This one was fun. The players were a bit frightened at the prospect of a Dragon in the area. Halfway through the big battle at the end, the group didn't seem to understand why they were fighting the lizardfolk, and a truce was struck. Bogclaw was defeated and allowed to live.
Giant toads are suprisingly tough if they manage to swallow a character or two. Almost had a TPK going there.

Although a few of my players weren't involved early on because of little combat in the beginning investigation phase, many attempted to interact with the environment including Animal Speaking with the surviving bull and Mending doors and other broken objects around the farms besides looking for tracks and investigating what occured. Sadly the toads blew their stealth checks and couldn't attempt snagging players first. I tried to up the odds slightly after by adding a third into the encounter a few rounds later to have it easily dispatched as well. The Emerald Enclave mission option was heavily influenced by the players they managed to convince a captured lizardman and use him to guide them further into his clan territory and halt further bloodshed as they influenced others into trade options and tales of their recent battles. Sadly, I couldn't get the players to fight the Lizardfolk king due to the fact that they charmed him to comply with their requests. So I threw in a dwarven swineherdress refusing to leave until her breeding sow was recovered (aka classic pet owner jumping into the fire to rescue beloved pet). They helped her carry and load it onto a raft. Regardless, the players were highly imaginative, willing to offer options to overcome obstacles and deliver an effective force in battle when neccessary. Overall, a definite play-again.

This is a nice adventure if your characters are aching to get out of the city and in to the country. If you have a combat heavy group, they will be bored in the middle. This became more interesting with the advent of Volo's guide, since Volo added lizardfolk as a playable race. Some combat, but more RP in my opinion. Still a good adventure, but drawing maps can get a little challenging due to scale.

If your group strongly favors the shoot first, shoot later approach, a very large portion of this module may go straight over their heads and seem maybe a little boring even. A lot of this module depends on characters interacting with at least a couple lizardfolk NPCs. Those interactions can lead to some very interesting RP elements, but those with more of a murderhobo bent wont ever know those elements are there.

Cool module. Really introduces lizard folk that because they are now a player race opens up whole avenues for the players that were not there before. Lots of chances for RPing. Also has a couple good combats.

A few things about Drums in the Marsh that make it fun now more than ever is the fact that Lizardfolk are now a playable race, and having one in a party really livens up the experience. If you know about lizardfolk and their society going into this module it really escalates the story when you have a dominating lizardfolk party member who wants to take over the tribes (GREAT RP opportunity!) and uses that towards the end of the adventure. If you don't understand much about tribal society this module is great for teaching your players how lizardfolk hunt, capture prey, what they worship/fear, etc. I highly recommend this module for anyone who wants to engage in lizardfolk lore!

Pros:

• Great RP opportunities
• Water based warfare for anyone that wants to put a swim speed to good use
• Brings characters closer to how wide spread the influence of dragons are at this point in time
• Good consumables at the end that you can't get anywhere else (easily!)

Cons:

• Lots of water
• Can go for longer than the module declares (had a 6 hour run of this once)
• Giant Toads (almost did a TPK with them...)

Drums in the Marsh is a well written adventure that allows the players to explore more than other tier one mods from season one. My main two gripes with it are the treasure is lacking with the main magic item being a limited use item and the combat is a bit difficult for tier one characters. It's unfortunate that I feel the need to skip this adventure when running season one because the area around Phlan is described so well.

DDEX1-07 Drums in the Marsh (5e) PDF Printability: White background. Old-style wasted/boilerplate pages. Fantasy Grounds Module: Yes Magic Item Rarity: Uncommon (permanent until consumed) Digital Certs: No (only physical certs existed; no longer in print) Spellbook: No

This is a solid adventure, set outside Phlan, in the surrounding area. As such it continues the important task of filling in the world for the players. As a DM for a campaign, I think this fits in well.

As a DM for a weekly AL adventure, I would rate it less highly, as the magic item is sub par, and the encounter can be quite deadly for new players who may wander in.

I think the maps are well pesented, and the adventure itself is solidly written and easy to follow.

Once again, Season 1 does a great job of tying modules together without creating a continuity lockout for players who don't play all of them. The hints of a dragon in the marsh had my players on edge, being as most of them were level 3, and while said dragon isn't directly part of the plot here, it is in a later module. We all had fun playing, although the exploration was open-ended enough that several times I had to invent story on the fly in response to player creativity. Still, definitely a good module.