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Great primer for Phlan, super helpful for campaigns being set in the Moonsea area!
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For context, I did end up running this adventure and RMH-04 back to back with the same group of players to provide some needed context and cohesiveness, but still I wasn't too satisfied with part 2. Especially for the price tag (which I recognize is not set by the authors in this case) you're just not getting much for the $10 you're spending. Instead of buying this, go buy a bundle of 4 adventures from the Arcane Library for the same amount of money, even if they are presented with less polish.
What I liked: The fight at the beginning is solid. The conjurer as a statblock is strong and with the shadow minions it's a fun fight. Pawero being a zombie but not really bothering anyone is a fun bit of flavor. My table ended up following him back to River's Shelter to see him retreive his harp. Mirtu can be a fun interaction if you are able to give your players a reason to interact with him.
What I didn't like: There just isn't very much here, between RMH-03 and RMH-04 you're spending $20, that's almost enough for a hardcover book, and you get kind of an ok gazeteer of River's Shelter, some undead encounters, and then some very poorly communicated puzzles in the temple. With the way Har'Akir is described this could have been a great dungeon crawl but you spend the adventure in 1 room, and then suffer from illusions. There isn't much proactive the players can do, just survive the illusion or use Malik's Decanter. It doesn't have much impact. The conversation with Mirtu is also lacking, there should be more information offered as a reward to the players. As is there isn't a great reason for them to accept the dark gift unless they're dying earlier in the adventure.
THE BIG PROBLEM: Ok, by now we are now 5 adventures into Ravenloft Misthuners, and unless the DM is getting information from other DMs who have run the other adventures, we still don't know what the core structure of the adventure series is. AS DMs! THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM! How can we be running this for our players without that information? The party came to Har'Akir looking for information. Why would they return at the end of this adventure if they haven't found anything? I guess they can report back about the existence of an Amber Sarcophogus but why is that something that should stick out to them? Why doesn't the adventure give Mirtu some valuable information to share? We're 1/3 of the way through the campaign of Ravenloft Misthunters, we need some stakes for the players! This was a HUGE missed opportunity to reveal what is going on to the players so they can be active participants in the ongoing scenario through the next adventures. This is really disappointing. I'll be running through the rest of the adventures but I can't recommend running them as is due to the lack of communication to the DM about what is happening.
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For context, I did end up running this adventure and RMH-04 back to back with the same group of players to provide some needed context and cohesiveness, but still I wasn't too satisfied with part 1. Especially for the price tag (which I recognize is not set by the authors in this case) you're just not getting much for the $10 you're spending. Instead of buying this, go buy a bundle of 4 adventures from the Arcane Library for the same amount of money, even if they are presented with less polish.
What I liked: The NPCs area great, you get a little list of NPCs at River's Shelter and they each have their own little stories. There is plenty for a roleplay invested group to dig into and play off of. The White Oasis and the cleansing ritual there is interesting so it's a nice small supplement to adventures happening in Har'Akir. The fight with the Sacred Dead was a challenging encounter in a quarry with traps, I like that (but maybe could have used more traps).
What I didn't like: The PCs are not given much motiviation to even go to Har'Akir, and once again the author is keeping the DM from knowing enough about the world to build a good mystery. DON'T KEEP CLUES FROM THE DM! I need to know what the party should be looking for even if they don't know it yet. But also they should have some idea of what they are looking for other than "weird stuff" that is very dumb. The adventure isn't very robust, the party may not want to stick around River's Shelter if they only have the word White Oasis to go off of, so they may miss the kidnappings. If the party acts swiftly when they first see Pawermo get taken, and they follow the sacred dead (like they can with the halfling) then he may not get zombified. More information should be given about Har'Akir to make the setting feel a bit more whole, what about a visiting Child of Anktepot or some other priest? The adventure ends in a cliffhanger, that's fine if you're running RMH-03 and RMH-04 back to back. But if the point is to be stand alone, then the fight at the beginning of RMH-04 should be added here, then maybe the end of this adventure leads into a deeper dungeon crawl through the tombs of RMH-04.
THE BIG PROBLEM: Ok, by now we are 4 adventures into Ravenloft Misthuners, and unless the DM is getting information from other DMs who have run the other adventures, we still don't know:
What is the apparatus that Radaga is looking for
Why was she acting so weird before
What is the party trying to accomplish
These three things ARE BIG PIECES OF INFORMATION TO KEEP FROM THE DM! How am I supposed to portray Radaga properly if I don't know this stuff? I ended up just keeping her in a half fugue state with amnesia to try and make it work, but then why is she helping the party out on their way to Har'Akir. Modules are not novels, DMs are not the audience, we're working to execute the author's vision for the players so DMs need context and information! Stop working against us!
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What I appreciated about this map set is that it provides an ALTERNATE map of the quarry that starts the adventure if you already bought the same set of maps for RMH-03. I ended up using the RMH-03 version of the quarry, but it's still another map for added value in the pack to use in the future as well as options. Thanks!
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Very nice visual aids to help the campaign! The recommended price is a good value for what you're getting. I wish the base adventure came with more map support, but this is a nice help for DMs that don't want to much about with maps.
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Very helpful premade maps for Falkovnia, appreciate it!
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This was a much stronger showing than the previous adventure. I ran this for a party of 5 players after doing the previous two in the series (along with some other oneshots I fit into the domains of dread).
Things I liked:
Relevant to the storyline of Ravenloft Misthunters! We found Radaga!
Lots of great little encounters throughout the adventure to use as much or as little as you like. The combination suggestions for the road trip are great too!
The primal serum is a neat effect and fun for players to puzzle over and interact with.
The zombie surge coming sets a nice deadline to get stuff done and the battle in Morfenzi is fun, the abstraction to use exhaustion for the length of the surge is clever.
Things I didn't like:
The adventure is keeping Radaga a mystery even to the DM. Is she possessed? Why is she acting weird? How am I supposed to run her well if I don't know her real motivations? Let me as DM obfuscate to my players, don't hide stuff from me!
Making the potion is odd, as it doesn't really seem to need the party to be there. Justifying Radaga not leaving is also a bit muddled.
The chase at the end is a bit unsatisfying as is. I added a zombie horde on the heels of the chase to make it more dramatic.
The price, for $5 or less I can find enjoyable one shot adventures that also come with VTT support. Seems like money is going to support new art, but I don't need that, I'd prefer something more printer friendly.
This adventure is more enjoyable to run and play than Final Curtain for sure. If I was running again I would like skip Kartakass.
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Great maps to use for running the investigation, combat encounter and just reference. Emherst is rendered in great little detail, appreciate the callouts for the locations most relevant to the adventure, worth the $4 to make the adventure easier to run on VTT!
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I think this can be a fun stand alone adventure, but unfortunately it neither connects well to the rest of the Ravenloft Misthunters storyline, nor is very easy to run as itself.
Things I liked:
Emherst is a fun town to set the adventure in, the idea is creepy and supports a DM being able to turn up the uncomfortable realities of Kartakass for the players.
The final confrontation is a fun little fight that should be a decent encounter for a level 3 party.
The adventure does a half decent job of making a mystery with different motives for potential suspects.
Things I didn't like:
Kartakass as a place doesn't feel very cohesive or make a lot of sense, and neither does Emherst, why are the people doing this play, who is it for, how does the larger community engage with it?
The timeline also isn't very simple to run, I would have preferred adversary tables showing what the different NPCs were doing morning, afternoon, evening of each day or something. As is, it felt like the party was on their way to solving the mystery well ahead of the timeline of the villain to doing their next murder. I had to improvise as a DM to fill that time a bit.
The lack of physical evidence indicating other suspects made it pretty simple to figure out who the murderer was.
The entier premise requires a lot of consent and buy in from your players, if they don't want to engage in RP this is not an adventure to run.
The "understage" of Emherst is way more engaging than the living play, and should have been more supported with maps and encounters.
This felt like an adventure that was prefect for a Dark Lord cameo, and not having something built in was unsatisfying.
THE BIG PROBLEM: Nothing in the adventure matters to the larger plot, you enter the adventure with a rumor of Radaga's location, and you leave with a rumor on her location. My players asked, "Why did we bother?" and you never want to be asked that after a session. This could have been solved with maybe stronger forshadowing to what the adventure storyline is in this adventure.
Final review: I compare this adventure to something by Arcane library, like Temple of the Basilisk Cult or Crypts of Azaruum, and I struggle to see the value for $10. You're better of spending that money on better prepared adventures, even if they aren't as flashy in art and presentation as this one.
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Great little resource for filling out Icewind Dale with interesting characters in a campaign. Well worth a dollar!
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A great addition to the intrigue that is happening in Waterdeep in Dragonheist. I highly recommending using this is you have any Bregan Daerthe agents while running the Alexandrian remix. It tucks in nicely and helps give some more opportunity for the party to discover the Cassalanter allegiances ahead of the big sacrifice.
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DDAL08-04 is a challenging module to digest and run, the maps here helped me parse things out way better to run at my table.
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A wonderful collection of NPC parties! Love having these groups with established history, dynamics, and great NPC statblocks organized by CR to throw into a campaign to make things a little more dynamic!
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Just a great resource! I really love the organization too! I find myself thinking "I really want to find an NPC that's similar to X class" and I can flip to the tables to find the page and statblock I'm looking for. I'm using the statblocks in here to create rival adventuring parties for a shonen style tournament, and the players at my table are loving it! Having PC-alike NPC's without them being full PC's is wonderful!
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The transition between the Neogi (introduced as villians in DDAL10-06) and then the focus being on this seemingly unrelated city of horros is a little unsatisfying. Especially for players who have gotten attached to the Goliaths of Wyrmdoom Crag this module feels like a distraction from the main storyline of getting them back. The structure of the module in exploring this Ancient city is neat and definitely nice and creepy. The fights didn't feel very challenging for the party, even with the adjustments for strong/very strong party compositions. The party didn't enjoy the chase sequence at the end, chases in general don't seem to be very engaging in D&D right now.
To me it feels similar to DDAL10-02, in that both modules feel like filler, with some interesting narrative threads being established for later on in this storyline, but not a lot of forward momentum keeping players engaged as they play this particular module.
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