Our group is about to finish up A Gathering of Winds. I've basically copied Merrics text and put my comment in below for those interested.
My rating of the adventures:
The Whispering Cairn by Erik Mona - 5 stars - I feel this is one of the best Dungeon adventures ever and I am a hard guy to please. The swarm is about the only thing I would change in the adventure.
Three Faces of Evil by Mike Mearls - 3 stars - Personally I liked the way it was written with the elevator shaft in the centre of the 3 temples. The "bosses" were interesting but I found some of the tactics as written were difficult to make effective. Still, kudos to making each section feel different.
Encounter at Blackwall Keep by Sean Reynolds - 1 star. Lizardfolk are not a threat at this stage and I was happy to have this one ended. However, one poster from the Dungeon boards gave his players npc soldiers to fight the spawn prior to the PC's returning to the keep - obviously they get killed very quickly but with the quirks he gave the npcs my players had great fun running this extra fight and I greatly enjoyed killing them. I highly recommend this addition to the adventure.
The Hall of Harsh Reflections by Jason Bulmahn - 2.5 stars. Lots of things to like, the dc 23 will save is harsh but for my group this created 2 very memorable battles. Round 1 went to the Illithid and the party fled. Round 2 went to the PC's but they just barely won and were thinking of retreating again at the time of their victory.
The Champion's Belt by Tito Leati - 4 stars. The betting system could have been better as Merric points out but I viewed it as easy extra treasure for the party. The cap on the betting makes sure this does not get out of hand. I played up the resource management issue where PC's searched the catacombs by night and still had to get a decent rest to get spells for fights the next day. Some fights were complicated and others were too easy. Still, with ample fights and roleplaying opportunities this was one great!
A Gathering of Winds by Wolfgang Baur - 2 stars. After all the other interesting adventures up to this point, a standard dungeon crawl is not what we looked forward too. Both the players and the DM are looking forward to the next one. Roleplaying was limited and the encounters with the spider and Moreto just were not that exciting.
My rating of the adventures:
The Whispering Cairn by Erik Mona - 5 stars - I feel this is one of the best Dungeon adventures ever and I am a hard guy to please. The swarm is about the only thing I would change in the adventure.
Three Faces of Evil by Mike Mearls - 3 stars - Personally I liked the way it was written with the elevator shaft in the centre of the 3 temples. The "bosses" were interesting but I found some of the tactics as written were difficult to make effective. Still, kudos to making each section feel different.
Encounter at Blackwall Keep by Sean Reynolds - 1 star. Lizardfolk are not a threat at this stage and I was happy to have this one ended. However, one poster from the Dungeon boards gave his players npc soldiers to fight the spawn prior to the PC's returning to the keep - obviously they get killed very quickly but with the quirks he gave the npcs my players had great fun running this extra fight and I greatly enjoyed killing them. I highly recommend this addition to the adventure.
The Hall of Harsh Reflections by Jason Bulmahn - 2.5 stars. Lots of things to like, the dc 23 will save is harsh but for my group this created 2 very memorable battles. Round 1 went to the Illithid and the party fled. Round 2 went to the PC's but they just barely won and were thinking of retreating again at the time of their victory.
The Champion's Belt by Tito Leati - 4 stars. The betting system could have been better as Merric points out but I viewed it as easy extra treasure for the party. The cap on the betting makes sure this does not get out of hand. I played up the resource management issue where PC's searched the catacombs by night and still had to get a decent rest to get spells for fights the next day. Some fights were complicated and others were too easy. Still, with ample fights and roleplaying opportunities this was one great!
A Gathering of Winds by Wolfgang Baur - 2 stars. After all the other interesting adventures up to this point, a standard dungeon crawl is not what we looked forward too. Both the players and the DM are looking forward to the next one. Roleplaying was limited and the encounters with the spider and Moreto just were not that exciting.
