Combining Tyranny of Dragons; Red Hand of Doom and Storm King's Thunder

Dax Doomslayer · Feb 18, 2018

Hey Folks,
I've got this idea to combine these four books. I'm wondering if anyone has done this, if so, how did it go? Would this end up being 'too busy' with too much going on from a player's perspective? Has anyone tried to do this out of curiosity. It looks like it should work although the levels and such may be an issue. Thanks for any input in advance!!

Quickleaf · Feb 18, 2018

Dax Doomslayer said:
Hey Folks,
I've got this idea to combine these four books. I'm wondering if anyone has done this, if so, how did it go? Would this end up being 'too busy' with too much going on from a player's perspective? Has anyone tried to do this out of curiosity. It looks like it should work although the levels and such may be an issue. Thanks for any input in advance!!

The most immediate issue I see is that the force behind the goblinoid army in Red Hand of Doom is Tiamat. Having giants as part of that army would contrast with D&D lore about giants vs. dragons. Nothing wrong with doing your own thing, but I believe this bit of lore is relevant to a few parts of Storm King's Thunder. And the giants in SKT are very fractured, certainly not a unified fighting force – that's one of the main points of the adventure.

I'm less familiar with Tyranny of Dragons, so can't comment much, beyond there being a half-dragon (can't recall his name) who could easily be a captain in the army from Red Hand of Doom.

Eltab · Feb 18, 2018

Look through these threads - "Enhancing Storm Kings Thunder", "Enhancing Hoard of the Dragon Queen" and "Enhancing Rise of Tiamat" - for ideas and commentary from people who have done exactly that.
Just be ready to review 400+ posts each. HotDQ and RoT of course won't mention SKT until well back in the thread.

Looking in from the outside: the concept might work better in a FLGS setting, where multiple tables can each work a plot thread, and report back to the whole what has happened - a sort of localized interactive world.
I can see where trying to keep track of everything at once would drive an individual crazy.

There is a potential downside: if you run both plot threads full-throttle, and things go badly for Team Hero, your next FR campaign might feel like Twilight 2000: The Sword Coast Front.

Dax Doomslayer · Feb 19, 2018

Quickleaf said:
The most immediate issue I see is that the force behind the goblinoid army in Red Hand of Doom is Tiamat. Having giants as part of that army would contrast with D&D lore about giants vs. dragons. Nothing wrong with doing your own thing, but I believe this bit of lore is relevant to a few parts of Storm King's Thunder. And the giants in SKT are very fractured, certainly not a unified fighting force – that's one of the main points of the adventure.

I'm less familiar with Tyranny of Dragons, so can't comment much, beyond there being a half-dragon (can't recall his name) who could easily be a captain in the army from Red Hand of Doom.

Iin RHoD, there is a Giant that the party potentially meets up with who gives aid vs. The Horde. I'm figuring that's a good jumping off point to SKT but I agree the lore part could be a bit tricky if I want to play up that Giants vs. Dragons (which is somewhat important in SKT). Maybe have those giants helping The Horde being deceived or just rogue giants doing whatever they feel due to the breaking of the Ordning. That's what I was thinking for that point. There would be a lot going on though. Do I include the Ghost Lord from RHoD and things like that I'm pondering and still not sure if it'd work without a lot of work...One of the big things with regard to the Tiamat arc is the paucity of actual dragons etc. RHoD will definitely help that and also make it more of a 'war' type thing which I think could be cool.

robus · Feb 20, 2018

Eltab said:
Look through these threads - "Enhancing Storm Kings Thunder", "Enhancing Hoard of the Dragon Queen" and "Enhancing Rise of Tiamat" - for ideas and commentary from people who have done exactly that.
Just be ready to review 400+ posts each. HotDQ and RoT of course won't mention SKT until well back in the thread.

Not to toot my own horn too much, but that concern is exactly why i created the thread indexes in the first posts of those mega threads!

Edit: and now I see my horn turned into a sad trombone as the SKT thread has no index (i was sure I’d done one for that at least!)

Dax Doomslayer · Feb 20, 2018

Lol - right robus I was going to say that but saw your edit. Ohhh well, I was just seeing if anyone had done this and what they decided. No worries!

Ezequielramone · Feb 20, 2018

I decided to run SKT just when we were finishing HotDQ. And it was a lot for the players. They got bored. I ran super quickly SKT, like 6-8 sessions. Still it was a lot. I ran ToD when it first came out adding only The Frozen Castle from Kobold press and that time was awesome. The second was fun and all but if I wanted to do that again maybe I will change some PCs. Like a super side quest for one or two of the originals PCs with new companions. Also you should put little hints about giant Revolution during SKT.I don't think rhod is compatible with ToD.

Dax Doomslayer · Feb 20, 2018

Ezequielramone said:
I decided to run SKT just when we were finishing HotDQ. And it was a lot for the players. They got bored. I ran super quickly SKT, like 6-8 sessions. Still it was a lot. I ran ToD when it first came out adding only The Frozen Castle from Kobold press and that time was awesome. The second was fun and all but if I wanted to do that again maybe I will change some PCs. Like a super side quest for one or two of the originals PCs with new companions. Also you should put little hints about giant Revolution during SKT.I don't think rhod is compatible with ToD.

Thanks for your input Ezequielramone. It sounds like you had an issue with SKT in general? What was it that caused your players to be bored? Also, why don't you think RHoD is compatible? Is it just that Giants are helping the Horde or is it something else? Thanks for replying!

Ezequielramone · Feb 20, 2018

Dax Doomslayer said:
Thanks for your input Ezequielramone. It sounds like you had an issue with SKT in general? What was it that caused your players to be bored? Also, why don't you think RHoD is compatible? Is it just that Giants are helping the Horde or is it something else? Thanks for replying!

RhoD doesn't seem to fit IMHO with ToD. It is like Tiamat is doing two invasions at the time. Also rhod has a time recording thing that doesn't allow other things to happen at the same time without modifications.
They didn't get bored meaning they didn't enjoy playing. But it was too long. Since I put SKT between HotDQ and RoT I had to slow down lvling up characters. Discarted experience. So... Many many sessions at the same lvls. Maybe the best thing to do is plan it like a sandbox kind adventure trying to match travel with quests for both campaigns. But that is a lot of prep. The kind of prep I don't do with pregenerated adventures.

Sadras · Feb 20, 2018

Dax Doomslayer said:
Lol - right robus I was going to say that but saw your edit. Ohhh well, I was just seeing if anyone had done this and what they decided. No worries!

Definitely check out those threads mentioned by @Eltab. There was a great idea in one of them (forget which poster) where one of the ritual components required to bring Tiamat from the 9-Hells was the head/blood of a noble enemy = giant king, enter SKT.
So the idea is you run SKT alongside the ToD storyline.

Do not play the whole AP, let the PCs cherry-pick which missions to go on when they are presented at the Council meetings and have various factions push the characters for differing missions promising money, power, prestige and sex. Let the players/characters 'fight' it out amongst themselves which mission is more important. Sit back and enjoy as DM.

The way I'm running that storyline is in that thread, no need to repeat it here.

Combining Tyranny of Dragons; Red Hand of Doom and Storm King's Thunder

Dax Doomslayer

Adventurer

Quickleaf

Legend

Eltab

Lord of the Hidden Layer

Dax Doomslayer

Adventurer

robus

Lowcountry Low Roller

Dax Doomslayer

Adventurer

Ezequielramone

Explorer

Dax Doomslayer

Adventurer

Ezequielramone

Explorer

Sadras

Legend

Similar Threads