Warning: Spoilers Ahead! You can read my spoiler free review on dmsguild.

I was enthralled by the Puppeteer of Valestone as soon as I read the description. 

I didn’t have a group together, or anywhere to run it, but I instantly bought the module and began pouring over it, picking through it with a fine toothed comb.

Valestone is a great module that gets you away from the slog of delving through mines and dungeons, and gets you’re characters to role play.

The amount of love and care that went into creating this module is obvious. There is a wealth of background information and NPC information. Everything you need to prepare for your role. 
As a DM you’re used to playing many roles during your sessions, but have you ever prepared to play one role, one person, who plays many roles?

How deep down the rabbit hole are you willing to go?

Moira is a young woman who has lived through the greatest tragedy anyone could ever live through. Her entire village was slaughtered, leaving her to be the only survivor. Worse still, Moira blames herself for this tragedy. 

The town of Valestone has a secret. The towns namesake, the Vale Stone, a very powerful magic artifact has the power to grant a single wish each generation. A pure, selfless wish. To outsiders, the vale stone is simply a curiousity embedded in the dirt in the center square of this tiny farming village.

To Moira, it is her only hope at redemption, and fixing the wrong she caused. But first, she has to find a way to get it back from those that stole it and slaughtered her town.

Moira has no where to go and no one to turn to. In her loneliness and grief, she begins recreating the townsfolk as marionettes. 

It is through her Marionettes that the players learn about the village of Valestone, and eventually about the vale stone itself and the tragedy that occurred here. 
With Moira controlling them from hidden rooms, the players gain Moiras trust once they prove they are of good heart and are capable of getting the Valestone back.

There is one potential combat encounter in the town, as Moira tests their strength or cunning, and another to retrieve the vale stone. 

With the vale stone back in its place in the town square, Moira prepares to make her wish. The one wish that Moira is sure will undo all the damage she caused.

This is definitely a very emotional story. My players went from wary curiosity, to suspicion, to sadness, then finally with grim determination, they helped Moira retrieve the vale stone. They stopped Moira from making the wish she had been intending, realizing the consequences of it and convinced her to make a different one. 

I want to recommend this module to everyone, but I’ve been gaming long enough to know, there are some groups that this module is not suited for. This is not a dungeon delve with tons of combat and traps. If that is what you’re players prefer, they might not be the target audience for this module.

However, if you want the chance for you and your players to flex your role playing abilities and their answer to everything is not to shoot it in the face without asking questions, you’re players will likely enjoy this module, and become very emotional depending on how things turn out.

Be prepared to improv and add or change things on the fly. Though Jesse gives you a wealth of information, motives, dialogue options, and lore, it would be impossible for every possible contingency to be thought of and included in the module. No one knows your players better than you, and I am sure they will throw you a curve ball or two during this module.

You may also need to adjust the final combat encounter to suit your party. Add a couple more bandits or make them a little more powerful if you think that your party wont be challenged by it. Or make them a little weaker if you have a smaller party that might have trouble with it.

My party was made up of five 4th level characters, and they made short work of the bandits due to pinning them in a bottle neck at the cave entrance, their ranged fighters were able to stand back and pick them off while the melee fighters kept them pinned in place.