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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Riley37" data-source="post: 7620713" data-attributes="member: 6786839">I ran most of the AL Season 1 adventures, some at a store game and some as a home game. I have read, but not played, "Tyranny of Dragons".Here's my thought: the AL Season 1 adventures can be fun, one by one, but they don't actually tell the DM much about the cult as a whole. They'll name, and stat-block, one cultist, so that the PCs can intercept that cultist and foil that cultist's specific mission (such as Spernik, in The Courting of Fire, DDEX1-5). Here are some questions never answered: Why did Spernik join the cult? If he had succeeded in his mission, to whom would he report? Does the cult have a general strategy, which motivates each of their various plots and missions? Does the cult get funding from wealthy members, and if so, who are they? Are any members of the city's government or major institutions (guilds, temples, etc.) involved with the cult? Is the cult's chapter in Phlan run by a strongman leader, or a committee? Does Tiamat herself have any influence within the cult? Is the Lord Regent of Phlan aware of the cult's presence in the city, and if so, does he have any opinion?So if you have players whose PCs spend their lives drinking at the tavern, and only emerge when some NPC comes into the tavern to engage them, and if they return to the tavern giving each other high-fives, "we foiled them again!", without taking any initiative to learn what's going on and why... then DDEX 1-1 through 1-10 is just right for your players.For all I know, Tiamat thinks the cult is a terrible idea and wishes they would just go away. Which could be amusing; but that's my idea. The DDEX modules say nothing one way or another."Tyranny of Dragons" apparently assumes that any successes the PCs had, in any of the DDEX modules, *had no effect*, because "Tyranny" starts with the Cult invading and conquering the city of Phlan. The PCs walk into a building to observe the trial of a cultist they previously captured. If they succeeded in all the previous episodes, then so far as they know, they've stopped every cult action which crossed their paths. When they leave the building, they find that the Cult has conquered the city. Actually... a big strong dragon takes the city. Cultists assist that dragon, because of cult loyalty; but any previous connection between that dragon, and cult activity in the city, is left to the imagination of the DM.Yes, it's that sudden. By contrast, when the Third Reich invaded Paris, at least people in Paris had enough advance warning to take the last train leaving Paris before the conquest (or not take that train, spoiler warning for "Casablanca"). Phlan apparently had no defenses, neither internal nor external, other than the city wall.</blockquote>

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