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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e) $2.99
Average Rating:3.6 / 5
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Cameron E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/20/2023 11:55:44

I've started running the DDAL4 series with a group of players as a connected campaign. We recently completed the first adventure, Suits of the Mist.

What I liked: The 5 adventures are well timed and paced on an individual level. There's plenty of challenges here and some fun NPCs to interact with.

What I didn't like: I didn't get a good sense of urgency or dread until part 5 in the adventure. The travel time for each section makes the module last a week or so in game, and every time a Raisa is picked, the adventure asks the DM to stonewall the players on information "until all the Raisa's are brought together" then Sybil shows up and also doesn't really answer anything. I made some changes adding details from the next adventures in the series to forshadow and have portents, but running as is it would have been frustrating.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Christopher E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/25/2020 22:25:17

This was my first DDAL adventure as DM, and I found this package hard to follow. Information seems to be out-of-order in some sections, like Part 5: Mists, where the last name of the Gur family that you've been helping is finally revealed. But they're referenced only by last name, so it's very easy to confuse with another family that's just shown up (whose family name you don't know). Good thing my PCs didn't ask Sybil for her last name when they first met her!

I'm still fairly new to DMing and I'll be the first to admit that I didn't prepare enough, but better organization in the sections would make a world of difference. Even when I felt ready to run a section of the adventure, I found myself flipping through pages for oddly-placed information when characters asked questions. For instance, a great addition would be a consolidated section (for the DM) with info about all of the Gur characters, all of the inn characters, etc.

As it stands, I'm going to run more adventures in this set, but I'm going to go through ahead of time and make notes to relocate information to where I need it.

Finally, we found the time estimates far under what the adventure actually took. It took us 6 sessions to complete this whole saga (just the Suits of the Mists) at 6 or so hours per session. The last section was very short by comparison. There was some overhead from character creation and management. Additionally, I didn't give out the handout, and subsequently the players sometimes took a while to catch on to what they were intended to be doing.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Abby P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/10/2019 11:16:56

This adventure was a good introduction to D&D/AL - ran well and timing was good.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by William F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/27/2018 18:06:43

This is a good intro to the horror feel of the whole Barovia campaign. Especially important is the fact that the characters aren't stuck in the Demiplane of Dread until the 5th mini adventure. So you could run the 1st 4 missions for your AL group and they could still play anything they want next week because they are still in the Moonsea area. I've always liked the NPC Aya Glenmiir since the Scroll Thief. It's cool that she had a part in this (and further parts in later modules for this season). I liked all the missions but especially liked mission 2:coins (where there is some cool role play in addition to the battle) and mission 3:swords (where you meet the Raven Esselios who might become a familiar). Mission 4 had Jeny Greenteeth who is always amusing to role play, but I didn't like the elk battle. It seem wrong (although very Barovia). This is a good introduction for characters new to AL and doesn't necessarily get them stuck in Barovia.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Petrina H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/19/2018 17:49:24

This is a great intro to absolute new players to D&D. I would suggest that DMs really look at augmenting the mod to really give the players a good experience. The only bummer is the Barovia lock - DMs have to remember to manage that set of expectations



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Robert M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/04/2018 00:01:59

I thoroughly enjoyed DMing these 5 mini-missions and did so several times with my 2 groups of players. I have been DMing for quite some time and enjoyed the intro and getting to Strahd's homeland. I felt the mini-missions did a good job introducing some of the potential major players in the upcoming adventures, whether it be Jeni Greenteeth or Aya Glenmir, and am interested to see how my players react in the future to what is coming. The first time I went through this as a player, my favorite part was the helpful raven. Most of my players also seemed to agree with me. I think the sign of a good adventure is how many ways different groups play things out. So far I have seen just about every mission play out at least 3 different ways with characters choosing to do different things. That to me indicates it is well written because the players have options, whether they just stab anything to death that looks like a monster or figure out a less violent way to solve the problem in front of them. These 5 missions allow for that.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Jeffrey F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/19/2018 21:15:51

Overall Suits of the Mist is a good adventure with an interesting hook into into the Ravenloft series. The five mini adventures are fun, but the portrayal of the Gur in the scenarios is problematic. The Gur fall into many of the negative stereotypes attributed to the Rom people. More thoughts needs to be put into the portrayal of the Gur and the Vistani.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Greg T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/03/2018 23:18:01

An unusual misstep for 5E Adventurer's League.

In the midst of a welcome and generally well-executed return of the Ravenloft campaign setting, we have this module, which highlights its biggest problem. After 5E has put such effort into embracing diversity and creating an open, inclusive product, we have the Vistani (or rather, their interchangeable surrogates, the Gur) front and centre in this module portrayed once again as witches, thieves and spies.

It's perhaps not as bad as 2E Ravenloft, which infamously sported such topics as "When Gypsies Tell Lies", but it's still an unfortunate descent into unnecessary (though probably unintentional) racial vilification. Vistani and Gur aren't made-up magical races like elves and dwarves; they're an explict depiction of real-life Romani, used in the same genre and context as Romani were used in the gothic horror Ravenloft draws from, without any examination of how the stereotypes from those books fuel the persecution of actual real people in the modern real world.

The Vistani elsewhere in Ravenloft can be improved by some judicious surgery of the material but here the fact that they're a Romani analogue, and that they're thieving, is the central conceit of the adventure. I don't feel like I could run this one in good conscience, so I really can't recommend it for any purpose.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Ian M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/13/2018 12:31:57

Fantastic introduction into the Curse of Strahd season of adventures.

One thing that I had to fight my players really hard on was that despite the imperative from Aya Glenmiir (who they had met in previous adventures!), I had to remind them time and again that the Gur should be kept alive. Fortunately, I think the quest would be fine even if one or more of them died, I do not know if any of them are important later on. Of course, there's always the "The Dark Powers raised them from the dead", but I think leaning on that too hard ruins the verisimilitude.

Three Pillars Breakdown:

Combat: 50%, 4/5: Some of the fights are underwhelming for large parties; despite the adjustment guidance my players stomped a few of the fights

Exploration: 15%, 3/5: Underwhelming at times

Roleplay: 35%, 5/5: The Gur were all very compelling characters, and a certain Hag was creepy as hell. Aya Glenmiir is a fantastic recurring character.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Gael L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/30/2018 15:30:17

I liked DMing this adventure. The missions were varied in roleplay, exploration and combat, and the last mission was a quite good introduction to the season.

My only complaint is that, by default, there are too many combat encounters to my liking (but my players managed to avoid some of the encounters by good roleplaying).

The idea of zombies that "multiply" when you slash them is pretty nice, and I hope to see more of these adequate monster modifications during the season.

I was quite surprised by the sheer amount of gold each mission gave (a single 1h mini-mission giving more than some 4h missions), but as long as my players benefit of it, I don't really mind.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Thomas B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/30/2017 19:50:42

The 5-mini style adventures are usually easy to run, and these are right in line. the hooks are somewhat soft, but can work to compel characters who are interested in the fate of the missing NPCs. These adventures work very well in mixed groups and are tightly organized.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Derrick C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/12/2017 11:09:36

I typically enjoy these type of modules, as the 1 hour adventures make running easy. The combat can be trying, some nice roleplay. Only downside is being trapped in barovia



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Blake J. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/28/2017 17:49:14

I thought this was a fantastic module that ran well for both players and as a DM. The mechanics were very interesting and easy to run, as a player, the story was intriguing and got you just interested enough to want to go to Barovia. Meanwhile, I think it sets a good foundation for the rest of the DDAL season 4 modules and can tie in easily to the book as well.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Joshua N. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/19/2017 15:47:19

Recommend Purchase: Yes. XP Range: 350-500

The overall story woven between all fourteen modules is called 'Misty Fortunes and Absent Hearts' and is relatively strong overall, but suffers for a couple reasons. The final module probably wasn't written at the time the first was released, so they couldn't or didn't want to spill some of the meta information that DMs would have LOVED to have. In the early modules things would occur 'deus ex machina' and even the DM wouldn't have a clue as to why.

If you're planning on running these, i HIGHLY recommend buying the bundle, reading the DDAL04-14 (The Dark Lord) Adventure Overview on pages 7-8 to see where everthing is heading ... and then reading each module's Overview in turn before running everything. This will help you greatly.

If you start with the first module you'll have enough XP to level up, stay within the module tiers and make it all the way to the 14th module. Afterwards you could always play a few chapters of the Curse of Strahd Harcover and then leave Barovia behind.

Before running any Season 4 module, you should download the following content:

  • dndadventurersleague.org/barexit-escaping-the-mists-of-barovia/
  • dndadventurersleague.org/curse-of-strahd-backgrounds/
  • DMSGUILD: DDAL04 Expanded Dark Gifts Table [OPTIONAL CONTENT]

Season 4 initially couldn't leave the Demiplane of Dread until the very end, but the Admins later introduced the 'Barexit' mechanic.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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DDAL4-01 Suits of the Mists (5e)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Tosh L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/17/2017 00:45:45

It's a decent starting adventure that has gothic elements as well as tie-ins to the actual storyline. My only criticism is that if this is someone's introduction to D&D they might be confused with the backstory that comes from a module like this, since this adventure kinda assumes that you have a general knowledge of what the Gur are. Also, it doesn't do a great job of showing how the Gur aren't thieves and the players are supposed to not kill them or something like that, since it seems fairly obvious that they did the wrong thing. Overall, it's good it just needs to be worked on a bit more.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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