This was a lot of firsts. My first time running a published module, my first time DMing for Adventurer's League. It was the first time someone at my table had ever played D&D.

The module is a solid introduction to D&D for new players (and was a good intro to published modules for me as a DM), hitting some combat, some social role-playing, and some environmental challenges and hazards. I particularly liked the way it used the different types of goblinoid races (depending on the choices of the adventurers, you might or might not hit those bugbears), and it gave me a real sense of being an adventure happening in a larger world - things that happen off page have a definite impact on the challenges your party encounters.

Not too long, we hit right at the suggested time of two hours, so bear in mind that this will be a shorter session than some. But because it's not as long, it's also less of an investment to prep, and a shorter session can sometimes have benefits of its own.

We had a great time. 4/5 stars.

I was able to play in this adventure as a visiting player to another groups game day. Having not known the adventure at the time, I think it played extremely well. We had players both young and old, and it was a fun time by everyone. There is a good balance of creativity, problem solving, combat, and roleplaying in this adventure. The only downside is my Traveling Fisherman Monk never found a good place to go fishing, but I guess that is what you get when the adventure takes place in the middle of the desert.

The only note for a purchaser is that the maps are different from the ones typically found in DDAL Modules. They aren't any better or worse, but a DM that doesn't like change may find them hard to use since it is a different art style.

A really great low-level, introductory adventure to the region of Parnast, the Storm King's Thunder storyline. It takes the protecting a caravan adventure and raises the stakes, with plenty of danger from various goblinoids to a desert sandstorm! I'd say it is not a 2 hour adventure, definately should be played out in a 4 hour timeframe.

Great introductory adventure with equals amounts combat, social interaction, and exploration. Highly recommened for new players as it pretty much offers something for most types of D&D players as players are tasked to deliver as statue of the Goddess Mielikki to Parnast.

This was my introduction to being a DM. It was well put together and my players absolutely loved it. It had few NPCs but they were so well done. The combat was great and it was challenging for the players without being Dark Souls level of difficult. Very awesome. I intend to follow this story for quite awhile.

DDAL 5-02 The Black Road is a great adventure with roughly 5 major parts.

The first part is the introduction and the hiring phase for the player characters. It is simple, quick, and allows a fun amount of roleplaying. It serves it's purpose rather well. It serves it's point well to get the players onto the escort mission.

The second part in the adventure is a night time raid. It's a very basic attack from a common foe that with less blood thirsty groups can provide a nice foreshadowing of things to come. It's not overly complicated and is an quick enjoyable fight.

This can be followed by an optional roleplaying encounter, that due to time constraints I've never run. Though it seems as if it could be rather enjoyable and the information provided could help the players make decisions later on.

The third major part is a battle against the environment. This scene is a cinematic skill challenge that not only helps foreshadow information in the future, but foreshadows information about the entire season of AL adventures. It is a quick skill challenge but one that is easy DC but holds risk for failure.

Next we have the major encounter of the adventure where the players finally get to confront their adversaries. This is a great part because it has several options, that while all will eventually lead to a combat, it does so in an organic and believable way.

Lastly we have the wrap up where the players get their rewards for success which is a simple but potentially fun scene.

Overall The Black Road is a fun adventure. It's great for Adventure League play as while only a two hour long adventure it provides a good amount of xp at a fair amount of risk. It also has options on stretching out the roleplaying if the group has time to play longer. For home play The Black Road is good but could need a lot of small tweaks to fit into a campaign.

I ran this adventure for a bunch of new players when it first came out, and will run it again this coming weekend for an event that will teach D&D to new players. Again, the 3 pillars of D&D are represented here. You can engage the creativity of the players by leaning in hard on the sand storm encounter. However, I will say that the combat might prove to be fatal for fresh level 1s and 2s. I remember having a player almost die during the goblin night attack. So just be careful when running it for inexperienced players.

Great fun! I played before I bought and loved the strategic and tactical choices to be made. :)

What a way to kickstart the Storm Kings Thunder Season. A meeting in the desert, A great way for Zhents to start. A good Balance of skills vs combat just incase your brand of MH actually wants to talk their way through the encounters. If you follow through all of Tier 1 , your players will feel great satisfaction by the end.

This is a great adventure to introduce characters to the Sword Coast and into the events of Storm King's Thunder, as they start off to the east of Anauroch desert and must travel east along the Black Road to Parnast. During this adventure, the PCs embark on a long trek with a caravan from the Moonsea region, during which they have many opportunities to introduce each other, interact with the other caravan characters, while defending against the foes and hazards of the deserts. The storm wake caused by the cloud giant palace literally foreshadows events to come in the SKT hardcover adventure. A crafty GM could even foreshadow further events of the hardcover by placing monuments of giant ruins and the roars of blue dragons in the distance. With so much empty space in the desolate sands, there is plenty of room to establish the setting out here in the wastes! For my group, I actually ran this module first and led that into the Treasure of the Broken Hoard adventures, which take place around Parnast.

I've run this module a few times now and is great for new players. It has a good mix of combat and role-playing, a good item, and segues well into the rest of the tier 1 modules.

Pros:

• Meaningful interaction with NPCs that show up later in the story.
• Opportunity for an extra RP-based encounter.
• Gives the players the ability to actually make a decision about how to proceed beyond the "guards".

Cons:

• Can easily go over time with the "guards" encounter. To get through this in a reasonable amount of time you have to push the players pretty hard.
• The sandstorm encounter is kind of awkward, would have liked this to be a bit more structured.

This is a great to use "intro" module if you're not a fan of the 5 1-hour DDAL05-01 module.

I ran this at my FLGS when we had an overflow of brand new players on AL night. The module does a good job of sprinkling flavor throughout and gets to party to Parnast in a tight 2 hour romp.

The favorite of the tables was definitely the sandstorm that party needed to shelter from.

Bugbears, Hobgoblins, and Goblins oh my!

This might be one of the best of the Season 5 modules. the goal is straightforward and easy to explain. There are options to keep the story varied if played or DMed repeatedly.

The NPCs are limited but they're not 2 dimensional like most.

Requires a bit of thinking on the party's part.

Rarely does the item reward go to waste. 4.5/5

The Black Road is a simple, straightforward escort-the-valuable-item-across-dangerous-terrain adventure — and yet it was a lot of fun. You can easily run this adventure in under 2 hours. SPOILERS AHEAD, OBVIOUSLY

The Black Road says it's optimized for "five 3rd level characters," but I found that, for my players, the encounters weren't that challenging. I would say you could drop down to five 2nd level characters, and still be fine. It's a good induction to the various factions, as each faction has a unique way of providing a "hook." This adventure also introduces SEER and Hsing, two very important NPCs for season five. No forewarning is given, but the DMs should handle these VIPs with care — they will pop up again and again and again.

I loved the desert setting. (And thank you for giving the characters an opportunity to buy "desert clothing." This really helped sell the idea of an exotic environment.) We don't do nearly enough adventures in the desert — and the story really played up the setting in an enjoyable way.

Encounter A. "Psh... It's only a few goblins." Believe it or not, for my group, this encounter was the hardest. Maybe it was the way they were spread out, or maybe it was some bad die rolls, but the goblins held their own for longer than I imagined. [Sidenote: I'm glad the trinket table (PHB p.160-161) made a return in the treasure section.] Loved the giant toenails as a "treasure."

Encounter B was optional. My players decided to camp together with the Zhents, which was rather anticlimatic. But I would've been surprised if this encounter ended in a fight. If you have a Zhent in the group, it would feel almost borderline PvP-ish to attach his comrades. Plus, they just aren't hostile enough to warrant bloodshed, unless you're players are a bunch of murder hobos.

Encounter C was my favorite part of the adventure. I love this mechanics behind the sandstorm. It was a puzzle without feeling like a blatant puzzle. You have only so many characters, and you need to figure out who protects what — and what are the consequences for neglecting aspects of the caravan. (Very Oregon Trail-esque.)

Encounter D felt like the finale, even though it wasn't. The combat was a little underpowered — even for tier 1. Sadly, the straw hobgoblins didn't fool anyone. Once the group conned their way through (pay the toll, etc), the combat afterward was fairly straightforward. When I run this adventure again, I may try to keep the gate closed, even if a toll is offered. The wall makes for a nice problem for the PCs. (And yes, the hobgoblin captain went on and on about how wonderful the wall was.) D2 and D3 are presented as either/or, but there was enough time for both fights. Although, D3 felt a tad anti-climatic after they got past the toll.

Have I ever told you I hate escourt quests? Well this one wasn't that bad. For an introduction module, it's a pretty good one. Gives a little bit of everything which allows players to get a good feel for playing. You have combat, skill checks, and a little bit of roleplaying. Only danger I see is that the final encounter can be a bit too deadly for a party of characters that are too low level, so adjust accordingly.