I just finished a sleep deprived 4 days at TotalCon (a local con in MA with a bunch of AL content) and figured I'd give you all some impressions of the stuff I played in and ran. Some of it's already existing content, some of it isn't out yet and we were either the premiere or a regional early release.
DDAL05-01 Treasure of the Broken Horde: Ran two tables through this, both got through the first two chapters, one made it into part 3. It's a fun adventure, easily my favorite of the seasonal 01s. My pile of Blooddrinker the Bear miniatures were well received ;-)
DDAL05-04 In Dire Need: Played this once, had a good time. Nothing special, but a fun adventure.
DDAL05-05 A Dish Best Served Cold: I DMed this 4 times. Generally enjoyed it, although the final fight is sort of a letdown. The enemies are mostly just bags of hit points and while it's clear the PCs will win there is a grind to get there. At least twice I called the fight early so I could get the table cleared for the next slot (we had 2 hour slots, so you really had to be done on time).
DDAL05-10 Giant Diplomacy: Played this once. I didn't like the branching plotline with the Zhentarim based goal. In our instance of the adventure we ended up with 3 Zhents springing a fight on some unsuspecting Fey, something that came across as a clearly evil act to many non-Zhent characters. It felt like the adventure was setting the PCs up to be at odds with each other, which is problematic in a no-PVP game.
DDAL05-11 Forgotten Tradition: Played this once and had a blast. I've heard mixed things about this adventure, but for us it worked out well. Part of that may have been the speed at which our Oathbow equipped archer was able to power through the final boss. I hear that fight can be a slog for some parties. Great flavor though, and going back to read it now I love how the traps and encounters are modular.
DDAL05-12 Bad Business in Parnast: DMed this twice and played it once. It's an awesome adventure, for people who are looking for a more investigative game (the phrase "CSI Parnast" was used multiple times). If you just want to hit stuff with a sword you will be disappointed. What it isn't is 2 hours long. I had to cut 1/3 of the investigation portion of the adventure and it still pushed up against the deadline. Everyone had fun though.
DDAL05-16 Parnast Under Siege: This was one of our premiers and I DMed it once. A ton of fun. I loved it. Will play again in the future if possible. A brilliant capstone for the season's tier 1 adventures.
DDEP05-01 The Iron Baron: Played this one in Tier 1 (after DMing the same tier at Carnage Con a while back). It was fun. We had 3 level 1 PCs though, and it's not tuned for that. An enemy that can throw fireballs at a Tier 1 party isn't cool ;-)
DDEP05-02 Ark of the Mountains: I DMed this (Tier 1) and it was the highlight of my weekend. I loved every minute of it. I did hear some complaints about higher tier tables being a bit of a slog (oh great, more wights!), and you really want to be sure that each table gets some quests where they can do something, as opposed to having them just get some of the "go reinforce this place" or "go rescue these people" ones. The cooler quests deserve to be shared, and we apparently were a bit uneven in that.
Anyway, a great con and a great set of AL content.
DDAL05-01 Treasure of the Broken Horde: Ran two tables through this, both got through the first two chapters, one made it into part 3. It's a fun adventure, easily my favorite of the seasonal 01s. My pile of Blooddrinker the Bear miniatures were well received ;-)
DDAL05-04 In Dire Need: Played this once, had a good time. Nothing special, but a fun adventure.
DDAL05-05 A Dish Best Served Cold: I DMed this 4 times. Generally enjoyed it, although the final fight is sort of a letdown. The enemies are mostly just bags of hit points and while it's clear the PCs will win there is a grind to get there. At least twice I called the fight early so I could get the table cleared for the next slot (we had 2 hour slots, so you really had to be done on time).
DDAL05-10 Giant Diplomacy: Played this once. I didn't like the branching plotline with the Zhentarim based goal. In our instance of the adventure we ended up with 3 Zhents springing a fight on some unsuspecting Fey, something that came across as a clearly evil act to many non-Zhent characters. It felt like the adventure was setting the PCs up to be at odds with each other, which is problematic in a no-PVP game.
DDAL05-11 Forgotten Tradition: Played this once and had a blast. I've heard mixed things about this adventure, but for us it worked out well. Part of that may have been the speed at which our Oathbow equipped archer was able to power through the final boss. I hear that fight can be a slog for some parties. Great flavor though, and going back to read it now I love how the traps and encounters are modular.
DDAL05-12 Bad Business in Parnast: DMed this twice and played it once. It's an awesome adventure, for people who are looking for a more investigative game (the phrase "CSI Parnast" was used multiple times). If you just want to hit stuff with a sword you will be disappointed. What it isn't is 2 hours long. I had to cut 1/3 of the investigation portion of the adventure and it still pushed up against the deadline. Everyone had fun though.
DDAL05-16 Parnast Under Siege: This was one of our premiers and I DMed it once. A ton of fun. I loved it. Will play again in the future if possible. A brilliant capstone for the season's tier 1 adventures.
DDEP05-01 The Iron Baron: Played this one in Tier 1 (after DMing the same tier at Carnage Con a while back). It was fun. We had 3 level 1 PCs though, and it's not tuned for that. An enemy that can throw fireballs at a Tier 1 party isn't cool ;-)
DDEP05-02 Ark of the Mountains: I DMed this (Tier 1) and it was the highlight of my weekend. I loved every minute of it. I did hear some complaints about higher tier tables being a bit of a slog (oh great, more wights!), and you really want to be sure that each table gets some quests where they can do something, as opposed to having them just get some of the "go reinforce this place" or "go rescue these people" ones. The cooler quests deserve to be shared, and we apparently were a bit uneven in that.
Anyway, a great con and a great set of AL content.
