D&D 5E Thoughts on New Campaign for New Group for Returning DM

[Kilgore Trout]

Hi -

I am looking to DM a 5e game...working on getting a group together at the moment.

Some background: have been playing PF and 5e for the last year as a player only. Returned to TTRPGs after a 25 year hiatus...in the 80s, I plaved 1e, 2e, and Call of Cthulhu and was primarily a DM. So looking forward to getting back to that. I'd say the players will all be beginners or slightly experienced.

Wouldn't say I have a ton of time to spend crafting a world, so I am looking for suggestions on published adventures. Which I could tweak as I grew more comfortable.

I'd like to create a campaign with an over-arching story as opposed to a series of one-shots. Would love to see characters go from 1-20 but I hear that hardly ever happens so not holding my breath.

I know WotC has Lost Mines of Phandelver and some hardback books out there - are those any good? Maybe start with Lost Mines and then go into Rise of Tiamat or the Underdark adventures? Anything good out there from 3rd party publishers? Not particular on the setting, i.e. it doesn't have to be Forgotten Realms.

Ran across the Primevial Thule book for 5e and that looked fun, although online reviews aren't the greatest.

Thought about converting Rise of the Runelords as I've heard great things about that (as well as a lot of the PF Adventure Paths), and I know there's some stuff online that's already been done in terms of conversion, but not sure I have the savvy to do the conversion myself.

Anywho, really just looking for suggestions or experiences of other DMs who have started for a new group of gamers or input in the above.

Appreciate the time!

KT

 

[5Shilling]

I say do what you're doing - read blurbs, check reviews and talk to your group to see what type of thing they would like too. You're going to get a lot of very personal recommendations from here - so here's mine:

I would not recommend Rise of Tiamat, as the first book (Horde of the Dragon Quen) is not very good.

Lost Mine of Phandelver needs some DM attention but is a nice introduction to 5E and the Sword Coast. It might make a good starting point for Out of the Abyss (see RoD).

I hear that Princes of the Apocalypse is good, but very dungeon-crawl based. I've also heard good things about Rage of Demons, if you like demons and the Underdark (me not so much).

I found Primeval Thule to be a lot of fun and feels very fresh - but your players will need to really buy into the Conan style swords and sorcery.

My favourite 5E product so far is Curse of Strahd. Your Call of Cthulu experience will probably serve you well with that, as it is a very dangerous campaign for PCs that rewards caution and the willingness to make deals with monsters. It is well written and I can't wait to run it.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Tony Vargas]

Some background: have been playing PF and 5e for the last year as a player only. Returned to TTRPGs after a 25 year hiatus...in the 80s, I plaved 1e, 2e, and Call of Cthulhu and was primarily a DM. So looking forward to getting back to that.

You should have no trouble. The DMing skills/instincts that you developed running AD&D will serve you well in 5e. A passing familiarity with 3.x/PF won't hurt, either. As a player, you should already be comfortable with the similarities.

Wouldn't say I have a ton of time to spend crafting a world, so I am looking for suggestions on published adventures. Which I could tweak as I grew more comfortable.

WotC has a sort of 'first adventure syndrome' going, so I'd stay away from HotDQ, for sure. Aside from that, pick one that is of interest to you and/or your players. Curse of Strahd seems pretty cool, if you were in the least into Ravenloft back in the day, it should be fun.

I'd like to create a campaign with an over-arching story as opposed to a series of one-shots. Would love to see characters go from 1-20 but I hear that hardly ever happens so not holding my breath.

The official adventures have been 'adventure path' style, covering 1-14 or so over two books.

I know WotC has Lost Mines of Phandelver and some hardback books out there - are those any good?

The hardbacks other than Horde of the Dragon Queen are pretty good (even HotDQ isn't that bad after the first chapter or two). They're in two-book sets starting at 1st level, going through to the mid teens, so about what you're looking for.

Anything good out there from 3rd party publishers?

Yes. Technically, even the WotC stuff is sub-contracted.

Ran across the Primevial Thule book for 5e and that looked fun, although online reviews aren't the greatest.

I've heard lots of good things about it. If that's a theme/style that appeals to both you & your players, it could be fun. IIRC, it's not so much an adventure path, though.

Thought about converting Rise of the Runelords as I've heard great things about that (as well as a lot of the PF Adventure Paths), and I know there's some stuff online that's already been done in terms of conversion, but not sure I have the savvy to do the conversion myself.

Converting 3e is not exactly simplicity itself. If you have any old AD&D adventures you could dust off, I've had good luck converting those.

 

[Shiroiken]

I have only ran LMoP, but I strongly encourage you to start here. It's actually a really good adventure, and can be used as a springboard into either your own campaign or one of the other published adventures.

I have heard (at best) mediocre things about Tyranny of Dragons. I read the first chapter and quickly decided against it. From what I understand, it takes a lot of existing Realms knowledge to make it worthwhile.

I know several DMs that have run at least part of Princes of the Apocalypse, and they've all praised it. When I looked it over, I saw a few flaws in the way I run games (players are supposed to clear out part of dungeons, then return later to clear out the rest... without the lower level enemies apparently aware of the destruction of the upper levels...). Might need a bit of DM modifications to suit your tastes.

I'm currently in an Out of the Abyss game, and I can't say much about it. It seems too railroady, and our actions seem to have little impact on the events (other than our own survival).

I only know 1 DM who has Curse of Strahd. It's more sand-boxy than previous adventures (which is good IMO), but it also only goes to level 10.

Whatever you choose, best of luck to you (and welcome back to the DM club )

 

[jayoungr]

Lost Mine of Phandelver is an excellent starter adventure. I highly recommend beginning there.

The Tyranny of Dragons series (Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat) gets a bad rap on this board, but my group has been having a blast with it for the past year. It's not for every table, but those who like it will love it. I recommend this review to help you decide whether it's for your table.

The other adventures all seem pretty highly regarded, so really, it comes down to what kind of story your group likes.

Travel, investigation, diplomacy, dragons, and clear objectives? Tyranny of Dragons.
Evil lurking under a face of normality, and a truly giant multilayered dungeon? Princes of the Apocalypse.
Madness, claustrophobia, dark humor, and demon lords? Out of the Abyss.
Gothic horror and replayability? Curse of Strahd.

II have heard (at best) mediocre things about Tyranny of Dragons. I read the first chapter and quickly decided against it. From what I understand, it takes a lot of existing Realms knowledge to make it worthwhile.

EDIT to add: I wouldn't judge the whole campaign by that first chapter. It's meant to be action-packed and start the campaign off with a bang, but there's really nothing else like that sequence in the rest of the adventure. It's also very skippable, if you don't like it; you can have the PCs arrive in Greenest right after the attack and start them in on chapter 2. As for existing Realms knowledge, that's a plus, but not a must. I knew next to nothing about the Realms going in, for instance.

 

[S'mon]

For a new GM I would recommend starting with an episodic feel with a series of episodic adventures - which can be changed/amended according to player activity in earlier adventures, stated preference etc - growing over time towards an epic confrontation. I would therefore tend not to recommend an AP, which in my experience take a lot of practice to use well. The big risk with an AP is that players feel shuttled down a pre-set path with no real input. They can also place a heavy burden on the GM in understanding how it all fits together, though more episodic APs like my current Shattered Star one mitigate this.

The Primeval Thule campaign setting book is excellent IMO and would be a good basis for such an open campaign. It has adventures in it, but you can also drop in many published dungeon adventures as-is; Goodman Games stuff fits the swords & sorcery flavour but I wasn't impressed by the one GG 5e adventure I bought. Lost Mine of Phandelver would need some conversion to give a Thule feel - goblinoids become Beastmen or savages, use a Thulean dragon not the regular green dragon etc. I would generally think it easiest to use the adventures in the Thule setting book plus the NPCs, monsters etc, give the players choice in what to do, riff off that, and prep a few extra encounters you bring each week that you can always throw in if unsure what to do - "Bandits Attack!" Think about what excites you most, think of a villain or group with long term plans, and start introducing them over time. As your skills develop you can create your own adventures, following the DMG guidelines on monsters and treasure. You can draw your own maps or get free ones online; Dyson Logos' site is particularly great - https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/maps/. He has adventures too - something like
Challenge of the Frog Idol would convert easy to 5e (has Classic D&D stats) & work great with Primeval Thule - https://rpgcharacters.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/dyson-logos-challenge-of-the-frog-idol.pdf -
and if you like his stuff then Dyson's Delves I & II are available for purchase.

Alternately you could use a WoTC Adventure Path as your basuis, but keep it as sandboxy as possible. I think Princes of the Apocalypse might be the easiest for this but I'm not familiar enough with them to say for sure.

The main trick is to present a living world and give the players plenty of freedom of action. A good campaign setting book like the 5e Primeval Thule one supports this; APs rarely do.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Welcome to En World! Have some startup XP.

If you are comfortable running 1E then after reading the basic rules for 5E, you should be ready to run a game.

I highly recommend Lost Mine of Phandelver as a starter adventure. Its a great little sandbox area to explore and there is a bit of plot to get involved with but no so much that it smothers exploration based play if that is what you are after.

I don't have any firsthand experience with any of the other published 5E adventures as I have been running old classic D&D adventures for 5E along with some homebrew stuff.

 

[Quickleaf]

Wouldn't say I have a ton of time to spend crafting a world, so I am looking for suggestions on published adventures. Which I could tweak as I grew more comfortable.

Have you checked out Merric's excellent list of 5e adventures by level?

https://merricb.com/dungeons-dragons-5e/dungeons-dragons-5e-adventures-by-level/

There's some good third party stuff out there!

 

[CrusaderX]

Another great link from Merric:

https://merricb.com/2015/09/03/what-to-play-after-finishing-the-dd-starter-set/

I would definitely recommend Lost Mine of Phandelver, then continue on to one of the other 5e adventure books. The link above should help.

As mentioned, Horde of the Dragon Queen gets alot of flak, but that's mostly due to the first few chapters. But if you start with Lost Mine and continue on to Horde, you can skip those problematic chapters.

Chris Perkins, like Merric above, also mentions doing this:

http://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/02/03/how-would-you-adapt-the-tiamat-campaign-starting-at-level-5/