Hoard of the Dragon Queen

[Stormrazor2000]

3 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I've been running this module for encounters at my FLGS and have had some very fun sessions. Primarily by doing some significant modification of it to make it memorable and challenging. In the hands of a less experienced DM who might run the adventure exactly as written, it would be an average adventure at best. As others have noted, this adventure as written is really more of railroady framework, which to a point I can forgive because it is clearly designed with Adventure League play in mind. What is less forgivable is how lifeless it can be and how little it helps novice DMs in running it. It relies far too heavily on the DM to recognize the really rough spots and to smooth them out or make them come alive. With that said there are some very cool ideas in the adventure, and with the right DM and players it can be a lot of fun. Novice DMs should avoid this one and run the module in the starter set.

 

[daringdirk1]

4 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I like this adventure. I've read the common railroad complaint, but it's designed for Encounters. Casual players who show up at a store for a couple of hours to sling dice. they don't want a complicated open-ended hook, and there's not time for that anyway. Some rough patches technically, but it was being designed without the benefit of completed core books. It's a fun introduction to the Tyranny of Dragons storyline with memorable NPCs and well-balanced encounters.

 

[Nikmal]

2 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

There are just to many ambiguous encounters and such. To many things that the DM needs to do as far as random this or random that. To me if I wanted to do that as a DM I would make my own adventure instead of buying this book.

 

[Mad Zagyg]

2 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Lots of bad decisions in the making of this product. Its heavily scripted and linear narrative keep the adventure from being very interesting. Also, an impossibly difficult and poorly constructed opening chapter leaves a bad taste right from the beginning.It would also be great of adventure designers could let go of the hardcover book format and go back to the "folio-style" adventures of old. Furthermore, I would greatly prefer the writing style of these adventures back off from the overlong instruction on NPC motivations and keep things down to the bare facts. These products should read less like instructive mini-novels and more like cliff notes.

 

[delericho]

3 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

The adventure is structured as eight parts that PCs basically have to follow in order, and there is minimal guidance for if they try to leave the path. However, that's not unexpected, nor necessarily a problem: this is an Adventure Path after all! I was pleasantly surprised, however, in how open many of those individual parts were to the PCs taking different approaches (they could fight through, they can evade some encounters completely, they can sneak around, they can negotiate). Parts 2, 6, 7, and to a lesser extent 8 are all strong here.

BUT... An Adventure Path that follows a strong story lives or dies on the quality of that story, and I'm sorry to say I found "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" deadly dull in that regard - for most of it, the PCs are in pursuit of an ill-defined treasure taken by some ill-defined cultists. Indeed, it feels like "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One" or "Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part One" in that regard - it's the first half of a story, where all the "good bits" are in the second part.

Ultimately, I can't recommend this adventure. It has some nice features, and isn't as bad as I'd feared, but it's still a Miss.

 

[Bugbear70]

2 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I really wanted to like (nay, love!) this adventure, as it was the maiden (adventure) voyage for the newest version of D&D. But after completing the book with my players, I must say it is-at best-a hot mess. As with tRoT, there are inspired bits here, and parts that make me think "I can't wait to run this section." But the majority of the adventure consists of inconsistencies, illogical situations, and entire chapters that can be skipped without missing a beat (I'm looking at you, hunting lodge). I totally get that Kobold Press was probably working with an incomplete, ever-changing rule-set as the release date approached, but I can only judge based off of what I spent my thirty bucks on. Now that the DMG has been released, just roll up a random adventure on the tables provided within-you'll come up with comparable quality at a much more affordable price.

 

[Ezequielramone]

4 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I'm running this. it have some rule issues, but it goes very well.

 

[barasawa]

2 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

To keep it short, each chapter or encounter is written in a different style. Some have description boxs, some don't. The editing is lousy, and more than once it was a metaphorical equivalent of "cut the red wire, turn page, only after you've reconnected the blue switch". There are things marked on maps that aren't listed. There are even more things that are listed but aren't on the maps. There are bizarre repeats of things on the maps as well. An example of that last one is Room 18, Talis's Bedchamber, of which the map shows three of them. Heck, they even change the orientation of the maps of different levels/floors without giving direction indicators. That's only the tip of the problems with this adventure. One has to wonder if the playtesters and the editor even looked at the same document that was published.

 

[EthanSental]

4 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I enjoyed pouring over the adventure, excellent art and over all feel to the book.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

2 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Like any AP its quite railroady, but it goes beyond that. Often the actions of the players have little to no effect on later encounters. The half dragon in E1 is a prime example. E4 is quite poorly constructed and doesn't really revolve around the actions of the PC's in any event. And veteran players without a sense of plot immunity may just refuse to bite on the hooks in any event. And errors abound in the writing. A lot of work is required to make this playable, too much work. I'd avoid Kobald Press written products in the future I think.