Parmandur
Book-Friend
Ok, fair enough. One of my players had it and I don't have lots of time to do a homebrew campaign, so I ran it. Are you suggesting I ran things properly?
I've been playing 5e for three or so years and have been finding it to be a less deadly compared to previous editions. It could be that I've had a couple 'story driven' DMs who didn't push combat very hard. Even when I DM one-shots, I've found I've been able to err on the side of more deadly to challenge PCs.
I guess I was just 'trusting' the module for balance but a lot doesn't feel 'right' as I was prepping stuff. I know there's a thread to help 'improve' the module but what's the point of having a module if you have to read a 10-page thread? For me, I run modules to save time and reading piles of threads is just more prep that I don't have time for.
What modules are good? I'm willing to buy a different one. I was thinking of running Storm King's Thunder.
I told them to make new characters. They're all new to D&D so, on the bright side, they've learned the value of retreating and caution.
It's not that HotDQ is horrible, but...it was the first big adventure for 5E, and the DMG encounter guidelines were still in flux when it was published. They actually turned the dial down pretty close to the last minute before the G went out the door. If you break it down, HotDQ is in hard mode according to the published guidelines for encounter building, that the subsequent books adhere to more closely. So, no, it's not just you, this is a bonkers module in terms of difficulty.