I don't buy a ton of maps, but WotC seems to think player versions of maps should include secret doors, and I don't want to spend hours carefully Photoshopping them out, so here I am. These maps are wonderful quality, way better than I can do on my own, and the purchase has really decreased my prep time - in just a couple hours I have the maps ready to go in Foundry, rather than spending multiple evenings fixing things. I like that there are VTT versions and pdfs, and multiple versions of each. On one hand, it would be nice to have a bw/printer-friendly version, but if I need to print, converting to grayscale is easy enough. The pdf of extras and NPCs is a nice bonus. Thanks for the wonderful product!

My players and i loved this mod, but it may not be for every table. I had a group that enjoys roleplay, and they were able to get into the spirit of things pretty quickly. This meant that I generally just had to set up the basic scene with some key details and they were able to act off of that and each other and create some great moments as a group -- and it meant that I needed to do very little prep, and the mod had as much or more than I needed to flesh out the story.

With a shyer or more combat-focused group, it may be different. I might have taken the time to create a couple sample classes/clubs/NPCs, or used the named NPCs more.

I think the combat was well balanced, but I was rolling very well and my players were not. Those monsters are deadly to level 1 and 2s! A near-TPK lead to creative problem solving (fixing/reversing the summoning circle) and the party survived.

It ended up running about 3.5 hours, but I think that was mostly because we didn't have much of a time limit, so I let them go to as many attractions as they liked.

When I first read this mod and the reviews for it, I thought this would be a really awesome mod. My table filled quickly and another DM offered to open a second table, which also filled. She ended up taking mostly new players and a couple more experienced players, while I had mostly experienced players. Both tables enjoyed the initial rp, and the Baern bonus objective (100% my absolute favorite part of this mod! Oh, the confusion and horror!). For both of us, things were great until the final fight. At the other table, a couple players went with their characters' beliefs and sacrificed themselves, which the new players WERE NOT ON BOARD WITH (meanwhile, my table was trying to out-sly a fae king, which also was not going well). So combat happens, yada yada. I think the issue came at the end because there wasn't a happy, tidy ending--which is something I like about this mod. My table was obviously disappointed and just kind of shrugged it off, but it was the first time I had that kind of awkward feeling at my table. Which was better than the other table, because some of the players were so upset, they ended up having to have a conversation about how things don't always go the way you want and don't always wrap up neatly. Anyways, neither of us expected our players to react like that. I would consider running this again, but it would take the right group of players.

First of all, my players and I had a blast with this mod! In the first run, around the wizard tower, one of them went "wouldn't it be hilarious if the bbeg is actually...[spoilers!]" Needless to say the end reveal had everyone cackling. My only caution to DMs is that both times I've run it (once with a very strong party, once with average) the two hour module took a full 5 hours. That being said, it was 5 hours of fun!

I've run this mod so many times I don't even need to look at the text any more! The first time I ran it, I was concerned people wouldn't be bothered by the mystery, but they've been thoroughly creeped out. And I love that even experienced players are shocked by the bbeg. This is the only Border Kingdoms mod I've run, and that most of my players have played, and after almost 10 times running it, no one has been interested in checking out the bandit hideout; if the party is very strong, I'll have some of the (controlled) bandits in the woods, or waiting as an ambush in the ruins of the bbeg. Otherwise, I've been adjusting the number of chokers for weak to average parties. Be careful about creating a choke point in the last room; I've started putting a "body" on the far side of the pool from the door to draw people in or you just end up with only two people able to do anything, which can be deadly in that fight.

Players be warned: spoilers ahead!

I want to start off by saying that this mod is excellent: all my players have had a great time, it's well written, the timing aspect is unique, and if you roll randomly every time you can seriously annoy any pesky meta-gamers that read the modules ahead of the game! The one thing I'm still working on is figuring out exactly how much to allow in one turn: none of my players have felt the time crunch (the longest in-game amount of time they've spent is 10 minutes), but the inability to take a rest (with one exception, if they find it) definitely stresses them out.

That being said, if you're the type of DM who doesnt read and prep ahead of the game, this is definitely not the mod for you! I read the mod in full 2-3 times, then skimmed certain parts another 2-3 times while prepping. In all, including reading, the prep took me 10+ hours. On the bright side, once the initial prep is done, when I run this mod now, I just need to fill out some documents with random rolls and I'm read to go. Here are my suggestions for DMs running this the first time:

• Print out to-scale maps of the exterior rooms (2-9) and the vault; these don't quite fit on a normal sheet of paper, so you'll need to get them printed at a shop, tape them together, or glue them onto posterboard and cut them out. Alternatively, draw them on the big 1-inch graph paper. Write the room number on the back so they're easy to find. With them printed out, you only have to draw the main room, and when the rooms rotate, you can just replace the previous room with the new one.
• Print out 1-2 extra copies of the laboratory map. On one, I made brief notes about how the keys work, labelled each door with a letter from A-G, then laminated it. I cut out all of the circles of the second one, numbered each of the rooms from 2-9, then laminated these and cut them out again. I attached velcro to each of the circles and the circles on the intact page so that the rooms can be attached and moved as needed. This way, when you randomly roll rooms, you can start with Door A, roll a d8, assign a number and move on to the rest of the doors. When the room is rotated, I ask the players which direction and how many times, and rotate the central room to correspond with their directions, and it's easy to tell which rooms will now be open with the current rotation.
• There are a couple documents I print and fill out prior to the game. I have 4 tables (1 per key type) with columns for: randomly rolled room number, randomly rolled location within room, and search DC. I also have all of the monsters listed out by room number and roll their initiative before the game starts.
• I have two documents that I fill out during the game (both laminated for ease/reuse): a list of PC names and initiatives; and a table with 20 rows and 10 columns to represent the time they have spent/have left--after each round, I check off another box, or erase boxes if they use the right key.
• Other useful things to have behind the DM screen: I highly recommend printing out a copy of the traps so you don't have to go back and find it. It's also really useful to have a note to yourself at the end of initiative to mark off that another round has passed.
• Player handout: I made a crude version of what the PC's would see on the central pillar, with the copper, silver, and gold keyholes, and the dial; this is also laminated, partially because I velcroed in a clock hand (which doesn't work as well as I'd imagined since the increments are so small), and partially so that the players can mark off which keys they've used, mark the direction they've been turned, etc.

Anyways, once you do the initial prep and figure out what works best for you, this mod is awesome to run again and again. If anyone needs clarification on what I suggested, or would like to see the documents, I'm happy to share!

This was my favorite of the series so far. I had to do a little bit of improv--they managed to quickly chase, capture, and interrogate/bribe the first kobold that ran from them, so it became Landeep. The riddles were a bit more challenging in this one, and it was fun being behind the screen watching their minds go through everything. I thought about not passing out the handout with the last riddle and just having people answer orally, but I liked with the "secret ballot" so to speak, that the players had to depend on their own thoughts, or their characters' ideals. It was an interesting insight into players.

I think my favorite thing about this series so far is that a lot of the fights are avoidable (such as by running from the ogres or persuading King Galinon to let them inspect the shell or answering the fire elemental riddle correctly). Modules by their nature kind of railroad players, but these allow the players to have some level of choice in how the modules are achieved.

This was easy to DM--didn't even need to look up rules for underwater combat--and my players had a lot of fun. The fights weren't particularly difficult (they managed to talk their way through to avoid the fight with Galinon), but the underwater rules, including exhaustion checks and removing armor, provided a good challenge.

This was my first mod to DM, other than for a DM workshop, so I'm not familiar with how others are set up, but the layout made it very easy to prep and run, and I liked that tactics were given for each group of enemies. My table chose to run from the ogres at the end, and i think the chase sequence was their favorite part! So many sheep!