Rise of the Sea Dragon is a sea-based adventure set in the Forgotten Realms for level 5-10 characters, taking two to four hours to play. The adventure begins with the characters’ ship being wrecked by an attack from some monster, and – upon being rescued – seeking the identity of that monster so they can stop it from further preying on the ships of the Moonsea. This adventure is the third part of a trilogy and is DDAL-legal, but it can be played well enough on its own.

Unfortunately, the adventure uses the Season 8 DDAL format, with all the horrors that implies. No boxed text, a confusing layout, and a structure that includes bonus objectives but would do much better if the adventure had been one whole. Two-hour adventures that have two one-hour bonus objectives rarely work that well. I’m happier with the 4+2 adventures.

Shortly after the adventure starts, the characters find themselves in a shipwreck, as their ship is targeted by the monster – a black dragon – and ripped in half during the night. The morning finds the characters drifting amongst the wreckage, and they must try to gather together while dealing with various hazards of the sea. You know, reef sharks, giant octopuses and rot grubs! This encounter is one where the DM’s ability to evoke the threats is paramount; it’s not a simple situation and can be difficult to juggle all the moving parts.

Thankfully, the characters are rescued by a ship crewed by undead. No, wait! These undead are friendly to the characters – the characters may have met them in previous adventures in this series. So, everyone bands together to deal with the dragon.

The first bonus objective can come here, which takes the group to an island where they can find a magical spyglass to find their enemy. It takes six pages (including a map) to describe the island and the tower wherein the spyglass is contained. I can’t tell you how much of a relief that is – too many bonus objectives are described in less than a page and run very short! This feels like a proper addition to the adventure. Without this bonus encounter, the adventure feels too slight, so I’d always recommend including it. If not used, a survivor on the undead ship already has the spyglass and can guide everyone to the final encounter.

The second bonus objective occurs on the way, where the characters have the chance to save survivors of yet another ship that was wrecked by the dragon. This feels like a variant of the first encounter, although the fact the characters are rested and on a ship of their own changes the dynamics. It’s more skippable.

The final encounter deals with the final fight against the foe – which may not be a literal dragon. This is a nicely constructed encounter with multiple combatants, and it brings the threat of the Sea Dragon to an end.

Rise of the Sea Dragon does some nice things. You definitely want to include the investigation of the tower, because without it there’s a lot of background the players can’t learn. Without knowing the context, the finale isn’t quite satisfying. I’m not sure if the history is still presented in an accessible manner, but at least the players have a chance of learning it. The structure with the character’s rescue early in the piece is a bit messy, but if you’ve determined how it all fits together, things move a lot more smoothly. Running it on-the-fly, as with most S8-format adventures, is not recommended.

The encounters are challenging, and it makes a nice break from all the land-based dungeon crawling.

Overall, I like the adventure, with some reservations about the format and the flow of information.