1-10 year old, 1-16 year old ,and 5 -30/40 year olds
It’s planned to be a long running campaign, and I’m known as the one everyone turns to in rules discrepancies because I’ve studied dnd way harder than the rest because I’m the resident nerd. I haven’t ran a campaign since my first turn 3 years ago and am kind of nervous. I’m between Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation… my table is kind of chaotic depending on the characters they decide to make. I’d like a campaign where there’s a proper definitive motivation to solve the problem at hand. Where they can play around a little bit but at the core of it all need to work together. This is my first post ever here. Please. Any advice would be appreciated. I love the idea of the death curse, but tomb seems to be more, cmon gang!
Speaking as someone who is playing in both those campaigns right now (although the Curse of Strahd has a fair amount added to it, I think), I think ToA is a better fit for what you said you were looking for
Plus, y'know, it's got dinosaurs. What 30/40-year-old doesn't love dinosaurs?
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I too would go with ToA. There are opportunities for shaping it to be more Indiana Jones/Jungle Cruise excitement if the younger player is not entirely ready for the full dread (while equally, it can be made as scary a festering hellhole as anyone has an apetite for!). CoS is cool too, but it is - at least in my opinion - a campaign the mostly shines by the creepier and darker components.
With a larger/more chaotic group, I also this the ToA theme and variation might work better. There are clear motivations for the adventure, but more free-roam in many ways.
I'd say ToA. like most of the other recommendations CoS I think is atmospherically a bit much for your younger players. It's also a bit more insistent on maintaining atmosphere and the role playing opportunities are largely bleak. ToA is more "classic" D&D. You can lean into the lethality of ToA by having the players role "back ups" who hang out at some tavern or drinking haul at the colony called Back Ups.
I'd say also CoS is an attempt to gothic horror and to really do that well you need to get into your players heads as far as their fears and what disturbs them etc. It's just significantly more intense in a lot of aspects as ToA. I mean you can deal with "serious stuff" in ToA, there's a whole colonialist context. But Chult can also be played off as something out of Indiana Jones movies, more "pure uncomplicated" adventure if you don't want to delve into RP heavy political bit where the Flaming Fist have a garrison there so partiars back in Baldur's Gate can exploit the resources of Chult for personal gain.
Plus ToA has Dinosuars. Dinosaurs are more universally accepted as cool. Vampires aren't as guaranteed to be received as cool.
Thank you so much tk everyone who has responded over the last week, I’ve made my decision and I’m going to go with Tomb of Annihilation. The dinosaurs being a pretty prevalent part of the world really brings something to the table that the younger ones will love. And it being “closer to a standard dnd campaign” is kind of what I want. We’ve had homebrews going for like 4 years now, it will be nice to have an adventure
Thank you so much tk everyone who has responded over the last week, I’ve made my decision and I’m going to go with Tomb of Annihilation. The dinosaurs being a pretty prevalent part of the world really brings something to the table that the younger ones will love. And it being “closer to a standard dnd campaign” is kind of what I want. We’ve had homebrews going for like 4 years now, it will be nice to have an adventure
ToA is a good choice. I've played ToA and run CoS and in your situation (even most situations), I would pick ToA over CoS.
However, a couple of comments on ToA.
1) The death curse is a good way to tie the party together with a clearly defined objective and a long enough time frame that it is important but not imminent.
2) Unfortunately, a lot of the quests are situated around the edges of Chult. This means that your party will likely choose a route but they are unlikely to be able to do everything within the time limits because travel in Chult, especially cross country, is slow. So, don't expect them to get to everything. Depending on how things develop you could move some of the other encounters to a more accessible location depending on how the game runs.
3) You might want to get some of the supplemental adventures to fill in the jungle a bit. When I played it, the DM included The Return of the Lizard King as a side quest. Another adventure that fits the scenery is the Hidden Shrine of Tamaochan from Tales of the Yawning Portal. Both can be fitted in almost anywhere in Chult. The main reason for these is that the cross country travel element in Chult is dominated by rain storms and random encounters. In addition, if you are leveling using XP, the existing encounter options just don't provide enough XP unless you have them just fight several random encounters each day - which really doesn't work that well. Even using milestone leveling, it can be useful to have a couple of other things to do depending on where the party goes and what they decide to get involved with.
4) A lot of the adventure will be strongly influenced by which guide the party picks. So it is important to be aware of the guides, what each offers, and which direction the adventure is likely to go depending on which they choose.
5) Expect Omu and the Tomb to take a long time. There is a lot to do through that section.
Keep in mind that a confrontation with the yuan-ti is likely to go badly but the leader of yuan-ti wants the party to solve the death curse since he is affected - the other leader wants something from the tomb - so no matter which way it goes if they get captured - both yuan-ti factions want them alive to enter the tomb.
6) When I played it, it took about 1 1/2 years at one 4 hour session every 2 weeks.
7) Magic items are very very sparse in ToA
If you run it as written, then most melee or ranged weapon users will never find a suitable magic weapon - and a lot of the enemies later in the game are resistant to non-magical attacks - this makes them far more challenging. Some use of spells like Magic Weapon can help, as can artificers or a forge cleric, or a blade pact warlock - basically any class that can make their own weapon - but without that, most characters won't find anything to fit their character. I played a ranged rogue which was a lot of fun but I really needed the 3 levels of warlock he took because the +1 long bow from improved pact weapon was the only magical bow I saw in the entire campaign.
Non-weapon magic items are also very sparse. Depending on how you want to run it, you might want to let the players know that magic items will be very very uncommon.
Running a 7 person campaign ages ranging from
1-10 year old, 1-16 year old ,and 5 -30/40 year olds
It’s planned to be a long running campaign, and I’m known as the one everyone turns to in rules discrepancies because I’ve studied dnd way harder than the rest because I’m the resident nerd. I haven’t ran a campaign since my first turn 3 years ago and am kind of nervous. I’m between Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation… my table is kind of chaotic depending on the characters they decide to make. I’d like a campaign where there’s a proper definitive motivation to solve the problem at hand. Where they can play around a little bit but at the core of it all need to work together.
This is my first post ever here. Please. Any advice would be appreciated. I love the idea of the death curse, but tomb seems to be more, cmon gang!
Speaking as someone who is playing in both those campaigns right now (although the Curse of Strahd has a fair amount added to it, I think), I think ToA is a better fit for what you said you were looking for
Plus, y'know, it's got dinosaurs. What 30/40-year-old doesn't love dinosaurs?
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I too would go with ToA. There are opportunities for shaping it to be more Indiana Jones/Jungle Cruise excitement if the younger player is not entirely ready for the full dread (while equally, it can be made as scary a festering hellhole as anyone has an apetite for!). CoS is cool too, but it is - at least in my opinion - a campaign the mostly shines by the creepier and darker components.
With a larger/more chaotic group, I also this the ToA theme and variation might work better. There are clear motivations for the adventure, but more free-roam in many ways.
I do appreciate the response: my hope is to make the campaign a proper let’s enjoy ourselves but there are consequences…..and I DO love dinosaurs
Just be up front, if you choose ToA, that death is rather permanent. Raise dead and such spells do not work.
I'd say ToA. like most of the other recommendations CoS I think is atmospherically a bit much for your younger players. It's also a bit more insistent on maintaining atmosphere and the role playing opportunities are largely bleak. ToA is more "classic" D&D. You can lean into the lethality of ToA by having the players role "back ups" who hang out at some tavern or drinking haul at the colony called Back Ups.
I'd say also CoS is an attempt to gothic horror and to really do that well you need to get into your players heads as far as their fears and what disturbs them etc. It's just significantly more intense in a lot of aspects as ToA. I mean you can deal with "serious stuff" in ToA, there's a whole colonialist context. But Chult can also be played off as something out of Indiana Jones movies, more "pure uncomplicated" adventure if you don't want to delve into RP heavy political bit where the Flaming Fist have a garrison there so partiars back in Baldur's Gate can exploit the resources of Chult for personal gain.
Plus ToA has Dinosuars. Dinosaurs are more universally accepted as cool. Vampires aren't as guaranteed to be received as cool.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
CoS also has a substantial number of 'horrible things happen to children' side stories that you might want to elide.
Thank you so much tk everyone who has responded over the last week, I’ve made my decision and I’m going to go with Tomb of Annihilation. The dinosaurs being a pretty prevalent part of the world really brings something to the table that the younger ones will love. And it being “closer to a standard dnd campaign” is kind of what I want. We’ve had homebrews going for like 4 years now, it will be nice to have an adventure
Also, I don’t know how to thumbs up or respond to people specifically, but you’ve all helped me out tremendously. Thank you so much for that
Click the UP arrow at the bottom of each comment.
I would run ToA personally.
Because if there is one thing that has no place in children's entertainment, it's horrible things happening to children.
ToA is a good choice. I've played ToA and run CoS and in your situation (even most situations), I would pick ToA over CoS.
However, a couple of comments on ToA.
1) The death curse is a good way to tie the party together with a clearly defined objective and a long enough time frame that it is important but not imminent.
2) Unfortunately, a lot of the quests are situated around the edges of Chult. This means that your party will likely choose a route but they are unlikely to be able to do everything within the time limits because travel in Chult, especially cross country, is slow. So, don't expect them to get to everything. Depending on how things develop you could move some of the other encounters to a more accessible location depending on how the game runs.
3) You might want to get some of the supplemental adventures to fill in the jungle a bit. When I played it, the DM included The Return of the Lizard King as a side quest. Another adventure that fits the scenery is the Hidden Shrine of Tamaochan from Tales of the Yawning Portal. Both can be fitted in almost anywhere in Chult. The main reason for these is that the cross country travel element in Chult is dominated by rain storms and random encounters. In addition, if you are leveling using XP, the existing encounter options just don't provide enough XP unless you have them just fight several random encounters each day - which really doesn't work that well. Even using milestone leveling, it can be useful to have a couple of other things to do depending on where the party goes and what they decide to get involved with.
4) A lot of the adventure will be strongly influenced by which guide the party picks. So it is important to be aware of the guides, what each offers, and which direction the adventure is likely to go depending on which they choose.
5) Expect Omu and the Tomb to take a long time. There is a lot to do through that section.
Keep in mind that a confrontation with the yuan-ti is likely to go badly but the leader of yuan-ti wants the party to solve the death curse since he is affected - the other leader wants something from the tomb - so no matter which way it goes if they get captured - both yuan-ti factions want them alive to enter the tomb.
6) When I played it, it took about 1 1/2 years at one 4 hour session every 2 weeks.
7) Magic items are very very sparse in ToA
If you run it as written, then most melee or ranged weapon users will never find a suitable magic weapon - and a lot of the enemies later in the game are resistant to non-magical attacks - this makes them far more challenging. Some use of spells like Magic Weapon can help, as can artificers or a forge cleric, or a blade pact warlock - basically any class that can make their own weapon - but without that, most characters won't find anything to fit their character. I played a ranged rogue which was a lot of fun but I really needed the 3 levels of warlock he took because the +1 long bow from improved pact weapon was the only magical bow I saw in the entire campaign.
Non-weapon magic items are also very sparse. Depending on how you want to run it, you might want to let the players know that magic items will be very very uncommon.
I am on mobile mostly, and it doesn’t have a thumbs up button on iOS. Maybe there is an app I can use that would allow. But I swear it doesn’t have it