A silly scenario designed for use with Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Note that despite the scenario supposedly being playable with brand-new characters, there are encounters that could be lethal for such characters (though they include ways to mitigate this). The scenario also feels like it needed a little more content in the final area. Still, this looks like it would be fun both to play in and to run.

Hugely fun module that has a great storyline "aha" moment. Main drawback is that some of the characters (especially level 1 or 2) might be mechanically underprepared for the combats, requiring a bit of luck with party composition. One of my all time favourites though.

My players loved this! We had a varied mix of people at the table; from someone who had never played before to a few that had been playing off and on since the 80's. Between the challenges of underwater combat and the encounters (who doens't love a flail snail?) it kept everyone entertained and engaged. The suprise on their faces when they finally figured out where they were was priceless!

I had a blast running this, and my players enjoyed themselves very much as well. They didn't figure out the twist until they got out of the caves, but once they did, they put thigs together very quickly, and absolutely loved it. A great choice for a pickup session, or as a lead in to some of the most recent Waterdeep-set adventures.

I ran this module as a Halloween game, intending to run it like a Twilight Zone thing. But it's actually really well served in that purpose, more so than I would have imagined! Dark, weird corridors underwater; weird fish men attacking from bare feet away from you, and an 'ally' with suspicious motivations from the beginning do indeed provide some really interesting horror environments.

But it's gotta be said, despite all that? This module is kind of a drag. It begins abruptly, shoves itself into a fairly mundane exploration sequence, hits its big twist and then offers you a half-hearted endgame sequence with some common magic items as rewards, one of which requires you to kill a giant shark with level 3s. (Also, it doesn't anticipate a LOT of ways the players could get out besides fighting the fish or taking the deal — Creative players won't find it too hard to escape.)

The whole thing is geared around exploration, with combat and social play taking something of a back seat. That wouldn't be too bad, except that even from an exploration standpoint, it's fairly mediocre. There's a whole heap of twisty tunnels, to be sure, but there's nothing to be found in them except for more fish men, and once you're out of the tunnels there's no actual reason to hang around beyond 'oh hey, maybe we can find some stuff'.

However, that twist...

There's no denying it, the twist here is nuts. It provoked stunned laughter from my entire table when I ran it, and I feel that twist overpowered any ill will otherwise engaged. And that goes a long way.

Pros

Solid atmosphere. Environmental description advice is on point and goes a great way to establishing the game's eerie, bizarre mood. Twist is a genuine killer. For Adventurer's League players, this is a rare module that allows both pre-gens and regular characters and can be a great way to catch up a player or two who's fallen behind the regular group.

Cons

Awkward and unhelpful double-scale map that creates for difficult explanations to players. The 'you can see 10 feet in front of you' limitation is a great idea for horror but frustrating in actual play. (Why would you include this limitation for a scenario with an Arcane Archer pregen?) The introduction is way too brief and truncated. Honestly, this adventure is a lot shorter than the 3-4 hour advertised runtime.

Overall

I hate being negative, so let me finish on a positive note. I think you can do fun things with this module, but I'd beef up the initial sequence a lot. Don't just skip to the beach scene; let the players hunt around, role-play out the investigation, and really surprise them with when they vanish. (E.G. Create a very obviously trapped door down an alleyway and vanish them with a rune on the ground before they get even close to the door.) Subvert their expectations, work hard to make the tunnels eerie and alien and in hindsight obviously a fake environment, and play it up for all its horror potential.

And don't even try to pretend Dawn's Beacon is anything other than a deal with the devil from the outset. It's way more fun making him very unsettling.

As a Player, this was awesome, xanathar's guide to everything was on the table in front of the DM and none of use twigged and realised the fish bowl. The module took a little of an hour and I'm not sure my character will ever be ready to face Xanathar the beholder.

As a DM I'd like to say that this was enjoyable to run, its four combat encounters and I realise that the DM who ran it for me added a split in the tunnel so that the eye told us to go one way but, which led to a deadend and the snail fight, which caused us to "trust" to beacon alittle more then a suspected traitorous NPC. either way DMs need to add their own spin if your running this for AL. yes its short and sweet but, really borrow a copy and then see if you want access to certs.

While I did enjoy the reveal and the initial interaction with Dawn's Beacon, I felt that the adventure was mediocre between the starting beach scene and the extremely dramatic whale fight scene. The cave network exploration was the weakest portion, but interesting horror. The reminder of DM Empowerment is extremely useful in this module -- use it judiciously to make each encounter entertaining. My players had a tug-of-war with a clam, stormed a fortress to hide from the whale, and finally caught the moby dick with a net trap until it broke free and licked its wounds out of reach.

Be unafraid to bend the rules for dramatic effect in this module and it'll turn out well. The Story Award shall be very interesting in Dragon Heist/Season 8.

A good title for new players and DMs alike with a great twist that if done with the right theatrics can make jaw drop from players. Set up a copy of XGE in front of you and just let it be in thier vision!

5/5. Fantastic little module for new players. Super fun twist at the end!

And who doesn't love giving out little common magic items!?

Thank you, Chris Lindsey, for this exotic and bizzarre romping adventure where nearly anything could happen. My players had little to know idea what would happen next and that in turn played into how they interracted with their surroundings. I'm personally curious about how the story award plays into further plot twists in future seasons.

TL;DR: Amazing ending, mediocre process.

Yes, telling my players they were trapped in a fish bowl was the biggest grin I've had as a DM, ever. It was one hell of a plot twist, and kudos to the author for thinking of this.

On the flip side, the adventure itself wasn't very memorable. Apart from the initial interaction with the orb, the core of the module was just trying to find their way out of the fish bowl, with encounters written in to spice things up. With the lack of skill checks or exploration objectives, it became a very combat heavy module, and felt very repetitive very soon.

To improve the module, the roleplaying and the combat need to be spaced out to keep things fresh, and the exploration element need to be heavily improved. The employment of the players to investigate Xanathar and the process of investigation should be fully fleshed out (instead of as a very rushed hook). The orb and its blessing should appear deeper into the fish bowl (instead of the very beginning) to space out the combat encounters.

Bottom Line Up Front: I'm glad I bought it and I look forward to how the events in this mod will impact future adventures.

I just DM'd this game last night for a group of 5 on Roll20 and we had a great time. I did not realize it was going to be 4 hours until after the game and check the Adventurers League Content Catalog, but that's pretty much the only ding against it I have. I love the common magical items and I love the story award. The premise of the adventure is TONS of fun and I was even able to think of a way to weave it into Bleeding Gate CCC's between 1-2 and 01-03. Overall I loved it as a DM, it was simple enough to execute and the restricted vision/communications between the group members helped to add tension. I took their advice and utilized thematic trinkets to help spur on their desire to explore as much as possible, even though that meant more encounters.

Great mod, fun change of pace and as long as no one has run it and spoils it for other players, it's a great twist. Be careful though, you can accidentally kill the heck outa your players when you don't mean to. (or sometimes you do)

The mod was alot of fun for my players and myself. The underwater rules made the adventure more challenging, as did the APL of my group (1.2). Some of the players liked the end game effect, others did not. I highly recommend!

I ran this mod last weekend at my local game store. I had four players, two of which were new to D&D. This mod was fun and the look of dawning comprehension when they figured it all out was priceless! Ironically, one of the veteran players died as well as one of the new players. Both deaths were due to their own choices and had nothing to do with the DM. :P