Hoard of the Dragon Queen

2 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I can see how they came to the decisions they made when devising this adventure. "It should have a dragon!" "It should be epic!" "It should have some old school feel, but you know, with some 4e style setpieces!" "New gamers will be playing it, don't confuse them!" Unfortunately, what results is a bit of a mess. Super railroaded to the point where they come out and say "it doesn't matter what they do here, this is what happens..." Weird repetitive grind. A barest nod to roleplaying, character hooks, etc. It could be converted into a good adventure. But it might be less work to convert a good adventure to 5e.

4 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

All the players had a great time. DM said he needed to read ahead and make plenty of notes but good adventure

3 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

This first half of Tyranny of Dragons tries to be both a series of standalone episodes and a continuous storyline, but doesn't quite manage either. Most of the segments are just OK, although there are some better bits in a few sections (the caravan, the swamp castle, and the finale).

2 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Over all this is at best an average adventure.The production value is very good, but editing errors abound and you can tell that it was developed while the rules were not locked down yet.There are numerous areas where the encounters are not well balanced, and some places make references to uses of skills that don't really match the way the final rule set uses them.However for me the most disappointing part of the book is that the story is just average at best. There's very little that is memorable outside of brief references to major Realms locations. However even those locations are never detailed, they rely on you having prior knowledge/books.Overall a disappointing entry to the 5E line and well below the Kobold Press standard I am used to.

3 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

There are quite a few editing errors within WotC's adventure, Hoard of the Dragon Queen. In order to circumvent these a DM will have to prepare in advance (approximately 2 hours dependent upon the DM's experience) per session in order to flesh out and catch them prior to actually playing the module. If your intent is a ready-to-play adventure straight out of the book then this will most likely leave you disappointed. If, however, you prefer to add and modify adventures then HotDQ will be right up your alley. Our group has started playtesting and have had a number of opportunities to customize and add to the overall experience.

5 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Starts off with throwing the players right into the action. Alot of little things the DM can play with right at the start. Has great pacing never hit a part where I was like just have to get past this to get to the good stuff. Anyone could take bits and pieces of the adventure and just run those by themselves episode 4 gives a great example of things to do with caravan guard duty. Episode 5 and 6 could be rolled into a separate adventure about missing people. Episode 7 and 8 could be combine into another adventure. Was very pleased with this.

3 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

4 Stars for Experienced Players, 2 stars for Beginners bring this to my 3 star rating. As our little group does not meet that often, we just finished this one recently. This adventure is apparently set up to be an introductory to tabletop and role-playing, but I don't know just how good of an introductory it is, judging by other things I've read. Any adventure is only as good as its DM and their improvisation reacting to what the players do. Hoard of the Dragon Queen (HotDQ) is great with a good DM, but for new DMs and players, I can see it being a nightmare. "Oh, there's a blue dragon. We obviously have to fight it..." No, at first level, you run and hide unless you've got some gimmick going on. Heck, even at higher levels you run and hide from adult dragons. I'd guess around level 8-10 you might have a chance of everyone living...maybe. Those of us who've played for a long time well know this, but video game mentality does not -- and should not ever -- translate to table-top RPG's. Then again, maybe deciding to fight a dragon and learning that it's a big deal is just what they need. The biggest problem with HotDQ is the layout, and I know I'm not the only one to say this. The book is so scattered, it's a real pain for the DM to have to be flipping back and forth between the pages, and I can see new DMs especially struggling with that. The module format works better for maps and all. I don't know why you change that. D&D 5E has so much going for it with the new rules, Monster Manuel and DM Handbook. I remember one comment from WotC that they were surprised most of the player input they received was for less rules not more. Which just goes to show how designers just don't seem to 'get it.' The DM is the game master. The rules should always take a backseat to their choices. Rules-laden rpg's take too much time. I don't want to have to be solving a freaking math equation when I'm playing. HotDQ has a lot of great encounters if the DM studies up beforehand, and Episode 8 is fantastic and a real Epic ending. It's the best session our group has had, and not everyone lived through it. So, if you're experienced, I'd say go for it. If not, you should probably wait until there's more agreement on "If you're new, buy this one." Otherwise, I'd recommend new DMs use their imagination and create their own little adventure. That's the best experience they'll get. If they can't do that, they need to reconsider being the Dungeon Master. If the old Keep on the Borderlands converts well to 5E, that's a good place to start also.

3 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

It's a bit sparse, but overall not bad. Certainly not the friendliest adventure for the inexperienced DM. It's going to need some work to really get the most out of this product, but it gives a decent framework to hang things on.

2 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

This is a quick, partial review, as I reviewed this product alongside it's sister, Rise of Tiamat.

I wanted to like this product, but it was deeply flawed. Much of it is unlikely the fault of the authors and more the changing rule system, unfinished encounter design rules, and shifting monster statblocks. Regardless, the product provides some nice sources of inspiration and many episodes that could be pulled out of the narrative and effortlessly dropped into a larger campaign like a self-contained module.
Despite the complaints of being a railroad adventure, the episodes provide a lot of freedom for players to tacking the presented trouble however they want. A good DM could probably turn this into an excellent adventure and a lot of fun for their players with some moderate effort.

Read my full review of Tyranny of Dragons here:http://www.5mwd.com/archives/2890

2 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

There are some fantastic ideas in this book. I mean really, really great ones. I wanted to like the adventure. I tried really, really hard. Ultimately, though, I couldn't even run it. Others have said it's a bit railroady. That's a huge understatement -- like saying a Micheal Bay movie "might require some suspension of disbelief". Hoard of the Dragon Queen is about as friendly with free will as Game of Thrones is with prudery and pacifism. Because of that, the adventure, as written is of little use to any group that doesn't love following the dots painted on the floor. A good DM could take the various encounters and other ideas out and reconstruct them into a great adventure, but they're connected by too fine of a thread, in the printed work. As a "Book of Lairs", it has reasonable quality of content, though very sparse quantity for that. As an adventure, it fails utterly, requiring enough work to spoil the whole point of buying a printed adventure (save on prep time). It gets no stars from me, for an adventure, but the encounters and story outline give it an unintended two stars. Even then, it's not worth more than a few bucks at the used book store. Save your money.