D&D 5E Red Hand of Doom + Rise of Tiamat + Scales of War

[jayoungr]

It's been some time since I looked at it, and I never read the full level 1-30 campaign, but it's about the cosmological war between Tiamat/chromatics and Bahamut/metallics as they were split from the single dragon god. It ends with the party hunting down Tiamat in a giant dungeon complex and taking down a bunch of ancient dragons (one of each color) and also solving puzzles.

Tiamat kills Bahamut, the PCs resurrect Bahamut and defeat Tiamat's armies, Bahamut sends the PCs to her domain in the midst of her forces abandoning her and while she is preoccupied trying to prevent that. The PCs must defeat 5 ancient dragons (brood mothers) scattered throughout her dungeon lair to gain access to her throne room and then battle her on a floating island with a nasty fall/trap if your knocked off.

(and @jimmythecomic)

That sounds interesting. Looking on DrivethruRPG, it looks like this adventure is scattered across several issues of Dungeon magazine. Which ones would you recommend reading to get the finale of the adventure?

 

[Rellott]

That's what I was starting to look into (a long time ago when I first had this idea), but I never quite figured it out. Obviously the last one - it's where you go storm Tiamat's fortress, kill a bunch of dragons and then her. I never figured out how many leading into that I needed because I got distracted and said "I've got time to figure that out later" (which is still totally true). I'll look back into it this weekend if someone else doesn't have some good ideas.

 

[dave2008]

(and @jimmythecomic)

That sounds interesting. Looking on DrivethruRPG, it looks like this adventure is scattered across several issues of Dungeon magazine. Which ones would you recommend reading to get the finale of the adventure?

How far back do you want to go? Dungeon 170-175 are the "Epic" (lvl 21-30) of the adventure. The final final adventure with Brood Mothers and Tiamat is all in 175 I believe.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

This is a great campaign idea. I have problems with each of these adventure paths, even though they have great parts. Cherrypicking the best of each is a good solution. I think the suggestion to add Sunless Citadel is smart, too.

 

[dave2008]

That's what I was starting to look into (a long time ago when I first had this idea), but I never quite figured it out. Obviously the last one - it's where you go storm Tiamat's fortress, kill a bunch of dragons and then her. I never figured out how many leading into that I needed because I got distracted and said "I've got time to figure that out later" (which is still totally true). I'll look back into it this weekend if someone else doesn't have some good ideas.

Dungeon 174 takes place in the City of Brass so the adventure mentioned elsewhere in this thread (from the DMs Guild) that ends in the City of Brass would be a good tie-in.

 

[jimmytheccomic]

(and @jimmythecomic)

That sounds interesting. Looking on DrivethruRPG, it looks like this adventure is scattered across several issues of Dungeon magazine. Which ones would you recommend reading to get the finale of the adventure?

So here's the story arc sections from it I'd want to run, although I realize it needs some heavy modification to blend well with "Rise of Tiamat"- I'll need to find places to add some foreshadowing so it's not whiplash.

-Betrayal at Mondahan/Grasp of the Mantled Citadel is a two part adventure, where our heroes learn how Tiamat killed Bahamat

-Legacy of Io/Those Once Loyal is a two part adventure where they bring Bahamat back to life. This is a bit tricky, because it involves his essence going into an NPC they should be super fond of by this point, it seems like she should be brought into Rise somehow, and also planejump with them, could be tricky.

-Test of Fire is a huge battle in the City of Brass

-Terror of Tiamat is the big dungeon crawl/final battle.

Lot of cool stuff, but the transition from "Rise" to "Scales" seems trickier than the transition from "Red Hand" to "Rise".

 

[jayoungr]

Thanks, @dave2008 and @jimmythecomic! I've ordered the relevant issues of Dungeon and am downloading them as we speak. (According to DrivethruRPG, the title of the last adventure in Dungeon #175 is "The Last Breath of Tiamat," by the way.)

I also found this blog, which may be of use, although they're only at the paragon tier so far. It has some useful thoughts on converting skill challenges and the like.

https://5escalesofwar.wordpress.com/

 

[jimmytheccomic]

I was playing around with what to do with the characters for the first few levels- "Sunless Citadel" is a fun idea, but I sort of want the Haunted Keep in "Red Hand" to be their first full dungeon crawl. Came up with some inspiration.

"Burnt Offerings" from "Rise of the Runelords" adventure path can work great! In the beginning, Goblins attack the consecration ceremony of a new chapel- I'll be making it a church of Bahamut! One of the plot threads of the module is investigating why normally disparate goblin tribes are working together; the solution here will be the leadership of the Red Hand. The "local heroes" section of the story the players get to know Brindol a bit better, so that'll raise the stakes of the climax a bit.

So, for those of you playing along at home, my current campaign structure is looking like:

Modified "Rise of the Runlords: Burnt Offerings"
First Four Chapters of "Red Hand of Doom" (With homebrew material that plays up the sandbox element)
The Cloud Castle from "Hoard of the Dragon Queen"
The "Frozen Castle" module expansion from Kobold Press/DMs Guild
"Rise of Tiamat", with additional homebrewed missions (It needs some urban mysteries, and by then we'll spend some time following up character specific hooks)
"Dead in Thay" as a Megadungeon section of the campaign- Severin will be a lich in my game, and a phylactory here will allow the players to kill him
"Rise of Tiamat" final temple battle, with a final boss other than an aspect of Tiamat- either a Tiamat spawn, or Bel. Hopefully the players will really be gunning for Severin at this point as well.
"Palace of the Red Pasha" DMs guild adventure
Some homebrew material to help segue into Scales
The last six adventures of "Scales of War"

I think this will be a pretty cracking campaign!

 

[dave2008]

I was playing around with what to do with the characters for the first few levels- "Sunless Citadel" is a fun idea, but I sort of want the Haunted Keep in "Red Hand" to be their first full dungeon crawl. Came up with some inspiration.

"Burnt Offerings" from "Rise of the Runelords" adventure path can work great! In the beginning, Goblins attack the consecration ceremony of a new chapel- I'll be making it a church of Bahamut! One of the plot threads of the module is investigating why normally disparate goblin tribes are working together; the solution here will be the leadership of the Red Hand. The "local heroes" section of the story the players get to know Brindol a bit better, so that'll raise the stakes of the climax a bit.

So, for those of you playing along at home, my current campaign structure is looking like:

Modified "Rise of the Runlords: Burnt Offerings"
First Four Chapters of "Red Hand of Doom" (With homebrew material that plays up the sandbox element)
The Cloud Castle from "Hoard of the Dragon Queen"
The "Frozen Castle" module expansion from Kobold Press/DMs Guild
"Rise of Tiamat", with additional homebrewed missions (It needs some urban mysteries, and by then we'll spend some time following up character specific hooks)
"Dead in Thay" as a Megadungeon section of the campaign- Severin will be a lich in my game, and a phylactory here will allow the players to kill him
"Rise of Tiamat" final temple battle, with a final boss other than an aspect of Tiamat- either a Tiamat spawn, or Bel. Hopefully the players will really be gunning for Severin at this point as well.
"Palace of the Red Pasha" DMs guild adventure
Some homebrew material to help segue into Scales
The last six adventures of "Scales of War"

I think this will be a pretty cracking campaign!

Sounds great! FYI, if you go with Bel, you might want to use my beefed up "elite" pit fiend over here: Hardcore Fiends With 15th level PCs, a typical pit fiend will not be much of a threat.

 

[jayoungr]

"Burnt Offerings" from "Rise of the Runelords" adventure path can work great! In the beginning, Goblins attack the consecration ceremony of a new chapel- I'll be making it a church of Bahamut!

A suggestion: make it kobolds instead of goblins. The Cult of the Dragon regularly uses kobolds as their low-level flunkies; they show up on Skyreach Castle, for instance.