4 out of 5 rating for Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Hoard of the Dragon Queen was much maligned in its day, and in some cases rightfully so. I hope to make the case, however, that it's actually a great product for new players and experienced DMs. Experienced players and new DMs, on the other hand, may wish to pass on this one.
For starters, this is a not a "run-this-right-out-of-the-book" module. It has a lot of holes and gaps that could easily be glossed over, but an experienced DM will know to fill with their own or adapted material. As a result, HotDQ is one of the most adaptable APs WotC has yet to produce. An incredibly popular choice is to add the Murder in Baldur's Gate adventure to Chapter 4 when the PC's arrive in that city, for instance. The module does not really hold the hands of the DM in any way; and newer DMs or DMs who are buying a module to avoid all of that extra work will understandably want to choose another AP. DMs that do put in that extra work, however, are sure to find themselves (and their players) greatly rewarded for the effort.
The module, at least in its first half (Chapters 1-4), does, however, hold the hands of the players. It's not quite as railroad-y as many of the AP's detractors like to claim, but it does provide a very firm structure that loosens up only slightly until the reins slip entirely by Chapter 5. Experienced players should still find plenty of opportunities to stretch out their limbs and accomplish their goals as they see fit during this period, but newer players will definitely not find themselves at a loss for what they're supposed to be doing and how they're supposed to accomplish it. This is actually part of the ingenius design of this AP for new players: each of the first four chapters presents a very different mode of play (combat-focused mission-based, infiltration/subterfuge, dungeon crawl, and primarily social encounters, respectively) that allows new players to experience a lot of what D&D has to offer, and enveloping all three pillars of play.
As I mention, the reins slip entirely by the time the players get to Chapter 5 (and certainly by Chapter 6). There's still a very definite trail of breadcrumbs to follow and it is, strictly speaking, a fairly straight line. But each of these four chapters are primarily site-based. Each one has a definitive goal (typically, find out where the Hoard went next) but it no longer holds the players' hands; they're free to use any of the skills they've learned (both as players and as PCs) to try to accomplish this. Players can choose to either fight or talk their way through each and every one of these chapters, with varying degrees of difficulty and outcomes. Naerytar and Skyreach (Chapters 6 & 8) in particular provide great playgrounds for new players to practice what they've learned about the game in the earlier chapters.
The plot, such as it is, is fairly bare-bones. A cult wants to resurrect an evil god and is raiding the countryside gathering a great treasure hoard with which to appease her. There's nits to pick to be sure. Their route is senselessly complicated, mostly out of subterfuge to throw off their enemies. Hardcore FR lore-nerds may bristle at the re-purposing of the Cult of the Dragon in completely changing their beliefs and methods (though the resulting schism does play a minor role in the story). There's some pretty major issues that should have been caught in editing: you'll at least want the official errata, if not the fan-compiled errata and clarifications document that's been floating around the web. The maps are not particularly useful and full of errors; there's game design and rules issues due to last-minute rules changes before all of the core books were published that shouldn't have made it to print; if you've done even a cursory bit of research about HotDQ you're aware of all these. Other quibbles you'll hear are merely matters of subjective play-styles, owing primarily to the nature of the first half of the book (you'll hear about how Chapter 1 or Chapter 4 are some folks' favorite or least favorite parts of the adventure, for instance). And that's bound to happen with any module that zips back and forth between such drastically different modes of play. But given the intent, to introduce new players to these playstyles, I think this has unfairly dragged down the overall opinion of the module.
So no, it's not perfect. But it's got combat, exploration, and social encounters in spades. It holds new players hands, but gives experienced players plenty of room to show off what they can do. It demands a lot out of DMs, more than most published modules certainly, but it has a lot to reward for the effort put in. The story might not make much sense to a diehard Forgotten Realms fan, but to a new player (or as an adaptation) it's a pretty classic setup with a good deal of payoff.
Ultimately, it's got dungeons, and it's got dragons. What more could you ask for?
