.