So to start with, sorry in advance if I posted this thread in the wrong section.
I have a question for the DM-s with more experience with adventure books for 5e. I have a group of 5 players + me, the DM. We played for 4 years continuously on a weekly bases (around 4-6 hours a session). Now not 1 but 2 players have to leave for personal reasons and will be absent for around 5-6 months. The other players and I decided it would be an excellent time to pause our campaign and try some of the written adventure books. Since the opinions are different wherever you look, I would like to hear them here. Is there some adventure you recommend for 3 - 4 players with an ok amount of experience with playing dnd? And, of course, a book we can finish in 5-6 months, playing weekly for 4-6 hours. Thank you all in advance; if you need more information, just ask. My group is a hybrid, with some more on the roleplay side while others crave violence in combat (if that helps) :D
The challenge is the finish in 5-6 month requirement. Most of the hardcovers can usually run longer than this though pacing is somewhat up to the DM.
Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Candlekeep Mysteries, Tales from the Yawning Portal and Radiant Citadel are all books of shorter adventures. I have a campaign based around GoS+TftYP with a bit of CM thrown in. The characters are based in Saltmarsh and the adventures have been incorporated into a single campaign. The advantage of this is that each adventure is relatively short and could be completed in 1-3 sessions typically though some are longer.
I've played or run: Curse of Strahd (ran), Tomb of Annihilation (played), Storm King's Thunder (currently playing - near end), Out of the Abyss (currently running), Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (played), Light of Xaryxis (playing), Lost Mines of Phandelver (played), Dragon of Icespire Peak (ran), Dungeon of the Mad Mage (played 3? levels), Rime of the Frost Maiden (played to level 7 ish)
WDH, LMoP and DoIP are level 1-5 or 1-7 adventures. DoIP has three additional adventures packaged with it (at least online). You could play through DoIP and follow it up with as many of the extra adventures that you want or have time for. You could also play WDH and then follow it up with as many levels of DotMM that you find you want to play but DotMM is entirely a dungeon experience.
The problem with CoS, ToA, OotA, SKT, RotFM is that they might not finish in your 5-6 month time limit though if the party/DM focuses on the story and limits side quests then they might be doable. All are pretty good but they require different amounts of DM prep time. OotA is a bit time consuming since you need to figure out the plot line and handle the long distance travel in the underdark. Both ToA and OotA are a bit of a sandbox.
One last comment is that all these adventures are based on a rate of leveling the characters that some might consider relatively fast. CoS runs 1-10+ (finished around 12 in my run through), OotA is 1-15+, SKT is 1-12+, ToA is 1-12+ .. so to complete those types of adventures in 5-6 months, the characters will level up every second session or so on average (in some sections maybe every session).
P.S. All of these will work fine for a group with experience with the game.
CoS is a horror/vampire/werewolf setting
ToA is a jungle setting with a tomb at the end
OotA underdark and demons
RotFM Ice wind dale and stopping the never ending winter
SKT resolve the out of control giant issues
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In terms of the longer hard covers, if you don't mind leveling the characters up pretty quickly in certain parts, ToA could be fun.
As stated above... but I'd specify Candlekeep Mysteries as a good choice, as well as Tales from the Yawning Portal.
Having shorter, episodic adventures makes it easier to stop when your other players get back, because each adventure has its own conclusion, rather than building up to a larger conclusion that would likely get rushed or dragged out due to unexpected pacing issues that inevitably arise.
i second (third?) any one or two of the anthology books (TftYP, CM, etc.) as something easy to pick up and put down as needed. Also, the new Keys from the Golden Vault book of heists falls into this category too.
also, as a dark horse in this race, the Acquisitions Inc book has a decent adventure that's something like lvls 1-7. i feel like this and Light of Xaryxis are easy to miss hidden at the end of their books. I've got a campaign on hold that's ignoring most of the AcqInc lore to focus on the adventure's macguffin hunt as a lead into Lost Labratory of Kwalish finally (so much ooze!).
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unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: providefeedback!
I love Journeys thru the Radiant Citadel, the stories are awesome and the assortment of mirrored real-life cultures lets you try lots of new things you wouldn't normally see in DnD. The adventures are comically easy though from a combat perspective so they need from heavy DM editing unless your group is entirely roleplay oriented. There's an awesome framework there, just needs more meat added to the bones
So to start with, sorry in advance if I posted this thread in the wrong section.
I have a question for the DM-s with more experience with adventure books for 5e. I have a group of 5 players + me, the DM. We played for 4 years continuously on a weekly bases (around 4-6 hours a session). Now not 1 but 2 players have to leave for personal reasons and will be absent for around 5-6 months. The other players and I decided it would be an excellent time to pause our campaign and try some of the written adventure books. Since the opinions are different wherever you look, I would like to hear them here. Is there some adventure you recommend for 3 - 4 players with an ok amount of experience with playing dnd? And, of course, a book we can finish in 5-6 months, playing weekly for 4-6 hours. Thank you all in advance; if you need more information, just ask. My group is a hybrid, with some more on the roleplay side while others crave violence in combat (if that helps) :D
The challenge is the finish in 5-6 month requirement. Most of the hardcovers can usually run longer than this though pacing is somewhat up to the DM.
Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Candlekeep Mysteries, Tales from the Yawning Portal and Radiant Citadel are all books of shorter adventures. I have a campaign based around GoS+TftYP with a bit of CM thrown in. The characters are based in Saltmarsh and the adventures have been incorporated into a single campaign. The advantage of this is that each adventure is relatively short and could be completed in 1-3 sessions typically though some are longer.
I've played or run: Curse of Strahd (ran), Tomb of Annihilation (played), Storm King's Thunder (currently playing - near end), Out of the Abyss (currently running), Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (played), Light of Xaryxis (playing), Lost Mines of Phandelver (played), Dragon of Icespire Peak (ran), Dungeon of the Mad Mage (played 3? levels), Rime of the Frost Maiden (played to level 7 ish)
WDH, LMoP and DoIP are level 1-5 or 1-7 adventures. DoIP has three additional adventures packaged with it (at least online). You could play through DoIP and follow it up with as many of the extra adventures that you want or have time for. You could also play WDH and then follow it up with as many levels of DotMM that you find you want to play but DotMM is entirely a dungeon experience.
The problem with CoS, ToA, OotA, SKT, RotFM is that they might not finish in your 5-6 month time limit though if the party/DM focuses on the story and limits side quests then they might be doable. All are pretty good but they require different amounts of DM prep time. OotA is a bit time consuming since you need to figure out the plot line and handle the long distance travel in the underdark. Both ToA and OotA are a bit of a sandbox.
One last comment is that all these adventures are based on a rate of leveling the characters that some might consider relatively fast. CoS runs 1-10+ (finished around 12 in my run through), OotA is 1-15+, SKT is 1-12+, ToA is 1-12+ .. so to complete those types of adventures in 5-6 months, the characters will level up every second session or so on average (in some sections maybe every session).
P.S. All of these will work fine for a group with experience with the game.
CoS is a horror/vampire/werewolf setting
ToA is a jungle setting with a tomb at the end
OotA underdark and demons
RotFM Ice wind dale and stopping the never ending winter
SKT resolve the out of control giant issues
-----
In terms of the longer hard covers, if you don't mind leveling the characters up pretty quickly in certain parts, ToA could be fun.
I also think chaining together adventures from any of the anthology books would make for a good, shorter campaign.
As stated above... but I'd specify Candlekeep Mysteries as a good choice, as well as Tales from the Yawning Portal.
Having shorter, episodic adventures makes it easier to stop when your other players get back, because each adventure has its own conclusion, rather than building up to a larger conclusion that would likely get rushed or dragged out due to unexpected pacing issues that inevitably arise.
i second (third?) any one or two of the anthology books (TftYP, CM, etc.) as something easy to pick up and put down as needed. Also, the new Keys from the Golden Vault book of heists falls into this category too.
also, as a dark horse in this race, the Acquisitions Inc book has a decent adventure that's something like lvls 1-7. i feel like this and Light of Xaryxis are easy to miss hidden at the end of their books. I've got a campaign on hold that's ignoring most of the AcqInc lore to focus on the adventure's macguffin hunt as a lead into Lost Labratory of Kwalish finally (so much ooze!).
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
I love Journeys thru the Radiant Citadel, the stories are awesome and the assortment of mirrored real-life cultures lets you try lots of new things you wouldn't normally see in DnD. The adventures are comically easy though from a combat perspective so they need from heavy DM editing unless your group is entirely roleplay oriented. There's an awesome framework there, just needs more meat added to the bones
Thank you all for the advice. I'll go with Tales from the Yawning Portal. It seems most compact to run under the time frame we have. :)