Lost Laboratory of Kwalish just got released it's a good read.
Could also do Chult/Tomb of Anhilation. Let them revel in the early stuff with east times and then once content gets their level smack em with the hammer. A loving caring hammer.
Can you give me some info on your characters and their backstories?
I went from their to Ghosts of Dragonspear castle, but that was specifically because I could reskin a bunch of it to suit a players backstory and work towards resolving one of their big story arcs.
Definitely will depend on what sort of adventuring your party likes to do. At this point we have enough adventures that each one really has its own flavor.
Tyranny of Dragons I would not recommend this arc mostly because I understand it's difficult for starting DMs, and also you'd technically be buying two books. But if you want classic high fantasy with DRAGONS then this is a choice.
Princes of the Apocalypse Solid dungeon delves, requires some thinking about how to navigate. If your party is okay with a railroad feel just for the sake of keeping the dungeons balanced, this is a good choice.
Out of the Abyss This one is suited for particular style of play. If you have a party who will enjoy subterranean, Dark-Souls-vibe, survival with touches of horror and absurdity this is a strong choice. It's described as "Dark Souls meets Alice in Wonderland" and lends well to survival-heavy mechanics (e.g., tracking food, navigating, etc.) Lots of potential NPC tracking if that's not to your liking.
Curse of Strahd This campaign is a blast. That said, it's very niche. Barovia is a self-contained world, and the ambiance is a sense of dread and hopelessness. Can be opposite of many typical DnD themes (this is Gothic Horror, not High Fantasy; very few magical items, broken economy, etc.) but man oh man does this help with story and the villain is fantastic. Feels very much like a video game, so if your party is okay with Gothic fantasy, and will be inspired to overcome seeming hopelessness to arise as heroes, this is very good. Still, when running it, I often missed the typical fantasy vibe of other settings.
Storm King's Thunder I haven't ran this, but believe it to be along the lines of heroic fantasy a la Conan and such. The biggest complaint seems to be the book has a lot of adventure you don't need to run, but I hear the story is good and the book is very valuable for information on the North if you want re-usability for Faerun campaigns. Giants were never my thing--but if you like Giants, the idea of searching for ruins and artifacts in savage frontier, or want perhaps the most open world campaign yet, this is the one.
Tales from the Yawning Portal This is a solid pick if you want dungeons a la carte. The two starter dungeons are below your party's level assuming they end LMoP at Level 5. The next few dungeons can be strung together as a story with work from you so depends how much you want to tweak a published campaign. Probably not the best for a first full campaign, but possible!
Tomb of Annihilation Very strong campaign, but like CoS, this has some niche aspects. It's a jungle adventures, which will affect the typical fantasy vibe of DnD. And also similar to OotA, the best use of this campaign hinges on survival-mechanics (e.g., navigating unexplored island, finding food and water, avoiding diseases, etc.). Also requires some finesse with NPC guides. Similar to CoS, very strong villain and story to use out the get-go. So if your party likes: jungle ruins, fighting undead, exploring completely unmapped territory, and dinosaurs (forgot to mention this is like straight up Dinotopia in Chult) this is the campaign for you. If you would rather not worry about heat-exhaustion, getting lost, or a strict time limit on the campaign, maybe try something else. Did I mention the dinosaurs? Also, the eponymous tomb is maybe the COOLEST dungeon in any published adventure yet.
Dungeon of the Mad Mage I'm skipping Dragon Heist cause again, assuming post-level 5 here. Dungeon of the Mad Mage is the longest campaign. I love it--there's SO much. Def not the best book for a first time DM since there's very little description text requiring some savvy with how to give key details to players without being obvious. There's no obvious story line (perhaps the weakest aspect compared to other adventures) but you can come up with something after reviewing all the factions involved (which is difficult from the way the book is organized but again do-able). I love the variety of dungeons and creatures, and am running this now, but think if you want a story-based campaign look elsewhere. However, if you want pure dungeon crawl, if your party is into combat and exploration, and you want to experience all the classic DnD monster groups (Spoiler?) then run this.
This has goblins AND drow AND duergar AND the gith AND illithids AND dragons AND hags AND just about EVERY classic dungeon monster like beholders, carrion crawlers, rust monsters, owlbears, etc. Man oh man I get excited thinking about it.
Hope that helps! If you want any advice on how to link up your adventures some of these include guidance (I know OotA and SKT do for sure, and CoS is easy to add onto.) or just message me if you want more specifics.
I can only talk about modules I've played in or have DM'ed, so hopefully this helps:
Out of the Abyss: The written story starts you at level 1 and strips you of all gear. If you're planning on using the same characters from Lost Mines it might be rough to balance the beginning for higher level characters. It's milestone leveling, but we're 16-ish sessions in and just reached level 6. Also, as a player, I'd be pretty salty if you took all the magic gear I earned in the first campaign away from me. If you're starting with brand new characters this isn't so much an issue. If your players are game for survival and horror, they may really like this one.
Storm King's Thunder: As a player, this one is pretty fun but the world is very open. You basically have free reign of the Sword Coast with only vague guidance on where to go and what to do. I've deliberated with fellow players for over an hour just to decide where to go next. I'm sure it's a lot to prepare. I've spoken to my DM and he admitted that some towns were just tedious to prepare. I haven't gotten far into this one, so there's not much else I can say.
Tomb of Annihilation: I am DM'ing this one and try to warn all other new DMs from repeating my mistakes: it's a lot of work. Chult itself is pretty awesome and provides for a grueling survival adventure (much like Out of the Abyss) but...between all the interesting dots on the map it's pretty sparse. It's got the open world of Storm King's Thunder x10 but with no towns. I also didn't like how bland they left Port Nyanzaru, the ONLY city on the continent. There are free supplements on DMsGuild.com but this module was really unwieldy to me when we started. Unless you're confident or really love the location (like I did), I wouldn't recommend this one next
Sometimes there's actually not a good next book, for lots of DM the next good step is to start making up your own campaign. If you don't have the time for this try getting a book like Storm King's Thunder and building upon it, until you feel comfortable writing your own campaign.
Hello I'm a new GM and frist time playing. My playing are almost done with the lost mines of phandelver, and I'm not sure witch book to get next.
Lost Laboratory of Kwalish just got released it's a good read.
Could also do Chult/Tomb of Anhilation. Let them revel in the early stuff with east times and then once content gets their level smack em with the hammer. A loving caring hammer.
Can you give me some info on your characters and their backstories?
I went from their to Ghosts of Dragonspear castle, but that was specifically because I could reskin a bunch of it to suit a players backstory and work towards resolving one of their big story arcs.
Definitely will depend on what sort of adventuring your party likes to do. At this point we have enough adventures that each one really has its own flavor.
This has goblins AND drow AND duergar AND the gith AND illithids AND dragons AND hags AND just about EVERY classic dungeon monster like beholders, carrion crawlers, rust monsters, owlbears, etc. Man oh man I get excited thinking about it.
Hope that helps! If you want any advice on how to link up your adventures some of these include guidance (I know OotA and SKT do for sure, and CoS is easy to add onto.) or just message me if you want more specifics.
Good luck!
Toremar, Paladin 6 / Dez, Gnome Wizard 5 / Perios, Elf Wizard 10 / Skadr, Dwarf Pugilist 7
I can only talk about modules I've played in or have DM'ed, so hopefully this helps:
Out of the Abyss: The written story starts you at level 1 and strips you of all gear. If you're planning on using the same characters from Lost Mines it might be rough to balance the beginning for higher level characters. It's milestone leveling, but we're 16-ish sessions in and just reached level 6. Also, as a player, I'd be pretty salty if you took all the magic gear I earned in the first campaign away from me. If you're starting with brand new characters this isn't so much an issue. If your players are game for survival and horror, they may really like this one.
Storm King's Thunder: As a player, this one is pretty fun but the world is very open. You basically have free reign of the Sword Coast with only vague guidance on where to go and what to do. I've deliberated with fellow players for over an hour just to decide where to go next. I'm sure it's a lot to prepare. I've spoken to my DM and he admitted that some towns were just tedious to prepare. I haven't gotten far into this one, so there's not much else I can say.
Tomb of Annihilation: I am DM'ing this one and try to warn all other new DMs from repeating my mistakes: it's a lot of work. Chult itself is pretty awesome and provides for a grueling survival adventure (much like Out of the Abyss) but...between all the interesting dots on the map it's pretty sparse. It's got the open world of Storm King's Thunder x10 but with no towns. I also didn't like how bland they left Port Nyanzaru, the ONLY city on the continent. There are free supplements on DMsGuild.com but this module was really unwieldy to me when we started. Unless you're confident or really love the location (like I did), I wouldn't recommend this one next
Thank you, i will take this into consideration when moving forward.
We use the starter kit characters.
Sometimes there's actually not a good next book, for lots of DM the next good step is to start making up your own campaign. If you don't have the time for this try getting a book like Storm King's Thunder and building upon it, until you feel comfortable writing your own campaign.
Also another fun approach is having your players become the DM for the next arc and letting them solve the problem :)