Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Torgaard" data-source="post: 6549963" data-attributes="member: 6679168"><p>So far we've only made it through Episode 1. Literally finished it last weekend. Here's my comments I guess...</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Healing</strong> - Think about dishing out a few Potions of Healing before the adventure gets rolling. Dunno if I'd say "Everybody should get two!" or anything, but you should probably hand out a few. Maybe to the Cleric? Or maybe be ready to dish out a few more here and there if the need arises (though that could get risky, because they might have to survive an encounter to acquire the items that could save them). Maybe from the the Governor or Escobert the Red, once the party reaches the keep. Even through it does state Nighthill will offer them a pot or two, I don't think he offers until after the dust has settled. Why all this Potion of Healing talk? <em>Episode 1</em> only takes place in the span of like 6 hours. If you have them run down just a couple of the suggested missions, then factor in a random encounter or two, the party might end up having 3-5 combat encounters in the 3-5 hours that the episode runs. If they want to save villagers, capture cultists, etc - they definitely won't get to take a <em>long rest</em>. Frankly, I had a hard time trying to justifying a short rest. People are dyin' out there, man! This is a raid. This is happening - right - now. It's really kinda "Go-go-go!", or at least that's how I saw it. If they're anything like the players in my campaign, if your spellcasters don't expend all their spell slots in the first encounter, I'd frankly be stunned if they hadn't by the time the 2nd or 3rd one roles around. By that point, they will be scairt. Outta healing and starin' down the barrel of another encounter or two. Now, for the record: this did create alot of really juicy suspense for the party, and I have to admit I enjoyed myself a little too much making them squirm. :></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Missions I Ran in Episode 1</strong> - (1) "Seek the Keep" (2) A random encounter while the party rescued <em>more</em> villagers. (3) A sort of half small encounter, half theatrical encounter when I morphed the "Half-dragon Champion" encounter into a final run to the keep by the party with their rescued villagers where the half-dragon and a small armor of cultists <em>almost</em> reach them before they can reach the keep. (3) "The Old Tunnel" with its encounter. (4) "Prisoners" was completed with the Old Tunnel encounter, plus I merged it into (5) another encounter where (on the fly, I made up) a group of kobolds chasing a young girl who was fleeing towards the keep, the party rescued her, and she told them she'd first tried to reach the Temple of Chauntea but it was being besieged by cultists who were "Trying to burn it down <em>right now</em>! You must help them!". Which led to (5) the "Sanctuary" encounter. After the party rescued the people in the Sanctuary mission, it was on to (6) the "Dragon Attack". That was it. By then, the party had nuthin' left. Spells slots were gone, Potions of Healing were gone, Heal Kits couldn't be used on anybody anymore, and frankly the party was a frazzled and jittery group who were possibly gonna walk away with like PTSD.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Missions I Skipped in Episode 1</strong> - "The Sally Port", because it made sense to run it middle-late part of the night, sometime after "The Old Tunnel", but by then the party was long out of spell slots so I chose not to run it. "Save the Mill" I just flatout skipped, because again: the party was almost completed drained of healing for most of the night. "Half-dragon Champion" because I pretty much hated the design of that encounter. As mentioned, I merged it into "Seek the Keep" and didn't actually have a fight with Cyanwrath (I wouldn't have let it happen, frankly).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>The Dragon</strong> - It worked as designed for the party that I ran through Episode 1, though it should be pointed out that I made it relatively clear when describing what they saw in "Greenest in Flames", that it didn't see the party. That while they did just witness an actual adult blue dragon blasting away at this small village, that not long after it makes its little strafing run, it kinda disappears into the smoke, and the night (the sun is just setting). I then waiting until they were like right on the edge of town, and just about to begin "Seek the Keep" before I started describing how they could hear the roar of the dragon in the distance, and that they hear the detonation of another lightning attack (probably on the other side of town), etc. I then dropped a bit of background flavor here and there, where they'd be constantly looking over their shoulder, swearing they just saw some huge shape fly by overhead through the smoke, but it's too dark to tell, stuff like that. Building suspense basically, but never actually letting them see the dragon (until the "Dragon Attack" scene).</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Torgaard, post: 6549963, member: 6679168"] So far we've only made it through Episode 1. Literally finished it last weekend. Here's my comments I guess... [LIST] [*][B]Healing[/B] - Think about dishing out a few Potions of Healing before the adventure gets rolling. Dunno if I'd say "Everybody should get two!" or anything, but you should probably hand out a few. Maybe to the Cleric? Or maybe be ready to dish out a few more here and there if the need arises (though that could get risky, because they might have to survive an encounter to acquire the items that could save them). Maybe from the the Governor or Escobert the Red, once the party reaches the keep. Even through it does state Nighthill will offer them a pot or two, I don't think he offers until after the dust has settled. Why all this Potion of Healing talk? [I]Episode 1[/I] only takes place in the span of like 6 hours. If you have them run down just a couple of the suggested missions, then factor in a random encounter or two, the party might end up having 3-5 combat encounters in the 3-5 hours that the episode runs. If they want to save villagers, capture cultists, etc - they definitely won't get to take a [I]long rest[/I]. Frankly, I had a hard time trying to justifying a short rest. People are dyin' out there, man! This is a raid. This is happening - right - now. It's really kinda "Go-go-go!", or at least that's how I saw it. If they're anything like the players in my campaign, if your spellcasters don't expend all their spell slots in the first encounter, I'd frankly be stunned if they hadn't by the time the 2nd or 3rd one roles around. By that point, they will be scairt. Outta healing and starin' down the barrel of another encounter or two. Now, for the record: this did create alot of really juicy suspense for the party, and I have to admit I enjoyed myself a little too much making them squirm. :> [*][B]Missions I Ran in Episode 1[/B] - (1) "Seek the Keep" (2) A random encounter while the party rescued [I]more[/I] villagers. (3) A sort of half small encounter, half theatrical encounter when I morphed the "Half-dragon Champion" encounter into a final run to the keep by the party with their rescued villagers where the half-dragon and a small armor of cultists [I]almost[/I] reach them before they can reach the keep. (3) "The Old Tunnel" with its encounter. (4) "Prisoners" was completed with the Old Tunnel encounter, plus I merged it into (5) another encounter where (on the fly, I made up) a group of kobolds chasing a young girl who was fleeing towards the keep, the party rescued her, and she told them she'd first tried to reach the Temple of Chauntea but it was being besieged by cultists who were "Trying to burn it down [I]right now[/I]! You must help them!". Which led to (5) the "Sanctuary" encounter. After the party rescued the people in the Sanctuary mission, it was on to (6) the "Dragon Attack". That was it. By then, the party had nuthin' left. Spells slots were gone, Potions of Healing were gone, Heal Kits couldn't be used on anybody anymore, and frankly the party was a frazzled and jittery group who were possibly gonna walk away with like PTSD. [*][B]Missions I Skipped in Episode 1[/B] - "The Sally Port", because it made sense to run it middle-late part of the night, sometime after "The Old Tunnel", but by then the party was long out of spell slots so I chose not to run it. "Save the Mill" I just flatout skipped, because again: the party was almost completed drained of healing for most of the night. "Half-dragon Champion" because I pretty much hated the design of that encounter. As mentioned, I merged it into "Seek the Keep" and didn't actually have a fight with Cyanwrath (I wouldn't have let it happen, frankly). [*][B]The Dragon[/B] - It worked as designed for the party that I ran through Episode 1, though it should be pointed out that I made it relatively clear when describing what they saw in "Greenest in Flames", that it didn't see the party. That while they did just witness an actual adult blue dragon blasting away at this small village, that not long after it makes its little strafing run, it kinda disappears into the smoke, and the night (the sun is just setting). I then waiting until they were like right on the edge of town, and just about to begin "Seek the Keep" before I started describing how they could hear the roar of the dragon in the distance, and that they hear the detonation of another lightning attack (probably on the other side of town), etc. I then dropped a bit of background flavor here and there, where they'd be constantly looking over their shoulder, swearing they just saw some huge shape fly by overhead through the smoke, but it's too dark to tell, stuff like that. Building suspense basically, but never actually letting them see the dragon (until the "Dragon Attack" scene). [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Enhancing "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)
Top