D&D 5E DMing "Out of the Abyss"

[Motorskills]

Thinking about Glabagool, he can't keep up with the party in the short term, but he can keep up (and perhaps even overtake) the party in the long-term.

He knows* where he is going, doesn't need to sleep, and can take paths that the party can't.

*in my campaign


How that translates to day-to-day interactions, I'll figure out later.

 

[robcyr]

I decided to change the beginning of this campaign by putting un temporal loop Paradox!
I began the first session by a scene where the PC's were level 12 in the Ordorer mission!
They had to fight Yenoghu and Baphomet at each side of a chasm (with their minions and with potentiel allys).
They had two rounds of epic combat to send back those 2 demons lords into theirs plan of existence by activating correctly the Machine!
At the end , The orderer has exloded ("wrong Wire, wrong wire" said the modrons!) and they went back in time!!!! with only this scene as a blurry memory. They are now in a jail in velkynvelve (Level 1)...
A nice Start (10 minute of epic show) and a godd probable foreshadow

(sorry for my english)

 

[Daern]

This review from Power Score blog helped my thinking about this module. I've been running it untll it fizzled out in Grack city. So true. The dragon spy plot is cool, but the information is sooo confused and the Whorlstone caves are deceptively long. The motivation is weird as well. Are they poking around just to get permission to leave the City? Maybe a map to the surface? The idea of Teleport Nodes to skip over all the tedious travel time is really good. I'm thinking the Obelisk should be one. This is my idea to salvage the campaign. The heroes can escape to the surface, have a side quest and possibly be drawn back in later, maybe a request to help Blindenstone against the Pudding King.
It really is a question of why these modules are so confusing and poorly edited. I think the answer is that they were all subcontracted to outside studios. These books were passed back and forth between the studios and WOTC editors, who are all very creative people with very good ideas, but it kind of shows that the modules missed having a point person write the "bulk of the series" and keep it coherent. It is interesting to note that Curse of Strahd was written in-house and seems to be a bit better organized.

 

[CapnZapp]

OotA is definitely an "expert level" module, only recommendable to experienced DMs with plenty of prep time.

I definitely recommend a newbie DM to skip it until she has several adventures under her belt. Don't just DM Lost Mines as your first adventure and then move on to this.

 

[CapnZapp]

PS. Power Score published a very helpful (and long) adventure summary y'all should check out.

 

[Motorskills]

PS. Power Score published a very helpful (and long) adventure summary y'all should check out.

Thanks for linking that.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Power Score is right on "Tons of Homework" and "The NPC Horde." We've only finally gotten free of the starting NPCs, and I cut their numbers down to begin with.

The amount of homework and prep time is a mixed bag. Yes, it takes work, but it also gives me more room for DM creativity and to be honest, I'd probably miss it if I wasn't doing something to work on the next adventure.

 

[DarkStar33]

I'll second that...

OotA is definitely an "expert level" module, only recommendable to experienced DMs with plenty of prep time.

I definitely recommend a newbie DM to skip it until she has several adventures under her belt. Don't just DM Lost Mines as your first adventure and then move on to this.

I'll second that...

I played D&D a lot as a kid (Basic Set and later AD&D)... then took a long break and I played a little tiny bit of 3.5, and later some 4e.

I finally got a chance to DM some 5e - so we started with Lost Mines -- which I highly recommend for new players & DMs. It was pretty well done although I think the module should have gone into a lot more detail about DM options at each point and been a little more clear on the story-line. I tend to get the rules mixed up with older versions - like spell casting would invoke opportunity attacks... whatever. They lived So next up I picked Out of the Abyss... Vastly more complex -- this is really more of a campaign setting than a well-laid out module so you have to build the adventures yourself. They give you lots of random tables to roll on which is ok for some variety but I threw that out almost immediately and I used the random tables to help inform building out adventures along the way but I recrafted them in my own style and fit them to the players so they made a little more sense.

I LOVE OotA as a campaign setting but it's a LOT of work on the DM to turn the book into an adventure.

Be Prepared!

 

[CydKnight]

I'll second that...

I played D&D a lot as a kid (Basic Set and later AD&D)... then took a long break and I played a little tiny bit of 3.5, and later some 4e.

I finally got a chance to DM some 5e - so we started with Lost Mines -- which I highly recommend for new players & DMs. It was pretty well done although I think the module should have gone into a lot more detail about DM options at each point and been a little more clear on the story-line. I tend to get the rules mixed up with older versions - like spell casting would invoke opportunity attacks... whatever. They lived So next up I picked Out of the Abyss... Vastly more complex -- this is really more of a campaign setting than a well-laid out module so you have to build the adventures yourself. They give you lots of random tables to roll on which is ok for some variety but I threw that out almost immediately and I used the random tables to help inform building out adventures along the way but I recrafted them in my own style and fit them to the players so they made a little more sense.

I LOVE OotA as a campaign setting but it's a LOT of work on the DM to turn the book into an adventure.

Be Prepared!

I agree. I have done the same thing and picked up OotA after first running LMoP with a bunch of new players and a new DM. After reading it through from cover-to-cover along with two prominent DM's Guides on OotA, I have come to the conclusion that the players simply are not ready. For this reason, I have decided to extend the current LMoP campaign until a time when the players are more comfortable and I feel they are ready to tackle something like OotA.

As for me, the DM, I am a nerd of mechanics and lore and have become a student of 5E rules in the last 5 months or so. I feel I can properly prepare and run OotA but I actually embrace all of the prep work that must go into it. However, if you are a new DM and don't understand and embrace that mentality, you will have pain running it.

 

[DarkStar33]

I agree. I have done the same thing and picked up OotA after first running LMoP with a bunch of new players and a new DM. After reading it through from cover-to-cover along with two prominent DM's Guides on OotA, I have come to the conclusion that the players simply are not ready. For this reason, I have decided to extend the current LMoP campaign until a time when the players are more comfortable and I feel they are ready to tackle something like OotA.

My new-to-D&D players weren't ready either -- I was barely ready but I dumbed it down on the whole (because it's a really fun story-arc and I wanted to run it for practice).

So I've had to cajole, poke, push, shove, and on rare occasion, just tell them what to do next. We've finished Sloobludop, Gracklstugh, Neverlight Grove, and Blingdenstone and are ready to head to Gauntlgrym.

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I'm using the Stonespeaker Crystal (Gracklstugh) as a way for them to teleport from Blingdenstone to Gauntlgrym once they cleansed the Steadfast Stone & took care of the ooze problem (using the Spider Staff from Lost Mine to avoid the worst of the battle raging below them). That will present certain XP challenges obviously - I will probably invoke several instances where the forces of chaos threaten Gauntlgrym in order to make that up and also make it clear that returning to the Underdark is urgent.
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