Murder in Thay Review

So let me first off say that, for $2.95, this is a fantastic addition to the Tyranny of Dragons Storyline. In the Published adventure, the party travels to Thay for what amounts to dinner and a dice-roll, where as this injects a much needed sense of both dread, intrigue and ulterior motives that should be present in both Thay, and the underlying adventure of Tyranny of Dragons as a whole.

I've had the opportunity to run this as a part of my Expanded Tyranny of Dragons campaign. Total runtime for my group was over two sessions coming in at around 10 Hours total for the adventure.

What I like about this adventure: The adventure itself lays out the who, the what and the why fairly well when it comes to the Antagonist and potential Red Herrings that the party will likely begin to grip onto when they figure out that this adventure, depending on your group, is more Roleplay than Combat intended. My group of general murder-hobos realized quite quickly that they were overmatched and would likely be taken prisoner or killed if they were to try and kill their way to an alliance or intimidate the Tharchion into terms. I like that there is enough in the adventure to give you ideas, give you a general sense of who the NPCs are and what they're like towards the party and the alliance in general.

I also love that there are three potential endings described in detail by the publisher, it really does help to have a general idea of how the other NPCs react to each potential situation detailed in the product.

What did I change? I had Cressa play a semi major role as they sympathised with her position as a slave in Thay. It made the reveal of her true.... capabilities, all the more sweet. I created my own versions of the paper maps included in Dungeondraft as the maps provided were functional, but with my group being used to high quality either WoTC maps or aftermarket ones from other Patreon's or DMs Guild products, it was something I spent a fair bit of time doing. In saying that, once again, this product is $2.95, and the inclusion of the maps is a huge plus regardless.

What was hard? Giving the players enough clues to have a chance to figure out the true villian without giving it away too early. But this isn't a failing on the Creators part, just my own struggles with a smarter than average party.

Suggestions for DMs Read this thing from start to finish, really get a feel for the NPCs and what Thay might want in a trade deal. It makes it all the more sweeter when the party is heavilly invested in the terms they have created with Tharchion Eseldra Yeth, when the person who has agreed to the terms suddenly isn't able to uphold those terms. Feedback from my players was that it was one of their favourite sessions, with 0 combat and mainly RP, they all had an absolute blast.