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I wanted to give this 4 1/2, but I decided on 4/5-maybe I'm just tired after running then entire Broken Chains today over 13h. So the last 3 parts were all leading to this, and the plot works, the references and results of 7-15, 7-16, 7-17 actually matter, which is awesome. The maze trap did get 1 character, but a trap like that being nullified with only a lv3 spell makes it rather pointless. I liked the living maze idea, which would add lots of replay value I guess (not that there's a whole lot of T4 going on anywhere to my knowledge). One reference to DDEX3-16 was tramatizing enough (the fight vs Mother did not go well), odd there was more than one reference to 3-16. With the little-to-no combat path (would have taken forever if more comabt) the party still had close to full resources for the finale, so even showing up 1 rd late, still had 8 uses to Divine Portent (3+dreamwalker, and simulacrum with same) and Meteor Swarm along with enough HP to take a Meteor Swarm (2 characters had evasion and 22 Dex for 0 damage) so that fight ended quickly leading to either a failure of {If I told you it wouldn't be secret} or the DM deciding the magic item can only be used once per combat round so What's-His-Face could at least show up before getting sneak attacked into oblivion.
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Much like part 2 of Broken Chains, part 3 was thankfully quicker than part 1. It starts off really well, the first couple of fights (everything before the actual Caudron) were 5/5. Then it kind of fell apart with no real direction of explaination of what the plot was suppose to be other then "party needs MacGuffin, there's one in there somewhere". Xuzgaal is suppose to be super-smart, and he has a room that can do things, but no real reason or point to any of it. It got kind of vague (and not just because I was 10-11h in at this point, and was waiting to break for supper) then the BBG just kind of Gates the finale because we needed a final boss fight to conclude things before party obtains said MacGuffin.
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Part 2 of Broken Chains (in my attempt to run 16h today) is even better than part 1. I liked the extra combat in this one compared to part 1, the ability to add an extra random "thing that should not be" to the fights was a nice twist and kept things moving without having to resort to just giving the monsters a ton of extra HP to make them a threat. 5 Banshees all Wailing to start a fight is a threat regardless of the fact every players should have no problem passing at least 4/5, but the chance of that 1 character gets a bad roll is still a real fear. As for the plot, amazing RP chances that lead to a fun (yet very short) finale (which I don't mind-they earned it and beat it with prior diplomancy and not with just Meteor Swarm everything to death)
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Great start to the Broken Chains series (I'm writting this during break for lunch in our attempt to run all 16h in one sitting). Combat in T4 is always an issue between everyone getting slaughtered in rd1 or enemies with 1,000 HP not knowning when to fall down. This did suffer a bit of that, with the 2 opposing army fight ending with an opening 40d6 Meteor Swarm before either side had an action (sorcerer N20 initiative), then on the other end the party not figuring out the trick to the Golem fight dealing 600+ damage to a still fighting them golem until I had to practically give them the answer because we were 5 1/2h into a 4h mod and still had 3 more 4h mods to go that day and I wanted to break for lunch. Storyline was excellent, looking forward to how the rest shapes up.
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The weak link in the so far amazing Rot from Within trilogy. Much like 7-6, the big nasty fight is at the start, and the weaker one at the end-but even more so. Q1. What has terrible AC, 200+ HP and 12 attacks? Fight 1 if you don’t add the optional other 4 opponents to really overrun the party. Q2. What can end in 1 turn if either Fighter Action surge or Rogue Cunning action? The conclusion if they listen to the NPC and decide to use the item he gives them. The middle combat(s) gets kind of nasty too (1d6+3, followed by bonus double attack with advantage for 1d6+3 and 1d6+3 & 6d6 Con for ½ adds up quick). It’s anti-climatic that after 2 big fights the finale of this, and indeed the trilogy, is such a push-over.
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6/5 While preparing this, it looked like this was going to be the gem of the trilogy, and it did not disappoint. From the Barrels, to Flying Mummy Monkeys, to Nagas vs Aarakocras, to cliff diving, leading to not a cave, and ending with the Big fight, this module is like a greatest hits album with highlight after highlight after highlight. This could be my favourite module.
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Loved it. Pock-Marked Po’s handling of Favin was amazing. The battle at the dump was epic, nice to see an old Friend from the Folio make a return (technically DDAL00-01 had them already). Chess match interlude was a change of pace, but still served a purpose to the overall race against time. Final battle of this one, much like the third act in this trilogy, wasn’t as good as the other fight (but that could have been the first was even better than the later depending on your perspective). There was almost 20 hand-outs, so that was a little excessive, but other than that great job.
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5 Corpses was a fun one, and a great way to kick off season 7’s T2 storyline. The Time Limit note on pg5 added a nice twist to those fights, and it worked well.
4 Angry Snakes was another great idea. Albeit given an hour to prepare for the fight it ends rather quickly, but to “correct” that would be punishing good players for playing well-and that is something I am not in favour of.
3 Bargaining Coins is one of the most difficult modules I have seen in 5e (DDEX3-16 and 6-3 are brutal as well, a certain side quest in season 5’s T2 storyline is nasty as well). Unless the DM is merciful, it a guaranteed TPK. It’s not a fair fight for the party, even if they didn’t have an environmental disadvantage to boot, a pair of Lv11 Warlocks would be trouble for a T3 group, let alone a T2 introduction party.
2 Depressed Runes didn’t really work all that well either. Puzzles depend on player knowledge, not character knowledge, so that’s always an issue. Thankfully there are multiple solutions, and the chance at skill check for hints. The fight afterward would have been better entirely on the top floor with the hazards in play instead of splitting the enemy party (Don’t you know you never split the party?) and not benefiting from “home field”.
1 Accepting Altar was a lot better than the previous two. Good plot hook, 2 solid encounters, boss had a trick or two up his sleeve.
All told 3 great modules, 1 bad one, and 1 that was kind of average, so like 3.5/5. I think having 5 1h intro adventures for T2 was probably better on paper then it ended up in reality, especially coming out the same day as DDAL7-1 5 1h T1 intro adventure came out. Technically it was to come out a month later, but having the Intro adventure come out a month after the season started didn’t make much sense either.
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While this is an amazing conclusion to a phenomenal trilogy, there is one glaring issue that needs to be addressed. The puzzle: now allow me to rant for a moment-generally in D&D it is considered proper to separate character knowledge from player knowledge, however a puzzle/riddle is the exact opposite of that, a 8 Int/Wis Barbarian played by someone with a Master’s degree can solve them in his sleep, while an 16 Int/Wis Divination Wizard/Knowledge cleric played by some high school dropout will never get it. A puzzle, particularly the one here, is integral to advance the story, so if a group gets stuck, or decides to over-think things (especially if they’re wrong) just grinds the session to an absolute halt. Even if they give up and resort to blunt forcing it, most of their resources are drained right before the climactic showdown with the villain after 3 adventures.
I thought this was going to be a 5 star module until I ran it, but I have to take off 1 for the puzzle.
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A good, but not great, module that fits well into the Jungle Fangs trilogy, but also suffers because of it. Plot wise, the key event happens at the end of 7-3, and resolution of said story arc does not occur until 7-5, so 7-4 is stuck as being merely the bridge from point A to point B. Basically one fight at the end with some minor environmental hazards thrown before it to fill the runtime. Reminds me of hours 1-2 of a 4h module from seasons past in that not really happens yet. Unlike 7-3, which can stand on its own, 7-4 needs to be played as part of the trilogy to get full benefit.
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Excellent mod and great intro to the Jungle Has Fangs Trilogy. Even as a stand alone this works great, with the grand prix race being the centre of the adventure. However, it truly shines with the last second swerve cliffhanger to set up the next part of the storyline.
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So in my experience there are basically 2 kinds of players who can make it to T4: the murder-hobo power gamer munchkin, or the overly cautious overthinker/metagamer. This module is designed to destroy both of them. There is a bit of RP, and some traps, to which the murder-hobo is woefully underprepared for. Then a final fight to which any delay or hesitation means defeat and the loss of a legendary magic item. As for the actual "challenge" of the fight, it is also deceptive: you see a zombie death giant-not a threat, a single fighter at this point can best it in 1-on-1 combat; you see both an archmage and a lich-groups at this point can slap around mages like the glass cannons they are; the real challenge, the true challenge here, the ultimate foe, the Kobayashi Moru if you will-TIME! You have 3 turns to bypass 2 magical barriers and ignore the perceived "threats" before the ritual is complete and they escape. If you stop to over-analyze the barriers, you lose. If you picked up the fear condition from a previous trap and can't move towards the giants, and therefore limiting your ability to access the ritual casters, you lose.
On a side note: that map is impossible to draw, septagons do not translate into grids.
P.S. The fact that there aren't any stats for the ritual casters, you know the ones the need to be fought to actually succeed, is a HUGE oversight here. Worse than the non-attunement version of a legendary belt (which they can't keep anyways, unless they were quick enough to stop the ritual)
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First off: I love the Greyhawk throwback. The fact that "Kevin" constantly mis-speaks is pure gold (especially for myself, who has been known to jumble the occasional wording). I also loved how it serves as a true introduction for a new generation to the "Funhouse". It's just a series of tricks and puzzles. That being said had the party had a warlock with Devil Sight, the whole things would have been a cakewalk, instead it was a near-TPK in the first room. Apparently kids today have a steeper learning curve that us in the older generation.
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While the threat of continuously being attacked is good to keep players moving quickly, there really isn't anything that can pose much of a challenge here. The exception here is the boss, who in theory should have wiped them (fireball vs T1), but the dice were against me and he got squished.
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Building on the clues from 5-11 (which I admittedly missed), the penultimate expedition in season 5's Tier 2 storyline did everything it was supposed to. Can the war against the giants hinted at in 5-5 be avoided? Does the Jarl have the Horn hinted at in 5-11? Plot wise 5-13 answers these questions and sets up 5-17 perfectly. On it's own it is pretty similar to 5-4 and 5-5 in that it's a basic walking around in the snow where a few things happen (a formula which has worked great in the past), so it won't get any points for creativity-still a solid expedition I thought. It's better as a key link in the story arc.
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