D&D 5E Recommend a 5e AP

So a while ago I made a document up listing the various APs and their differences, to let my players make an informed choice between them. It might help you!

Starter Set – the Lost Mine of Phandelver
Levels 1-5; 88% on EN World.
You have been hired to help a family of Dwarves reclaim a long-lost mine; but adventures and intrigues swirl around the village of Phandalin as factions manoeuvre for control of the magical mine. A sandbox introduction adventure, this features D&D staples such as Goblin caves, ruined castles, and wilderness exploration. It ties into the other modules very well, so can be played as a prelude to another adventure.

Tyranny of Dragons
Levels 1-15; 53% & 75% on EN World.
This pair of adventures does the ‘Dragon storyline’, as the characters will be pitted against the Cult of the Dragon, the Red Wizards of Thay, and the Evil Dragons in a fight for the future of the world. Tiamat, the goddess of Evil Dragons, seeks to enter the Forgotten Realms herself, in order to bring about the end of humanoid civilisation and begin the hegemony of Dragons. It is a much more tightly plotted adventure than the others, with few sandbox elements, but has a more conspiculously epic tone, with a healthy dose of politics, as a result. The characters raid wizard’s towers, assault Dragons in their lairs, and seek to enlist the help of potentially dangerous allies. This adventure is not set in Dragonlance, but there are similarities.

Princes of the Apocalypse
Levels 1-15; 87% on EN World.
This is the dungeon crawl focused adventure, inspired by Temple of Elemental Evil. The quiet Dessarin Valley is home to troubling rumours of strange, dangerous events; the elements themselves seem to have become hostile. The characters are tasked with getting to the bottom of what is going on, and finding a lost delegation who disappeared in the hills. This adventure focuses on the characters fighting their way through numerous dungeons with an elemental theme, and has a sandbox ethos that gives the characters a lot of freedom to decide their own course throughout.

Out of the Abyss
Levels 1-15; 81% on EN World.
Miles beneath the surface of the world lies the Underdark, home to evil races and monsters alike. Taken captive by the Drow, your characters must escape their captivity and try to find a way home, even as the dark and dangerous Underdark writhes with a strange plague of madness, and the unexplained presence of Demons from the Abyss. As the characters travel, they will encounter a city of the spiteful Duergar, evil Dwarves twisted by suffering and hate; a colony of the peaceful Myconids, mushroom people; and the Labyrinth, home to wonders and horrors alike. This adventure is themed around madness, with Alice in Wonderland being a inspiration for parts of it. There is also a focus on personalities, as the characters will meet a wide variety of fantastical beings and deranged individuals on their journey to freedom.

Curse of Strahd
Levels 1-10; 90% on EN World.
Welcome to the shadowed land of Barovia, lying uneasily under the sway of Strahd von Zarovich these last centuries. The most famous Vampire in D&D history, thanks to the classic module Ravenloft, the master of Castle Ravenloft is having guests for dinner – and you are invited. Taking its cues from Gothic Horror, this adventure takes the characters through haunted houses, misty forests, and asylums for the broken; throughout, the characters will learn that appearances can be deceiving, and not all those who look beautiful have good intentions. Featuring a sandbox environment, this adventure relies on compelling locations and personalities, rather than a tightly-plotted storyline, to drive the characters onwards.

Storm King’s Thunder
Levels 1-11; 68% on EN World.
Ever since the destruction of their ancient kingdom in a war against the Dragons, the Giants of the world have lived in relative peace and seclusion. Now all that has changed however, as the north is riven by marauding bands of Giants that trample upon the settlements of the small folk: Hill Giants steal food, livestock, and even farmers themselves; Frost Giant greatships launch furious attacks on ships and harbours; Fire Giants prowl the landscape, searching for something unknown. Where is King Hekaton, ruler of the Storm Giants and lord of all Giants, he who kept the peace? This adventure takes the Giants theme of the classic Against the Giants module series, combines it with modern adventure sensibilities and elements of King Lear, and provides an intensely sandbox experience that has little in the way of strict plot to push the story to its conclusion.

Tales from the Yawning Portal
Levels 1-14?; 71% on ENWorld
A collection of dungeons from previous editions of the game, this is a Greatest Hits album of fun and famous experiences. There is not even the vestige of a storyline to link the dungeons together, but it would not be that hard to put a simple narrative in place. The dungeons are all quite different - from the gonzo funhouse of White Plume Mountain, to the simple back-to-basics of Sunless Citadel, to the megadungeon exploration of Dead in Thay. This book is good if you want entertaining dungeon crawling and not much else, and is perhaps best thought of as a set of pre-made dungeons to slot into your campaign as you see fit.

As you can see, they have put together a pretty diverse set of modules. If you want generic sandbox fantasy, then Storm King's Thunder does the trick. Horror theme? Curse of Strahd. Tightly-plotted storyline? Tyranny of Dragons. Dark fantasy style? Out of the Abyss. The upcoming one is an exploration module, which seems to be "Indiana Jones meets Jurassic Park meets Tomb of Horrors".

I say start with Lost Mines. I found it to be good overall, and I think it's easy to segue into into any other the other APs without too much trouble. It will also give you a chance to find what your group's style is.

If you haven't already run it's constituent dungeons TftYP.

Similarly, CoS, if you haven't already gone to Ravenloft.

Yeah, the standout 5e modules APs are the ones reprising the classics.

SPOILERS

My opinion on the APs (you only asked about APs, so I am not commenting on LMoP or TftYP):

HotDQ and RoT: Very linear. Lots of mistakes on maps and texts. Some very illogical plot holes (in fact, the entire concept of HotDQ doesn't make geographical sense!). The final encounter in RoT is a joke...any group of PCs can stop the ritual summoning Tiamat without breaking a sweat (the mages are too far away to support each other). One chapter of HotDQ requires a lot of DM work (the caravan chapter). And the 1st chapter of HotDQ can be a tpk introduction to the adventure.

OOTA: Nice story arc and some very neat, interesting settings. However, there is simply too much travel. I mean months and months of it. Some parts of the adventure require over 60 days of travel to get from point A to point B. And teleportation is discouraged by Faerzress effects. The wandering monster tables are not up to the task of handling 1 week of travel, never mind a 60 day jaunt. As such, the Dm must be prepared to preroll and spend a lot of time fleshing out travel encounters, or truncate them significantly (or both). The large set piece areas (Gracklestugh and Blingdenstone) require a lot of DM work to properly flesh out, and Menzobarranzan is nothing but a bunch of wandering monster tables, requiring a load of DM preparation (reminiscent of the requiements of the old D3 Vault of the Drow module). The final battle includes an option to have the table fight out the demonlord battle, with the survivor attacking the PCs. Do not take this option. The demonlord are matched well enough that whomever survives (probably Demogorgon) will be so depleted that the PCs can take him out without effort.

POTA: A very sandboxy AP. There is a story, but not much of one, and it requires some decent DMing skill to get the PCs involved. Best advice is to have the PCs members of one or more factions and have the factions give them the assignments suggested in the text. I played this and the DM just had us wander into the area. We had no idea what to do or where to go. The Ap is a series of dungeon crawls, and they can get repetitive if the PCs want to hit all four elements. That means 4 upside areas, 4 underground areas, and 4 nodes. 12 largish dungeons. The upside of this AP is that it is the only Faerunian one that doesn't require months of travel for the PCs.

STK: Have not played or run this, but I read through it. Seems interesting, although a full 3/4ths of the AP won't likely ever be used in the adventure. The PCs choose to go to one of three widely dispersed towns. Then they penetrate one of 4 giant lairs. There is no reason for them to go back to the other two towns or to the other 3 giant lairs. Makes for a lot of wasted space. And there is a hell of a lot of travelling...all over not only the Sword Coast, but possibly Icewind Dale as well. That means, like OOTA, a lot of wandering encounters that quickly lose their luster unless the DM prerolls and spices them up...a lot of work.

CoS: Have not played or run this, but I read it through. Very genre specific (gothic horror). Not too much travelling (since you are trapped in the demiplane), but there are plenty of areas that are tpks if the PCs try to bull doze their way through or go to the wrong place. Additionally, the big bad guy has to be played properly or he is an easy takedown and will make for a very anticlimactic conclusion. The whole adventure has great atmosphere, especially is properly played up by the DM.

I would just buy the season 5 adventure league modules. Read them then rearrange the play order as you see fit. And since it homebrew still some stuff from storm kings thunder.

@Charles Rampant - what an excellent series of summaries!


Edit: Can I steal them for the Best of thread summary post?

Charles Rampant said:

Storm King’s Thunder
Levels 1-11; 68% on EN World.
Ever since the destruction of their ancient kingdom in a war against the Dragons, the Giants of the world have lived in relative peace and seclusion. Now all that has changed however, as the north is riven by marauding bands of Giants that trample upon the settlements of the small folk: Hill Giants steal food, livestock, and even farmers themselves; Frost Giant greatships launch furious attacks on ships and harbours; Fire Giants prowl the landscape, searching for something unknown. Where is King Hekaton, ruler of the Storm Giants and lord of all Giants, he who kept the peace? This adventure takes the Giants theme of the classic Against the Giants module series, combines it with modern adventure sensibilities and elements of King Lear, and provides an intensely sandbox experience that has little in the way of strict plot to push the story to its conclusion.

Click to expand...

I will nitpick here however. While the first half is very sandboxy, the linear adventure eventually kicks in with the appearance of Harshnag and the players have to follow a pretty straight line to the finale.

Keep them coming. I love these. I still have not decided which way to go. Next week we are transitioning from Keep on the Borderlands to the Wave Evho Cave in LMoP. Then at level 5 I plan to transition to one of these APs.

robus said:

@Charles Rampant - what an excellent series of summaries!


Edit: Can I steal them for the Best of thread summary post?

Click to expand...

Sure, I'd be flattered! The players never read them, so somebody might as well get utility from them

robus said:

I will nitpick here however. While the first half is very sandboxy, the linear adventure eventually kicks in with the appearance of Harshnag and the players have to follow a pretty straight line to the finale.

Click to expand...

It is my interpretation - especially from the discussions on here - that the real meat of the adventure is wandering around, finding stuff going on, and raiding Giant lairs. Harshnag meets the players and starts them on the 'find Uthgart relics to learn of Giant Lairs' part of the module, and then dies immediately after they find the locations of the lairs, with the players being left to do what they want again. I'd agree that it does end on a railroad - I think any long campaign has to, really, just to force a good conclusion to the adventure - but that railroad really begins at the moment they arrive in Maelstrom, so right at the end. Up until then, the players can basically do what they want, when they want, and nothing will go 'wrong' for them, which is perhaps as good a measure of sandbox as anything else.

By the way, I was careful not to call Out of the Abyss a sandbox in those descriptions, since I was swayed by the argument that it might look like one, but is in fact a fairly tight storyline (leave prison, get chased to Darklake, see Demogorgon, etc) that happens to let the players choose the next chapter to play. That's not mentioning the fact that the second half is as tightly plotted as anything in the Tyranny of Dragons campaign.