The Dragon's Demand allows new players the opportunity to face a freaking dragon (!!!) at relatively low levels - something a grognard (like myself) normally had to wait 10 years in one’s gaming life to experience, if ever! This is done through temporarily boosting the PC's firepower with high level magic items and helpful NPCs. In any other adventure I would say that approach is fraught with unbalancing problems or cookie cutter tropes of OP...but the difference here is the writing.
Mike Shel has written a masterpiece. He includes a fully livable village flush with NPCs that (while most don’t come fully statted) make your PC's like them and want to do things for them. This can be done through side quests in the town (for newbie GM's) or through organic role play, for there is plenty of info provided for an experienced GM to work with. [In my game, cleric#1 ended up marrying the Baroness' daughter, closely tying himself to the fate of the village. This NPC is not included but very easy to conjure with the material provided]
The top notch writing continues throughout the module and is crafted so well that it seems completely natural for your heroes to be handed, if only temporarily, ridiculously powerful items to go kill a dragon. Each location in The Dragon's Demand is detailed with such thoroughness and wonder that, midway through investigating the abandoned monastery of Irori, one of the clerics decided to convert from her original deity, Sarenrae. [Having never dealt with something like this in game, as a GM I was lucky that an option for conversion is actually written into this adventure! I simply reactivated the Aspirants Path in the bottom of the monastery and let the cleric earn her new patron-ship with “help” from her fellow heroes]
All of this creates an unforgettable adventure that has your party encountering kobold tribes in their warren, a tomb of undead, traps galore, the extraplanar and finally the classic, narcissistic dragon (Pay attention to which elements your group enjoys or dislikes so you'll know what direction to take them later in your campaign). At this point, if they're brave, patient, and smart, your heroes will have picked up enough items and helpful NPC's to take on fantasy's most iconic baddie.
