Storm King's Thunder
- Thread starter Morrus
- Start date
Brandon Kettler
First Post
5 out of 5 rating for Storm King's Thunder
We're currently in the middle of this campaign with a 4 man group and with the levels you start running into hordes of monsters critical thinking is a must. I'm not sure how much, or if at all, my DM is deviating from the content as written but thus far charging in headfirst quickly got us killed. We've had to be very creative with how to bait enemies, starve out Guh, etc. From my perspective this is a blast compared to typical run in and hit stuff til it dies style campaigns.
We're currently in the middle of this campaign with a 4 man group and with the levels you start running into hordes of monsters critical thinking is a must. I'm not sure how much, or if at all, my DM is deviating from the content as written but thus far charging in headfirst quickly got us killed. We've had to be very creative with how to bait enemies, starve out Guh, etc. From my perspective this is a blast compared to typical run in and hit stuff til it dies style campaigns.
Enrico Poli1
Adventurer
4 out of 5 rating for Storm King's Thunder
WotC tried to make a true sandbox. They were and, at the same time, were not successful.
First of all, the adventure truly starts at 5th. The provided adventure to bring beginning characters from 1st to 5th is a joke.
Then, they provided 3 different starting points for the campaign. Nothing exceptional. After that, the PCs can explore the Sword Coast. WotC built a true sandbox, in the sense that the party can truly pass through every town of the Sword Coast and find something interesting to do. That is impressive: the Sword Coast as an open-world that can be used by the DM in many other campaigns. But this part is so free-form that it is easy to get lost. Meaning that the players, fascinated by the sub-quests and red herrings, don't know clearly what to do. IF all goes as well, the PCs discover the plot of the giants and can storm ONE out of FIVE of their lairs. Each of these dungeons is very good or masterwork, and the DM can use the excellent material provided later in this campaign or in other ones. Then, the final part of the campaign: the Storm Giant lair appears excellent but the NPC relationships make it a bit confusing (IMO), and the end appears a bit anticlimatic. A Giant campaign with a BBEG that is not one of them?...
Other ideas were underdeveloped, as the runes or the potions of growth (why? "You have to be a giant to defeat a giant!" But Please!). The art, instead, is excellent.
In the end, it is a good product with some excellent aspects that the DM can peruse, but ultimately lacks focus. As a consequence, the players lack a strong motivation. So I cannot give this product a 5-star rating.
WotC experimented with the idea of a true sandbox, surpassed the results of the first published adventures for 5e, and learned some lessons from the mistakes, and in fact some time later Tomb of Annihilation was produced: a truly well made sandbox.
WotC tried to make a true sandbox. They were and, at the same time, were not successful.
First of all, the adventure truly starts at 5th. The provided adventure to bring beginning characters from 1st to 5th is a joke.
Then, they provided 3 different starting points for the campaign. Nothing exceptional. After that, the PCs can explore the Sword Coast. WotC built a true sandbox, in the sense that the party can truly pass through every town of the Sword Coast and find something interesting to do. That is impressive: the Sword Coast as an open-world that can be used by the DM in many other campaigns. But this part is so free-form that it is easy to get lost. Meaning that the players, fascinated by the sub-quests and red herrings, don't know clearly what to do. IF all goes as well, the PCs discover the plot of the giants and can storm ONE out of FIVE of their lairs. Each of these dungeons is very good or masterwork, and the DM can use the excellent material provided later in this campaign or in other ones. Then, the final part of the campaign: the Storm Giant lair appears excellent but the NPC relationships make it a bit confusing (IMO), and the end appears a bit anticlimatic. A Giant campaign with a BBEG that is not one of them?...
Other ideas were underdeveloped, as the runes or the potions of growth (why? "You have to be a giant to defeat a giant!" But Please!). The art, instead, is excellent.
In the end, it is a good product with some excellent aspects that the DM can peruse, but ultimately lacks focus. As a consequence, the players lack a strong motivation. So I cannot give this product a 5-star rating.
WotC experimented with the idea of a true sandbox, surpassed the results of the first published adventures for 5e, and learned some lessons from the mistakes, and in fact some time later Tomb of Annihilation was produced: a truly well made sandbox.
Last edited:
Jesse David
First Post
1 out of 5 rating for Storm King's Thunder
[FONT="]This, like most wizards campaign books, takes a good adventure idea and stretches it into an overly drawn out campaign with a ton of meaningless random encounters and half baked side quests. It assumes a ridiculous amount of prep to run anything prior to the higher level dungeons (which aren't in themselves that bad, except that as written the majority of them won't be played through). More of a North Sword Coast Gazetteer with some cool giants' lairs tacked on at the end.[/FONT]
[FONT="]This, like most wizards campaign books, takes a good adventure idea and stretches it into an overly drawn out campaign with a ton of meaningless random encounters and half baked side quests. It assumes a ridiculous amount of prep to run anything prior to the higher level dungeons (which aren't in themselves that bad, except that as written the majority of them won't be played through). More of a North Sword Coast Gazetteer with some cool giants' lairs tacked on at the end.[/FONT]
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