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I am in the process of running all of DDAL09 as a campaign, so will be reviewing each adventure as I run them. For context, I have run 9 adventures in this campaign already, a homebrew one where the party needs to get out of Elturel with as many civilians as possible as the city is being sucked into hell, and then Baldur's Gate: Fall of Elturel, also on DM's Guild for a different group of adventurers, finally I have run DDAL09-01 through DDAL09-08.
What I liked:
This might be one of my favorite modules so far. It's just a very solid microdungeon. It's got multiple entrances, and some different approaches to allow the party to play to their own strengths inside the dungeon. There is a good mix of combat, exploration, and two fun puzzles. I highly recommend including both optional sections of the adventure, they are a lot of fun. My players had a blast and really enjoyed the multiple axis of attack in the final fight. Working to save the Hellrider, disrupt the summoning circles, or just kill Devils, it was a great time.
What I didn't like:
Honestly not much! We ran it as is, no real complaints. The dungeon could maybe have been bigger and have some more traps, but it is fantastic given the targeted time constraint of the adventure. To that end, it will fill out 4 hours, and then some, be prepared for the oneshot to be a 2 shot, but that is not a complaint!
Overall, this can be run as is and is a great adventure!
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After running Dragon of Icespire Peak I was interested in continue the adventures for my tables, and was looking for some DM resources to help guide the running of the campaign (a timeline and some dramatis personae to help make sense of the larger structure connecting the 3 follow on adventures as well as tips and guidance for the adventures in Storm Lord's Wrath itself. The overview is essential in making the whole campaign structure of these three modules make sense very easily. But the 2 page spreads are a great cherry on top that makes running the individual small adventures VERY straightforward, and also includes tweaks and advice to help make the campaign more satisfying.
A fantastic value and great tool, thank you!
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I've now run several games with Kids on Brooms, and there is a fun, simple rules light RPG to be enjoyed. But there are some things missing that would help flesh out the experience. In an effort to keep the rulebook as small as possible it feels like a little of the connective tissue is missing. The biggest thing is guidance on weaving class weeks and months into a school year.
Everything comes down to one of 6 skill tests, which I'm fine with, and I really like the six common die sizes being your ability scores, but more guidance on fleshing out challenges, and how to build challenges into an adventure would be helpful. As is I've been winging it and we've been having fun, but I don't feel there is enough here to last a whole magical school career, just a short campaign, which is fine, but a bit more robustness (while keeping the rules light) would have afforded some more flexibility.
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I've been running and remixing the DDAL04 Misty Fortunes and Absent Hearts adventure series of modules as a single campaign for a group of players via play by post, so certain things don't translate fully. The big thing being I forshadow the hooks for the modules ahead of time as I built the village of Orasnou for the players and the runtimes of the modules don't matter as much in PbP.
What I liked: Bringing back the Glumpen Swamp is an interesting call back to DDAL04-01 Suits of the Mists, this is also the second of Esmae's obsessions (although DM's won't really know much about that unless they have read all the other season 4 adventures). Sari the ghost is both a fun and creepy, and the encounters themselves are interesting mixes of combat and environmental hazards. The Visitor is an interesting concept for an antagonist, essentially a BBEG from other adventures (The Caller) showing up for a little fun cameo. Graxxygak is also a cool concept as the second big bad.
What I didn't like: There is a lot of information that the module has for the DM, but does not provide an obvious method of communicating with the players. It feels like this should have been a 4 hour adventure, with the first hour introducing Sari and Banedek, and then giving the players a reason to care about the characters. Also the Visitor's plan is very vague, and Graxxygak basically doesn't do ANYTHING. And the ending doesn't seem to be affected in any real way by the players. Whether or not they stop The Visitor, the same thing happens, that was very disappointing. The encounter with The Visitor is also FAR too easy, the Visitor isn't set up as a challenging combat encounter.
Overall: There's some interesting bones that need a lot of care and adjustment to be made into a satisfying adventure, and as the second part of the overall arc of the season, there isn't enough connective tissue.
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What you see is what you get, and exactly what you want. Some great tables sorted in different ways to help organize the value of spell components, less than 2 bucks saves a lot of time!
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A nice little micro adventure with a nice little prop, if you have players that get into the fun and goofiness of roleplay. It's a nice little break from the gothic horror of of Curse of Strahd, and adds some levity. Could be a little more fleshed out but for less than a doller there's still great value here!
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Very solid and sensible crafting rules for tables where the players are very interested in the nitty gritty of crafting work!
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It's just the same exact maps from the module. I was hoping there would atleast be proper formatting to make it easier to use in a VTT.
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Ran this for four tables at the Arbitrary Hero Discord! As a group of DMs we've run several Epics, and this was by far the easiest to run! This had both positives and negatives.
On the positive side, the logistics of the this epic were SUPER easy, this is the closest to a "pick up and go" Epic that I have run in to.
On the negative side some of the cross table interaction was missed. Players going off on a side mission, players swapping tables, those things are some of my favorites in an Epic.
But the players LOVED it! There was a good mix of Combat, Skill challenges, and social interactions as well as a little of puzzling and decision making required. And the magical pirateship cannon targeting Far Realm Kaiju is a LOT of fun. My personal table also loved Pipyap, the little Imp that caused an Epic TPK earlier in the year with our modified Avernus Infernal Pursuits and got a real kick out of him helping out.
As well some of players really dug the Forgotten Realms Lore references, and the final fight was a lot of fun!
Overall a great Epic, and simple to run, just maybe a little bit on the side of too simple.
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I am in the process of running all of DDAL09 as a campaign, so will be reviewing each adventure as I run them. For context, I have run87 adventures in this campaign already, a homebrew one where the party needs to get out of Elturel with as many civilians as possible as the city is being sucked into hell, and then Baldur's Gate: Fall of Elturel, also on DM's Guild for a different group of adventurers, finally I have run DDAL09-01 through DDAL09-07.
What I liked: Within this module is the idea of a solid adventure. Player Characters hear about a Unicorn in a forest in Hell, seek to help her or receive her aid, and learn about a horrifying deal it has made and must either destroy the corrupted creature or find a way to cure her. But boy is both the adventure structure and "twist" not doing it any favors.
The individual encounters are good, I ended up running those as is and that worked for the party. The optional encounters are fun and add both some roleplay and combat into the adventure. The flora and fauna table of the forest and corrupting effects were great thematic additions!
What I didn't like:
There are a table of encounters here, don't just roll randomly on a list and have the PC's wander into each one! I had my group way more engaged because I turned it into a 3x3 Point crawl. The party sees the dead hellrider body, goes on to the plants, then after each encounter I gave hints about what was coming next down the road and let the PLAYERS decide which sounded better to them. This gave the players agency and had them discussing the hints based on perception/nature/survival/investigation checks to try and forge their path forward.
Also! The information about Zalhruban comes way to late in the adventure! I seeded forshadowing throughout their time in the forest so that the party was slowly uncovering the mystery of what happend, that way they had more information when they reached the Devils in the Great Tree other than just asking "where is the Unicorn?" This plus the flora and their previous knowledge allowed them to try and help the Unicorn in a more intelligent way.
BUT! The big thing wrong with the adventure, the contract at the center of it is DUMB! How would Zalrubhan not figure out over 200 years her rider was dead this whole time? That is a LONG ASS TIME! This was actually a simple fix. Keeping the spirit of the contract and changing the wording, I had it so that Shalrel was mortally wounded, unable to be saved by Unicorn healing due to the infernal nature. The devils promised to keep Shalrel from dying like they do in the module BUT! Their attempt to do this involved a modified Time Stop spell, essentially trapping the Unicorn and rider in a weird time bubble that prevented Shalrel from dying but also prevented her from getting better. The party was able to destroy the plant heart and stop the time bubble, at which point 200 years of delayed healing from the Unicorn (plus the parties own magic and arcana/medicine checks) allowed enough healing energy to build up to heal Shalrel. This was way more satisfying than just pointing out. "Yeah she's been dead this whole time except this patch of skin."
What I'm saying at the end of it all is my party DID have a great time with the adventure, but I didn't run it as is from the module, I did change a lot in structure and narrative to make it fun and satisfying. I'm glad I did, but you may not want to put that work in. If that is the case, I recommend another adventure.
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For the sale price ($3.40) a nice collection of maps and helpful tables and references.
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Some very beautiful maps, and some helpful suggestions for fleshing out areas in the campaign. But I think what would have been helpful as a DM Resource to make it perfect would be an additional wandering Monster/NPC list, and then a revelation list of where to place clues about the rituals throughout the spa. But as it, it's still very helpful, and a lot of great visual references for $4!
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It doesn't totally fix the adventure, but these are some helpful resources and really lovely looking maps!
I was hoping the tables would be a little more detailed, but are still nice!
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Great bundle of maps and tokens and onley $2, thank you!
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It's everything you need for a dollar, great stuff, thanks!
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