This month's roundup of published Adventurer's League modules on the DMs Guild.
I don’t think it is worthwhile or fair to give ratings to adventures I haven’t run but I have ranked them in a rough top to bottom order of how much I would consider running them based on the previews and descriptions.
This month I ran last month's top pick Phandelver and the Blood Moon Crypts (FR-DC-BMK-02). I haven't had time to do a full review but it was absolutely worthwhile and I had a lot of fun. It is part of a series of 5 modules set after the events of Lost Mine of Phandelver and makes a good continuation of that story, but previous knowledge isn't required.
In July there were 15 new adventures published, 14 Dungeoncraft and 1 Premier Organizer module from Baldman Games. There was the first module set outside the Forgotten Realms in a while, a Dragonlance Dungeoncraft. Another good month for the number of modules and it was nice to see a different setting.
I’m not looking at bundles or Roll20 conversions of existing modules, just original AL legal adventures published in the last month.
Content warnings are those provided by the author.
Phandelver and the Blood Moon Devourer
FR-DC-BMK-05
Tier 2, 4 Hours, Forgotten Realms
The final part of the authors excellent Phandelver and the Blood Moon Keep series.
Full disclosure I did receive a review copy of this module from the author but I am running the series and would have bought it anyway.
The series is an old-school style dungeon crawl, very nicely laid out and readable, the story unfolds through largely found items and letters rather than NPC exposition, though there are plenty of opportunities to overcome encounters other than combat. The adventures are largely setting-based with a well designed area to explore that the players can choose their own path through rather than following a straight forwards plot.
This one has lots of exploration and is quite heavy on combat as it is the final confrontation with the evil beneath the keep. Another great module in a great series. I look forwards to running it.
Content Warning: Abuse (manipulation)
Malaeragoth and the Chaos King
FR-DC-LIGA-06
Tier 3, 4 Hours, Forgotten Realms
As of writing there is no preview available for this. Based on previous entries in the series it is likely to be lore-heavy and explore a Wrym from an earlier edition. This one features a sapphire dragon, Malaeragoth. A bard of some repute, "The Chaos King" has entered the dragon's lair in order to enter the Underdark via the expansive network of caves it allows access to but has not been seen since.
Based on previous modules in the series it is likely to be well written and will be updated with nice artwork and maps.
Sweet Dreams are Made of Trees
FR-DC-WATERDEEP-TRZ
Tier 1, 2 Hours, Forgotten Realms
Another entry in the author's pun-tastic "Sweet Dreams are made of" Waterdeep series. The brown text on beige design still offends my eyes but the content is good.
Life in Waterdeep has been disrupted due to an issue with words fading away from whatever they are written on, adventurer's can't get hired, business can't get done, but the party stumble across a clue that leads them to a logging camp outside the city, no doubt they will find the source of the problem there.
A short light-hearted adventure that looks like fun.
PS-DC-BINGO-2
Tier 2, 4 Hours, Planescape
A Planescape Adventure of time, being and perception. The adventure claims to explore the themes of Subjective Idealism a form of scepticism expounded by the 18th century philosopher George Berkeley and asks the players to wrestle with the concepts of being, time and perception.
Which is a heck of a basis for a D&D module but going back to the origins of Planescape as "Philosophers with clubs" it does fit the setting.
I really want to to like this, the introduction provides a good one-page background to the setting and has a good variety of hooks and lays out the alterations to magic in Sigil clearly. The only problem is that the sample is very short, the call to action looks interesting but ends before you really get the idea.
If you are interested in philosophy and improvisation I think this will be fun, if not then it might be a bit much.
FR-DC-VECNA-02
Tier 2, 4 Hours, Planescape
The second part of the author's Vecna: Dawn of ruin trilogy intended as a loose sequel to the Nest of the Eldritch eye Vecna prequel and a tie in/prequel for Eve of Ruin.
Hired by the Lord Protector of Neverwinter the party have to track down and deal with a Vecna cult.
There
is lots of opportunity for roleplay and the exploration of erotic
themes that may not be suitable for less mature players or open tables,
though there is lots of advice on consent and altering encounters to
keep them family friendly.
The layout and design are good with a mixture of stock and original art.
DL-DC-SOTH-01
Tier 1, 4 Hours, Dragonlance
The first in a series of 4 modules based around Lord Soth. This first part serves as an introduction to his story.
The form is a reverse dungeon crawl where the characters start captured and must escape discovering the plot and rescuing NPCs along the way.
It seems nicely written, the layout is attractive and there are nice player handouts included for a puzzle it contains along with maps.
I have placed this as if it were a Forgotten Realms adventure as I probably wouldn't run a Dragonlance adventure. Nothing against them, I actually like the setting but the lack of other DL modules means there is something of a lack of players so I would want to make sure I had a group who was interested before I started with modules set there.
PS-DC-CAKE-01
Tier 1, 2 to 4 Hours, Planescape
A lighthearted adventure set in Sigil, the party must visit the vendors of the market ward to obtain the ingredients for a cake, then bake the cake. Obviously none of this is as straightforward as it could be and there are various challenges to overcome.
The art and layout are cute and fit the theme nicely.
CONTENT ADVISORY: This adventure contains themes of Mild Body Horror, Sugary Diabetic Sweetness, Violence (Bullying & Gangs). Discretion is advised.
FR-DC-MELB-01-07
Tier 3, 4 Hours, Forgotten Realms
The finale to the 7 part Mistbourne series from Melbourne adventurer's League.
After
gathering clues and determining what ids going on in the previous
modules the party must now descend into the Underdark, discover a
dragons lair and deal with the beast. Mostly involving exploration and
combat with some puzzles and riddles to solve.
Nice design and layout and includes colour maps and attractive art.
CONTENT WARNING: Claustrophobia, Darkness, Decapitation, Mind Control, Spiders
FR-DC-MELB-01-06
Tier 3, 2 Hours, Forgotten Realms
Part 6 of the Mistborne series from DDAL Melbourne. This one is the penultimate instalment and ties up the threads discovered in the first 5 parts and leads into the final adventure. It is suggested you play the earlier parts first but they aren't strictly necessary.
The
adventure concentrates on exploration and roleplay as the party
infiltrate the inauguration of Neverwinter's new Arcane Protector.
CONTENT WARNING: Abuse (Mind Control), Mentions of Body Horror, Mentions of Torture
FR-DC-FALL-01
Tier 3, 4 Hours, Forgotten Realms
Set in Icewind Dale a priest of Auril seeks to win her favour by using a Netherese device to create a second Rime. The party must stop him and his fiendish patron.
This looks interesting, the layout is basic with no art and there is no mention of maps but the premise is intriguing. The call to action foreshadows the events by having a bard tell the tragic tale of the priest they will encounter later.
The
first part relies quite a lot on the players being quite inquisitive to
catch all the clues which can be hit-or-miss in AL games so I'm not
sure how it will run but if you enjoyed Rime of the Frostmaiden or AL
Season 10 this is worth a look.
CW: Death By Ice; Depression; Despair, Suffocation; Execution
PS-DC-PHP-CKA2
Tier 2, 4 Hours, Planescape
Little to say about this one, yet another broken preview link so all I can say is that the cover is cute, coloured maps are included, and give you is the fairly thin description from the listing.
Power through a series of encounters to help save the Gate-Town of Automata from a chaotic Autognome in this combat rich romp for Tier 3 characters!
PS-DC-MAR-01
Tier 4, 4 Hours, Planescape
Part one of the: More Maruts series. No preview available for this one but the summary tells us it is a chase through Sigil trying to clear your name of a false accusation as you are pursued by Sigil's indomitable enforcers, Maruts.
Previous modules by this author have been competently written but not to my taste.
PS-DC-MAR-02
Tier 4, 4 Hours, Planescape
It is hard to give a good assessment with no preview but Previous modules by this author have been competently written but not to my taste.
PS-DC-ELEMENT-DEATH-01
Tier 4, 4 to 5 Hours, Planescape
The description for this is rather thin and unfortunately there's no preview (a recurring theme this month).
The first part of a series (length unspecified), you have been captured by a cult who wish to use you as a component in a ritual. I suspect that is likely unfortunate for them as a tier 4 party will ruin their plans in the escape.
Includes colour maps.
BMG-DRWEP-OD-02
Tier 2 or 3, 4 Hours, Forgotten Realms
This is a multi-table epic adventure in Baldman Games ongoing Obscure Devotions series. As the 6th part in the series I suspect you will already know whether you want to run this but I'll give it an overview anyway.
The production values are excellent as usual, nice layout and well chosen art along with well edited writing. I have only run the first 4 parts of Obscure Devotions but my issue with them is that while production values are high the stories don't make a lot of sense.
In this one the parties must fight pirates and illusions as they make their way to the site of a meteorite impact in the Plaguelands of Algarion, a place where the effects of the spellplague still lingers.
It is playable for a single table but will no doubt be much more sun as part of an epic. I wouldn't choose it myself, not least because I think the $12.95 price tag is a little out of hand, but I'll probably end up DMing it for our Autumn epic game so I might come back and update this then.
Tier 2, 4 Hours, Forgotten Realms
Another module lacking a preview, though this one is a broken link rather than just a missing one.
The party head into a dungeon crawl full of deadly traps in search of a missing knight.
Includes colour maps.Currently only $2.99 as it lacks art and layout, price will increase to $7 once the art is finalized so a good opportunity to grab it at a discount as you will get the upgrade when the art is done.
Probably not for me, I'm not a fan of traps but if deadly dungeons are your thing it might be worth a look.
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