Hoard of the Dragon Queen

[Kaychsea]

4 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

From a thematic point of view I have very few problems. As the first half of an epic quest it does what it needs to and, for me, in a fairly entertaining form. The issues that stop a 5 star rating are twofold: there are a number of production issues, mostly to do with maps, and some features of the game that didn't make it to the final version. Both, while annoying, is probably due to an aggressive time frame to get the adventure out there as soon as possible after the launch of the PHB, although the first should have been caught in proof. As a figurehead it was never going to please everybody, and while I enjoy running it so far, I can see where things may grate with some. It does highlight a lot of the changes in the new system, non-balanced encounters, newly lethal combat.

 

[Krypter]

3 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

A great read but very difficult to run. You'll have to read this 2 or 3 times before you grok all the moving parts as most of it is written in a conversational style that makes it tricky to pull out key info during the game. I suggest you take notes while reading so that you have a summary of the most important NPCs, items and locations as the book doesn't do that for you. Monster stats are scattered across 3 products: this book, the monster manual and the online supplement (downloadable from wizards.com). Very confusing layout, though the illustrations are quite good and the quality of the physical book is excellent. Not the most amazing storyline but it does contain iconic monsters like dragons, giants & bullywugs along with locations like Baldur's Gate (only 3 paragraphs of detail), Waterdeep and Elturgard. You'll probably need to spice up the scenario locations as a lot of them amount to little more than dungeon-clearing exercises and the beginning episode is particularly difficult for 1st level characters and newbie GMs. The story can feel like a railroad and players will sense it and some of the railroad choices don't make much sense even in the context of the greater plot. The story design is definitely unpolished and seems to have suffered from multiple revisions before the core D&D 5E books came out (eg, weird references to "readiness" and monsters challenges being inappropriate for player levels). Overall: good production quality, difficult to run and only an average story (but it gets better in The Rise of Tiamat). Only recommended for experienced and creative DMs willing to do a lot of work.

 

[Prism]

4 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Each of the episodes is pretty open ended in the ways you can deal with the problems set before the group. Plenty of skill, roleplaying and combat options. The links between the episodes are narrow though and like many adventure paths pretty linear. The actions starts hard and rewards cautious players

 

[gorpybleeder]

3 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I will keep it short - first half is poor, second half is pretty good. Solution - play Lost Mines to get to level 5 - then jump in at the Mere of Deadmen part - problem solved. One thing that really bothers me is after they playtested 5E for so long - they still rushed the release of this adventure. There are references to game mechanics (awareness) that did not make the cut, a bunch of map issues (missing numbers, numbers in wrong locations) and other errors. A few can be expected and tolerated, but in this case they really stand out and ruin what is otherwise a finely presented book. Rise of Tiamat is much better. Still - the only true measure of worth is how much fun it will be to play. I'm sure it will be a hit with my group and they aren't missing anything by jumping in half way. Glad I bought it from an online store at a big discount - not worth the full cover price.

 

[GullyFoyle]

4 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Not for DMs that need hand holding, but a great storyline.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

3 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

[Some spoilers]

My party of 5 did were well challenged by most of the adventure but it is very scripted with little space for PC roleplay development or 'downtime'.The book is nice but has issues as noted in previous reviews.

The 'Wagon Train' portion drags on and on. Also once if its' established that the PCs are hostile to the Cult their presence in the caravan becomes difficult to rationalize. Post-Waterdeep they decided to just trail the wagons from a distance because it was just too much of a coincidence that they were still tagging along.

My favorite part was the swamp castle. The PCs were able to ally with the Lizardfolk (after displaying their prowess to a significant NPC) to drive out the Bullywugs. A night-time foray into the castle involving seizing the barbican & capturing the Bullywug leader was exciting where pre-planning and tactics paid off nicely.

The ending involves several CR 12+ creatures where the party are supposed to be ~7th level. This is a significant issue as surviving that unevenly matched an encounter is likely a TPK. There are ways to finesse some creative work arounds but if they don't work out the party is in trouble. I still haven't run my group through the final chapter and inserted my own tangent to give them additional experience and downtime before throwing them to the final battle (which I won't allow until I feel they can handle it).

 

[sgtscott658]

4 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I thought the adventure was good solid D&D.

 

[Bugleyman]

2 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

WotC bravely brings its tradition of mediocre adventures in the era of 5th edition with this wholly unremarkable product. Unfortunately, it does so on ground which has already been tread by (the superior) Red Hand of Doom.

Pros:

• High quality full-color book with heavy paper.
• Most of the art is good.
• First major adventure available for the new edition.

Cons:

• Plenty of editing mistakes, some seemingly related to the fluid nature of the rules during development; Others...not so much.
• Punishingly difficult in the early going. Zero PDF/eBook availability (at least at the time of this writing) is a MAJOR disappointment.

(**---)

 

[Netherstorm]

3 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

This is a flawed but ultimately very fun adventure. It kicks off in a truly epic fashion, but becomes a very, very long caravan journey as the PCs follow the illogical trail of the treasure (and by the way, the actual hoard of the dragon queen is the most pathetic dragon hoard in existence). There are a lot of great "classic" d&d tropes that are presented in a fresh manner. Too much is glossed over, and we could have used a few more memorable NPCs, but I assume that when you need to put 8 chapters in under 100 pages that there's not a lot of room for extra details. I have written about all of this extensively in my blog, Power Score.

 

[The Escapist]

3 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

While a few parts of the play experience are a major drag, Hoard of the Dragon Queen has plenty of top-tier play. DMs who like to cannibalize a good adventure for parts will find a lot to love inside Hoard. Groups that focus on big action and big excitement will also find a lot to enjoy, but those who want a lot of characterization might be left out in the cold.