D&D 5E 5e's underwhelming releases

[was]

At this point, I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen. I'm just hoping for the best.

 

[Evhelm]

I started my group with Legacy of the Crystal Shard, and although it was during the playtest stage, I still think it's a great adventure for the official 5E and should be very easy to use. It's not perfect, and I did find a few things I would have liked different (more dungeons, a few plot gaps), but overall it's a great, sandbox adventure. It just required the DM to read through the whole thing a few times. Also, make a calendar of events that are supposed to happen. I can send you mine if you like. It helps.

But I'd still prefer LMoP to introduce a group to. It's also a great adventure.

This is very encouraging! I actually started a thread over how up-to-date the playtest material was (for similar reasons). Do you think it would be a good romp for a first time DM but long-time player?

You know what's funny is the playtest adventures were, on average, pretty darn good. I wish they'd come out with an official conversion from Next to 5e for those three adventures.

This.

Why don't we see home brewed adventures posted to enworld?

In another age, I'd have jumped to try my hand at this. Is there no one braver, more foolhardy, more time-filled who could tackle this challenge? We need a hero!

As a noob who is about to DM for a group of noob players, I want to see quality 5E modules. I have talked to some of the players individually, and that seems to be the general consensus among them as well.

This.

They all seem (so far) to be happy with the choices available to them, so I don't feel there's an immediate need for supplements to the PHB, just some quality adventure modules to run.

Agreed. Even my min-maxing player seems content with the progression of his Paladin.

Initially, I had planned to run the starter box (with pre-gen characters), then have everyone roll up their characters and run through HotDQ and TRoT. After reading so much negative about HotDQ, I am really starting to think that this may not be the best way to go.

Perhaps the commercial versions of Murder in Baldur's Gate and Legacy of the Crystal Shard would suit us better, but I am not 100% sure these have been completely updated to play with 5E with no conversion needed on my part.

I can definitely recommend LMoP. My players had a good time with it. It's not perfect, but it's very open and offers a lot of exposure to what it seems will be the 5e "feel."

So far, I'm enjoying HotDQ--and my players are too. I transferred them over after the end of LMoP without changing much of anything (I just added an encounter in between and dropped a note on an NPC in Thundertree). I am definitely feeling some of the gripe-worthy issues with it, but I feel like I'm competent to handle those problems. I'm not sure it's a great thing for a first time DM, but I think it's still a worthy path for a first time 5e DM who has some confidence/experience GM'ing anything else.

 

[painted_klown]

I started my group with Legacy of the Crystal Shard, and although it was during the playtest stage, I still think it's a great adventure for the official 5E and should be very easy to use. It's not perfect, and I did find a few things I would have liked different (more dungeons, a few plot gaps), but overall it's a great, sandbox adventure. It just required the DM to read through the whole thing a few times. Also, make a calendar of events that are supposed to happen. I can send you mine if you like. It helps. (I went ahead and just posted the calendars below in case you run LoTCS.)

But I'd still prefer LMoP to introduce a group to. It's also a great adventure.

Thanks for the maps. I downloaded them for future use.

We have 100% decided to run the starter box first and foremost. We all agree since we are new, then it's probably the best way to break all of us in. I am thrilled to see so many positive reviews for this adventure.

The debate, is where to go from there. Initially, we had planned to do HotDQ, but after talking a bit about it today, one of the players really wants to do modules instead. Honestly, I am kind of glad that's they way the players are leaning. From all of the reports that it's (HotDQ) not the best adventure for new DMs, it's almost a sigh of relief to know I may not have to work though that book. LOL!

Ultimately, I will run whatever the group thinks will be best, but the easier to run the adventure is, the more excited I am about running it, at least until I feel I am experienced enough (as a DM) to tackle more ambitious adventures/modules.


EDIT: For clarity

 

[DaveMage]

You folks must read a lot faster than I do.

I'm still digesting the Core 3 - and probably won't finish fully reading them until the end of January.

That said, I know there's a book of player options coming out in 3-4 months. I would also expect that we will see Monster Manual 2 next year.

I disagree that we need adventures, although the next official one is due out in 3-4 months as well. WotC isn't making adventures - those are being farmed out. Also, a couple of third parties are already jumping in (Goodman Games, Frog God Games, etc.).

This would be my wish list for the next 5 books:

1. Character options book. I *love* the way that kits are integrated into the base classes in 5E. This is probably my favorite feature of the entire edition. There are many, many kits/prestige classes from prior editions that I'd like to see.
2. Monster Manual 2.
3. Book of Demon Lords/Devils, etc. fully stated up.
4. Book of (more) magic spells and treasure.
5. Monster Manual 3

As for adventures, there are so, so many out there that I think conversion is better way to go then having WotC create new ones. (Conversion gets much easier as more monster manuals are released.)

 

[machineelf]

The debate, is where to go from there.

I've thought about what I would do if I started a new group at level 1 right now. (My group of players is at level 9, and I've had to convert a lot of classic adventures, and that's going well.)

What I would do is start them with LMoP, and then when they are done with that and around level 5, I'd run them through Madness at Gardmore Abbey. I think it's about the right level after converting to 5th edition. Until more specifically 5th edition adventures come out, I'm pretty much forced to create my own or convert older adventures.

 

[Schmoe]

If we could get a decent set of conversion rules for older adventures (1e-3e, or even BECM), I'd be happy as a clam. I have dozens of modules I'd love to run but didn't get the chance. Caverns of Thracia, I'm looking at you.

 

[Nebulous]

Thanks for the maps. I downloaded them for future use.

We have 100% decided to run the starter box first and foremost. We all agree since we are new, then it's probably the best way to break all of us in. I am thrilled to see so many positive reviews for this adventure.

The debate, is where to go from there. Initially, we had planned to do HotDQ, but after talking a bit about it today, one of the players really wants to do modules instead. Honestly, I am kind of glad that's they way the players are leaning. From all of the reports that it's (HotDQ) not the best adventure for new DMs, it's almost a sigh of relief to know I may not have to work though that book. LOL!

Ultimately, I will run whatever the group thinks will be best, but the easier to run the adventure is, the more excited I am about running it, at least until I feel I am experienced enough (as a DM) to tackle more ambitious adventures/modules.


EDIT: For clarity

You really cannot go wrong with the starter set adventure. I have a thread on the board where I post each session as a story, including game photos and extra pictures (it's a long time hobby of mine, turning sessions into little stories). Read them if you want, it will give you a feel for the flow, and show how many different directions the same story can go with different groups.

 

[Nebulous]

If we could get a decent set of conversion rules for older adventures (1e-3e, or even BECM), I'd be happy as a clam. I have dozens of modules I'd love to run but didn't get the chance. Caverns of Thracia, I'm looking at you.

100%. We have 40 YEARS of modules to pick from, we don't necessarily need new and shiny, just the ease of conversion, which is really just monster stat blocks and NPCs and encounter tweaks.

 

[Nebulous]

I disagree that we need adventures, although the next official one is due out in 3-4 months as well. WotC isn't making adventures - those are being farmed out. Also, a couple of third parties are already jumping in (Goodman Games, Frog God Games, etc.).

This would be my wish list for the next 5 books:

1. Character options book. I *love* the way that kits are integrated into the base classes in 5E. This is probably my favorite feature of the entire edition. There are many, many kits/prestige classes from prior editions that I'd like to see.
2. Monster Manual 2.
3. Book of Demon Lords/Devils, etc. fully stated up.
4. Book of (more) magic spells and treasure.
5. Monster Manual 3

As for adventures, there are so, so many out there that I think conversion is better way to go then having WotC create new ones. (Conversion gets much easier as more monster manuals are released.)

I'm very excited about Frog God's impending release of a Monster Manual, Spellbook and Adventure Module for 5e. January I think is the expected release.

 

[KarinsDad]

100%. We have 40 YEARS of modules to pick from, we don't necessarily need new and shiny, just the ease of conversion, which is really just monster stat blocks and NPCs and encounter tweaks.

I'm thinking that it's not really that hard to convert as is.

A lot of material is extremely similar to 1E and 2E. For example, it'll take all of a minute to come up with an equation to convert THAC0 to AC and once you have that equation, it doesn't change.