Why I chose this adventure? It's a four hour Season 10 Dungeoncraft adventure, and one of the first for this season and this format. It has a reasonable amount of comedy elements and potential for shenanigans, with diverse challenges and interesting NPCs. I was looking for something to play on New Year's Eve which would be entertaining and give players a chance to engage their characters in interesting situations rather than intense combat and number crunching puzzle solving. The result was a success with a lighthearted and enjoyable experience for everyone.

How did it run? We ran this adventure to just over the four hours, and that includes a standard time allocation for social chat that normally occurs with our group. We usually push the time limit on our games, and this was no exception. There is a lot of content here, and potential to stretch out the time, so DMs need to be selective about how each section is run. Some components are optional, and there are choices the DM can make along the way. The players got a chance to try out different skills and enjoyed the various challenges which cover the main pillars, and we focussed more on the social and exploration aspects, but still had time for three combats.

What is it like to DM? As a DM I enjoyed roleplaying the two principle NPCs at the start, I liked the opportunity for the players to experience both the comedy of the curse and its challenge, and I enjoyed the final resolution of the story. As a DM I struggle a bit with the lightning mechanics of outdoor encounters in this season, but that's unrelated to this adventure. I didn't use the optional Scene D in Part 1, and I omitted the Appendix 2 handout.

What was the best part? I love saying Oyaminartok so thank you to the writers for this joy that you gave me. I like the adventure seed chosen, it's one of the more interesting choices available for Dungeoncraft designers. The situation of the town and the NPCs with their personalities is really interesting and well designed. I appreciate what the game deisgners did here. I like the flexibility of the travel component of this adventure. I ran the Gnoll Hunter enouncter and this is a nice challenge. It was the most difficult combat of the game for the players and challenged them to use their skills to overcome the lighting challenge. The cave exploration was very interesting. The final resolution was satisfying, and the players were challenged at the end to provide a secret for each of their characters. That is a really good element to include in Adventurers League modules, and kudos to the game designers for introducing a moment that helps to build the characters.

What could be improved? I wanted to give the description of the cursed item to the players as they cast Identify, but there is a spoiler in it, so I'd suggest maybe resolve it by having the item description and then the background information for the item separately. I struggled with aligning the cave map in Roll20, as there is a grid and also a border around the grid area. So to make this easier, I'd suggest that the map designer should remove the border and also provide the map unit dimensions in the file name. Gridlines should be optional for maps but that's a minor point. The river section of the map looks a little strange, but it is an interesting feature for the party to encounter.

We completed this Tier 2 Ylraphon adventure in two sessions totalling 8 hours. We had previously played several adventures located in the Flooded Forest which is located next to Ylraphon (CCC-STORM-02 Swamp of Sorrow: Bloodpurge Village; CCC-BWM-04-02 Thralls of Zuggtmoy: Sanctum of Rot; CCC-BWM-04-01 Thralls of Zuggtmoy: The Myconic Nidus). To connect these stories together, I added an NPC letter courier who engaged the party to assist in the delivery. One of the players with excellent diction read the letter aloud beautifully, giving a lasting impression to the group ("not just another handout").

The adventure provides significant content in the form of handouts, some of which give the players clues to help them unravel the inter-twining stories of competing groups of NPCs, each group with their own objectives and motives. The NPCs in the town are well described, each with an interaction or relationship with one or more of the other NPCs. The politics and intrigue of the town is available within this adventure for you to expand your game to great depths. As DM, you'll need to do a lot of reading to prepare for your game. My favourite NPC was Gwynora Ironheart who holds the heritage of the local Dwarves in her hands.

The second part of the adventure features the dungeon exploration of an intriguing complex, where the adventurers seek to uncover the ancient mysteries held within. As they progress through each stage they explore, more information is revealed. They also encounter fellow explorers in various states, who can respond to the adventurers in different ways. The final encounter is dramatic and exciting, a worthy ending to this adventure.

As a Strategicon adventure, it's perfect timing to enjoy this module as Strategicon's Gateways event is being held this weekend.

What you have here is the highly polished result of a graduate of the RPG Summer Workshop 2020. As a participant myself, I didn't make it to the publishing stage, so I have a lot of respect for anyone who does.

The production quality of this work has achieved a high standard with a striking cover, while inside clear headings guide you through the sections. The writing is crisp and concise. The main points are clearly communicated in plain language.

The storyline captures an exciting moment in crime fighting, as two heroes come face to face with their deadliest foe yet. The adventurers are called in to help out and that's where things start to go wrong for the whole plan.

It's a nautical adventure, so there are jobs the adventurers will need to complete while on deck.

The adventure starts in a ... (you guessed it) tavern, then leads to the ship where it's all aboard "The Silence" for a journey across the Sea of Swords. As the ship herself struggles to survive the trials of adventure, there's sailor-type actions for the characters to take in this moment of desperation.

Later in the story (Chapter 3), the adventurers are faced with a completely new challenge. A series of obstacles and conflicts stand in between them and survival. The story ends with a promise of more adventure.

Four colourful maps are included with the purchase, making the adventure easy to implement online. It's designed for character levels 5-10 and you should allow for four hours. The expectations to complete the adventure within good time look achievable.

I hope that this item does get included in one of the the RPG Workshop bundles, as it would make a worthy addition.

A challenging Tier 3 adventure both to run and to play. The adventure consists of three parts. The first part is the call to action, and involves several NPCs and plot hooks. The players need to establish exactly what is involved in this adventure. By now, a player of a Tier 3 character should be able to think for themselves, and work out the nature of the problem for themselves. No more spoonfeeding from the DM! Should you just let them proceed without understanding the situation fully, they probably won't be able to process what comes later. So it is important to get the players involved in the story at this point. The second part is four combats (choose from 6) and four puzzles or riddles. In Roll20 you don't need to prepare all six combats. Make sure you use the maps provided with this adventure, they are well designed to fit the details of each encounter. The central four puzzles and riddles must be overcome before the players can progress to the last stage. I particularly enjoyed the wizard's casket puzzle. It's the kind of thing that the players can engage with and spend some time exchanging ideas about before they decide on a solution. Once they have grappled with the concept, it's ok to give them a clue. The final encounter provides the opportunity for the players to engage with a mystical character and to find a solution that achieves all the goals that they were aiming for. The writing in the boxed text in the form of rhymes is really well done, and sets out the boundaries of the negotiation. In one game, the party simply decided to launch an assault at this stage. In this case be prepared not to let the party steamroll the encounter, it needs to be set up to get the creatures the chance to act with a home ground advantage. In another game, the party decided to enter into a debate, and involve some trickery of their own. That was by far the more satisfying outcome for the DM, and I believe more enjoyable for the players as well. One thing to note is that since the adventure was published in 2017, and it contains many references to previous published adventures, the players may not understand all these connections to previous adventures. So I would suggest that the DM downplay these references for the most part.

An intriguing tale of adventure and mystery, as the players answer the call of an old man. He is in desperate need and he has a tale to tell. The adventurers get to relive a long forgotten story, and along the way solve the mystery of this adventure as it unfolds before them.

PREPARATION

To prepare for this adventure, I focussed on understanding the motivation of the main NPCs. To prepare for the Roll20 game, I found my own maps for the main locations of the adventure. The castle from the Lost Mine of Phandelver is good for the ruined castle scene. The creature stats are not in the SRD, so there is a lot of data entry required for the DM without the required licenses on Roll20. The introduction is much too long, and the wise DM would aim to trim this short.

GAME EXPERIENCE

I ran this over a 4 hour session and was required to trim the introduction and the final scene. The party consisted of six experienced players. Otherwise, this adventure could easily run over 6 hours. The players were engaged with the setting, and the NPCs are richly described for the DM. The box text is very useful, with a lot of options for the DM to choose from depending on the party's decisions. The storyline is quite interesting, particularly each section having it's own story arc. The players enjoyed the final conclusion. The theme of the story was relevant to the current pandemic situation, but DMs please go easy on this, the players will get it without you laying it on too thick. However, the villain ... well let me just say our health workers are heroes that deserve your respect!

OVERALL

A fun adventure that you need to carefully prepare for in order to manage your time effectively. The DM will be well rewarded by preparation, because the adventure accounts for every possiblity and includes a lot of depth for the DM to dive into.

This bundle is a worthwhile purchase, and I'd like to thank the authors for contributing it to the Australian bushfire appeal in 2020.

So far I have DM'd two of the adventures on Roll20: CCC-GLIP-01-03 Citadel of Vlaakith and CCC-GLIP-02-01 Blue Scales.

I rate both of these adventures very highly. Each of them has a full page art piece which I shared with the players. Both of the adventures are thoroughly and comprehensively written. The structure of the adventures allows the DM to prepare for a range of options that the players may take. The feature of both the adventures is that they offer a range of options for players. This might take a bit of extra reading, so be prepared to read this a few times before running it.

CCC-GLIP-01-03 Citadel of Vlaakith This adventure is a dungeon crawl with a clever concept and theme. The politics of the hobgoblin tribes takes a bit to get used to, and I didn't focus on this during the adventure. The players enjoyed trying to understand how the dungeon works, and the interactive aspect of the dungeon took a while for the players to understand, which is good. They were excited by the initial encounter, and then wary as they ventured further, finally reaching the end of the module with anticipation. The module requires more than 4 hours to complete in full, but in our case, we finished it within the four hours of our session, as the players bypassed several of the rooms. So think about how to manage your time as DM when running the adventure so that your party can complete their mission within the time you have allowed. For Roll20, there was only one map, and when loaded up to scale, is very low res. However, the players didn't mind. I added images to represent the glowing orbs which added some colour.

CCC-GLIP-02-01 Blue Scales This adventure is a monster hunt that is completed by choosing one or more options to pursue. It is popular with some members of our AL group, but this was the first time that I had played or DMd it. The maps provided are neatly drawn which is unusual in AL CCC modules. The only thing that confused me was that the initial area map has north oriented down the page, and it took me a while to work out which way things should go. This is important for the DM to provide continuity between the locations. For example, there is an underground stream which can be reached via two different directions, so its good to establish which way the water is running! During this run, the players visited the hermit's shack, and then went into the underground river. So they bypassed two of the locations, but I still had to prepare the maps for both of those locations, so that is some prep time which didn't benefit the game. The end encounter is dangerous, but I think the players will appreciate the challenge. It's very possible that your party might not win this fight. However, I would much rather have a fight that seems worthwhile compared to a fight that is too easy. In preparation, I would suggest that the DM consider how they want the each encounter to be run, and emphasise those aspects that build the atmosphere for the players. We finished the adventure a little after the four hours allocated for our session.

One minor comment for these adventures: I wish that a basic map of Thar with the main locations of the adventure was provided in this PDF.

This is an enjoyable and fun adventure. The two things that make it stand out are: 1) the setting is exciting and dynamic, and 2) the main NPC is a significant and interesting individual. PREPARATION I prepared this adventure on Roll20. I found maps online that matched the locations in the adventure: coastal cliff, sea cave, tent village, and a cave scene for the final encounter. I liked the atmosphere of the locations and I enjoyed finding maps that matched them. I found the module easy to understand, and had no problems putting it all together.

GAME EXPERIENCE I ran this game in a three hour timeslot. The players had fun with the first two encounters and were excited to meet the main NPC. I think this was the best part of the adventure. The remaining components: an encounter along the way, the involement in the village (the two bonus objectives), and the final scene were less satisfying. The final encounter has only one creature, which is powerful, but also easily overcome. The best thing out of the game was that a warlock PC chose the main NPC to be their patron, which was a really cool idea that the player had. Thanks to the background material in the adventure, I was able to discuss this with the player and provide them with a better understanding.

OVERALL This adventure has some excellent components and deserves to be on your AL game schedule. Take a look at the structure of the different components to see how it fits best into your style of play. The DM should get a clear idea of how this should run to make it more effective, because as written it feels a little disjointed.

This adventure provides a lot of fun, an opportunity for the players to engage in a diplomatic mission, and an interesting setting with an environmental message for us all to consider.

PREPARATION I chose this module as I had wanted to run some recent Kumori adventures, without taking a look at what was involved in the adventure. Then in preparation I realised that there was a fundamental diplomatic mission to this adventure, within a setting where there is political conflict between groups of the Fey Council. Into this is thrust the mechanical steam punk world of the millwrights, an inventive group threatening to upset the balance of power in the forest. Initially, I felt it looked a little light, but as I got into the preparation, and understanding the role of the NPCs and the bonus objectives, this came alive for me as I built the scene in my imagination. In other words I fell in love with this story and all the goings on in the Quivering Forest, a place associated with many fun memories for me and many AL players. The content itself wasn't going to fill the whole four hours, as I believe you would need to indulge in a lot of negotiations and creative roleplay to fill the fourth hour.

GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE I ran this adventure on Roll20 with seven players over three hours including the two bonus objectives. For my players, they enjoyed focussing on the challenges and objectives, and didn't want to engage in protracted discussions. In fact, they were determined to cut short discussions, so they strove to get to the point, and raised the stakes whenever the NPCs wanted to prolong the negotiations. In saying that, I felt that I still got the chance to deliver the dialogue from the NPCs that I was aiming for. It was a very strong party, and I used the higher settings for the two encounters in the bonus objectives. In the first combat, the party were of mixed view with regards to either hacking their way through their opponents or to establishing the motivations of their opponents. Eventually enough PCs acted diplomatically to ensure a limited amount of blood was spilled. In the second bonus objective combat, I really liked the strange context of the battle, and this perplexed the players quite a bit, leading to a very satisfactory combat, which didn't need to be resolved to the end according to the guidance in the module. Then finally, the players used their creativity to deal with the problem of the golem. I really enjoyed this aspect as a nice little detail.

OVERALL CONCLUSIONS This is a very well written and satisfying adventure to run. The players enjoyed it a lot, and each PC got a chance to get involved, even in a large party with a diplomatic challenge. Even if only one or two PCs are doing the talking, each player can still voice their point of view to support or dispute each argument. Finally, the environmental message is beautiful and adds significant meaning for the DM and the players. Thank you for a chance to visit to the Quivering Forest.

This Tier 1 adventure provides a surprising introduction to the City of Chains. It's full of options and flavour, and the players will enjoy their immersion in this Hellish Plane.

GAME PLAY EXPERIENCE I ran this yesterday with five players on Roll20. It was my first AL adventure that I had run on Roll20. I spent some time to prepare some maps by finding thematic images online, I also included the map provided. I created a Google Drive spreadsheet for the players to calculate their financial status. There's some excitement as the players venture into Minauros, and for that reason this adventure already promises an engaging experience. The story is rich and the adventure is packed with content for the players to discover. The principle challenge in this adventure is actually a financial one. The players tried different ways to gain some money, and they were reluctant to engage in the proposed methods in the storyline (because they feared and mistrusted the devils). So they decided to try out some different ideas. Initially they realised they were not getting anywhere, but they kept trying, and finally managed to achieve a breakthrough. I had one player who didn't enjoy this aspect of the adventure, as they had a fixed mindset about their expectations for an Adventurers League session. But for the others, they found it fun and entertaining. Because this adventure offers so much, the game experience will benefit from the effort put into writing this module. However, the adventurers bypassed quite a bit of content by coming up with their own ideas. So by the end of the adventure I realised that the players would enjoy playing this adventure again in the future as there was more to explore. I actually had the most fun of any Adventurers League games that I have run, and most of the players also enjoyed it as well.

OVERALL The game experience is nothing like a typical Adventurers League session, so be prepared for something different. This adventure is fun to run in Roll20 if you get into the spirit of Minauros. Spend some time to immerse yourself in the setting during your preparation, and you will enjoy it a lot more. Convey the immersive aspects of the setting to your players and they will have a lot of fun too.

This adventure can be run as a standalone, or a fun followup to the first adventure in this series. The second installation in this series is a mine-delving escapade, literally a roller coaster ride for your adventuring group! It builds on the strengths of the first adventure without repeating any of the game experience.

GAME EXPERIENCE I ran this adventure last week with six players in a three hour timeslot. To fit the adventure into the timeslot I omitted Bonus Objective A. None of the players had played the first adventure. These adventures require some preparation to understand and bring together the theme of the storyline for your players. However, compared with the first adventure which is an investigation mystery, this adventure is instead more of a problem solving mystery with puzzles and challenges.

The characters are requested to solve the mystery of the mine, and they are working for a goblin lord. This NPC and his retinue should provide a little comedy for the players to enjoy. There's also Constable Hobb, a recurring NPC from the first adventure. In our game Hobb is a dissillusioned and weary wild west sheriff.

Once the party arrives at the mine they find themselves in the main adventure. Here Bonus Objective B is a really nice distraction. One of the PCs was able to speak with the creature and negotiate their way through. The challenge to solve the mystery of the mine is engaging for the players, and leads nicely into the climax of the adventure which is the mine cart chase. For this I drew a track for each of the three carts, and revealed the challenges one by one. The players really enjoyed this section of the adventure, and it provided a unique experience for everyone.

The ending of the adventure is quite satisfying, by reconciling with the various NPCs the players gain a feeling of accomplishment and closure. The players enjoyed their three hour adventure so much that they were asking for the sequel (part 3).

After this session I ceased face to face D&D gaming due to social distancing requirements of covid-19.

OVERALL This adventure provides plenty of depth for the DM to provide a rich experience and to build a realistic world to be inhabited by the PCs during their session. There is quite a bit of preparation required in order to become familiar with the mechanics and unique components, but the result is definitely worthwhile.

The Scion is a new 5e class for your D&D home game which allows your PC to become The Monster at your table. You'll see a cross between a Barbarian and a Monk in this new class, with a touch of the Druid's wildshape thrown in for good measure!

WHAT'S IN THIS CLASS? Your Scion character will be tough like a Barbarian with a d12 hit die, they won't be wearing much armor, and you will learn a mysterious new monstrous language. In combat these beast-like warriors deliver Terrifying Blows with their unarmed strikes.

By second level, Scions earn the right to transform into a monstrous form. The type of form and its effects depend on the subclass that you choose. So if you were thinking of delivering an impact at your D&D game table as the Incredible Hulk, this is your chance, and what's more there's a nice variety of options to choose from.

Levelling up, your character will gain more physical prowess as it gains mastery of the battlefield. At 14th level, the ability to speak with monsters is impressive and unusual amongst regular adventurers.

SO TELL ME ABOUT THESE SUB-CLASSES! Each of the sub-classes known as Monstrous Lineages provide an outlet for your savage aggression ... I mean bring out the beast in your D&D character! The Hecatoncheires may be hard to say, but it definitely also hits hard as you'll soon find out. This would be your Incredible Hulk guy/gal. The Medusa sub-class grants your PC powers in magical combat, while your orb of poison is a ranged threat to your opponents, and yes finally by 17th level, you are going to be turning the BBEGs into stone on a daily basis. A very cool sub-class, the Chimera is a mashup of all kinds of monsters, a monster buffet you might say. Pick your parts from a smorgasbord of monsters, with each addition granting you special effects. I'm not going to spoil what these are, so grab your copy to find out. Finally, to round out the selection, the Typhon grants you the ability to choose an elemental form, the powers of which grow as you level up, unleashing more and more elemental mayhem.

What I'm going to say is that this new class offering is an exciting addition to your D&D game, and everyone at your table will be impressed with the super-hero talents on display. If you're sick of Lycanthropy, and all that howling at the moon, this is your new addiction. Enjoy.

I received a complimentary review copy of this product from the author.

GAMEPLAY: This adventure provides a strong investigative storyline set in the city of Thentia with a cunning villain and a nice plot twist. Mages and magic abound in this city, and the players get the chance to explore and immerse themselves in this setting. I ran this adventure last week in a three hour timeslot with five players, and with a bit of streamlining managed to complete the adventure without any rush. The reason for this is that the clues are the important components to completing the adventure and there's no linear structure to each section. So players can choose which location to visit and make their deductions with the available clues. For this reason, I am really pleased with this adventure. It gives me the scope to manage expectations and react to their decision making effectively. By inviting the players to enjoy the setting, you can overcome their murderhobo instincts, and give them something to work on. At no stage did they ever feel stuck or lost, as there was always more to followup on. They didn't visit all the locations and so they didn't find all the clues, but still managed to work it out anyway. There's some explaining required to wrap up the story, as there's information the party wont be able to know until the end.

COMBAT: I ran three combats, and I think this is necessary to keep up the tension and to drain their resources. The investigations did take up a lot of time and so there was no need to extend the fights by strengthening their opponents. However, if the players were much faster at investigating, I would increase the strength of the creatures to prolong those fights. The final boss is a nice opponent to run.

OVERALL: An enjoyable investigative adventure in an immersive setting. Will run this again!

I was an official playtest DM for this adventure.

OVERALL SUMMARY: This adventure provides three very distinct locations and challenges. Story Objectives A and B provide the core adventure, while Bonus Objectives A and B are sidequests. As the Bonus Objectives are independent of the main story, the initial component could be run as a two hour adventure without diminishing its impact at all.

MY PERSPECTIVE: My first AL games as a player were at Arcanacon 2019 where I enjoyed playing my paladin character through Heir of Orcus I and II. Coincidentally, the paladin was named Seranon (AKA Ser Anon). The AL event organiser was Merric Blackman. The adventures posed interesting challenges to the players, who were required to put their PCs to the test as well as use their creativity and analytical thinking - lateral thinking - to overcome and complete the adventures. The adventures were quirky, funny and something out of the ordinary. They broke the mold and seemed out of context compared with anything else in the AL world. But they were both good and fun. This adventure is more of the same, but this time BIGGER - we're in Tier 2 after all.

GAME EXPERIENCE: The players were delighted and disgusted at the same time by the horror themes in the first part. They enjoyed the prospect of the exploration choices, each one seeming to be as horrible as the last. They enjoyed debating which kind of horror they might encounter and which they might find the least detestable. Getting into the tunnels, they encountered the sanity mechanism, and I was surprised to realise that this was the most fun component of this adventure. The players responded superbly by ham acting their insanity and cheering each other on to greater heights (depths?) of depravity as they explored the (fantasy) madness and the corrupting effects that it has on the party as a whole. They were excited by the final boss enounter, with its creature interaction mechnics and the chase scene. In our game, we used up our time (perhaps having too much fun) and we only played one bonus objective in the allowed 4 hours. I chose A. I found the storyline of this bonus objective complicated to convey, and this became time consuming since its basically a new concept for the players to comprehend. So with independent bonus objectives I'd suggest its better to take a simpler approach which I think the time pressured AL community will thank you for. Despite this, I still rate this bonus objective highly as it was a lot of fun for the table.

NOTES: We had some players with previous experience in this series, and the impact of this was that they were looking for more of the wacky fun that they had encountered in previous adventures. They were not disappointed, and the continuity of the NPCs provides an extra component to enjoy. I would say though that the players didn't really remember the NPCs from the previous adventures but they will encounter some at the start and then two of them during the core adventure. The module provides the AL reward check points for Season 8, but this has no impact on the reward allocation for Season 9. The two magic items are obtained from the core adventure, and the consumables are obtained from the bonus objectives.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I'd strongly suggest this adventure for a two hour timeslot. There's a lot of potential for fun here, and so make the most of it, and encourage your players to get into the murky spirit of Cthulhu and all that's involved during this adventure. However, if you do have a four hour timeslot, manage your time carefully to fit in both bonus objectives to maximise the value from this adventure.

This is definitely a memorable and exciting adventure which provides the DM with an amazing and unusual setting in which to entertain and challenge the players.

The various encounters, locations and NPCs give the DM plenty of flexibility to run a mini-sandbox adventure for the players to enjoy. Build a story by engaging the PCs into the setting and increase the tension leading up to the final encounter.

A highly recommended adventure for experienced DMs who like to weave a story for their players. One of my favourites.

This "Winter Solstice" adventure is a lot of fun for the holiday season. It consists of a series of well-thought out and interesting combats ending in a twist. I particularly liked the guidance given to the DM for running each encounter. Take the time to read and plan out how you will run these as its too much to read on the spot. The whole setting and plot is entertaining and thematic for the players to enjoy.

My only thought was that the story award feels awkward. However, I don't think this can be changed by the DM.