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DDAL08-18 Moving Day
Publisher: D&D Adventurers League
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/03/2019 16:10:07

This is so far my favourite Tier 4 adventure to DM (and I DM'ed most of them : DDAL00-01, DDAL00-02F, DDAL00-03, DDAL05-18, DDAL05-19, DDAL06-03, DDAL07-15, DDEP08-03, DDAL08-16, DDAL08-17, DDAL08-18). Like the other modules in the trilogy, I have ran this one twice (both times with bonus objectives) : once physically at the Festival Magic Montreal, and once online. This review contains spoilers.

On the roleplay side, it was great ! Roleplaying a distracted mass of flesh named Berlain who was hurting the players without even realizing it (until the players gave her something else to tear apart) was great, and so was roleplaying a heart-broken demilich who could only say "Berlain" in a hundred voice tones. But roleplaying the Entity -- so, so fun ! The "Evil Gentleman" trope is so rare to see, but so satisfying to incarnate. Both times, the players loved the "Tell me what's missing" rooms and really got into it in terms of descriptions.

On the exploration side, it was great ! The Nightwalker corridor really pushed the players to get clever about who gets to go first, and their satisfaction was great when they figured out the Crossing Lines puzzle. The Ice Pillar and Waltz rooms of Bonus Objective A were both really cool to experience for them, and the maze sure got them on their nerves -- especially when the bardadin touched a wall, failed the madness save and got the "attack the nearest creature" effect !! (lucky for him, the cleric had Greater Restoration handy). The moral issue of having to bash their employer's "house" to continue also made for some interesting debates.

On the combat part... I'm not sure, because I modified them. I removed the entrance fight with the Star Spawn, because in both cases, I had previously served my players with many star spawn and did not want to make the whole thing feel repetitive. I also transformed, as explained above, the Berlain fight into a social encounter where she would pleasantly speak to them while other parts of her body would be trying to tear the nearest player apart -- unsettling but interesting. The Hannelore fight is where I went full throttle. Here is how I designed it : Four Boneclaws right next to the entry portal in a half moon to threathen all players with their long arms; Next to them, two Bodaks to passively hurt the party; Flying across the room, the suggested Adult Blue Dracolich; In the center of the room, Hannelore the Death Knight, next to a Skull Lord, an Alhoon, and a canoloth. The Skull Lord has casted a barred Forcecage to enclose himself & the alhoon & the death knight & the canoloth, and has casted Globe of Invulnerability. Since the Skull Lord passively regenerates undead within 30ft (the radius of the room, of which he's in the center), and since Hannelore has a Lair action to heal a dead boneclaw to full health, this fight certainly was something else ! The players won, of course (by Dispelling the Globe then blasting the caged opponents), but the unique design made them think, as simply bashing the nearest enemy was not the best way to go about it. For those who read this review, feel free to borrow this design for a more challenging fight ! As for the final Entity fight, I upped it up with the dramatic effect that "IT" was spawning Nightwalkers in a regular fashion (from a thematic standpoint, releasing those who were in the corridor at the start of the module). The first group managed to talk the Entity into accepting to be escorted to the Abyss and torture the ever-replenishing source of demons over there for the rest of eternity. The second group dealt with it by the Cleric successfully rolling for a Divine Intervention (got a 3 on the percentile die !!), which caused a dramatic scene in which the Entity slowly died from the inside screaming for help -- a wonderful end for a wonderful module.

I think this will remain my favourite module to DM for quite some time... maybe I'll go DM it a third time soon !



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL08-18 Moving Day
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DDAL04-12 The Raven (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/21/2018 13:14:20

As always, quite happy of the roleplay perspectives of this adventure. I had ran DDAL04-08 right before this one, so the story link was that orcs had food so needed by the villagers of Orasnou, and were ready to share in exchange of a service. Not always easy to find a story link between two non-consecutive adventures, but here, it made sense. The wolf part was pweetty scary, considering that one of the character was an hour behind the rest due to wanting to walk when everyone else was running (I made him arrive at the group's camp, wolves at his tail -- a nice way to start a battle !). Considering that the Barovian orcs are not as blatantly evil as the Faerunian ones (the Baroviorcs only wanting to escape this wretched place!), the Rookscrag orcs in my adventure were not completely closed off to good arguments from the players, and it paid off : the rogue shaman realized his mistake right before Larga arrived so that they could have a very (wo)manly handshake. I recommend the purchase of this adventure.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-12 The Raven (5e)
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DDAL04-08 The Broken One (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/21/2018 12:59:52

My favourite character of that adventure is, without hesitation, Luca the simpleton. I used to play a quite similar character in a LARP, so it was nice to DM him. The beginning scene with Eugene's eating was quite fun to narrate -- finishing many of my sentences with a "and Eugene tears a chicken leg" or similar. Nasty, nasty Eugene ! The angry mob concept is always fun to apply, especially to see how characters will manage them (discussion? intimidation? killing?). My group managed to make Luca invisible and convince the crowd that the lad had gone elsewhere -- clever ! The end fight against Eugene was very gloomy -- especially when he ate Luca's face but then Luca raised back as a very angry revenant ! But the group managed to convice Luca that they were still his friend, allowing him to go away in peace... Touching ending. I recommend the purchase of this adventure.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-08 The Broken One (5e)
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DDEX03-15 Szith Morcane Unbound (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/21/2018 12:50:15

This adventure has great replay value, because the previous Season 3 Tier 2 adventures that the players have gone through before it influence the kind of experience they will have, and all of the options make it so that you can run it twice and it'll be like you have ran two different adventures. It's like purhcasing several adventures in one, very nice ! The writers have put a good effort in roleplay perspectives -- the corrupted dragon, the imperfect galeb duhr, the overly-perfectionist stone giants. As I always say, it's not rolling dice that'll make for memorable experiences, but the unusual stuff like this that'll make you, several months later, remember the adventure in your heart. It's not the easiest adventure to prepare, but gives a very nice satisfaction to the players when they've assembled a nice army against Evil, making the end fight almost like a movie scene. I recommend the purchase of this adventure.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDEX03-15 Szith Morcane Unbound (5e)
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DDEX3-09 The Waydown (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/21/2018 12:25:10

I quite enjoyed DM'ing this adventure. For most of the session, I was watched by a friend who had to write a report on a certain activity (he had chosen D&D, and I had invited him to watch my game), so I made very good use of the interesting roleplay parts of this adventure to give everyone a good time. My favourite part was probably to find a performer role for all characters present. For example, a paladin with a Belt of Fire Giant Strength was Da Strong Russian Man ! They were certainly a nice attraction for the Red Plumes. It was quite fun, during the sneak-around part, to have that one particular Red Plume just following them around like a true groupie. Going down the river was perhaps trivialized by a Water Walk casting, but still interesting with the mystieries of finding the lost faction agent's tracks. I was happy that my characters took time to discuss with the big frog, so that they would have an ally in the end fight. Said fight ended when the big frog crushed the succubuses under his fat belly, then started eating them. Overall, a nice adventure, with nice roleplay incensitves.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDEX3-09 The Waydown (5e)
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DDEX3-03 The Occupation of Szith Morcane (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/21/2018 12:09:12

I have quite appreciated DMing this adventure. The introductory part with the "drows are infesting the surface" theme was pretty intriguing, but the best part of it was the show-me-that-you're-worth-it brawl against the half-orc. I made it especially funny when the guy stripped naked and oiled himself up, something that the brawling player soon copied. A memorable experience for sure. It was nice to see a more human side of the Red Plumes with Yestral (I made it so that a Red Plume initially made nasty comments against the party, but soon had his ear pinced by Yestral before going to his momma in tears). I combined the derro (who were all screaming "DERRO, DERRO !") & kuo-toa fights to increase the tension and give an initial "oh darn" to the players. The roleplay passage with Huum was a nice addition - pretty funny to roleplay a mind flayer. I didn't think it was really appropriate for the final fight to have drows against the players, so I instead put some previously liberated drows with the players against a few combined encounters at once. Hard to manage, but rewarding for the players ! Overall, a quite enjoyable adventure, in my opinion.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDEX3-03 The Occupation of Szith Morcane (5e)
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DDAL06-02 The Redemption of Kelvan (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/30/2018 16:59:11

This adventure was quite enjoyable to DM, and I think my players liked it for the most part. One of my players, who had DMed it in the past, did complain afterward that I hadn't made it difficult enough (as, for instance, I allowed players to unscrew gears in the gears room, eventually leading to them stopping to hurt the players), but I feel like too much difficulty can become unfun.

The traps and puzzles were very well thought-off (it shows that a lot of work was put there), and the evil-guy reveal at the end is a nice touch. It does require a certain degree of preparation, but it is manageable. The good thing about these traps & puzzles is that the way they're shaped allows for creative thinking from the player's side, which can lead to a unique experience each time the adventure is played.

I recommend the purhcase of this adventure, but beware that it will most likely take more than 2 hours if you run all the rooms (which all deserve to be ran, I believe).



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL06-02 The Redemption of Kelvan (5e)
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DDAL04-03 The Executioner (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/30/2018 16:51:57

I DM'ed this module, and contrary to many reviewers here, I quite enjoyed DMing it, and my players liked playing it. Perhaps it is because I'm the kind of DM that leads his players a lot instead of letting them all by themselves. Perhaps it is because I ran it right after DDAL04-02, which finished by the adventurers returning to the hunting camp and seeing that Lazlo had disappeared, thus already being suspicious at the start of this adventure (which made quite a good link when the "newcomer" arrived : my party was all around him, asking him questions, following him around... quite the moment!).

Fillar was a funny NPC to roleplay (always bobbing his head around like a bird... nice addition), and interestingly enough, it was the players who convinced the villagers to turn against the "newcomer", making the village riot event a logical consequence and not at all out of place.

I added quite a lot of zombies in the final encounter in order to really make it dire and maintain the tone put in place by the two previous adventures (a shame that the Mist Zombies from DDAL04-01 are not used there by default!), but other than that, the roleplay perspective of characters defending a village against a zombie assault are quite good (especially if the DM adds endangered NPCs during the fight -- a bit like what's done in the next adventure's village battle).

Maybe my ratings are too high (keeping in mind spelling errors and whatnot), but I feel like the enjoyment of my players is what matters most (and they did enjoy this one!).



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-03 The Executioner (5e)
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DDAL04-04 The Marionette (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/30/2018 16:50:32

My memory of this adventure is not perfect, as I DMed it a year and a half ago, but I keep a good impression of it.

The introduction of the Horror mechanic was a very good touch to this season. I don't yet know whether it's reused in later adventures, but I would suppose (and hope) so.

The character development of Lazlo is pretty enjoyable as well, coming all the way from a simple hunter to an evil hunchman.

The manor was well detailed and makes for very tasty exploration, and the final encounter is particularly interesting (especially since one of my characters ended up throwing the boss in the hole for her to be eaten by her own minion!).

Overall, a thematically powerful adventure, which I would recommend the purchase of.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-04 The Marionette (5e)
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/30/2018 15:30:17

I liked DMing this adventure. The missions were varied in roleplay, exploration and combat, and the last mission was a quite good introduction to the season.

My only complaint is that, by default, there are too many combat encounters to my liking (but my players managed to avoid some of the encounters by good roleplaying).

The idea of zombies that "multiply" when you slash them is pretty nice, and I hope to see more of these adequate monster modifications during the season.

I was quite surprised by the sheer amount of gold each mission gave (a single 1h mini-mission giving more than some 4h missions), but as long as my players benefit of it, I don't really mind.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
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DDAL04-02 The Beast (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/30/2018 15:20:26

Quite a nice module to DM.

The roleplay portion is quite interesting (introducing characters to the village of Orasnou for the first time), the forest exploration really sets up the tone of that season, and the final battle puts a good horror ambiance to the session.

It ties in pretty well with the other adventures of this season, which is especially great if the following adventure, DDAL04-03, is ran right afterward.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL04-02 The Beast (5e)
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DDAL07-12 In Search of Secrets (5e)
Publisher: D&D Adventurers League
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/25/2018 09:28:03

This review of DDAL07-12 contains some Spoilers.

I have DM'ed this adventure, and both me and my table enjoyed it very much !

First of all, I don't see why so many people complain about the lack of numbering on the map. There's not that many rooms to begin with, and the depictions on the map correspond pretty clearly with the text description. Maybe it would have been a different story if I would have had to read the adventure on the spot while DMing it, but I always prepare my sessions in advance.

Also, yes, some races (Yuan-Ti, Grung), spells (Heroes' Feast) and magic items give resistance/immunity to poison, which is the damage type of many traps in the adventure... but not all of them. Some are acid, and some are psychic. And of course, the encounters gave additional damage sources (fire, necrotic, etc.). If the party is lucky enough to have a character with the right race/item/spell, then good for them (as goes for other damage-themed adventures), but it's not a problem in itself. I did have a Yuan-Ti player in my group, but the non-poison-immune players still got their fair share of poison during the game. And besides, surviving a trap without issue can be quite rewarding & fun too, if roleplayed well by the DM and/or the player (for example, when my Yuan-Ti player went into the Giant Snake's Poison Dust, I told him that the air was "smelling like flowers").

I quite enjoyed the skull room, especially the fact that it accounted for players with means of flying (which all of my players had). The Medecine checks were indeed difficult, but I did allow a reduction on the check when one of my players cleverly mentioned that now that they understood that they were looking for specific races, they would be looking for an unusually small skull (halfling) and an unusually long-and-thin one (elf). I encourage other DMs to lower the check if the player is looking for specific race features of the listed races when investigating the skulls.

The fire snakes encounter was surprisingly punishing (almost putting the paladin to sleep), but the players won with clever tactics (for example, the Yuan-Ti doused himself in water from his Alchemy Jug, which I rewarded him by preventing him from catching fire). I was almost tempted to add additional fire snakes (as I know that Adventurers league's Encounter Difficulty does not account for magic items), but I prefered to save time on other parts of the adventure. After all, DnD is not only about combat, eh !

My favourite part of the adventure (and my players' favourite part as well) was the Nightmare corridor. They did have some talismans on them, but I thought that giving them all the possibility of fighting against their personally tailored nightmares would be an excellent idea, and I wasn't wrong ! One of my players, for instance, had the best moment of roleplay in his entire career when he fought against his nightmares, revealing his true face behind the mask he hadn't taken off since character creation, and telling his hardcore backstory to the nightmares. I'm always a fan of adventures that focus on character development, and this one did not disappoint.

I added some fire snakes to the final encounter, as I agree with other reviewers that it wasn't a particularly dangerous one, but the players had fun, which is what matters to me.

Overall, a pretty nice adventure. Yes, it has some problems, but they can easily be overcome.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL07-12 In Search of Secrets (5e)
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DDEX3-08 The Malady of Elventree (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/06/2018 14:14:48

Quite a fun and challenging adventure, with many interesting encounters (especially the last one) and good roleplay opportunities, which I would definitely recommend the purchase of.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDEX3-08 The Malady of Elventree (5e)
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DDAL00-04 Winter's Flame (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/06/2018 14:08:58

I loved everything about this adventure - the settings, the games, the encounter, the personality of Slab... I ran it near Christmas so it was quite fitting, too.

I decided to add a character called "Candy Bill" to present the games in a more friendly way that Ouen Azemar was capable of and thus better motivate the characters to play the games and earn the Midwinter Candle.

It was really funny to have "enemies" who would not attack the players but simply steal fruits (while dancing, of course!), it added a very comical touch to the battle, which I'm always all for.

What I prefer about this adventure is how every character could find a game where its best skills would be used to good effect. I strongly recommend this purchase, especially during Christmas month.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL00-04 Winter's Flame (5e)
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DDAL07-14 Fathomless Pits of Ill Intent
Publisher: D&D Adventurers League
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/06/2018 14:01:37

This review contains many Spoilers. I ran DDAL07-14 yesterday night, and here are my thoughts on it :

Reading it, I was amused and amazed by the different traps and puzzles, and even more so by the two very original (and only) encounters, and believed that it would prove a worthy challenge even to my experienced Tier 3 players. The reality was, however, different. It might have been that my players had the exact right magic items or very clever minds, but most of the traps were trivialised.

In the shaft room with the green snake, for example, one of the adventurers had Dispel Magic (that he used on the Force Dome - on this note, it seems odd that the Countermeasures section has notes on Dispelling the harpoons or the cloudkill, but not the dome itself) as well as a Rope of Climbing (which he used to grab the snake without needing to enter the room at all), which saddened me a bit because the room's traps were so interesting. The illusory water was also trivialised because the player who "tested the waters" had a flying carpet and could therefore bring everyone down safely. But the one trap that did work on the group was the lightning pole one (which is very well thought of, and quite comical, in my opinion).

EDIT ABOUT THE DOME DISPELLING - Just learned that a Wall of Force cannot be dispelled.... Oooooops. My opinion on the shaft room is now changed : it's very well thought of, and would have proved a worthy challenge to my players if I had been aware of the dome's immunity to dispelling.

Some of the riddles were, I believe, a bit too easy, as well as the snake placement game (there's games online that ressemble this and provide much more challenging grids than the one in the adventure - as soon as my adventurers got the Player Handout, it took them about 30 seconds to figure out the solution).

I have mostly praise to say about the first encounter (especially because my players and me love the Portal game), but I think there should have been more enemies than suggested in the sidebars (the 4 Helmed Horrors were all finished within the first two rounds, leaving only the Beholder).

I have, however, only praise to say about the second encounter (the map, the enemies, the lair/legendary actions, everything worked very nicely), and the pressure on time was a really good source of motivation for the players, who used many ingenuous tactics to win the fight. I especially approve of the Rolling Soul Lair Action, which I believe is a very worthy challenge even for top-of-the-tier players. This encounter is why my review contains 4 stars instead of 3.

All in all, a quite interesting Snaky adventure that would perhaps deserve a slight upgrade in riddle, trap and encounter difficulty, but the important part is that my table enjoyed it, and so did I. I would therefore recommend its purchase.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
DDAL07-14 Fathomless Pits of Ill Intent
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