D&D General Best "out of the box" ready to run adventures/modules?

[Nebulous]

Loved running CoS. But that did involve me working hard for 2 weeks to prep it using Reddit forums for help. But there is some great help out there. Worth the investment of time.

I LOVE Curse of Strahd, it's the most intricate and flavorful of all the 5e campaigns I've seen so far. But as you mention, the prep to run it properly is bonkers. I'm also using Reddit walkthroughs to help. And doing it on Roll20 allows me to easily add maps above and beyond what the core book comes with, so that's an additional prep step. And some of the artwork I don't like, for instance, for Izek Strazni, but a quick Google search finds art much better. If you're gonna have an NPC with a giant demon hand, please make that obvious in the picture.

 

[Nebulous]

Wasn't part of the original post's requirements (My game group and I have decided we want to spend 4 hours online once a week to be bored out of our skulls. Most of the time, the DM spends looking up what's actually happening in the room, the rest of the time we argue about how far back we need to retcon in order for any of this to make sense. It's great. No really. I'm just conflicted because my brother asked me to come over to help him watch paint dry, and I don't want to let my game group down.)

I really loved PotA, and we got all the way to the end. My players never complained about it, but I knew when to switch things up and not go by the book. I have fond memories of this session, on the big stone bridge....

Box

And this one


Box

But Princes is absolutely not the best out of the box. I still vote LMoP for that.

 

[BenTheFerg]

I LOVE Curse of Strahd, it's the most intricate and flavorful of all the 5e campaigns I've seen so far. But as you mention, the prep to run it properly is bonkers. I'm also using Reddit walkthroughs to help. And doing it on Roll20 allows me to easily add maps above and beyond what the core book comes with, so that's an additional prep step. And some of the artwork I don't like, for instance, for Izek Strazni, but a quick Google search finds art much better. If you're gonna have an NPC with a giant demon hand, please make that obvious in the picture.

I was also aided listening to the excellent podcasts by Red Moon Roleplaying on the CoS too.

Running games today is so much easier than ever! So many extra sources of help and inspiration out there if you look/ dig.

 

[Nebulous]

I was also aided listening to the excellent podcasts by Red Moon Roleplaying on the CoS too.

Running games today is so much easier than ever! So many extra sources of help and inspiration out there if you look/ dig.

If you wait! I found some brand spanking new animated MP4 art on a patreon for CoS, and that only came out years later. I used this last session, and holy crap did it set the mood.


But yes, the online resources to change, supplement, enhance the core games are astounding, but it takes homework.

 

[the Jester]

Some early edition adventures work great out of the box, with minimal prep- I'd recommend L1: The Secret of Bone Hill any day.

 

[BenTheFerg]

If you wait! I found some brand spanking new animated MP4 art on a patreon for CoS, and that only came out years later. I used this last session, and holy crap did it set the mood.


But yes, the online resources to change, supplement, enhance the core games are astounding, but it takes homework.

homework yes - but my game I believe was so much better for it. It was a labour of love - but a very enjoyable one.

 

[Weiley31]

Icespire Peak works well but does need a little bit of seasoning added to it to make it a nice meal.

I'm modifying it in bits. For example, I'm changing the Stone Cold Reavers from a group of four, into a small mercenary free company that ends up being the main antagonistic threat to the party. Syleen Wintermoon is the leader refered to as The Pale Maiden and is obsessed with having the Stone Cold Reavers be the first ones to score the kill on Cryovain.

Cryovain the dragon will talk and has an attitude of looking down on "lesser" races.I.E. anything that isn't a dragon.

A number of the pre-gen Sidekicks in it will be sprinkled through out the module. Some can be recruited by the party, and some will outright leave once they exist out of their encounter location. Like Talon who is a gold hungry jerk and dislikes Donna Fiasco's whole unicorn bit. He'll ditch the party once he's freed from the cell he's trapped in with Donna. New ones will be generated and added for RPing needs.

Stuff like that. There may be a prequel sequence where the players control some pre made PCs to show the death of Kras, the previous Orc Chieftan and the awakening of Cryovain/and it making Icespire Castle it's lair.

 

[Nebulous]

Icespire Peak works well but does need a little bit of seasoning added to it to make it a nice meal.

Yes, I stole a few ideas from it, combining the lighthouse, the lumberjack scenario, the woodland manse and the circle of thunder into a little side quest thing. In my campaign, before the pandemic ended it, I was going to have Venomfang and the white dragon pair up and do some serious damage to Phandalin and the NPCs there.

 

[sim-h]

Some early edition adventures work great out of the box, with minimal prep- I'd recommend L1: The Secret of Bone Hill any day.

I had that one, back in the old days. The days before I sold all my AD&D and games stuff first time out...

 

[jayoungr]

anyone made barovia a neighboring country in their campaign world? Made it a country next to the starting box set area?

I LOVE Curse of Strahd, it's the most intricate and flavorful of all the 5e campaigns I've seen so far. But as you mention, the prep to run it properly is bonkers. I'm also using Reddit walkthroughs to help. And doing it on Roll20 allows me to easily add maps above and beyond what the core book comes with, so that's an additional prep step. And some of the artwork I don't like, for instance, for Izek Strazni, but a quick Google search finds art much better. If you're gonna have an NPC with a giant demon hand, please make that obvious in the picture.

Following up on these things over on the CoS thread to avoid derailing this one ...

To get us back on topic, I've heard good things about this adventure, but have never run it:

Heroes of Baldur's Gate (5e) - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Heroes of Baldur's Gate (5e) - From James Ohlen, the lead designer of Baldur's Gate I & II... Sinister forces are moving against the city of Bald

www.dmsguild.com

Has anyone here run it, and if so, do you think it meets the OP's critera?