Plenty of decent combat encounters for a short T1 module, but it fails to shine on its own. It's really just a setup for part 2 and would have been better probably as a 4 hour module. That being said the last fight can be deadly if players "dare to be stupid", resulting in 1 TPK so far :)

The story here mostly sets up the Mod that follows this series. The encounters are mostly just speed bumps to nudge the PC's a little on their quest. There is really little story reason why the antagonists should be involved at all.

It is a good module to introduce players to both 5th edition and Adventure league. Very combat focused. It would been better to run with both parts to provide a more balanced module.

Not a fan of the combat modules. When looked at with the sequel, it is a decent double module that I feel works better as an 8h run rather than 2 4H. As a 4H module, I found it way to combat intensive (not a fan of combat in general) and nothing else really to do

Its a combat heavy module. Both times I ran it I had players asking if there was anything else to do. T1 mods can be great for learning combat tiss true but some additional skill checks would have been nice to see. As a t1 I don't think I would run it again as there is so much to choose from that does it better. -DM Ace

This adventure is a solidly written combat romp. Most of the adventure hooks are pretty good, for a tier 1 party, especially if they're already invested in Parnast. The addition of Hsing is clumsy, but thats pretty common - using "SEER" (which is always stupidly written in all-caps) as a deus ex machina is boring. It's a strong reason for the lack of a fifth star.

The first fight is good. The descriptions are good, and the enemies are reasonable. For people who want to RP, there's a good encounter included but it is neither required nor forced upon the players. Befriending him is helpful, of course.

The second scene is a brief exploration bit, tapping on one of the other pillars of the D&D experience. It has some good advice for when things go wrong, when things go well, and how to incorporate some character backgrounds. The DCs are a little bit easy, but other than that, a good section of the module.

The third scene, another combat encounter is just as good as the first. The enemies have a solid explaination for why they're together in such an atypical grouping. The setting provides a couple of different ways to approach it, and is set up in a way that is very easy to scale (even on the fly).

And of course, it's a good lead-in to the second part. If I could give half stars, I would only ding it the half for the inclusion of Hsing... but I can't. Only near perfection gets all five stars from me.

Straight forward and to the point-explore and fight. Part 1 of the 2 Chelimber adventures for the Tier 1 Parnast story arc for season 5. It canbe run separately or as a 2 parter. Not much options here for the party - make some nice rolls while exploring and it can get easy. A couple of fights, and they are ready for part 2. Not the most challenging adventure, but a good setup for the second part - DDAL05-07.

This is a very combat orientated adventure with not a lot else going on. Would have liked to have seen some more skill challenges beyond getting lost in the swamp.

this is Part 1 of 2 parts (part 2 being Chelimber's descent). This is a quick 2 hr. module with some versitile creatures. I liked this one better than part 2

This was a lot of fun to run, and I've recommended this to newer DMs looking to run something. One thing...I would strongly recommend running this, and it's follow-up adventure (DDAL05-07) as a single 4-hour module. I've done that twice, and the feedback I've gotten was that it made a lot more sense.

Great adventure, overall. I'll break up the review into pros/cons, and then by each Part.

Pros: Enemies are both versatile and varied, Feetor is awesome, and the encounters are fairly dangerous/deadly. Cons: Mostly negligible Part 2, the danger really only effects 1, MAYBE 2, characters, and the ending is not ideal unless one plans to immediately run Chelimber's Descent as well.

Part 1- The adventure starts right away, with the players already in the marsh- this is great. No lost time. I feel like the average party strength fight should include 1 more Mud Mephit since the 1 present and the 1 Water Weird are fairly easy to beat via sheer action economy. I absolutely LOVE the NPC, Feetor. He leads to interesting and funny interactions with players, and I feel that his character brings out the RP in people a little more than most.

Part 2- With Feetor's aid, moving at a slow pace, and the map easily found in part 1, traversing the marsh is trivially easy. Even a character with Wisdom as their dump stat and no proficiency in Survival need only roll a 6+ on the three rolls to completely shave this part of the adventure off the module. Nevermind someone with Proficiency and good wisdom- such a character literally cannot fail the rolls at all.

Part 3- The island is quite possible TOO large. For one, I don't have a map with that many squares on it, and using the adventure's version of the map would sort of screw up characters with movement that isn't an even 10 increment (their map has each square as 10 feet). It takes the Ogres from the other camp 5 rounds to reach the other camp, at which point their reinforcement of the first camp is useless. I did love the fight with Mama Manyknuckles. It is deadly, and has several different enemy types to add to the fight. I feel that the only drawback is that it is hard to incentivise players to actually fight IN the given arena...

Conlcusion- This one has a weird and awkward ending unless one plans to immeidately run Chelimber's Descent.

This module felt almost tedious - the terrain effects of the marsh can either be interesting or bog the party down and ultimately punishing to characters. Although it makes sense from a logistical standpoint, the players tended to not like this part 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.

Fun Season 5 adventure, but feels out of place in the Parnast story line.

This adventure does not wait for the PCs to take the hook, they start in the adventure. This can be seen as great, just make sure you follow the DM guidelines and still let PCs spend downtime and gold before the adventure starts. This can also be seen as shenanigans because the PCs are place right in the middle of an ambush. At least they are allowed to make perception checks. A savvy DM though, could rewind the beginning of the game a few frames and allow the party to see the first encounter.

There is a fun chance for some role-playing, but then a weird section of random chance to get lost thrown in. Maybe adventures get lost. Travelling wide distances does not seem to be an issue in AL, but when they travel for an hour it does.

The scaling for the last encounter could be seen as a little weird to a party. The monsters either hear each other or they don't no matter how big the distance is. The final part of the last enounter I have seen ran two ways. Some DMs say the area is raised above the ground. That makes sense for Roll20 users with dynamic lighting. It also makes sense for the boss not to be in a kill pit. The way the game is written, I think the boss is in a pit.

Still a fun game to run and does not take long to prep. It takes people out of Parnast, but also does not build on it at all. This, and its sequel 5-7, could be run outside of the story line and still be fine. They can be removed from the storyline and still be fine.

I have only heard a few players complain about the abrupt ending, but if you run this game with its sequel that takes care of that.

This module tasks a group of adventurers to enter a swamp in order to find a sunken tower and plunder the riches within. The module is servicable, however having played through and run the module, not only is there weak execution of the core pillars (combat & exploration), the module commits the cardinal sin of not actually delivering on the concept provided on the tin - that is, exploring the sunken tower itself, which must be purchased and run as a separate module.

The group is given the task of beating a group of villians to the tower, however they are immediately removed from contention by an unrelated event. If the players are lucky, they will meet and befriend an NPC who will give them signposting to the next major encounter.

The middle of the module is a short series of skill checks with little consequence to the plot itself, and there is a huge opportunity missed here where the author could have inserted experiential encounters - things that set the tone, forecast the next encounter, introduced an NPC, or a puzzle situation. Instead, failures either increase the "in game" time taken to reach the goal, or worst case scenario, lead to a simple encounter featuring the same type of foes as the previous encounters.

What is more likely to happen if the appropriate skill checks are made is that the entire middle of the module will be resolved in three skill rolls, which brings us to the finale.

The third scenario is the most flexible, with a couple of different ways to get to the end goal. The length of the final encounter depends on the level of the party, and could be over extremely quickly - part of the issue again is not having a flexible palette of monsters to work with.

Frankly, it's not a module I would recommend, not only because it's a lukewarm experience for the players but it teaches prospective DM's the wrong lessons.