D&D 5E DMing "Out of the Abyss"

[Trurl]

This might not be the thread for this, but I'll soon be DMing for a group of people that have largely never played Dungeons and Dragons & Dragons before and I'm trying to decide between Out of the Abyss and Princes of the Apocalypse. Are there any points that should point me in one direction or the other?

I've read several chapters of OofA and it sounds really cool, but there are things that worry me.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

For my part, I found OOTA to be the more compelling of the two. It can be very sandbox and freeform at times, though, so it probably takes a bit more DM work than POTA. But due to that, if there are things that concern you, it's probably easier to modify them to your liking.

This might not be the thread for this, but I'll soon be DMing for a group of people that have largely never played Dungeons and Dragons & Dragons before and I'm trying to decide between Out of the Abyss and Princes of the Apocalypse. Are there any points that should point me in one direction or the other?

 

[ddaley]

This might not be the thread for this, but I'll soon be DMing for a group of people that have largely never played Dungeons and Dragons & Dragons before and I'm trying to decide between Out of the Abyss and Princes of the Apocalypse. Are there any points that should point me in one direction or the other?

I've read several chapters of OofA and it sounds really cool, but there are things that worry me.

I started DM'ing for my family recently, who have played very little in the way of RPGs. We started out with Lost Mine of Phandelver. I made some minor changes to that in order to have a more drow influence. The orcs at Wyvorn Tor were there hunting drow who had kidnapped some of their members (our party captured and interrogated one of the Orcs). I changed the doppleganger at Cragmaw castle to actually be a drow. Etc. After the party rescued Gundren from the Cragmaw Castle, I had them kidnapped by the drow on their way back to town in order to kick off OotA.

Lost Mine seemed like a great introduction to RPG for the players (and for me as a DM, since it has been years since I DM'ed). They are still in Velkenvelve, but so far, they seem to be enjoying it. I had to prod them along a bit in socializing with the other prisoners, but now they are formulating their plan of action once they escape.

 

[zaratan]

I just realized that the rare sword (Sun Blade) has a huge drawback. It emits sunlight! Let's list all characters that are harmed by sunlight:

Sunlight Sensitivity: Buppido, Shuushar the Awakened, Sarith Kzekarit
Sun Sickness: Stool

Also one extra benefit is that it can be held by monks (shortsword proficiency is enough to wield this longsword)

Anyway, I don't feel this is overpowered weapon. My party will be almost level 4 when they get this item. Single +2 weapon is nothing. And there are 4 characters in the party that are harmed by being close to this sword.

half of enemies in OotA have sunlight sensibility or radiant vulnerability, and get a +2 sword at lvl 4 isn't common.

 

[CapnZapp]

If a Sun Blade in the hands of a 4th level character doesn't count as overpowered, we need to discuss the meaning of "overpowered"...

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Those must have been some lucky 4th level characters to have even survived the Lost Tomb of Khaem. I really like that section, but have been stuck waiting for the PCs to be strong enough to use it.

If a Sun Blade in the hands of a 4th level character doesn't count as overpowered, we need to discuss the meaning of "overpowered"...

 

[CapnZapp]

My players didn't get to test their mettle against Brysis, but they were fifth level when they defeated Mistress Ilvara, her handmaiden Asha, the two Elite Warriors, four regular Drow... and a Yochlol.

 

[Kestrel]

My party has Dawnbringer now. It's definitely a powerful weapon, but its a detriment too. Our group has a deep gnome and two drow. It hurts almost as much as it helps.

If they have it by the time of Sloopbludop, it could really help them survive the ritual and then become a beacon for the big guy when he rises from the deep.

All in all, I don't see it being a big deal. You can always throw in more monsters if the combats are becoming too easy. The pcs get a memorable weapon and that's always good for a game.

 

[zaratan]

Your NPCs regain hit dices with short rest?

 

[Trurl]

One of my concerns about dming OotA is that my players are all low level. Escaping from a Drow prison seems like too high stakes of a way to learn how to play, and having the characters to a tutorial mission sacrices the ease of PC introductions that OotA offers. Luckily, I thy hink I've stumbled onto a great solution.

I'll make the "hard labor" portion of chapter 1 a tutorial. I can create a combat tutorial by making the pcs fight in mini-stadium. I could either have them fight eachother or have them pair off against a monster. This would be an obvious opportunity to have JimJam place a bet, too.

I'm not sure how to introduce mechanics outside of combat. Maybe the Drow could force them into some sort of mini dungeon. Maybe they'll have to do some mining work and the mine could be a dungeon.

The arena fighting wouldn't offer any chance of death on the justication that the Drow don't want to waste their slaves. The mine dungeon could offer some real although small danger. After that I can start taking off the training wheels.