I purchased the Legendary Bundle a year or so again but have never run any of the adventures! I'm organising to run a game at my FLGS, but have left it open for players to request which, and so far no one has a preference. It sounds like most modules have their fans, but are there any you think I should avoid? I'd kind of like to start earlier in the time line, but wouldn't mind some guidance.
If there are any to avoid, it is hoard of the dragon queen. A gauntlet of enemies right at the beginning (I used exp level up instead of milestones, my players got to level 3 before the end of the first chapter) with a rather high chance of player death and a railroad after that with several parts that can get boring if not tweeked by the DM.
I am currently running Dragon Heist, and it isn't what was promised on the back of the book. The plot flowchart is a straight line. There isn't really much of a heist that the players have to do. There are no tables for any sort of random encounters or events to mix things up with. Its kind of a sandbox in Waterdeep with a set of mandatory events that happen.
I disagree with avoiding Hoard of the Dragon Queen. It was the first 5e module I ran (time reference: Tales from the Yawning Portal was announced, but not out yet). And myself and my table enjoyed it very much. Definitely go with milestone to avoid the exp problem. It was pretty straight forward, but the middle did get a little "Wait, what are we doing here again?" but I also had that happen with Dragon Heist as well. Both modules, my players loved.
I would ALWAYS recommend Lost Mines of Phandelver as the first module to run. Not only is it relatively short, I believe it ends at level 5 (that might be wrong), but it is VERY good, and once the module is done, you can go into something else, or retire those characters, allowing your table to now have a good sense of what they want to be for the race/class of their next character, as well as what they liked about the adventure (the roleplaying aspect/the combat, etc) and that can help influence which module you play after that.
I'm currently running Horde of the Dragon Queen, and I'll agree that it very much needs a lot of tweaking to work. There's a ton of backtracking (I think you're meant to visit Waterdeep on three separate occasions?) and prancing all over the continent just to end up 150 miles from where you first start. They really had to put a lot of filler in here to ensure that you start at level one and get the juevos to take on TIamat at level 15.
I've personally condensed the geography to a tiny portion of the map, centering on the Reaching Woods, and replaced many of the areas in the book with a nearby equivalent (I've replaced Castle Naerytar with Darkhold, for example, and just decided that Cultist armies have ousted the Zhentarim.) I'm probably going to skip right to the climax around level 10, and re-skin Storm King's Thunder as a condensed, higher level set of adventures as well.
Don't be afraid to take a big fat steak knife to any module and serve up the meatiest bits to your players.
I also did not like Hoard of the Dragon Queen. It has a lot of shifting pieces to it that just do not seem to mesh that well. I am enjoying Rise of Tiamat though (as a player).
I ran Storm Kings Thunder for my group and we all enjoyed it (even with them messing things up and going waaaaaaaaay off book multiple times).
If there are any to avoid, it is hoard of the dragon queen.
Agreed: it contains errors and issues that make it seem like it was possibly rushed.
Part of the problem is that it was being written before the rules and monsters of 5e were finished. They tried to go back and fix references to cut rules, but missed some. And some monster stat blocks got changed during development, thus the 3 assassin encounter at level 3 or 4 (errata'd to veterans in later prints).
Hoard of the Dragon Queen is one to avoid although I will say that it is redeemable if the DM is willing to put in some work.
The one to truly avoid, at all costs, is Storm King's Thunder. That thing is such an utter disaster of a campaign that I'm genuinely surprised that it ever made it to print. By far the worst campaign book of 5e and at least in the top ten, if not the top five, of worst all time D&D adventure modules.
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"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
Hoard of the Dragon Queen is one to avoid although I will say that it is redeemable if the DM is willing to put in some work.
The one to truly avoid, at all costs, is Storm King's Thunder. That thing is such an utter disaster of a campaign that I'm genuinely surprised that it ever made it to print. By far the worst campaign book of 5e and at least in the top ten, if not the top five, of worst all time D&D adventure modules.
I agree the DM can make HotDQ great, since I myself DM'd it and my table absolutely loved it, though I did take some liberties here and there, but for the most part I left it alone. As for Storm King's Thunder, I was a part of that as a player and it definitely isn't my favorite lol it has a simple story and is very sandbox style. I think if your players want to have a story that isn't exactly in a time crunch and they can travel and complete the adventure as they please, I can fully see that group of players thinking SKT as their favorite module.
Having played in SKT, I have to respectfully disagree. At least the way our DM ran it, I enjoyed the open feel of it with the freedom to pick which locations you visited.
I purchased the Legendary Bundle a year or so again but have never run any of the adventures! I'm organising to run a game at my FLGS, but have left it open for players to request which, and so far no one has a preference. It sounds like most modules have their fans, but are there any you think I should avoid? I'd kind of like to start earlier in the time line, but wouldn't mind some guidance.
If there are any to avoid, it is hoard of the dragon queen. A gauntlet of enemies right at the beginning (I used exp level up instead of milestones, my players got to level 3 before the end of the first chapter) with a rather high chance of player death and a railroad after that with several parts that can get boring if not tweeked by the DM.
I am currently running Dragon Heist, and it isn't what was promised on the back of the book. The plot flowchart is a straight line. There isn't really much of a heist that the players have to do. There are no tables for any sort of random encounters or events to mix things up with. Its kind of a sandbox in Waterdeep with a set of mandatory events that happen.
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Agreed: it contains errors and issues that make it seem like it was possibly rushed.
I disagree with avoiding Hoard of the Dragon Queen. It was the first 5e module I ran (time reference: Tales from the Yawning Portal was announced, but not out yet). And myself and my table enjoyed it very much. Definitely go with milestone to avoid the exp problem. It was pretty straight forward, but the middle did get a little "Wait, what are we doing here again?" but I also had that happen with Dragon Heist as well. Both modules, my players loved.
I would ALWAYS recommend Lost Mines of Phandelver as the first module to run. Not only is it relatively short, I believe it ends at level 5 (that might be wrong), but it is VERY good, and once the module is done, you can go into something else, or retire those characters, allowing your table to now have a good sense of what they want to be for the race/class of their next character, as well as what they liked about the adventure (the roleplaying aspect/the combat, etc) and that can help influence which module you play after that.
Published Subclasses
I'm currently running Horde of the Dragon Queen, and I'll agree that it very much needs a lot of tweaking to work. There's a ton of backtracking (I think you're meant to visit Waterdeep on three separate occasions?) and prancing all over the continent just to end up 150 miles from where you first start. They really had to put a lot of filler in here to ensure that you start at level one and get the juevos to take on TIamat at level 15.
I've personally condensed the geography to a tiny portion of the map, centering on the Reaching Woods, and replaced many of the areas in the book with a nearby equivalent (I've replaced Castle Naerytar with Darkhold, for example, and just decided that Cultist armies have ousted the Zhentarim.) I'm probably going to skip right to the climax around level 10, and re-skin Storm King's Thunder as a condensed, higher level set of adventures as well.
Don't be afraid to take a big fat steak knife to any module and serve up the meatiest bits to your players.
I also did not like Hoard of the Dragon Queen. It has a lot of shifting pieces to it that just do not seem to mesh that well. I am enjoying Rise of Tiamat though (as a player).
I ran Storm Kings Thunder for my group and we all enjoyed it (even with them messing things up and going waaaaaaaaay off book multiple times).
Part of the problem is that it was being written before the rules and monsters of 5e were finished. They tried to go back and fix references to cut rules, but missed some. And some monster stat blocks got changed during development, thus the 3 assassin encounter at level 3 or 4 (errata'd to veterans in later prints).
Hoard of the Dragon Queen is one to avoid although I will say that it is redeemable if the DM is willing to put in some work.
The one to truly avoid, at all costs, is Storm King's Thunder. That thing is such an utter disaster of a campaign that I'm genuinely surprised that it ever made it to print. By far the worst campaign book of 5e and at least in the top ten, if not the top five, of worst all time D&D adventure modules.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
― Oscar Wilde.
I agree the DM can make HotDQ great, since I myself DM'd it and my table absolutely loved it, though I did take some liberties here and there, but for the most part I left it alone. As for Storm King's Thunder, I was a part of that as a player and it definitely isn't my favorite lol it has a simple story and is very sandbox style. I think if your players want to have a story that isn't exactly in a time crunch and they can travel and complete the adventure as they please, I can fully see that group of players thinking SKT as their favorite module.
The modules I've been a part of ranked:
Published Subclasses
From what I've read of reviews and from reading them myself, Hoard of the Dragon Queen is probably the poorest received adventure released.
Storm King's Thunder actually seems largely positively received, but is a lot of work to run due in no small part to its scope.
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Having played in SKT, I have to respectfully disagree. At least the way our DM ran it, I enjoyed the open feel of it with the freedom to pick which locations you visited.
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Other: Beyond20 | Page References | Other Guides | Entitlements | Dice Randomization | Images Fix | FAQ