D&D 5E (2014) Ben Riggs talks to Richard Baker. Phandelver in 2018 alone sold 300k copies.

[Zardnaar]

My "favorite" thing about DiA is that the "flowcharts" are straight up linear poles. Lol.

I and my group had a lot of fun with that adventure, but that is because we just went way over the top. We played it linear, but every scene was a even more ridiculous set piece than the last. I even brought in a squad of Doom Troopers with beam rifles and power armor.

That is to say: DiA was not a great adventure but it was still great fun. So where does that sit?

If you had fun it's a win.

DM skill or changes.

My definition of good or bad adventures is amount of work to name it good.
. DiA has skeleton of something there.

I don't think its a WotC problem. Its so much harder to write a long campaign vs shorter module.

Hence the anthology being an exception to 5E reputations for adventures.

 

[Retros_x]

Ive read it and I dont how people call it the best thing ever. What am I missing? It seemed pretty generic.

I have run it twice and I also think its quite generic. The villain is quite bland and badly introduced. The NPCs are boring for the most part. But the single chapters are good well-designed adventures, I think thats why its quite the good introduction.

My favorite part to run was Thundertree. I read a lot of complaining about the young green dragon in this area, which is way too hard for combat. But I thought its great to introduce enemies that are way too hard to defeat, so players learn to find different approaches than brute force. Unfortunately the adventure was lacking DM guidance in that regard and many new DMs run this as a pure combat encounter, which is a high TPK chance, or remove it from the adventure completely, because they only imagine it as a pure combat encounter and don't want a TPK.

The goblin fortress was also cool IMO.

 

[haakon1]

We are talking about the old starter box adventure right?

Wondering the same.

I missed this back in the day. So what would I buy now if I want to see it now? What’s the right thing to get from Noble Knight or eBay, or is it digital on D&D Beyond or DriveThruRPG? Not sure what to search for.

Explanation: I bought the PHB in 2014, but saw no reason to switch from 3.5e (and my players also didn’t want to), so I didn’t start playing 5e until 2020 (still never DM it, and still am a DM & player of 3.5e).

Also, a former player kept saying he wanted to DM Phandelver in 5e for one of my old groups, so we were under “no spoilers” for years … never happened.

 

[haakon1]

To be clear, "I read it and didn't like it" is fine. "I read it and it is a bad adventure" usually isn't.

Do you ever consider something you ran to be a stinker though?

I’ve read so many more than I run - like I have probably run about 1-2% of the hundreds of adventures in Dungeon Magazine - that if I run something that’s already high praise. And with me as DM running something I think is great - surprisingly, I think the results are great.

What about Adventure Paths, nobody asks? I skip the chapters I think are subpar. Plenty of other adventures to sub in, if you’re like me - running 3.5e, using adventures from Basic, AD&D, 2e, 3e, 3.5e, PF1, and 5e - and maybe someday I’ll convert a 4e as well - there’s never a shortage of good stuff.

Life too short for bad D&D. And good D&D is too numerous to run all the good stuff in a lifetime!

 

[mamba]

So what would I buy now if I want to see it now?

Either find the starter box (used at this point, it is out of print), or the Shattered Obelisk book, the first part is 95% the Lost Mine, with minor adjustments

 

[Zardnaar]

LMoP over is better than say Stormwrack Isle.

I thought SI was the

Do you ever consider something you ran to be a stinker though?

I’ve read so many more than I run - like I have probably run about 1-2% of the hundreds of adventures in Dungeon Magazine - that if I run something that’s already high praise. And with me as DM running something I think is great - surprisingly, I think the results are great.

What about Adventure Paths, nobody asks? I skip the chapters I think are subpar. Plenty of other adventures to sub in, if you’re like me - running 3.5e, using adventures from Basic, AD&D, 2e, 3e, 3.5e, PF1, and 5e - and maybe someday I’ll convert a 4e as well - there’s never a shortage of good stuff.

Life too short for bad D&D. And good D&D is too numerous to run all the good stuff in a lifetime!

I still dig through old Dungeons.

I've got around 500-1000 adventures so can usually spot a good or bad adventure.
Some you do have to run though.

Its very group dependent. Most bad published adventures are really mediocre vs outright bad.

Difference between a good and bad adventure imho is amount of work required to run it or make it better.

Really good adventures you can run as is.

Mediocre to bad you're changing a bit or working harder.

 

[haakon1]

Most bad published adventures are really mediocre vs outright bad.

I’m writing reviews for every adventure in Dungeon, for myself but I’ll eventually release it. 22 issues left.

I rate them like this:
1 No
1.5 No but Plunder (bad adventure but at least 1 good idea, NPC, location, etc. that could be recycled from it - I add Plunder to other reviews without changing the rating if warranted)
2 Weak
2.5 Unlikely (not something that fits my taste, but it could be useful for some campaigns). An example is the 2e adventure with dwarves operating a secret steam train. It has aspects I liked, but I don’t plan to add that tech level to my game.
3 Maybe
3.5 Maybe to Good
4 Yes
4.5 Strong Yes
5 Great

The average so far is ~2.7. So, mostly mediocre, but some far exceed that. In either direction. I mostly agree with Bryce at 10 Ft. Pole - I read his review after I write mine - but occasionally we’ll have drastically different takes.

Difference between a good and bad adventure imho is amount of work required to run it or make it better.

Really good adventures you can run as is.

Mediocre to bad you're changing a bit or working harder.

I always modify a little, sometimes a lot, and often convert across editions, so is it ready for me out of the box isn’t the primary consideration from my POV.

For me, more about is it a good story worth telling - and that can be a lot of different things.

 

[sevenbastard]

every adventure in Dungeon, for myself but I’ll eventually release it. 22 issues left.

I own every dungeon magazine. Neatly filed in my storage bins. Most of the modules are products of the era, but a few gems. Ill read your reviews for sure.

 

[Zardnaar]

I own every dungeon magazine. Neatly filed in my storage bins. Most of the modules are products of the era, but a few gems. Ill read your reviews for sure.

Older ones I kinda look for ones I want to convert. 3.5 are the easiest ones.

Expectations are lower though. Dungeon was cheap, black and white for most of it.

 

[Distracted DM]

I’m writing reviews for every adventure in Dungeon, for myself but I’ll eventually release it. 22 issues left.

I rate them like this:
1 No
1.5 No but Plunder (bad adventure but at least 1 good idea, NPC, location, etc. that could be recycled from it - I add Plunder to other reviews without changing the rating if warranted)
2 Weak
2.5 Unlikely (not something that fits my taste, but it could be useful for some campaigns). An example is the 2e adventure with dwarves operating a secret steam train. It has aspects I liked, but I don’t plan to add that tech level to my game.
3 Maybe
3.5 Maybe to Good
4 Yes
4.5 Strong Yes
5 Great

The average so far is ~2.7. So, mostly mediocre, but some far exceed that. In either direction. I mostly agree with Bryce at 10 Ft. Pole - I read his review after I write mine - but occasionally we’ll have drastically different takes.


I always modify a little, sometimes a lot, and often convert across editions, so is it ready for me out of the box isn’t the primary consideration from my POV.

For me, more about is it a good story worth telling - and that can be a lot of different things.

Quite interested in those reviews!