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UPDATE: I ran this as my Annual Holiday AL Game from my local supporters. Dropped Mid-Winter snow on the ground. My players were a party of 6 players at APL (Average). The players enjoyed it. I did not provide the magic items to the players as designed, but revealed them at the Troll and Tankard so the players could see what was 'on the table' (all pun intended). My players were able to deal with the undead through clever use of the pits and interaction by one of the Thayan (Apprentice Wizard using a Firebolt spell; I did mention the deus ex machina feel in my previous review). I was pressed for time and used the last Wave as the encoutner here. I also made the space a bit more Thayan (added dread warrior bodyguards as a presence). My players offered to help the Thayans corral and deal with the undead. I enjoyed that there were waves to continue the combat if necessary. But presenting the final encounter in waves does make it easier to manage if pressed for time--you don't have to use all the waves and can head to the Conclusion. I was a bit confused as to the purpose of the Int (Hist) check that reveals the history of Hurlburg. I am not sure what the lore reveal's purpose was other than a "red herring". In this case, it is a good practice to clearly inform DMs of red herrings. I appreciated that some encounters could be handled narratively. I am adjusting my review. My players enjoyed this product with slight narrative modifications. There is enough here to run a fun adventure.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Just from reading UBCON01-01, I enjoyed the background. The adventure hooks seem a bit specific and one of them has a great tie to location history. The Call to Action is enjoyable but granting treasure before the adventure really starts is never a good thing. Part One has a bit of a snafu in the taphouse concerning tables spacing and difficult terrain in the same sentence. Part One is all social and exploration pillars. It seems like a map is needed somewhere because it offers a Cartography proficiency check to learn geographic knowledge. Part Two’s beginning is confusing. It describes dealing with the enemies narratively vice rolling dice and captures how arduous your travel to the area of the final encounter with a dice roll that forces players to expend HD. The loss of hit dice is something I have not seen in other adventures yet. It’s frequently Con Saves for exhaustion levels. You may want to consider adjusting the damage on the pits .. a Lower APL party are doomed if they fall in any of the pits. A mage and a necromancer will be a challenge to most tier one parties and be the demise of a lower level party quick. The big takeaway in Part Two is that if your player have buy-in at the CTA, then they will do so when it comes to allying with The Red Wizards here. When you finally face the undead horde, I like how they have deus ex machina if its needed. It could be depending on how challenging the undead horde is. I don’t believe that I’ve seen anything by this designer before, but I hope with more opportunity the designer will add more brevity and clarity to narratives and Area Information and get a second set of eyes on it during edits. There is some good content here to give players a great time! Good Gaming!
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