Dam Erin

Firstly, do you need to be a fan of Critical Role to enjoy this module? Absolutely not! Does it help? Yes, but is far from necessary. Call of the Netherdeep has some things about it I absolutely love. A rival party that I think more modules should play around with, a villain with just enough of a tragic backstory the players want to feel sorry for them, but not so much they feel evil fighting him, and a very simple call to action that makes the hard question of "Why are the players here" easy to answer. However, I think Call of the Netherdeep struggles to get all of this across. By the time I ran it, I was a very experienced DM, able to make changes as necessary. I find new DM's may need to read through the book a few times to make sure they can allude to things, steer the players in the right direction, and make the rivals engaging. Running it as is, the adventure is fun and the module is well laid out. With some tweaks? I think Call of the Netherdeep is one of the top DnD modules a DM could go for.

Curse of Strahd gets so much right, it is easy top look past the things that it gets wrong. Holding what may be the most iconic villain in all of TTRPG history as it's main antagonist, Curse of Strahd solves so many questions new DM's struggle with. Why would the party work together? What if they just want to leave? Why would they want to fight the villain? How do I keep them focused on the plot? Curse of Strahd solves all of those issues for you, by simple virtue of its setting. Is it perfect? No. It does take some experience from DM's to make sure players interact with Strahd enough to make him a compelling villain. It also has some less-than-perfect portrayals of certain cultures and some uncomfortable characters, but as long as every player is informed and happy, they are not so egregious as to ruin the story. Curse of Strahd is often considered the best adventure for 5e, and I can easily see why.

DnD 5e set a new standard for ease of use, layout, GM-friendly design and player approachability when it came out, and it shows in it's popularity. DnD 5e set a new standard in the TTRPG space, forcing other systems to try harder and it deserves much of the praise it gets. By no means perfect, I think few systems manage to give the same sense of comprehensive rules while not bogging the game down with complication as DnD 5e does. In saying that, I do believe over the past few years there has been a trend in a bad direction. From subclasses that has not been balanced to modules and expansion books with less content or just necessary rules missing, I cannot say it is still at the same standard that it was even 5 years ago, but if people want to play with magic, weapons and want to do it without spending hours learning rules, there are few better systems than DnD 5e.

Josh is easily one of the best Dungeon Masters I've ever had the pleasure of playing with. He has this incredible ability to let our characters shine. Whenever we come up with a creative solution or a daring plan, he doesn't just shut it down. He finds a way to make it work, even if it throws a curveball into his own carefully laid plans. What truly sets him apart is how much he cares about our character's stories. He remembers our backstories, our motivations, and weaves them into the campaign in meaningful ways. It feels like our choices actually matter, and that our characters are making a real impact on the world he's created.