Overall, a fairly solid adventure. Hecate's Tomb assumes you are using Lion & Dragon, but can easily be converted or used with any OSR.

The adventure provides a solid mix of mystery, exploration, and interaction, combining several tropes. There's a cult, a well-developed dungeon, brigands, some magic, and an optional hidden boss built in that can really ratchet up the danger.

Blackheath is the main town supporting the action and mystery of the adventure. From this town, the characters investigate mysterious disappearances and rumours in the surrounding areas.

There are some great antagonists developed as adversaries for a party of low-level adventurers. I would suggest a party of four from 1-2nd level. I played with three 1st level players, and they were nearly wiped out by the first real encounter.

Things going for the adventure:

• Well-developed antagonists make for a lot of variety in interaction and branching resolutions.
• The history of the area provides a lot of background color and easily extends the adventure into a potential full campaign arc.
• Each location provides suggestions for a variety of encounter possibilities and setups.
• The Tomb itself is very well thought-out and easy to prep.

Things that complicate running the adventure:

• A map would go a long way to helping DMs organize a session. As is, you have to map it out on your own based off of lengthy description.
• The only NPCs that are fleshed out are family of antagonists. The DM needs to prepare some possible NPCs ahead of time.
• The town of Blackheath is not fleshed out. If the players intend look through the town, the DM will need to invent some points of interest.
• DM may also need to map out the Farmstead and develop a basic layout for the Farmhouse in case interactions take place within.

Overall, I really enjoyed running the adventure with Lion & Dragon. Cults of Chaos will also help you with doing some prep for Hecate's Tomb. If you put in the work ahead of time to cover for the issues mentioned above, you can really go all out and set up an entire story arc or sandbox. My players discovered evidence of an Arcadian tomb BEFORE they engaged the main storyline (they searched an area, and I felt like rewarding a lucky. The area is ripe with potential.

A criminally under-appreciated product. Lion & Dragon is a solid OSR core book and makes changes to the base system surpassing its predecessor in all respects.

In particular, I love the level-up mechanic, which includes both elements of chance and choice, preserving randomness, while allowing for precise build possibilities. It's certain that no two characters will be exactly the same, but you will certainly be able to make the most out of your class.

I will try to run a few adventures with this setting to provide a more nuanced review in the future, but I'm already a big, BIG fan.

This is one of my new Favorite modules!

The story is engaging and allows for a lot of roleplay and very diverse combat.

Additionally, it's set in Mulmaster, one of my favorite settings, with appearances by that city's movers and shakers, including Rastol Shan, High Blade Drakehorn, and the titular Selfaril - all intriguing characters.

The story, by itself, truly makes the characters' accomplishments feel impactful on the City and the greater Moonsea area.

The adventure is broken up into four sections. Section 1 is an outdoors combat, Section 2 is a dungeon crawl (I was able to make use of Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes and insert a Rot Troll, which was awesome. Lots of possibilities here. Section 3 is a roleplay heavy section visiting some famous, or notorious characters from Mulmaster including Zora Culkin, Sark Toliver, and a secret group that was the centerpiece of my roleplaying session! No spoilers... And the final section, an arena combat, allows for a VERY tactical arena-style combat. You can seriously make this as interesting as you'd like. I included a Chain Devil in my combat, because I had some very experienced adventurers who needed a stout challenge.

Overall, DDEX2-14 is a fantastic mid-campaign adventure, and an absolute blast to run. You can easily go over time with this one, or trim it down if you want. You won't regret running it though.

I ran this recently, and I must say, this Module deserves its excellent reputation. Rare among modules, it places a lot of emphasis on roleplaying, but still manages to provide a strong combat experience. I'd say the balance is as perfect as any I've played, or perhaps moreso.

On the roleplaying side, Zora Culkin and Dawsom along with the visit to the Hospice provide for amazing interactions among the characters. At the end, they managed to save Zora, and the Dwarven Wizard accepted her sponsorship with the Cloaks! What a fantastic story award!

In terms of combat, the Manor was a wonderful surprise for all of my party members. I provided a layout of the mansion and asked them where they settled in for the night. The assault scenario provides the perfect opportunity for DMs to tailor their encounters and provide a lot of dynamic challenges. It was incredible, and probably the most satisfying experience I've had as a DM. The players beat a hasty retreat, just before the mansion collapsed.

My only criticism is not really a criticism in truth. As others have noted, the final battle is a bit weak. However, after the mansion encounter, I let this encounter proceed as written, giving the party a satisfy bit of revenge against the cultists. It worked perfectly for me. However, if you want to drag it out a little bit, throw a Salamander in there, or swap out a couple regular cultists for Fanatics, or maybe a few more Azer.

Overall, I highly recommend this adventure. Please note, it runs pretty long if you let the roleplaying flow naturally.

The adventure is very straight forward and combat heavy. I have no problem running it, but you should be aware that you're not getting any roleplay (as the other commenters have pointed out), without doing some prep work on your own. There is a lot of space to develop an interesting roleplay scenario.

The module goes to lengths to present wonderous sights and colorful characters, but the two-hour time limit is actually observed in this module, unlike many others. You are sent fairly quickly to discover the source of the sink holes and presented with two combat challenges and one exploration opportunity.

The combat scenarios are excellent, and where this module really shines. They both involve interesting setups and can really provide a challenge to your characters if you play tactically. Against the Spider-monsters, remember to use web-sense and make good use of your choldrith. The Chitines can take a party down very quickly, so if you have a tank, he's pretty much toast. Plan for a good escape route for the Choldrith. I had some blood thirsty players track him and kill him pretty easily.

The Grung battle is excellent. Don't be affraid of boosting your elite grung's HP and the Wilding as well. My players were a bit on the higher side of the APL, and I threw in a Red Slaad at the Stone Portal to make it more difficult. In this scenario, if you want to maintain the momentum, be sure to have the prisoners cry out after fighting the Chitines/Choldrith to lure them into a fight against the grungs without a short rest.

A decent adventure with a lot of space to expand through roleplay, but you're on your own there. Also a good chance to move the party over to Chult, if you want, or to take the plunge and explore deeper in the Squamous Writings series. I would prep more roleplay to tie it together in that case, though.

This is a fairly decent adventure. But I have a few gripes.

It doesn't provide a lot a flavor text or description. If you don't have it well-prepared, you may skip over some important items when the characters reach a new zone.

Additionally, as has been mentioned before, there should be more maps, or a better description of the inner & outer crypts. There isn't much to go on here. I had to read and re-read the outter crypt sections to figure out what was happening.

I also recommend beefing up the last fight with the skeletons. I'd probably throw in a few more lacedons to spice that fight up. Make them Kuo Toan lacedons and you're good to go.

I really like Sgt Maskyr. She's probably going to show up in my games a few more times. And, although I liked the inclusion of the Flumphs, I would rework how they got there. Chasing after troglodies makes no sense. Being chased by troglodies works much better.

The Encounter with Xaxan is also a pretty solid entry. It allows for a lot of good roleplay. Be careful not to allow the party to simply assault him and his men.

Overall, pretty good, but requires some fine-tuning to make truly memorable.

DDEX3-10 is a lot of fun to run, especially against a fighter-heavy party. In spite of other criticisms, there are several opportunitites for roleplaying, especially with the incubus Mardivec. I never had him attack the characters, but he managed to seduce one of the fighters (in a very PG-way) while shape-shifted, and give his necrotic kiss. It does tend to run a bit long, but the maps clarify the layout and evoke a strong sense of place. We never got to the scarecrows, but those encounters looked fun as well.

The adventure is definitely on the hard side, and I'd say it's optimized for a party of five 4th level characters or maybe even six. Our APL was about 3, though we had between 6 and 7 every session. I almost TPKed all of them, and had to pull a few punches, especially when Agrak came out with his carrion crawler.

The game runs a bit long. Expect between 8 and 12 hours, depending on how you play it.