Byrons_Ghost
First Post
As someone who DMs constantly, these modules fall into a rare group for me: something I actually got to play before running them. I'd have to say that I like them about in the order that they were printed in.
DA1 is my favorite, even if it is mainly a campaign primer I like it's unique take on the time-travelling dungeon crawl. Also, the Comeback Inn was just incredibly cool. I loved it so much that my PC made a deal with the owner: I paid him a few thousand gold and he signed a contract saying that ownership of the Inn would revert to me when we made it back to the future. It took a lot more money and a couple of wish spells to get the Inn near a city where it could open for business, but it was worth every copper.
DA2 I like as an adventure, but it does tend to drag in the dungeon-crawl aspects. Also, I find the whole frog cult concept to be sort of goofy, so I combined this adventure with Against the Cult of the Reptile God when I ran it for my 3e group. Essentially, the Reptile Cult replaced the Brotherhood of the Frog, and the temple from DA2 replaced the cult temple as the main dungeon. Play-wise, our DM was pretty heavy handed with this module; half the group ended up captured and brainwashed, and our ranger/cleric is still a fervent follower of the Frog to this day (what worries me is where he gets his spells from...)
DA3 had a lot of cool stuff, but suffered from severe lack of focus. It's more like a massive dungeon setting than an actual adventure- the only hook is to get the players exploring the ship. In this way, it's a lot like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, except that DA3 doesn't have the same problem with 75% of the rooms being empty. This module also requires a light touch from the DM, or else the ship's defenses could crush the PCs almost immediately. I ran it as a sort of Half-Life scenario, with the PCs in a duck-and-hide fight with crewmembers, killer robots, and rogue Frog cultists. It still wasn't great, but it served the purpose in the campaign.
DA4 I don't own, as I was severely unimpressed by it. I may try to pick it up in the future for completeness' sake, but with Blackmoor D20 out (an awesome book, btw), there will probably new and better stuff to replace it.
DA1 is my favorite, even if it is mainly a campaign primer I like it's unique take on the time-travelling dungeon crawl. Also, the Comeback Inn was just incredibly cool. I loved it so much that my PC made a deal with the owner: I paid him a few thousand gold and he signed a contract saying that ownership of the Inn would revert to me when we made it back to the future. It took a lot more money and a couple of wish spells to get the Inn near a city where it could open for business, but it was worth every copper.
DA2 I like as an adventure, but it does tend to drag in the dungeon-crawl aspects. Also, I find the whole frog cult concept to be sort of goofy, so I combined this adventure with Against the Cult of the Reptile God when I ran it for my 3e group. Essentially, the Reptile Cult replaced the Brotherhood of the Frog, and the temple from DA2 replaced the cult temple as the main dungeon. Play-wise, our DM was pretty heavy handed with this module; half the group ended up captured and brainwashed, and our ranger/cleric is still a fervent follower of the Frog to this day (what worries me is where he gets his spells from...)
DA3 had a lot of cool stuff, but suffered from severe lack of focus. It's more like a massive dungeon setting than an actual adventure- the only hook is to get the players exploring the ship. In this way, it's a lot like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, except that DA3 doesn't have the same problem with 75% of the rooms being empty. This module also requires a light touch from the DM, or else the ship's defenses could crush the PCs almost immediately. I ran it as a sort of Half-Life scenario, with the PCs in a duck-and-hide fight with crewmembers, killer robots, and rogue Frog cultists. It still wasn't great, but it served the purpose in the campaign.
DA4 I don't own, as I was severely unimpressed by it. I may try to pick it up in the future for completeness' sake, but with Blackmoor D20 out (an awesome book, btw), there will probably new and better stuff to replace it.
