I decided to play this adventure solo with a female Lawful Evil Yuan-ti Pureblood Monk(1)/Sorceress(1) Bounty Hunter. Being a Bounty Hunter made her the perfect choice for infiltration to discover what happened to the King.

The early introduction of the BBEG: Malekith riding a Nightmare early in the adventure was masterful... and terrifying!!!

Later, introducing a Young Green Dragon Zombie was an overpowered event where an entire party of 4 x 2nd levels can be massacred (TPK)...Multi-atack of bite (15hp) + claw (10hp) + claw (10hp) with 60ft fly and in 4 rounds everyone is dead. I changed this to an Ankylosaurus Zombie.

Almost no treasure or magic awarded throughout the entire adventure was very demotivating.

Destroying an entire Goblin tribe because the woodland creatures were too fearful to even put up a fight just wasn't gonna happen. I just captured a Goblin Patrol and negotiated their release for incriminating information of the Black Hand's involvement, leaving the Goblins to deal with the woodland creatures on their own.

One nice side item: My PC got bit by a Devil Dog and is now diseased, but she's immune to the poison damage/condition so she's a carrier of the disease... exquisite because she's a Poisoner that is emboldened by a new weapon..

Finally, my character is a worshiper of Bane, but is one of his most subtle operatives. So, if the Black Hand are operating openly under Bane's direction then my PC is good with it, but cannot be involved so she refused the offer to rescue the King. But if they have gone rogue and are operating on their own then she must either take command of them or kill them. Her mission now is to find out where the Black Hand's loyalties truly are.

The adventure is too linear and does not take into account the nuances of role play.

Fantastic Adventure. My only gripe is that it has a suggest playlist of music to listen to while adventuring :) Fantastic work.

Marco Bertini's work with the Second Black Dawn is an exciting adventure that pushes players and dm's alike into an entirely dark experience. This game provides an incredibly rich atmosphere from which to start out for adventurers as they accept their quest out of Hellenbrown, by none other than King Belador the Brave, seeking to find the causes of unwarranted attacks from undead. The game has wonderful breadth and depth of narrative as players explore the root cause of the terror behind the rise in undead. Frightening, challenging and engaging in narrative, Second Black Dawn is an adventure I would highly recommend when pushing your players into dread of the dark unknown.

I bought this one with plenty of excitement, but my players just didn't engage with it, essentially noping out of the module before we had completed chapter two. While there are definitely elements of the adventure that I found intriguing, it comes across as a little too aggressive in its edginess with the multiple references to rape and brutality. While I'm sure that would work with some of my other groups, it was a little too on the nose for my table. I didn't feel that the brutality added much to the overall story.

It's definitely a module I'll come back to, but it won't be everybody's cup of tea.

Putting aside the 'grimdark' element, I also felt that the adventure did not flow especially well from section to section. My players felt like they had hit dead ends on a few occasions, and eventually I gave up on nudging them in the right direction, instead moving onto something else.

Second Black Dawn is a fantastic alternative to long-form beginner adventures like Lost Mine Of Phandelver, Waterdeep: Dragonheist, and even my beloved Dragon Of Icespire Peak! Not only does this module ride classic D&D themes, but it also includes a section of DM advice complete with music suggestions!

This darker, more mature module includes recommendations for adding it to the Forgotten Realms, and it can easily be adapted to your own homebrew setting. The Black Hand, an evil cult of Bane, has allied with necromancers, goblins, and a royal traitor to complete a fiend-summoning ritual. There's even a zombie dragon! It's hard to get more D&D than this module.

The layout is professional, and while the art and maps range in quality, the quantity is impressive. Likewise, my only critique is that the heavily descriptive nature of the story will require a lot of DM homework, but it will be worth it!

• Bob World Builder https://www.youtube.com/BobWorldBuilder

Adventure was easily adapted to fit into the world I've built for my players, and they are loving it so far! The PDF is laid out in a way that is easy to follow and looks great! Exciting and challenging without being overwhelming. Great starting adventure for a campaign! Can't wait for part 2!

This is a great alternative to Lost Mines of Phandelver for introducing players to DnD, or a great starting point for a new campaign. I enjoyed the darker tone this adventure takes. I feel there isn't enough dark themed adventures outside of Strahd. So this really helps fill that gap. I do love that they campaign touches on each of three pillars of gameplay pretty well, combat, exploration, and roleplay. The mystery content really tickled me and was a fantastic addition to a dark and griddier gameplay. I also absolutly loved the inclusion of a list of music to add to the various parts of the game. I've personaly, spent alot of time looking for music to fit a collection of encounters. So this was a pretty awesome addition, as I have not seen that before. Highly recommend.

With a fresh new cover updated right after Marco sent me The Second Black Dawn, this adventure is an excellent snag for anyone looking to grab a newer and more mature intro to D&D. As I was reading it, I kept getting feelings of Warcraft II, Diablo, Wheel of Time, The Black Cauldron, and other classical fantasy books and video games. With excellent layout, well balanced combat and roleplay encounters, and a cast of NPCs that truly make the players want to connect and get invested in the adventure; Marco has done an great job of taking those features of European game-making - heavy storytelling, heavy action, heavy adventure, and close attention to visuals - to the greater D&D world.

The only downside to this adventure is I think at points there is so much lore that it feels more like an intro to a campaign setting - and while it is nuetral enough to fit in any D&D setting (Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Ravenloft, and Ravnica) I really feel like it could do so much more as a full-blown campaign setting with the adventure on the side. Overall, it is a wonderful project that I think everyone should take a look at.

Comics, Clerics, & Controllers d20 Roll: 15

An Italian excellence in the unofficial 5th edition D&D campaigns. Masterly paged, full of suggestive images and excellent ideas for the DM to manage the game in a more fluid way. Absolutely recommended, more than fair price for a very inspired and rich adventure.

DM Dango here,

This is a fantastic adventure if you are looking for something a bit more mature than the Lost Mines of Phandelver to start your dnd adventure, If you want to see my full review please check out: https://youtu.be/Ts6UgyY_pVQ

I am amazed at some of the innovations this adventure brings to the table. The first of all is the Appendix that provides a list of possible songs and other pieces of music that goes well with each part of the story. The tips provided at the beggining also make this a perfect introductory product for DMs not familiar with the craft. The story is solid and extiting, and the adventure is perfectly crafted. I cannot stress how much I recommend this product. If you do not have time to play this, at least find the time to read it. It will make you a better DM.