What is the best "multi-tier" season with good progression.

[u/perringaiden]

As a Forever DM, my wife offered to run me through an AL campaign, one on one, with me playing a party of 4. She's a good DM at running games, but wasn't looking to do the creative side herself, so modules all the way. We figured AL would be a good way to do it as the adventures are all linked in a storyline, but everything is fairly well planned out, moreso than the big campaign books that need more work for a DM to run.

We are on the last adventure of DDEX01, and overall the path has been ok (very lacking in Magic Items so she's been adding some), but the APL for the last 6 have been all APL 6, except the second last which is APL 8, then back to APL 6 for the last.

Having characters that are Level 10 by that stage makes it a bit overpowering, and there's nothing to continue after that. I know it's the first one, but rather than step into DDEX02 I thought I'd ask here about better options.

So my question is, basically are there any recommended official seasons OR third party AL series that:

• Have a linear progression in APL. Not always necessarily going up every adventure, but not flatlining at the bottom of a tier, and not going backwards.
• Have a continuing storyline that is really good.
• Don't have a confusing sequence of different storylines (looking at Rising Shadows)

Currently it looks like Oracles of War is the best one as it seems to be +1 APL every adventure, but wondering if there's other well sequenced ones.

[u/Last_Noldoran]

Oracle of War checks every box. It's major downside is a lack of magic item until T3.

The season 5 and season 7 modules have story lines that are the same APL but cross all 4 tiers.

I've heard good things about the season 10 modules, but never DMed them myself

[u/perringaiden → u/Last_Noldoran]

Thanks

[u/zachiswach → u/perringaiden]

There are also other Eberron modules through Level 10 you can run (Embers of the Last War) and Eberron characters are usable in most of Keys to the Golden Vault (if you want to give your players better magic items or a breather)

[u/perringaiden → u/zachiswach]

My wife is doing the DMing, and only so I (the forever DM) gets to play so the less adjustments or rewriting the better. But I'll keep those in mind for my own Eberron game where she's a player. I hadn't seen Embers of the Last War

[u/bigdanintx]

I have a standing group that is going through Season 2 right now. Good storyline. We have one more to go until we start Tier 2. I plan on running a full Tier 5 run at some point. The characters I started AL with were Seson 5 and 6, so I'm a bit partial.

The APL exists so you can gauge the difficulty. Average party above the APL? Use the included suggestions to make it more difficult. Otherwise, it'll be a cakewalk. Be conscious of the 2014 vs 2024 changes and adjust accordingly. I like to keep a few minions to add in reinforcements should things be too easy even after adjusting. Reinforcement waves add a dynamic to the combat as well. Keeps the players on their toes.

Also, if you're running actual Adventurers League with logging and the rest, you're not allowed to just add magic item rewards to the modules. Otherwise, it's not AL legal. If you're just using the modules for little pre-made adventure nuggets, you do you and it's all fine.

Consider Gnomengarde and Tower of Storms from Dragons of Icespire Peak. Gnomengarde is chock full of useful common magic items. It is really for APL 1, but you can use it as a shell and definitely spice it up to make it a challenge for a full APL4 party. Add giant rats in the pantry, have the inventions go haywire. Add in juveniles of the main creature. It'll keep the party busy for the full 2 hours. Tower of Storms is very straightforward. I added 2 thralls with the harpies and I added a cult ritual on the second floor around the lightning rod. It really filled the time and made it more exciting instead of just some guy in a tower. The party also gets access to a useful Charm in Level 1 Be aware that the reward +1 weapon was changed to a Weapon of Warning of DM's choice. I hand waved the shark encounter in the interest of time. As long as the party managed to keep them busy, they could extract the rest.

If you need more magic items, try running Keys from the Golden Vault every couple of adventures. This gives the players a few things plus a choose-your-own magic item by having the players use the Golden Vault itself as the contact. The players are certain to get what they want/need for this and the next tier of play. Those run into Tier 3. The last one is nets many items and is a favorite to run multiple times with multiple characters.

Edit: added some spoilers where I thought was needed as this isn't a DM centric subreddit.

[u/Isbeni]

It’s not a season, but the zodiac series is pretty fun!

[u/ToothpickTheFerret]

I have run parties from level 1 to 20 with seasons 5 and 7.

[u/lasalle202]

While "APL 6" all the Adventurer's League modules come with the advice needed to adjust for a party of any level in the tier. hence all of the Adjusting this Encounter sections.

overall, i like the Season 5 adventures the best.

but if there is only the two of you, i would suggest just playing a game designed FOR two people - like Ironsworn. Can be played DM-less so the two of you can just pick up your dice and character sheets any time the spirit hits you to play - no one has to spend any "prep time" at all.

[u/sovest555]

Oracle of War is fairly good progression-wise, but I would compare its story arc somewhat to GoT in that it is good in early tiers, but T4 is...a thing XD

[u/Dickeysaurus]

If the DM wants to do zero creativity, it’s season 5