I ran this adventure with five players and Dara of Illmater NPC'd. We skipped 09-19, but since I did have it, I added the plot points from 09-19 into the intro for this adventure to quick spin up the party. The players really enjoyed going into Yeenoghu's realm. They ran into the rocs, the slaves and the ghoul and Night Walker encounter before Capturing the Commander. We made it three waves, before I could see and hear the slogitis in players. Knowing we had another part left to get to, I brought the battle to a close at three waves. The temptation of a yummy demon heart got one player, who was stopped by the party paladin. They return back to Avernus with Commander De La Rue. The battle council can get long, but if you just summarized what everyone does you can move on to the war effort. I appreciated that players can just leave here ... I can see players going "We got De La Rue, we already set Elturel free, Devils and Demons be d@#$%" and go home. I apprecate that the designers allows for this. They decided to take on the devils ... the rocs, wizards and towers made things tough! One target of magic missles from all the wizards? ...certainly a possibility. Challenging encounters. IMO this adventure brought the end of the season 9 to a great close. DMs- if your goal is to get this adventure done in four hours, please let me know how you did it. I have not known anyone to pull it off without leaving something on the floor. But I'd rather have more than less. Players enjoyed it. Well done.

This was one of two adventures that I have prepped for my players over the next few weeks. The story behind the adventure is an enjoyable one. From the introduction of the Gray Orcs through the adventure I was captivated by the content. I like that the designer recommends the length of rests allowed. One less thing for a DM to have to consider. I found that each of the Pillars of Play sidebars were substantially filled-there's more than enough there to engage players actions.

Thank you for not handing out the magic items rewards before the Objectives are achieved. Part Ones scenes are fleshed out well. Did not bring up any immediate questions/concerns. I beleive that Part Two could do with a Playing the Pillars sidebar. It would be nice if similarly fleshed out pillars were given for this part as well.

But make no mistake. It is refereshing to read an adventure that seems to hit all the marks. I actually smiled after reading this module. It just felt like a good tale. Good story, no eye-raising meta; great NPCs. I haven't seen gray orcs in anything 5e; but this adventure presents them and has me hoping that this orc tribe reappears in future efforts by the designer. Well done!

DMs, your Tier One players deserve this adventure. Add it to your collection!

I saw the image and my mind immediatley flashed back to my AD&D Players Handbook and the Idol of Moloch. While prepping this adventure, I thought I would take the time to share with you my thoughts. The Background is fairly straight (no spoilers). The Adventure Hooks shoudl be easy to employ. No Call to Action? Odd. You might consider lowering the DC 20 Checks that are prevalent throughout the adventure. Consider taking a fine eye to Pillars of Play sidebars that have pertinent information, but it seems misplaced (in different pillars. Tactics are in Exploration Pillar, Social aspects are in Combat Pillar, etc). Its not well explained why a DC 20 Perception Check is required to notice two gargantuan rocs swirling about the area you are travelling through. This check also reveals "the max amount of gold for their level in the adventure", but then at the end offers more gold. An oversight easily remedied by adhering to AL guidance on award of gold.

A spell and trap-laden temple will challenge players-make sure you are aware of the spell references in Part Two. Sidebars presented are helpful to understanding how the spells can be employed in different ways. Be aware of their effects on player characters and spawn, familiars, beast companions, etc. The temple offers plenty of challenge in the form of an unique (deadly), spell-trap-environmental combos. I said this TWICE because I think that this is the adventure's best feature! Please make sure you have the stat block for an Azer handy. The Bonus Objectives are not necesary to the plot; however, I don't know too many T3 players that aren't going to want to challenge the "partiers" or the "platform patrolers" that these designers present. Make sure to adjust timing to include these challenging encounters!

There is a check that reveals info that comes from MToF's. Be prepared to provide it or find out that info PRIOR to your game. The BBEG and minions do have names in the Dramatis Personae. I'm used to seeing this first thing in the Background. No Wrap Up. The adventure offers no closure for DMs running this as one-shot. It mentions an Epilogue ..but no Epilogue. Read this one thoroughly. My three-star rating is mostly due to scattered organization of the adventure; however, the content provided does have the makings of a challenging adventure. I know my players will enjoy it. I wish the designers continued success in their future efforts!

"Bound by Duty" has alot of enjoyable material in it; a rich story- and one that is refreshingly different. There were alot of different encounters designed in the adventure. Time constraints will end up doing the adventure and the players a disservice by having to glean over encounters that would allow for RP-heavy players. There is plenty of combat options to provide. My players were a little disappointed that the ghost ship did not offer much in the way of exploration. It can be played a few times over and with different endings. I would certainly run this again! I did see that the editing team was also associated with 'Down the River of Snakes' so I do not find it surprising that it would give you similar replayability and enjoyability. Another great work by Jay Africa. A must buy!

I had the opportunity to run this adventure tonight. Had two drop out on me and only had three players. Even with the adjustment down to Very Weak my players had a great time! They actaully partleyed with the IronClaw Orcs and traded 'metal'. They ended up not needing what they recieved in return (wont spoil). They actually made the Percpetion Check to get into Fangjaws Hold through the "other" way. Betwen the Legendary Action and the Lair Action of Tor'Vlexis at Very Weak, I tuned down the eye beams to one per turn, because I sensed that the players were still overmatched. They were challenged. An Inspiration used by the last standing player (one was turned to stone, the other placed asleep) resisted the Charm Ray and this player in turn was able to deliver the defeating blow to the main antagonist! Great dungeon crawl with a great swath of orcs and the lightning storm was a suitable environmental threat (I'm a fan of storms). This one is worth the purchase. Add it to your collection!

I ike the premise behind this series. Since I started this trilogy for my players right after they returned from the hells with Elturel (They did not redeem Zariel), I had them meet Dara and company there in Elturel.. and then Dara explained to them her quest and its importance. I allowed them to use their renown item to "rent" a war machine to transport them to The Canyon. This is where it gets confusing.. It takes the party six hours to get through the tunnels (Dara had the wards of suffering). But how long does it take them to find the tunnels? Many of the dangers in the canyon (but outside of the tunnel) result in saves every hour. I just had them make a group Survival checks every hour to see if they find a tunnel, and if they fail, then they make the howling wind and falling rocks checks. I also had them make a group Stealth checks every hour to avoid being seen by the creatures hunting them. Those Howling Winds can concern a party pretty quick. I bypassed the first set of tunnels (wards of suffering) .. the mechanics for them were troublesome, especially the significance of the clues. This whole part will need a hard look by DMs to figure out how to make the randomness work.. consider not using the tunnel clues; maybe after X amount of tunnels have them arrive at the glyph and move on to Scene C. There I rolled high on the tunnels. They navigated them and dealt with the glyphs had us run short on time. I had to end with a quick narrative, ignoring the wave attacks. The players still found it enjoyable. They were a bit surprised when the advenure ended with a cliffhanger. I feel like there should be an alternate Wrap-Up for those not adventuring in the other modules. My rating is based on the confusing tunnel mechanics in Part One, Scene B. and the area information in Part One that seems very important to the environment, but is not completley captured here. It felt incomplete. Other than that, the players has a good time. Run it all as a series if you can!

I finally had a chance to run this!

I let me players give me the adventure hooks, I only asked that they consider that they came to find each other company and that they were collectively to deliver this missive from the Lords Alliance to The Bourne of Candles. Their interaction with Madge Figgy was entertaining (even for me), and they took to the adventure quickly. One of my players commented that, "It was one of the Top Ten adventures that I played in". My players fell into that, "We rescued her, the Bourne is sure to see us now"-thinking that the adventure was over.. but then ...? Anyway, this adventure told a great story and presents it in a way that DMs can immerse the players with little effort. Well done. If you are on the fence about picking it up... get off the fence! A must in any DMs Tier One catalog!

I found many things in this adventure challenging to present without more brevity and clarity. The background premise is interesting. But before the Call to Action (CTA), there are no adventure hooks provided, players start on a sinking ship. DMs are advised to feign checks-fabricate checks for players to give them the fasaud of hope-the checks simply to eat time? You can gain up to 3 lvls of exhaustion before the CTA ends! Best to have the adventure start on the ship with the captain and crew to avoid mutiny at your table.

The adventure captures a sea-trek to an island where a cure can be acquired to rid several coastal villages of a plague. During travel, there are tasks that grant advantage to checks that don't manifest with DM fiat. The module recommends downtime activities which seem "out of reach" by the rules. In some cases, players will not have the DT to do so. Players may have limited opportunity if they suffered exhaustion levels in the CTA. The island layout is simple; however, crucial information is lost ( i won;t say what) if the party does not speak a certain language-unless magical means exist. The cliff tower that players ascend to get to Episode 3., is presented poorly. Climb distances and limitations are not provided. Episode 3. has a very creative diesease puzzle-one of its highlights; but, there is no meta to go along with the dieseases. (They get no save against them-they automatically get them?). The final encounter seems "one-sided". Player parley ends with the heroes fleeing (I won't say why), dying quickly (I won't say why), or guided to a very descriptive ending, given the cure and allowed to leave. It seems to happen very quick. There's little player agency in the narrrative. DMs will need to do a strong meta-review of this adventure, flesh out the CTA, the end of Episode 2 and the beginning of Episode 3. before presenting.

My overall rating is based on the above observations and a spotty attempt at formatting compliance. It will make reading it slighty challenging. Even so, this is a great premise for an adventure. It just needs to be fine-tuned.

I just finished reading all three of this series in prepping them for local play. The cover was pretty neat, I'm not too much on frills but the cover looked fun to put together. The background is the best out of the three in the series. I havent seen modron up front in a mod since the memorable CORE-1 series from BMG. I like how there is a generic adventure hook and then some specific ones. The others in the series fall short here. The CTA is great. A break away from the tavern trope is good. A battle of tall-tales (BS-ing) was surprising segue into the CTA. Boxed text adds to the settings, having players navigate a modron camp I think will be frustrating and fun. It does seem like players are just subject to a "pass the buck" by the modrons. I like that Pillars of Play bring a closure option to combat, an alternative options to bypass areas of camp, and give the players the option of attempting to speak to the modron and be exposed to their heirarchy in a social manner! I like how the designer reminds DMs to watch time ..even at cons I sometimes get swept up in the game and forget that I'm on players schedules. And encounter/hazard table fits a tunnel trek well, and I like how the modrons that you travel with risk themselves right along the players. I'd tell DMs to watch out the encounters- alot of them cause exhaustion. The worse case scenario- players may end up at the end with up to four levels of exhaustion before dealing with the modron menace. Even still. its a good adventure. It is clear that this designer has some experience in design and writing. I hope that Johnathan Kennedy-Ellis will continue to mentor other designers. I've seen some great effort in this series! Add this one to your collection!

As I was reading this module to see if I would run it locally, I noted a few things: -It made me chuckle and flat out laugh many times. -I like the premise-the environment is a large battle camp ... not hard to map or struggle to describe .. -It has different adventure paths that are there. Yes, each path is linear, but there are random encounter tables that add to variety of what lies under each tent flap. For those DMs that feel like adding their own touch, you could use the designers framework to add other table results

• The cotton balls for clouds suggestion is absolutely clever! I thought, "You know what-why didn;t I think of that?"

The spirit of this adventure takes something that would seem ordinary to adventurers (most equate camps to RESTs and having to come up with WATCH orders and are more focused on resetting everything and not wanting to roll that encounter that messes with their REST) and turns it into somethign extrodanary. I felt like there was alot of exploration and social pillars, but when you have a mist that is always around as the antagonist, that options for your "choppy-chop" and "pew-pew" players is always there too.

I've said enough. Check it out. I look forward to other offerings from this designer!

Wow. This map is colorful and magnificently detailed. I'm not a very big optics DM, but I can appreciate the amount of effort that went into it. I intend to get it printed and framed! You should too! It's worth more in my opinion!

Hi all! I ran this adventure at its premiere and my players had a blast. I am a big fan of the Oracle of War as a creative artifact. No need to hink twice about adding htis one to your collection! Your Eberron players will be happy you did!

I read this to have something prepped for my T1 players. I like premise of it. Taking a lost boy back to his family, with a twist. I made a lot more notes than normal. Here are some of the things that as a DM. I noticed.

I was deeply moved by the Adventure Primer .. quoting Gandhi in a D&D Adventure? Never seen it before. Good stuff. The background seems like it should focus on the boy, the father, and The Red War. It feels like they are glossed over. However, a good read over the material should give you a feel of all the NPC players in the adventure.

I had to draw lines to seperate paragraphs that I believe should be spaced apart. Makes it easier to read. Consider working with players to come up with adventure hooks on your own. The ones included aren't the most enticing.

CTA. The players have the opportunity to see Elian's notes if they ask. The Perception Check here seems pointless as does the mention of citrus smell that comes from the notes. I found nowhere in the adventure where this scenty paper has any bearing. If there is significance, it certainly is not present in the adventure. I think the papers and the citrus smell can be RP icebreakers for characters to bond with Elian, and I intend to give all of that out freely to players.

Episode 2. "Passive Perception of 15+ might get the feeling of being followed". Since this episode does have the players ambushed by two groups of people I think that the Passive Perception should be enough, but an opposed check Perception vs Stealth check could be something you consider to make this work. Read this encounter carefully. What you have here is a Players vs. Thugs vs. Soldiers. I don't know of any party that is going to give up the boy to either of them. If they are doing what they are supposed to, you may end up with a battle royale. Thugs and hobgoblins can be nasty, but the hobgoblins attack non-lethally. The Social Pillar of Play hints at non-combat scenarios, but does not provide check DCs. The Exploration Pillar seems to call an for an Insight Check ... or giving players that information. The only other glaring thing here is I noted the adventure called for a DC 20 Str Check to pull Elian away to be given to either opposing party here. That boy's stronger than alot of PC's! The adventure does not seem to progress unless the players do not give the boy up. Elian opens up and provides some info after the battle. If you do not get to this point, then it will take some ingenuity to determine how PC's acquire this information (to include handouts).

Episode 3a. I was a little bit confused; The CTA has players believing they need to take the boy to Kalen Forstrupp at the Beacon Tavern and Inn, but the PC's are at the Still Waters Inn and there to meet Phineas Forstrupp .. not sure where Kalen or this other tavern is at. Not a showstopper. It looks all NPCs here are commoners with the exception of Shady Thayan Expatriates, which are Thayan soldiers. The next scene seems a bit straight forward

Episode 3b. is pretty straightforward.

Episode 4 seems to work once you figure out what creatures are involved in the potential encounters. The Veteran's Men are described as "Two Thayan soldiers", which leaves me head scratching and wondering whether or not this is the same as Thayan Warriors or Soldiers (hobgoblins) in the Appendix or are they Veteran's Men (Beserkers)? . In this part a Veteran is referred to as a Gladiator in another paragraph. There is no Gladiator stat block, but there is a Veteran block. You'll need to straighten this out according to APL before you have a party walk into a battle that they will be stuck with. I think one Veteran and two berserkers will probably prevent most of the party from seeing the end of the adventure. Consider switching the berserkers with hobgoblin soldiers.

My rating is based on these notes plus the clear challenge this module has in its editing/formatting oversights. There is alot that could be mitigated with more clarity and attention to detail; however, an experienced DM or a DM that reads this module ahead of time can adjust to make the module plot flow to player enjoyment. The premise of this module is a great story that does capture a harsh reality of war (or The Red War, in this case). Consider picking it up!

This is my favorite adventure in the series! Great elements of design and a fitting end to this T3 Series. Good swath of adventure hooks. I always love learning new vocabulary, so when I came across the word "pillock", I used contextual clues to decipher its meaning and was in the general area. LOL! I appreciate the opportunity for learning. I like that the module makes an effort to "include" flying players in Part One. Martyr's Alley even made me cringe (and I'm running the adventure, LOL!)! Lasty, I appreciate the nods to Illmater in the descriptive presented ... I even felt immersion in the description of The Wards of Suffering as well as the freindly reminder by the designer to DMs to "... impose a challenge.." to players. The designer also provides DM tips that address potential party splitting.

Another great adventure that is a great additon to any DMs T3 Library. Congrats!