D&D 5E Ideas for modules to lead into Red Hand of Doom 5E (excluding HotDQ & Sunless Citadel)

[Dax Doomslayer]

Hi Folks,
I was curious about if anyone has done RHoD in 5E and if so, if they've used any pre-made modules to lead into it. I'm running two campaigns, one is a HotDQ/SKT/RoT mashup. Another one will start shortly and I kind of want to keep the same theme (as these people are in the first) but go a different route. So, I dusted off RHoD which I think is perfect for that. However, I'm trying to figure what I should do for the first 5 or 6 levels. I did think of Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde possibly (I'm not sure how well that would work) but am unsure if that's a good fit. I am looking for input and was wondering if anyone has done this in the past with Shattered Gates or if anyone has any other suggestions that would be thematic. I have a pretty good library of WoTC/FGG/Kobold Press stuff. We've already done the Sunless Citadel. Any ideas/suggestions is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[BluejayJunior]

I haven't done it yet, but I was planning on running Lost Mines of Phandelver and then transitioning into Red Hand of Doom. Characters should be just about the right level and you can always add in a few things to help transition them. Especially if they need to travel from one place to the next in order to start RHoD.

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

I haven't done it yet, but I was planning on running Lost Mines of Phandelver and then transitioning into Red Hand of Doom. Characters should be just about the right level and you can always add in a few things to help transition them. Especially if they need to travel from one place to the next in order to start RHoD.

Thanks Bluejay, we actually already did LMoP also so that would be out. It would have been a good one though with the cultists in Thundertree!

 

[Flipteach]

I ran a group that moved from Sunless Citadel, through Forge of Fury, and on to Red Hand of Doom in 5e. It went well. I expect you'll have fun running the various abashai.

Spoilers:
You can have the orcs in Forge of Fury causing trouble due to being displaced by the hordes from RHoD.
The orc shaman has a collection of enemy sculls that can be adapted to reflect the dragon and fiend influence/mutations mentioned in RHoD.
The black dragon in FoF also offers some chances to tie in, especially with the submerged city in RHoD.
I found a number of other possibilities for seeding FoF with teasers for RHoD.

Have fun.

 

[GlassJaw]

I had designs of a similar campaign using the Tier 1 AL season 5 adventure chain as a lead-in (he Black Road, etc). Leads up to a hill giant raising an army and attacking a town.

Some parts can be skipped but generally considered one of the better AL adventure chains.

 

[TheSword]

So one idea for a level 1-5 excursion if you’re happy to convert is to use the first book of Night Below. It runs that range and provides a pretty cool locale and some interesting quests which will make RHoD more poignant when the invasion starts. It’s all based around two villages struggling against bandits and disorganized monstrous humanoids.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I've never run RHOD, but I'd like to. I've even sketched out what my version would look like.

In 5E I'd make RHOD a low level adventure. Why? Well, converting all those 3E monsters with class levels just isn't worth the effort, in my opinion. If players start at 1st level, they'll be 6th or 7th level when the adventure ends. That fits perfectly into my sense of how prominent 7th level heroes should be, and what they should have accomplished.

In my version, players start at 1st level. I send them to a keep that's asking for help dealing with increased goblin attacks in the area. I'd use Nightstone from the introduction to Storm King's Thunder, which can be easily linked to the intro to RHOD. From there, I'd pretty much run it as written.

Alternately, if you want players to start at higher levels, I still think you only need to reach 4th or 5th level. That's less than 10 sessions, in my experience. Not very long. I'd suggest just running a few short adventures across the Elsir Vale to make them connected to the places and people they'll later be defending. Perhaps focus on Brindol so the players are invested in seeing it saved.

Hope that's helpful.

 

[Eltab]

You could set parts of Dragon Heist in Brindol, so the PCs have a feel of it as their home.

Can you see somebody charging the enemy yelling "For the Tavern!" ?

 

[Catolias]

I ran a group that moved from Sunless Citadel, through Forge of Fury, and on to Red Hand of Doom in 5e. It went well. I expect you'll have fun running the various abashai.

Spoilers:
You can have the orcs in Forge of Fury causing trouble due to being displaced by the hordes from RHoD.
The orc shaman has a collection of enemy sculls that can be adapted to reflect the dragon and fiend influence/mutations mentioned in RHoD.
The black dragon in FoF also offers some chances to tie in, especially with the submerged city in RHoD.
I found a number of other possibilities for seeding FoF with teasers for RHoD.

Have fun.

I’m currently running RHOD in the original widescreen format (ie, 3.5) and I used FoF as the immediate leadin game. I think FoF would work well in 5e, but I’d suggest some story changes for it to make sense. I had to do that for 3.5 too.

In my game, I used the forge with the Duergar creating the weapons for the RHOD and Nightscale running them off to Cinder Hill. I swapped out the Orcs for Hobgoblins to create continuity, using the same stat block from RHoD. You could do that for 5e, but I’m not sure if that might end up with overpowered opponents.

Instead of Nightscale being the grunt you could make him the brains of the the weapons manufacturing operation, with regular sorties of wyverns coming in as carriers.

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

Hey Folks,
I appreciate the feedback. I've actually used Forge of Fury already too so unfortunately that's out (I liked that module). Using either season 1 or season 5 was something that went through my mind, but from the few I played and what I've heard, those adventures are pretty uneven. The Dragon Heist idea is interesting. Hmmm...