D&D 5E Can You Run Princes of the Apocalypse With Basic?

[Jester David]

They had a free content PDF released with Tyranny of Dragons to allow you to run Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat without the MM. I don't recall seeing one for the newest adventure book. So does it only use monsters included in the book and the Basic rules?
Can you run the storyline with just the free PDFs supplied by WotC?

 

[Grimstaff]

I believe that's the intention. As with Rise of Tiamat, I'd expect the pdf on the official street release date next week.

 

[JeffB]

I asked last week and smeone here kindly asked Mearls. Its planned but no "street date" of when they will make it available. I cancelled my pre-order , and will wait until they get their stuff together.

 

[Jester David]

Hrm. Another potential casulty of jury duty? Unfortunate. We'll see....

 

[Cadriel]

Unless the PDF they are putting together has a lot of spells, the cultists and monsters have a lot of magic that's not in the Basic PDFs. The book explicitly says that it is for use with the PHB, DMG and MM.

 

[CapnZapp]

Unless the PDF they are putting together has a lot of spells, the cultists and monsters have a lot of magic that's not in the Basic PDFs. The book explicitly says that it is for use with the PHB, DMG and MM.

How is that relevant?

The book rightly says it needs the core books. It does this precisely it does not come bundled with the planned PDF that will allow the book to be used with basic only.

If I were WotC, I would plan to release such a PDF only a few weeks after the book is released. I would actively want the freeriders to feel a bit of pain, so some of them fold and buys the core three.

 

[Grimstaff]

I would actively want the freeriders to feel a bit of pain, so some of them fold and buys the core three.

I would not characterize fans of "Basic-only" DnD as "freeriders".

I also would not think WotC would characterize anyone interested in buying their $50 adventure a "freerider" either.

I'm not sure you've thought this through...

 

[Cadriel]

How is that relevant?

It's an answer to the speculation above it about a monster PDF, which wouldn't be useful unless it also contained the spells that aren't in Basic. I don't see that happening, and I wouldn't count on running PotA without the PHB/DMG/MM.

 

[CapnZapp]

It's an answer to the speculation above it about a monster PDF, which wouldn't be useful unless it also contained the spells that aren't in Basic. I don't see that happening, and I wouldn't count on running PotA without the PHB/DMG/MM.

But since this is exactly what Mearls has promised, I disagree

 

[Iosue]

It's an answer to the speculation above it about a monster PDF, which wouldn't be useful unless it also contained the spells that aren't in Basic. I don't see that happening, and I wouldn't count on running PotA without the PHB/DMG/MM.

The current WotC sales model is that every adventure gets a PDF or two so that people who only use the Basic Rules can run it without the PHB, MM, or DMG. The spells and races used in PotA are already covered by the Player's Companion. That leaves monsters and magic items. I confirmed with Mike Mearls via twitter that there will be another PDF, for DMs running PotA with the Basic Rules, that will contain the monsters and magic items needed. As suggested above, it will likely drop around the same time as the adventure is fully released. Mearls was non-committal on a date, but I chalk that up to not wanting to be nailed down to a specific day, just in case the PDF is not quite ready to go.