D&D 5E (2014) Best and worst of 5E

[Xenonnonex]

Thanks. I know lots of people admire that sparse approach to the maps, but I absolutely hate it.

I also hate them. Mike Schley all the way or none at all.

 

[Nebulous]

I also hate them. Mike Schley all the way or none at all.

I'll add, since the thread is Best and Worst, I think that downgrading to the simplistic maps is the worst thing 5th edition has done. Mike's maps were works of art, utterly astounding.

 

[Mistwell]

What did you find bad about CoS? I was thinking of getting it.

You should get Curse of Strahd. It's the best WOTC adventure for 5e. It may be a top 5 all time adventure.

 

[R_J_K75]

Thanks. I know lots of people admire that sparse approach to the maps, but I absolutely hate it.

Im with you, I dont even know why I hate his B&W maps but I just do. Some are OK but the majority are just ugly.

 

[R_J_K75]

I'll add, since the thread is Best and Worst, I think that downgrading to the simplistic maps is the worst thing 5th edition has done. Mike's maps were works of art, utterly astounding.

The poster map of Waterdeep Dragon Heist was ridiculously useless. The ones for Dungeon of the Mad Mage werent much better. I was so disappointed in both.

 

[Shiroiken]

I'm going to ignore the core 3, because those are pretty important. They all have some issues, but they are also the framework for the game we love. I'm also going to only including books I've actually read (I never read HotDQ, because I've heard such terrible things about it)

Favorite: XGtE, because it was a massive crunch release for both players and DMs at the right time for such material to be added to the game.

Honorable Mention: GoS, because I love Greyhawk and it does a good job capturing the feeling of it. Saltmarsh is exceptionally interesting, and I already liked several of the adventures, plus it gave greate suggestions on how to incoporate TftYP adventures.

Worst: GGtR, because I'm just not that interested in the setting. Most of the crunch didn't seem very portable to my setting, so I really have no use for it at all.

 

[Nebulous]

Im with you, I dont even know why I hate his B&W maps but I just do. Some are OK but the majority are just ugly.

I agree, they're ugly. In sharp contrast to otherwise well illustrated full color books. I didn't mind so much in 1982 when everything was black and white and crappy looking, but they've been printing full color battlemaps since 3rd edition. I would really like to know what WotC design rationale was to go back to that old map style.

 

[R_J_K75]

I agree, they're ugly. In sharp contrast to otherwise well illustrated full color books. I didn't mind so much in 1982 when everything was black and white and crappy looking, but they've been printing full color battlemaps since 3rd edition. I would really like to know what WotC design rationale was to go back to that old map style.

I really miss the old poster maps that came with the 2E boxed sets and 3E books. One thing that always boggled my mind was the map from Spellbound, IIRC it was 2 maps that fit together diagonally. Strange.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Best: Curse of Strahd. Because it takes quite possibly one of my top three adventures of all time and expands it out fantastically, in my opinion. I almost never run adventures more than once, but this is one of the few I'd love to run again with a new group.

Worst: Out of the Abyss. Because I little to no interest in either demons or the Underdark. But granted, my answer is probably cheating because I've never actually read the adventure and thus as a usable document its probably great. But how great of an adventure it is, is unfortunately lost on me if I just don't care about the location or plots within it.

 

[Charlaquin]

I also hate them. Mike Schley all the way or none at all.

I prefer the Dyson Logos maps for in-person play, and the Mike Schley maps for online play with VTT. The black and white utilitarian maps are easy to transfer to a wet erase battle mat, but on a VTT they’re far too sparse to be interesting, and can be a little unclear.