I ran this for my players without the puzzle (because I don't like puzzles in dnd but that's a separate rant) and we loved the morally grey/not black&white ending. This was perfect for setting up a vampire storyline for the rest of the campaign.

This is the first time I've ever ran a pre-written adventure, deciding to slot it into my ongoing campaign as a side-quest of sorts.

It was the first time my players had come across vampires and the slow reveal that they were dealing with such creatures was a joy to see. They did manage to 'mess up' in areas, failing the puzzle and rushing Margaux without sparing a second to think about her intentions... but only after the dust has settled have they start to think they might not have done the right thing. I'm soon to play the follow-up session and even though the adventure as written is finished, they dont want to leave Stonewood. That's the sign of a well written adventure.

My rating, however, is based on how the experience of preparing the adventure was for me - the DM. It was all written very clearly and I would say nearly everything I needed to get going was provided, though I did have to do some 5e vampire research. I'm looking forward to getting involved with more fro mthe same author.

Thank you!

This was the second campaign I DMed and it was incredibly fun for the whole group. We played it in three sessions with a party of five players on level 2. My players really loved it, remarking how rewarding their conclusion to the story felt, how cool it was to solve the puzzle, overall a super fun experience. I must comment on how well made the campaign is written, Emmet Byrne gives details I didn't even realize were necessary until pointed out. He makes it very nice and easy for the DM, and as a newbie in the whole D&D scenario that was deeply appreciated by me, never having a moment questioning myself how to make an NPC act, as all characters are so well defined in the appendix. The only "problem" I had was having to get maps for areas like the Runeheim Bazaar and Adair's shop, but I wouldn't put that as a negative aspect of the campaign as it didn't affect the experience for me or my players. Since we're playing online through discord and Roll20 I simply looked up for maps that would resemble the areas and used them.

Something I'd like to add, not really part of the review but just an example of the experience of my party. At the very end of the story, after the characters encounter Margaux making experiments on Dayton and having a conversation with her, my players decided to help her in curing him. They assumed Adair didn't know about his brother being a vampire and thought it was a better idea to give him back "in perfect conditions", as they all really wanted the payment that was promised. At this point I had to look up how to cure a vampire and Margaux was appreciative of the help she received from the characters. This sparked a lot of fun moments of them trying to solve something they had no idea how it worked, and somehow the druid of the party made some incredible rolls and Dayton was cured. I found that particularly incredible and creative of my party, as I kept thinking of how that wasn't even one of the conclusions listed by the end of the campaign.

Thank you, Emmet Byrne. My players have expressed that they can't wait to play similar campaigns to this one!

I'm a beginner DM and while working to construct my own world and setting I wanted to get started in running the game as I was a little eager to. While looking for free one-shots I discovered The Graveyard Shift. It helped be realise that being a DM requires a lot more preperation, at times I was uncertain what should be happening so after session 1 I properly read the rest of the PDF. It was a good short adventure that defiently leaves itself open to including your own areas, such as the market which I built out as the characters looked for other equipment mid adventure. Would highly reccomend

Such a fun introductory adventure! The puzzle is so thoughtful and engaging; a good way to show new players that DnD isnt just combat! The plot twist at the end kept them all guessing and made the final choice even harder to make! the ability to leave it open also invites a possible future adventure depending on how your players get to the end! overall an awesome bang for your buck and I cant recommend this enough!

Hey, check out the review I did for this adventure. We also played it on our podcast, in volume 1 episodes 1 to 6.

https://committeequest.podbean.com/e/review-the-graveyard-shift/

I ran this adventure for a group that comes together every few months. We play one-shots most of the time and this one seemed to be very interesting. My group was level 2 and consisted of 4 party members.

We had a lot of fun! They quickly had a "sherlock holmes" cap on to solve the mysterie. Coming up with all sorts of difficult questions for me to answer as a DM. "Why is there only one guard if you're afraid the dead?" for instance.

The most important area's of the adventure are well done! There were some small gaps in between those that need to be filled in by the DM. At least for me. It helped me to make connections to the different locations and make it easier to roleplay certain npc's.

The fighter in my party has some difficulty with roleplaying. He said he missed combat in this oneshot. There's only 2 or 3 encounters. For my level 2's they're not that difficult. Except the vampire encounter in the end :) Keep that in mind when playing this oneshot.

Short version: This adventure is phenominal, laid out well, fun and intuitive for new players, and a great starting point for a campaign.

Long version: This adventure took only a little adjusting for my (low-magic) setting, but it was so well written and concise that I had no trouble. Just make sure you read it before you start running it, a lot of the setting and personality information is in the back of the book. Its read-aloud text is a great addition, and takes some of the burden off of the DM, and I found that it really focused my distractable players when they noticed I was reading not just describing.

If your players are murder hobos, or not interested in taking their time with the adventure it will have a good set of challenges. If your players are thoughtful and patient it gives you suggestions to nudge them in the right direction, and the important clues have multiple paths to get to the players. Did they miss the red dirt that's only from that one place? No big deal, there are other things leading them toward the place. No one speaks Elvish? That's fine, the portal opens after they mess around long enough, but they're teleported into the cells instead of just into the laboratory. Big thumbs up for that.

Really looking forward to more from the authors of this, the pdf gives WotC a run for their money. It looks like a professional production, way more than the $3 price tag would suggest.

A great adventure that I recently used to start up a new campaign with a group of players who hadnt met each other before. We used approximately 9 hours from start to finish, with some homebrew, but 3-5 hours as stated is a good guideline. Its easy to run, it has a well designed village and NPC's and a good pacing if you follow the written material, and has tips if the adventurers gets stuck. This would also be a good fit for new DM's.

I also like how open the world feels, and it makes it easy to also insert your own things into the adventure without ruining it, and my party springboarded into something grand, following the conclusion of this adventure. 5 stars, and big reccomandation, especially if Necromancy fancies you!

Brilliant!!! **** A neat and full little adventure. Perfect for absolute beginners with gorgeous, gorgeous maps my players adored. It's lovingly crafted and brilliantly put together with superb and surprisingly high quality! 10/10 Will run again!