(A printer friendly version of this module would be appreciated!)

This little adventure has all the classical elements of a dungeon crawl, with traps, undead and constructs.

That being said, it can be deadly if your players don't fight strategically, as the DPS of the 2B encounter can be pretty high if the dice are mean (action economy gives 10 rolls in the standard encounter, have of them hit harder than orcs).

Your social players will only get to shine at the beginning or end of the module if you do not run the side quests, so they'll find the change of pacing from the previous adventure sobering. Your fight lovers on the other hand will have a pretty loaded couple of hours.

The minimal text for the conclusion of the adventure forces the DM's hand to improvise a fair amount, so each table's mileage might greatly vary on how they experience Morlin's wrath or mercy.

I started with a strong 7 person table which became an average 5 person table due after the table split. While the map would benefit from being labeled it is not really necessary. I placed the googles of night with the zombies. And had zombies climb out of pit so combat could be split between the group which have to be in single file due to the hallway, and the pit fighters. Scene B is a tough strong fight for APL of 3. If is was not for bard with healing spells and potions of healing, I would have some deaths. The monster team can do 16 points of damage per round. My suggestion is drop a war horse or two. My group took a short rest after this combat. Scene D. My players heard me cussing over the Guardian Portrait. Drop it if you APL is 3. Also, I had the Animated Armor attack after one member of the party crosses the halfway line. Then the swords attack if the baton is removed. Even doing this I was able to zero out two players due Nat 20s. I suggest the monsters don't follow the group if they leave the encounter area. My group did a long rest after this encounter. I can not give a real write up of episode 3. I was short of time and just stated Baron Morlin wipe the floor with them. Fix the final roll of the magic item page 23 replacing wand of secrets with googles. Fix on pay 7 second column Bonus Objective B. "Perdita opens a secret door hidden behind the eastern statue". Swap eastern out with southern.

This module runs pretty fast. The two side quests don't take an hour each. The players seemed to enjoy this mission more than the first one. I think it's just because this one is so much more straight forward (go in, explore, kill stuff) than the first of the series. I think this style of play works well for the middle of the trilogy as its just go in and get things done.

Some thing's I'd suggest to improve: Label the maps. I didn't like the fact that you'd have room A text but then you look on the map with no key. Some of the rooms were obvious but a few at the end it'd have been nice to have a legend/key on the map so you knew from a quick glance which room the text was refering to.

There are a few problems with this module that I would like to comment on.

1. Please make these printer friendly. It is not feasable to print with the graphics and it is difficult to run from a PDF.
2. As has been stated by others there are no annotations on the map.
3. The ending is vague. I had to read the next adventure in the series to reach a conclusion.

We did have fun playing it, but I think it could be improved.

This adventure was bad. It again suffers from the problem of no box text, and there are again either no hooks or weak and under-informed hooks for DMs to provide to the players to get them involved in the main adventure or side quest A. Furthermore, the encounters are not at all balanced for the stated APL (the first main encounter being above Deadly for APL 3), and the adventure guidelines for making the encounter weaker for lower level characters are not only terrible, but in some cases can make the encounter HARDER.

Not only this, but: side quest B has an enemy immune to normal weapon damage (and if you don't give your players a heads up that they need silver weapons or magic, it's an easy TPK for an underleveled party), the second to last fight has an instant death mechanic that has a chance to one-hit-kill 1st level characters , and the last fight is almost a guaranteed TPK for any party not at or above the APL (and certainly so if they don't have silver weapons). Furthermore, the end to this adventure is incredibly railroady and lackluster. And even if your party makes it to the end of the adventure, some of them are probably infected with lycanthropy, so they don't even get the full rewards of the adventure (or they can just scrap their characters and start over, because that's a great way to be introduced to D&D).

Also, how hard is it to annotate the dungeon map? I had to flip between pages just to try to figure out where the characters are.

When I initially read this module, I was unimpressed and ready to give it a low rating (2/5) after running it. However, after having DM'd this, it somehow failed to meet even those low expectations, and I'm giving this a 1/5. Don't buy or run this unless you want Season 8 DM rewards.

I am entirely unimpressed and disappointed by the Season 8 modules. I will not look to run future WotC modules or anything by Kat Kruger for future AL games except for DM rewards. What a waste of money.

Needs a printer friendly version. Otherwise i greatly enjoyed the adventure.

My review for DDAL 08-02 Beneath the City of the Dead

If you are reading the review, I recommend that you buy this mod for supporting AL. The review is meant to be informative to publishers, authors, and DMs.

Since there is a bit to cover, I will divide this review into two parts. 1) Problems with the authorship 2) Problems with the design (which is beyond the control of the author)

1) Problems with the authorship- To be precise, this is a module that has been conceived, written and presented poorly and lazily. It feels like the author was given an outline and was asked to build around it. This module lacks independent thought, creativity, and freedom of expression. It is as if the author is being throttled by a rigid set of plot outlines laid out for him/her for the main objective. On the contrary, the bonus objectives present a more little bit more interesting and creative narrative which reflect a wholesome feel. As a DM, I can run the bonus objectives only and have a happier set of players.

a) The first problem that this module has, is the lack of a proper adventure hook for the main objective. This problem is something that has been transferred from the first module- A treasure hunt. Since season 8 has removed the aspect of treasure seeking from the AL world, DMs are in need of solid adventure hooks that would appeal to the best or the worst part of their personality- sympathy, empathy, chivalry, cruelty. psychopathy etc. The author failed completely and miserably to provide a decent adventure hook for the players for the main objective. Most tables are running like ' Okay this is a Quest and it is interesting to you, because the author says so. If you don’t want to do it, the mod is over and you don’t have playtime'. Such a scenario eats up the player agency and reduces what could have been a serious and complicated adventure to a mind-numbing dungeon crawl. Surprisingly, the bonus objectives in this mod do present better adventure hooks. As a DM I can appeal to chivalry the players to be of service to Waterdeep's dead denizens and the city itself. I can appeal to the sympathy of the characters to assist a dead young child.

b) Bonus Objective A: A sheepish request is written and developed very poorly. It feels as if, it was an important part of a story- a connection which the author failed to communicate properly. Do the characters Keep the handkerchief? Who are the Stonebridges? Who are the Dankils? What is their connection/rivalry? Any details about these aspects could have been presented in a couple of lines could have created a more wholesome narrative for the mod. As it stands, it is incomplete, incoherent and inept.

c) Where is the plot in the module? Characters go down a crypt and meet a boss. That is it. No plot escalation or resolution is present in the module. Just a statement of what happened in the span of three hours. Did it have to be a two-hour saga? I think, no. The whole plot of the mod, as meager and trivial as it is, can be presented, played and concluded in an hour.

2) Design Flaws - I will list it.

a) The mod kills printer toners. I can understand that, if the art is taken out, the whole document can be printed out in three pages. Asking for five dollars, for such a shoddy way of presenting a module is daylight robbery. But so is, filling the module with art from hardcovers. The admins and authors should understand one thing. If this was a season independent CCC mod, this would have sold like 25 copies before the customers start complaining and the authors are prompted to correcing it. I am sure that this current mod, DDAL 08-02 , will go into platinum status, uncorrected, just because it is a seasonal mod and NOT due the class or quality of the product. Please remember this. No matter how it sells, this is snake oil salesmanship.

b) During the growth phase of AL, there were many winger DMs in FLGSs who took on the task of running a session on the fly instead of playing the mod. What helped them do that was the text boxes. Let me remind you that it was these winger DMs who absorbed the extra players who showed up on game days, and made sure that everybody got to play AL. The current design is quite unfavorable for zero/minimal prep runs. Being Thankful is a propriety.

c) A linear map with no markings, several factual errors, contradictions (adventure primer says no TP for bonus objectives, but awards section says otherwise) leaves much to the imagination. I can't get rid of this feeling that this is a great mod that was ill-edited and mal designed and thereby cremated till death.

d) Who has the magic item in the module? As per AL rules, the characters have to get it from someone. Who is it. Did Artor give it to them? Details..Details.Please.The devil is in it..

A final point- Being a good author/publisher means presenting your best work to the customers. If there is a simple sentence which all the DMs would like to tell you, it is this “What a disappointment” and no matter how you moderate the social media venues- you can’t hide from it.

Short little dungeon crawl with some interesting side missions, roleplaying opportunity, and some party-ending combat if you're not careful.

Why two stars? This module literally has no ending. There is a hint to a "mutually beneficial arrangement" with a rather menacing character, but there's not a lot of detail as to what that arrangement would be. I guess that's in part 3. The magic item reward is nowhere in the story. There are quite a few typos, incorrect treasure cards, and an extra page that has the APL listed as balanced for an APL of 1 when it is in fact balanced for a 3. That would have been bad had I not caught it. The game went longer than expected because there's a lot of combat, and many of the monsters are far outside the capabilty of a tier 1 party MURDERHOBOS BEWARE

Another hot mess does not bode well for Season 8. Other that assorted typos and bad grammar, this one as a few elemental flaws...

• The map is unmarked; it requires a lot of flipping back and forth to figure out which scenes are supposed to take place in which rooms.
• The magic item listed in the module doesn't actually appear anywhere in the module.
• No printable version.

I am moderately satisfied this adventure. As a player I think the combat can be challenging, but it leads to an interesting continuation of the trilogy. As a DM I think there are areas that need work.

• I am a relatively new player & DM who started playing AL at the tail end of Season 6 and started DMing at the start of Season 7.
• I DM and play almost exclusively on Roll20/FG so most of my views are based on those experiences.
• I stream the games on Twitch for charity, so I spend a lot of time prepping my modules.

• I enjoy the way the mod begins. I'm actually using both of the recommendations they provide at the same time.
• The story is actually pretty genius and I while I like how it ties into 08-01, but I think it's also a decent starting point on its own.
• I enjoy the way the mod ends, it's very interesting and provides interest for the final module in the trilogy.

• The text sometimes gets the cardinal directions wrong.
• As a person who purchased the mod I can confirm that there are few markings on the map.
• There are some random markings that do not have an explanation.
• One of the markings is not where the text describes it to be.
• It will be very easy for the group to get themselves killed considering where they are, what creatures they will face, and how few opportunities there are for rest.
• The amount of combat recommended may cause groups to run way over time.

• The lack of markings could be made better by having a DM version and a Player version of the map and indicated to the DM what markings mean. Barring that, DMs will need to read the Area Descriptions read carefully.
• DMs will need to read carefully and deduce where the text actually wants players to go.
• Writers should either describe what the squiggles are or remove them from the map. Barring that, DMs should ignore them.
• Try to match the map to the text to avoid DM confusion.
• DMs need to know be able to adjust the diffculty as more information about the groups capabilities emerges.
• DMs need to keep an eye on the clock

• Additional review of the material required by writers.
• The fixes might require slightly more prepwork by the DM

Full page color backgrounds. No printer friendly version. Wish I could refund this, if can't afford to print it I can't play it.

Fairly long to run. And had to theatre of the mind the 2nd half. I think its a great module that shows more of the intent of Season 8 than anything else. Tough encounters and tons of them? Yes. Combat XP means nothing so decide for yourself how encounters play out. Treasure? Meaningless. Its really a 4 hour module.

There could be more flavor, I think. And almost a summary or bullet form of the final encounter as it didn't seem resolved. Gorgeous color pdf though. The map needs to be labelled I feel with what enounter happens where.

Some well written encounters, I think overall the module is very good.

This module was little trickier to run as I felt the map given for the crypt was a bit off. I am a map kinda of guy so when you stat something in the text, "you enter a room and see a lamp in the center of the room." I expect to see on the map a indicator for a lamp. The room with the 5 skeleton/horses not there on the map yet it is in the text, the second crypt room a pillar and two armored statues, not there on the map. Additionally, show a contection from a secret passage to its entry point something like S1 on the entry point into the first secret passage matches up to S1 on the intended passages that is when the passage are not connected on the map, like the map given in this mod.

I concur with Justin S., just where in the heck did the bat googles (goggles of night vision) come from in the module. I had the vampire toss them at the party, "Here is the treasure you seek, NOW BE OFF FOOLS!"

I recommend that in the end encounter have the Vampire state, "My slumber has too often been interrupted by you treasure seeking fools. Prehaps in return for me not draining every drop of blood from you miserable bodies you could be of service to me?" This would be a great lead into mod three where he asks the party to put an end to the makers of these useless treasure maps.

I highly recommend to any DM that has yet to start Dragon Heist run these three modules on your players first then start Dragon Heist.

First, the good. This module and the other two in the trilogy were extremely fun to DM. I was allowed to open up Waterdeep and let the players decide where to go and how to interact with the city and it's citizens. I really enjoyed being given decriptors of the NPCs and what information they knew without the restrictions of pre-scripted dialogue. Normally there is at least some portion of the dialogue that contradicts some part of the story. Being allowed to know the story and the freedom to interact with the characters in any manner that coincided with the NPC character descriptions was LIBERATING!!! This module on its own was fun but even more fun when played as part of the trilogy. I highly recommend buying 08-01 through 08-03 and playing all three in order for maximum enjoyment.

Now, the not so good. While the screen quality of the pages is amazing, it makes it impossible to print these pages out. I am not used to playing from a tablet and had to swipe back and forth a lot. I couldn't rearrange pages as I normally do and discard pages that I simply didn't need. For DMs that normally work from a tablet, I'm sure they appreciate the embellishments, but this was less than optimal for me. I highly recommend a printer friendly version to accompany the prettied up version.

Overall, I give this module 4 stars. I can't give it 5 because not being able to print is a huge deal for me. I really don't think this module should be played by itself. It really needs the context of the other two modules in the trilogy to make sense, especially with how abruptly this module ends. I would have preferred this to be one long module than three modules. 1 can be played standlone, but 2 and 3 just aren't standalone at all. I'll keep my review at 4 stars since it is labled as a trilogy.

This module was garbage. Still no box text. It seems like they spurt out random information and expect you to lump it all together to try to form a coherent scene. The incounters were vastly OP for Tier 1 Adventures. I had multiple instances where i had to nerf a monster or i would of had multiple TPK's. And the way the sceario ends is just random. Also how the hell did they unlock the goggles if they did not come across any in the adventure. So far season 8 is doing very badly. First they make horrible rule changes and then they pile it on with horible modules. The hardcover is the only redeeming factor of this season.