Solid, if run of the mill, AL module. As a DM, what is important to me: i) well organized; ii) well written (and edited); iii) cool story. The story was not anything out of the ordinary but it was well organized and well writtent. Easy module to DM and easy for the players to follow along.

Overall, a great adventure. I'll break my review into a pros/cons, and then a brief review of each Part of the adventure.

Pros include a seldom used-setting (IMO), a desert, good pacing, wide breadth of skill usage, and some very tactical fights. Cons would be that there is probably TOO much content, more like 3 hours worth, and half the NPCs (namely, those at the end of the adventure) are forgettable because of how "rushed" the end of these adventures always seems to be.

Part 1- This part ends quickly, and gets the adventure started ASAP. Decent NPC interaction and preparatory period for players.

Part 2- First tactical fight. Takes place at night, from within (or without) the ring of caravan wagons. Cover, options, and simple ambush enemies. Loved it. Then comes the part labeled "Optional" in the Zhentarim camp. I have found this part rarely gets played because of how much time the rest of the module takes, and this would go beyond the 2 hour projected play time. After that is the Sandstorm section. Brilliant way to allow player choice in skill usage, and it (usually) require them to sacrifice SOMETHING, which I think is a good thing. Next comes the Hobgoblin gate. Again, if they choose to fight, I think that with the wall and clever wagon usage, this becomes a very tactical fight. If they choose to bypass this fight, or pay the toll, I like how stacked against the players the following encounter seems to be.

CONCLUSION- Around time for the conclusion, the 2-hour mark is either right upon you, or has passed by a little bit. Doing this makes the 2 NPCs introduced here rather forgettable (Chandra Stoll and Raggnar). I also thought it odd that the characters don't get paid for the weapons/supplies if they already got paid for the statue since those payments come from separate sources. The Bracers of Archery magic item reward are pretty underwhelming as well. They only fit a fairly narrow niche of characters, so I've had it that no one even wanted them at all (and if they did it was more for the weather-resistant effect).

This is a good introduction to the season 5 tier 1 storyline as it brings the PCs to Parnast and introduces some of the NPCs that will appear again in later adventures. It is a guard the caravan adventure, but adds enough variety in to make it interesting instead of tired.

Great story for the module and does a good job of setting up the story for the tier 1 adventures

This module served as a great way to get the players to the area of Parnast while introducing the main threat to Parnast and the PCs. While not introducing the city in any major way, I think it does a good job of illustrating a problem as well as letting the PCs feel like heroes in the situations present. Finally, I think the option for player choice in the module is nice, as it gives players agency in determining parts of the module.

Recommend Purchase: Yes. XP Range: 450-600

The Season 5 Hardcover (Storm King's Thunder) is an amazing sandbox that spans the entire northwest Swordcoast. Unlike seasons 1-3 these storyline modules actually occur in the same area and mesh well with the hardcover. This is the first season to include the digial certificate for permanent magic items.

Before running any Season 5 module, you should download the following content from DMSGUILD and read it fully:

• Season 5 Narrative: Parnast, Stagwick, & Beregost Sadly this was released only AFTER the season was over :(

• A Guide to the Factions of Faerun Lots of Faction stuff in Season 5, so your players should be engaged with the Faction they've chosen.

This serves as a good introduction adventure to newer players. The story in the mod is well written and hints at the presence of the Giants a little but does not do much beyond that.

The fights are a little too simple as players pretty much get rested very often. That said, it is the second mod of the season so I think that's might be part of the idea too.

My players enjoyed this adventure a lot. More of a combat mod than some others which my party appreciated and the rewards are pretty decent too. A little bit more roleplay opportunity would have een an added plus but its still a great mod for beginners

I played this last night and it was a lot of fun. There definitely is a good balance of fighting, roleplaying, and survival in the Black Road. Although we didn't get to finish this in one session,(my players and I take our time) we certainly enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed running this adventure!

The Good:

• The adventure described the landscape well, making it easy for players to immerse themselves in the adventure
• The role playing components were enjoyable
• The battles were challenging, but not overwhelming
• The adventure provided content for the many scenarios the players found themselves in

The Not-So-Good:

• The adventure ran 3.5 hours for our six person group
• There wasn't continuity from DDAL05-01 to DDAL05-02 (unlike from 02 to 03)

Pros:

• Good opportunities to roleplay a tense situation with the hobgoblins blocking the road.
• Night combat and combat at the wall provide interesting tactical opportunities.

Cons:

• Players often spend a lot of time with the hobgoblin negotiation, and care needs to be taken to prevent the players from taking too long to decide on whether or not to pay the toll, especially since the module is built to reward the players the same way regardless of their choice.
• This module can easily run over time, even if the bandit encounter is skipped.
• The sandstorm encounter has been confusing for me to run without spoon-feeding suggestions to the players.

A simple adventure to run in theory. However, unprepared adventurer choices can be detrimental at the end. The initial combat encounter is good for testing character abilities safely. The following encounters test players with adaptability and quick decisions. The player and story awards are adequate. The adventure can easily take longer than the 2 hour run time.

While cute, this in no way adheres to the expectations of 5th edition. A single encounter followed by a long rest does nothing but roll a bunch of dice. Even a deadly encounter will be no challenge for PCs who have all their resources. Further, as a low level module it establishes expectations among beginning players that they can blow their full load every encounter with no need to conserve resources for later encounters which is 100% contrary to encounter design in 5th edition. The writers and editors need to learn how to structure an Adventuring Day. (The DMG explains this rather extensively).

Overall I liked this adventure, but there were some flaws in the plot that I found troublesome.

Pros: -Good mix of role play, exploration, and combat challenges; the "non combat" encounters help keep the focus on the goal, not the combats, and thought has been given to those parties who seek non combat resolutions when possible. -several places where player choices affect the plot beyond the immediate encounter, and a nice flowchart to see how the various paths the authors envision the players taking; more options than I seen in any other AL module, although my experience is limited. -In the "skill challenge" encounter, the authors brainstormed a wide range of possible responses to the presented threat, which I appreciated. (But....see below) -I appreciated the inclusion of an "optional" encounter, flagged to skip if time was short. (Im my case it was because we had a late start and a hard stop time.) -Hooks for every faction and the factionless.

Cons: -Major narrative problem: PCs are invited to meet their contact/quest giver at an oasis several days journey from Parnast into the desert of Anauroch desert. The adventure begins on their arrival at the oasis. They are to guard a caravan on its way to Parnast, and encounter obstacles along the way. Some of those obstacles have been in place for several weeks. If the PCs previously participated in the Broken Hoard (the intro mini-adventures,) they are already in the Parnast region, and would have to take the black Road to the oasis, and would have encountered the obstacles on their way in -Related narrative problem: Whever the PCs are coming from, they need to spend severald days in the desert between accepting the hook and the beginning of the adventure. At the oasis, they are encouraged to buy desert clothing and equipment, and there are consequences later in the adventure if they don't. But...they didn't need them to get travel to the desert to get to the Oasis?? -"Skill challenge" encounter offers lots of different skill checks and possible solutions, but the DC for all of them is listed several paragraphs above the list. In play, I thought the DCs were missing altogether. -At one of the branch points, one option is to go around the obstacle. But the described geography doesn't seem to allow for this, and there's no info/directions about how they can find their way, given that they will have to leave the Black Road. -there are some issues with items changing over the course of the adventure: a messenger bag listed in a treasure section becomes a wooden box in the Developments paragraph that follows; the gatehouse described in the text is apparently the Guard tower on the map--but according to the text there are no "guards" on the tower.
-a magic item is on a creature that is removed from encounters from weaker parties; no word on whether or not to make it available to a weak party (or if to move it to another foes)

My solutions/adaptations: -I edited the "factionless" hook from SEER, and added one time use magic use rings that would transport the PCs to the oasis directly. I bit OP for this tier, but the easiest way I could find to deal with the narrative problems. (And my players are very narrative oriented) -Someone else here suggested naming the drivers. I did so, and while we were too rushed by a late start to spend much RP time with them, I found it useful to do so.

Excellent and challenging mod that players love to play over and over. Great story and pacing. Takes a little adjustment for a true level 1 party, but one of the better mods for season 5.