I've certainly read worse adventures. I still don't get all the clutter around the stats and saves and stuff, but I'll just have to grin and bear it. Disappointed that more spells weren't changed to actions, and I still have to look up spells all the time for monsters, but that's fine.
Overall, if this was a first level deal, and more people had access to it, I'd think it was GREAT for showing the system. As is, it's good enough.
I agree. I find the new ability scores / mod / saving throw bonus design visually unappealing. The rows of colorful boxes don't go well with the rest of the statblock design (and are a bit too reminiscent of a prior edition's statblock design for my taste).
Is bullywug leap awkward?
No. I think it's clearer than the previous version. The bullywug spends 10 feet of movement but can move, by jumping in the air, up to 30 feet. That's more generous than the previous version:
"The bullywug’s long jump is up to 20 feet and its high jump is up to 10 feet, with or without a running start."
Also, if the Bugbear stat block is anything to go by, it seems they're moving armour types from the AC section of the stat block to "Gear".
That is helpful. However, it appears they aren't listing natural armor anywhere in the new statblocks. Look at the sprite in the new PHB, for instance. It has an AC of 15, but its Dex is only +4, and it has no Gear listing (I guess they figure a sprite's needle sword and bow are too small for the average PC to be worth looting?). Where's that additional +1 to its AC coming from? Must be natural armor, right?
It would also be nice if they'd list ammunition in the Gear line -- see the skeleton, which has a shortbow listed but no indication of how many arrows it has to shoot with the bow. In the 2014 MM, ammunition is discussed briefly in the introduction (2d4 pieces for thrown weapons like daggers and javelins, 2d10 pieces for arrows/bolts/etc). I hope that the 2025 MM will at least have that, but I think it would have been even more helpful to have included it in the Gear line.
The adventure lore also conflicts with the new comic books.
The comics say they have always been in Faerun, where as this adventure indicates they were in The Realm and Faerun is not that.
Aren't all novels, comics, etc supposed to be considered non-canonical?
Monster stat blocks! Formatting is still a bit more complicated than I need, but definitely a refinement. More interesting is the design. Each monster has a clear hook that I can discern without much effort. For example, the bugbear grapples. The bullywug leaps and poisons. I get it. The players will, too. That's great.
I think in some instances they've over-simplified them. I would've still liked to have seen some sort of ambush ability on the bugbear, but maybe that's missing from this one because it's a bugbear "warrior" specifically and there will be some sort of bugbear skulker or something in the MM that will still have some kind of ambush ability.
I would have liked to have seen
every creature, even lowly beasts, get some kind of unique feature. Too many of them are still pretty bland.
