D&D 5E New DM Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Hello all! Been doing RPG for a few months now and have decided to try my hand at being a DM, starting with the Hoard of the Dragon Queen for 5th Edition. Aside from general tips for DMing, can anyone give any advice on running this adventure specifically? (I also plan to do a test run with fellow DM's so they can give me advice on the way I run.)

Personally, I would not recommend you run this as your very first adventure. I'd start with something like Lost Mine of Phandelver from the Starter Set. It actually gives you advice on how to DM.

Hoard is a tricky adventure to run, and it contains a number of elements that could catch a new DM off-guard and potentially result in a TPK.


EDIT: If you are intent upon running Hoard, then I would suggest taking a look at the changes I made to it when I ran it. You can find them here my Tyranny of Dragons thread.

Jacob Gargus said:

Hello all! Been doing RPG for a few months now and have decided to try my hand at being a DM, starting with the Hoard of the Dragon Queen for 5th Edition. Aside from general tips for DMing, can anyone give any advice on running this adventure specifically? (I also plan to do a test run with fellow DM's so they can give me advice on the way I run.)

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I agree with [MENTION=54629]pukunui[/MENTION], though less so on how much help LMoP gives a DM

Also check out the "best threads" thread as it has links to many useful things.

This may help:

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/188928/A-Guide-to-Tyranny-of-Dragons

pukunui said:

Personally, I would not recommend you run this as your very first adventure. I'd start with something like Lost Mine of Phandelver from the Starter Set. It actually gives you advice on how to DM.

Hoard is a tricky adventure to run, and it contains a number of elements that could catch a new DM off-guard and potentially result in a TPK.


EDIT: If you are intent upon running Hoard, then I would suggest taking a look at the changes I made to it when I ran it. You can find them here my Tyranny of Dragons thread.

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This is the polite version.

Hoard is a poor AP with some really whacked out encounters early on. Its also very rail roaded the plot is also meh at best, and overall it is one of the worst AP type adventures WoTC and Paizo for example have produced (not all of the Pathfinder APs are that good either most if not all are better than HotSDQ).

Lost Mines of Phandelver is very good, Princes of the Apocalypse is very good, Out of the Abyss is good but I would not recommend that for a new DM, Curse of Strahd I hear is good, Storm Kings Thunder is a but meh but still better than HotDQ.

Some of the apologists might try and claim that HotDQ got screwed by last minute changes to the rules which is kinda true. It explains it doesn't excuse it. HotDQ is just bad on multiple levels.

It is a pretty confused adventure 'off the shelf,' but it can still be fun.

Check out these two threads beforehand - lots of great tips on alterations to make the story go a bit better.
HotDQ http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...en-quot-(Practical-stuff-to-try-at-your-table!)

RoT http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...at-quot-(Practical-stuff-to-try-at-your-table!)

Jacob Gargus said:

Hello all! Been doing RPG for a few months now and have decided to try my hand at being a DM, starting with the Hoard of the Dragon Queen for 5th Edition. Aside from general tips for DMing, can anyone give any advice on running this adventure specifically? (I also plan to do a test run with fellow DM's so they can give me advice on the way I run.)

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Are the players you eventually plan to run the adventure for new players, veteran players, or a mix/somewhere in between?

If they're new, then don't be afraid to keep things simpler, and err on the side of caution. The opening chapter in Greenest...keep encounters to a minimum and don't be afraid to give them a little more support than the book suggests if needed. This section can easily be overwhelming to a group, which is kind of what it's supposed to be, but if the players are new then it may be too much.

Also the travel portion...when they are on the caravan heading north later in the book...focus on a few of the subplots, and don't be afraid to drop others. Whatever your players seem to take an interest in, focus on that. Don't waste time fleshing out NPCs or plots that don't seem likely to interest them.

Finally, do milestone leveling rather than XP. Less to track, and the PCs will be the correct level for each stage of the adventure.

Jacob Gargus said:

Hello all! Been doing RPG for a few months now and have decided to try my hand at being a DM, starting with the Hoard of the Dragon Queen for 5th Edition. Aside from general tips for DMing, can anyone give any advice on running this adventure specifically? (I also plan to do a test run with fellow DM's so they can give me advice on the way I run.)

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G'day, Jacob, and good luck!

Despite the people around here who don't like the adventure, I've now run it three times and had a lot of fun with it each time. I've got a few notes about running it on my website (https://merricb.com/adventure-reports-advice/), and - especially if you have the latest edition of the text with the errata - you should be fine. I see you've found the thread here with discussions on running it as well... that should give you a lot to think about!

It isn't really written for new DMs, but given I've seen new DMs run it really well, that's not an indicator of how it'll go.

The first time I ran it, my players were all pretty new to role-playing and to this edition of D&D. In the later campaigns, I was playing with more experienced players and they found the opening section a lot easier... though not too easy. I confess I killed three PCs in one encounter because they were entirely too foolhardy in their actions; staying to fight when they could have ran, and they had the opportunity to run!

Both Hoard and Rise have a structure that allow a wide range of adventure types; each chapter shows a different way of playing D&D. It's not just one huge dungeon area; there's role-playing, exploration and combat.

I do strongly advise using the Milestone system. The adventures are written with that in mind, and don't work as well when you use XP. (All three times I've used XP, but that's because I was running them as part of the D&D Adventurers League, and milestones weren't an option. Use Milestones!)

The adventure is actually pretty open to how you approach each section. The overall path is linear, but within each chapter, the players can attempt a lot of stuff. As a DM, you're likely going to want to enable their wild ideas, because it'll be a lot more fun for everyone.

Cheers!

One other thing: Don't be afraid to add things to the adventure. It doesn't lay everything down in stone; it gives you a good starting place, but there are lots of things you can do to enhance it. Just pay attention to what your players are enjoying and enhance those bits!

Cheers!

I also think it's a great adventure.

If they are new players how well they do will depend on how they approach the game. If they think they have plot armour because they are the characters and use fighting to solve all problems they're probably not going to last long.

The adventure incorporates all 3 pillars; combat, social interaction, and exploration and this has rubbed some people the wrong way.

Hoard is a tricky adventure to run, and it contains a number of elements that could catch a new DM off-guard and potentially result in a TPK.

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As a side note, TPKs (total party kills) or individual character deaths are not necessarily anyone's fault or a bad thing. They are part of the story. The point is to have fun which could include characters dying heroically.