D&D 5E Dungeon of the Mad Mage: Adventure or Setting Book?

[pukunui]

Level 1. The players revolted before going any deeper.
There were a few places where it was interesting - but there was a stretch of a few sessions with nothing.

Yeah, see, my group didn't really have any trouble with level 1. They understood that it's the most "picked over" level, being the easiest to access. I think I just narrated through a lot of it. There certainly is more there than just an empty waterskin, but I can understood how some people might find it too empty for their liking.

 

[jgsugden]

My advice, should you not find it enjoyable, as is, but wish to continue in it:

1.) Add some storyline to it. Look at some of the connecting tissue between levels and flesh it out to give you more of a continuous hook.

Spoiler

For example, there are drow in various locations in the upper levels. You can connect them better, and give them a plot they are undertaking within Waterdeep itself, giving the PCs a reason to leave the dungeon and thwart the plan before returning.

2.) Just eliminate combats that don't seem interesting for your group. There are a lot of combats in this dungeon that are just there with no real significance. There is no great treasure to be found, nothing interesting about the environment, no secondary challenge to be won - just an easy combat against a forgetable foe. You can also add a secondary element to these combats to make them more interesting (such as a chance to rescue the remains of another adventuring party that is about to be killed off, or stopping a monster from devouring something valuable the PCs might want to recover, or having an enemy trigger a trap that provides an extra challenge in the combat), but there are so many encounters in the first few levels that are bland that it would be a lot of work to upgrade all of them.

3.) Skip levels. Read a level ahead. If it doesn't catch your interest, remove it and take the essential elements in it and move it to another level. You can advance the PCs a little faster in the other levels to let them stay on target for milestone advancement.

 

[teitan]

Temple of Elemental Evil (original).

So… five years earlier?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

So… five years earlier?

Six. Which is a long time when you are a teenager.