Every once in awhile I appreciate a dungeon crawl and thats what this was. It was the first one of the season and it was something that I still found as enjoyable. The bonus objectives were nice and one specifically was one that I feel every group I've DMed for (And played in) developed some degree of emotional attachment. Overall, well done.

3 stars for a nice dungeon run. Stars removed for not having any decent roleplaying involved and lack of connection to the characters.

This adventure was a lot of fun. A good deal of fighting (out of this trilogy this is where your players are most likely to die). If I could change one thing, I'd introduce a time limit somehow, as there's nothing to stop players from leaving the tomb after every combat to get a long rest.

Overall, I recommend this adventure.

I have been DMing for a long time, and the starting trilogy for this season has been a disorganized mess. To be honest, all three of them read like the writers barely added some meat to the story guidance they were given and mailed them in. No text boxes. No printer friendly versions. Story is jumbled and confusing and it took a lot of DM nudging to get players to even notice side quests. When players are actively saying that their characters would not follow along but they want to play so they do it anyways, the story telling part of the game is seriously breaking down.

These modules are not written properly to be run in a store and take too much DM prep. The middle one (this review) is the worst of the three.

I'm going to try and keep this short. Many other people have made good and necessary points that I won't repeat. The two things that I had the greatest problem with are that the hooks are so terrible that they can discourage players who notice, and the module's combats are not at all friendly to inexperienced DMs.

First, the hooks. There's no indication of what the characters stand to gain by following the clues they find. They don't have anything to lose by walking away. There are some characters who would follow clues that they coincidentally come across through great adversity just because it is a thing that can be done, but that's not a reasonable motivation for all characters and it definitely doesn't make them heroic. Players who think to articulate or ask about this can feel extremely railroaded since their characters must do something for no reason for the player to play the module.

The combats in this module are very powerful, and if they are run strictly as written are very likely to kill a party. An experienced DM has many options, but an inexperienced DM won't know about them because the module doesn't mention them or warn the DM how deadly the combats are.

Spoilers for combats below this point.

A knowledgeable but inexperienced DM is going to look at the first combat and realize that skeletons and skeletal warhorses that have the same master and instructions would act basically the same. There's no reason for the skeletons to control their skeletal mounts so they can both attack. This is extremely likely to start knocking out PCs in the first round. Once the DM has realized that the combat is too powerful, if they do, then it's harder to adjust the combat without tipping off the players that something has changed. If you feel like the enemies have suddenly stopped fighting as hard, then you may also feel that defeating them is less of a victory.

The second combat is only really survivable if you allow the PCs to run away and don't have the creatures follow them. But the module doesn't actually say that the creatures won't follow.

This is a good way to generate dead PCs and confused DMs.

It isn't appropriate for DDAL modules to rely on having an experienced DM who is comfortable adjusting combats on the fly to make the combats manageable. They need to take some of that space they've been saving by eliminating boxed text, or maybe cut into the art, and spend it advising DMs.

This module, structurally, is an improvement over 8-1 purely because dungeon crawls are inherently linear. Because it is inherently linear, it has other problems that are a result of the Season 8 module format.

None of the combats have actually been balanced in relation to each other using the DMG formulas because the Season 8 format continues to depend on DM Fiat to invent reasons why the party can bypass/overcome/defeat the encounter without actually fighting it.

This is a CRITICAL PROBLEM in this module. In the 2 hour version of this dungeon crawl, even if the players enter the dungeon immediately, there are 3 combats that the module says cannot be avoided. The first combat is with 5 Skeletons and 5 Warhorse Skeletons that specifically cannot be reasoned with. This module is APL 3, but the DMG calculation for just this encounter rates it DEADLY. The other two unavoidable combats are Medium and Easy.

Front loading the deadliest combat increases the difficulty of subsequent combats significantly and risks having a TPK early in the module unless the DM is specifically skilled to prevent that. Furthermore, having the combats appear in reverse difficulty gives the players a false sense of security when they enter the final chamber. Things have been getting easier on them, so they are more likely to assume that whatever enemies they find last are the easiest ones.

This leads to the final, and most obvious, flaw in the Season 8 format. Nothing the players do can matter. If you insist that players are allowed to "do anything" to accomplish their goal, then the only way for the goal to be reached is if it is independent of any player actions. This module highlights that very well. It doesn't matter if the players fight or avoid all the traps and monsters, they must meet an insurmountable foe at the end and be given a choice to take the next adventure hook or be killed.

This is the only logical ending for this module. The party has already fought a Deadly encounter, so they cannot defeat a dramatic boss battle AND the end of 8-1 was already a "cryptic clue to the next location" so that ending can't be recycled in Part 2 of a 3 Part series. That leaves "meeting a new employer" and the only way to guarantee that the job gets taken is with the choice of Death or Work

Overall, Season 8 modules require an exacting awareness of total party resources and the ability to rewrite entire combats on the fly without the players detecting it so that the players will feel like the challenges/combats presented are fair and balanced to be overcome by good planning and resource management. If this illusion is seen through, then any players that believe the purpose of D&D is to creatively or strategically overcome challenges will realize that Season 8 modules do not provide that. Once players realize that nothing they do actually matters it encourages them to do increasingly outlandish things just to see what explanation the DM will create to allow them to succeed.

Season 8 module....give yourself extra prep time.

Combats can be rough on a tier one party.

Was pretty fun to run overall, playing the main bad guy was a blast.

There are a few typos, so take notes where needed and did I mention take extra prep time?

...So after finishing DDAL 08-01 I wanted to run this adventure with the same group. As I can imagine other DMs are experiencing that it is difficult to run this if members drop out. Instead of a full review I intend to outline how I overcame some of the difficulties in the transition from DDAL 08-01 to DDAL 08-02:

I was lucky enough to have one player from DDAL 08-01 and a few regulars from my DDHC-WDH adventure (these players were starting chapter 4 and I inserted this adventure during their downtime as they were researching marketing strategies for running an inn, hence their arrival at Green's Inn). The player with DDAL 08-01 experience asked for help finding the Dragon's Hoard with the map she found, of course the DDHC players were immediately interested, hence easy step-off point. side quest were easily inserted and boons for/against DDHC players, I intend to incorperate into the DDHC story. They even came across some random NPC they previously encountered.

This is a great adventure mixed in with terrible organization. The adventure itself is a lot of fun. It has relevant side quests that are decent, the map layout is great, and the enemies are very interesting. What holds this adventure back are that it really needs 08-01 and 08-03 to be run. As a stand alone adventure, it would need a lot of help. This is great if you have a group of the same people, but bad if you have people who drop in and out randomly.

The issue, as with 08-01, is the organization of the adventure is really, really bad. You have to flip back and forth repeatedly in the adventure. You also need to read through the module a couple of times to really give your players the best experience, as there is a lot of ad-libbing freedom to do. The map is not labled and should be. This is a shame. If the story had a better starting hook, organization, and way to end it without requiring you to run 08-03, it would be a very good adventure.

Beneath the City of the Dead is perhaps the weakest of the Umbral Trilogy -- a strange dungeon crawl of unavoidable or straightforward encounters in the middle of great modules bursting with exploration and social opportunities. I appreciated it for giving me a definite barometer of what my player party could manage on the battlefield, but it remains a strange low point and artefact of older-style module writing.

That said, it contains two fantastic scenes for roleplay: Bonus Objective B and the final scene with the Baron of Blood.

1. Perdida's plight in Bonus Objective B is mournful and poignant, and tasks sympathetic players with a unique and potentially difficult challenge. For maximum effect/effort, I recommend locking Suri in hybrid form, ensuring her adamance against revealing herself to her ghostly sister.

2. The Baron of Blood is a key scene in explaining what has been happening in the story so far. He holds truths the characters have yet to encounter -- other maps, other adventuring parties -- and is thoroughly frustrated by all the visitors and would-be treasure seekers. This is an NPC capable of displaying great emotional depth as well as charisma -- which you will need to convince players to follow through with his task after he gives to them his evidence.

As usual, my suggestions for Waterdeep modules:

• Cap your table at 4 players, seriously. The new modules and the roleplaying opportunities within all do best at this range, and for each player above 4, you get diminishing returns. This suits my personal style as well, as I've never enjoyed a 7-player table as either a DM or a player.
• Be flexible and creative. Keep the different parts of the module and the attached modules (either Map with No Names or Dock Ward Double Cross) so you can use foreknowledge and elements from those modules to make portions of this one make sense. Explainations for some points are definitely hidden in the other two modules.
• Prep for the many, many NPCs ahead of time as they are the key to bringing Waterdeep to life.
• Use the props for tactile immersion.
• As with any treasure hunt, reward smart players by letting them skip ahead. (Not as possible with Beneath the City of the Dead.)

Not the strongest module of the Trilogy, but a necessary flagstone to its completion.

This second installment on the Umbral Trilogy has many of the issues and benefits that mark the changes in season 8. It is not an adventure bursting at the seams with combat encounters as some past adventures have been. It instead pushes for other avenues of social interaction and exploration, which I appreciate at lower levels, and look forward to seeing in the tier 2-4 adventures. However, the season specific elements have also caused this up-to-4-hour adventure to be more like a 3ish hour adventure. While only having 20-25 pages to worry about is nice, I would rather have enough material to fill the 4 hours.
This adventure in particular ended on a cliff-hanger that I don't believe works well in AL play. The item that is unlocked doesn't seem to even come up in the adventure, which had me struggling for some other way to explain a new system that is already radically changed. Generally, I would like to see more guidance in these modules going forward. While I appreciate the freedom for DMs that is intended with this new style, it isn't helpful for having to pick up and play in 10 minutes.
Also, to writers and map artists: PLEASE LABEL YOUR MAPS! It makes it so much easier when I don't have to pause the game to figure out which secret entrance is the actual secret entrance. This was my biggest frustration at the table, and it has been a reoccuring issue with AL content.
Overall, a solid product. I hope I ran it the way the author intended. My players were ok with it, but they have also just come from a heavy combat Tier 3 S7, so they are in that mindset.

Spoiler alert

The adventure DDAL08-02 is part of the Umbral Trilogy. It has its own call to action part which is relatively shallow. It could use some more depth, especially if none of the players ran the previous adventure. Regardless of the possible information it might be missing, the call to action should be enough to get the plot moving (EDIT Except for the treasure map hand-out). If players make the call to not be interested and ignore the plot hook provided, the adventure is over. If they choose not to follow the map, thats on the players, not the story. Players should know that AL modules will always have classic plot hooks and should be on the lookout for them.

Episode 1 and bonus objective A are both entertaining to run and play. For bonus objective A, a second page with information would make it a lot better. The text is a bit confusing as I belief at some point it insinuates that the dog can speak. Also who are these two houses, Dankils & Stonebridges. What is their beef? Is this mentioned in the Dragonheist hardcover? If it is, at least mention this and provide the basic information like season 7 modules. Furthermore whats up with the handkerchief with initials? L.S.? The answer is nowhere in the story, and to my knowledge is never mentioned in the trilogy conclusion as well. The combat is fine, and I liked the elegant clue that the dog had a rabbit in its jaw.

Episode 2 has all the elements for a nice dungeon crawl. I gave my group a chance to stealth past the skeletons, who were all facing North. I read a lot that people said this encounter was way to strong. It is strong, yes, however not insurmountable. People need to realise that its not 10 attack/round at all. As long as the skeletons remain mounted, the skeletol warhorse functions as a trained, controlled, unintelligent mount. Therefor it can only take the dash, disengage and dodge action and cannot attack. However if you are lacking damage, you can let the skeleton rider forgo it's attack to spur on its mount to attack. This increases the creatures chance to hit and its damage output. If the players kill the warhorse first, the skeleton drops (you can make it roll a dex save) to the ground and resumes attacking on its turn. If they kill the rider first, the warhorse is free to attack. The bonus objective is real fun to run. There are so many outcomes which gives the players the ultimate feeling they can influence the story. It doesnt say in the story, but I assumed that the ghost follows them, and then runs back when she sees the swarm of rats. Really nice bonus objective due to the many solutions (some not awarding the objective, however still conclusions). The last combat can be challanging for new DM's due to the spells of the portrait, but remains a fun combat in an urban encounter.

Episode 3 has all the elementals for a nice cliffhanger. This works perfectly if you play weekly, but if you are not playing weekly it might be good to have at least some more closure. I ended up running the first part of the third story to make up for this cap. This is not a problem, but I can see it being a problem for people that didnt buy the 3rd module. I see the intent, however this is why I think an alternative should be provided. The thing that bothered me the most about this adventure is that its never specified what is known about Artor Morlin. Are the characters supposed to find out that he is one of the masked lords of Waterdeep? On a diffrent note, the final room before the vampires lair. It says 10 feet by 15 feet in the text (map shows 15x15), and it holds 4 hostile creatures. 10x15 is 6 squares, 4 of them hold hostile creatures, leaves room for 2 players in that room, with a 5 feet wide corridor leading out. if you have a group of 7 players this would mean they are backed up, almost all the way to the previous room! I ended up making all corridors 10 feet wide and all rooms twice as large. I liked the touch of werewolves and how helpless players felt when they realised they didnt have silver. They ended up attacking the two wolves, would a werewolf stop attacking if you kill its lovely pet?

Overall I would give it 3 stars, however the list below lowered that to 2 instead.

• The magic item doesn't drop anywhere.
• There are a lot of errors in the text (description not matching the map).
• The map isn't marked with indicators.
• No printer friendly version
• The intro says 4 ACP / 2 TCP and the reward section lists 4 ACP / 4 TCP (read on Facebook AL DM that its 4/4, why not update the story)

Some that already passed in the review:

• No reason given for the characters to know that Artor Morlin is a masked lord of Waterdeep
• Lack of background information on key NPC's featured
• L.S.?

I'm sorry to leave this rating, however hope this inspires people to double check the content thats being released. 16 playtesters on the first page and nobody noticed these anomolies? Surely at least the magic item drop or the diffrence in rewards should have been spotted right?

So.. is it +4/+2? or +4/+4?

And... with out the bonus objectives, it's actually not very "Dungeonish" just a series of fight in rooms. I don't think it's a good one TBH

Oh yeah. We need a Print friendly version too.

I wasn't too happy with this one. The new module formatting forced a lot of jumping between pages. The classic dungeon crawl elements are mostly there. Players were required to use knowledge their characters would not likely have just to survive.

Ignoring issues that seem to be imposed by the new formatting style such as the lack of box text, layout that splashes information in different parts of the page that I don’t find logical and the ink killing nature of art that have already been raised repeatedly, I think think this was an average adventure.

The first dungeon crawl of the new season and it’s a fairly straightforward affair (not intended as a criticism or compliment) once you get into the tunnels themselves.

The encounters could all be quite dangerous to a party if not played smartly on the player side.

I liked the second bonus objective because it tied to and could foreshadow the end of the adventure, but the first one was just a time filler.