D&D 5E (2014) PotA Worth Buying?

[DaveDash]

One of the things you need to know about Hoard and Rise is that they actually comprise a very large range of scenarios. Each chapter is generally its own little adventure. They all link together and advance the story, but they are by no means all the same thing. It's not "dungeon, dungeon, dungeon".

As a result, it really tests the ability of the DM and players.

Chapter 4 of Hoard, the road trip, was fascinating. The players took great delight in confusing and bewildering the cultists. As the cultists began to suspect them, they threw false leads in their way. The assassins in the inn? They convinced the cult leader that the assassins had been sent after him! I had great fun in introducing NPCs to the group (especially Janma), and gave the group a taste of the Forgotten Realms.

The second time I ran it, the group didn't run with it the same way, so it wasn't as engrossing. They did enjoy the interaction with Jamna, and we had some good encounters, but they didn't own it the same way as with the first group. However, when they got to Chapter 5 and had to do the investigation... they did that so much better than the first group!

That's a large part of why I rate the adventures so highly. Princes is a good adventure, but - for me at least - the two Tyranny adventures are special.

Cheers!

My group has been really struggling with Hoard except the dungeons.

None of us invested much in Charisma except our Sorcerer, who only likes to intimidate. In hind sight I definitely would have invested more in Charisma had I known how much this module depended on Charisma (and our DM who didn't read the whole thing before we made our characters).

There's a lot of emphasis in the module on persuasive, deception, trickery, sneaking, etc, so unless you're invested in that side of things, it's not a lot of fun. The whole caravan chapter might as well just have been our Rogue playing, minus the odd encounter thrown in for giggles.

Chapter 4 however - as admitted by the designers- is just a filler. None of us really know FR that well, none of us really care to know FR that well, so it's a potentially pointless chapter in reality. The 'strength' as you put it, is also the 'weakness', as it the story doesn't flow very well. There's no congruency.
Instead of trying to create some FR sight seeing trip, I think it module would be better received if that component was more adventurous. You can still have some of the same elements to it, but have it a sea travel to some long forgotten island instead. This is also a bit more realistic than caravans laden with gold going overland from point A to B and all the associated risks with that.

Princes on the other hand doesn't even try to weave a flowing story because of its sandbox nature, and succeeds in that regard. It won't take you to the same heights as Tyranny, but it also won't take you to the same dull, frustrating, and head scratching lows.

 

[Fildrigar]

Wow. I'm quite surprised at the mostly "meh" people seem to be giving PotA. I guess it's just the type of module that appeals to me. My party is loving the crap out of it. They have wandered in a little above their level, but are doing a surprisingly good job of taking names. ( And kicking butts. ) As a veteran of ToEE and RttToEE, I guess I'm using the skills I learned there to embellish the adventure a bit.

 

[MerricB]

Wow. I'm quite surprised at the mostly "meh" people seem to be giving PotA. I guess it's just the type of module that appeals to me. My party is loving the crap out of it. They have wandered in a little above their level, but are doing a surprisingly good job of taking names. ( And kicking butts. ) As a veteran of ToEE and RttToEE, I guess I'm using the skills I learned there to embellish the adventure a bit.

Quite likely. I've actually enjoyed the Elemental Evil storyline a lot more through the Expeditions adventures set in Mulmaster (there are a few really good ones there), mainly because their shorter form allows the cult to be a lot more active. There's a really good one where the cult and party are both racing to do things, and the adventure has a tracker so you can work out where the party and the cult are at the same time - it can run in a lot of ways, including the party directly confronting the cult's agents, or instead dealing with other issues that can disrupt the cult's plans. Very inventive, but it works best in that shorter form.

Both Tyranny and Princes demand a lot from the DM, and I'm quite aware that my DMing style works better with Tyranny than Princes (although I think my group is enjoying the action in Princes...)

Cheers!

 

[Fildrigar]

Quite likely. I've actually enjoyed the Elemental Evil storyline a lot more through the Expeditions adventures set in Mulmaster (there are a few really good ones there), mainly because their shorter form allows the cult to be a lot more active. There's a really good one where the cult and party are both racing to do things, and the adventure has a tracker so you can work out where the party and the cult are at the same time - it can run in a lot of ways, including the party directly confronting the cult's agents, or instead dealing with other issues that can disrupt the cult's plans. Very inventive, but it works best in that shorter form.

Both Tyranny and Princes demand a lot from the DM, and I'm quite aware that my DMing style works better with Tyranny than Princes (although I think my group is enjoying the action in Princes...)

Cheers!

I wish it was easier to access the Expeditions stuff. I'd be interested to see what's in there. I'm personally adding content with the cults doing stuff in the background, and the party finding out about some of it in notes they run across. The cult reprisals will be interesting. ( When they finally emerge from underground, that is. )

 

[Celtavian]

My group has been really struggling with Hoard except the dungeons.

None of us invested much in Charisma except our Sorcerer, who only likes to intimidate. In hind sight I definitely would have invested more in Charisma had I known how much this module depended on Charisma (and our DM who didn't read the whole thing before we made our characters).

There's a lot of emphasis in the module on persuasive, deception, trickery, sneaking, etc, so unless you're invested in that side of things, it's not a lot of fun. The whole caravan chapter might as well just have been our Rogue playing, minus the odd encounter thrown in for giggles.

Chapter 4 however - as admitted by the designers- is just a filler. None of us really know FR that well, none of us really care to know FR that well, so it's a potentially pointless chapter in reality. The 'strength' as you put it, is also the 'weakness', as it the story doesn't flow very well. There's no congruency.
Instead of trying to create some FR sight seeing trip, I think it module would be better received if that component was more adventurous. You can still have some of the same elements to it, but have it a sea travel to some long forgotten island instead. This is also a bit more realistic than caravans laden with gold going overland from point A to B and all the associated risks with that.

Princes on the other hand doesn't even try to weave a flowing story because of its sandbox nature, and succeeds in that regard. It won't take you to the same heights as Tyranny, but it also won't take you to the same dull, frustrating, and head scratching lows.

The problem I had with the caravan is the opposite of what you listed. I had Stealth skills. We had a bard for persuasion. None of mattered. You figure out what's going on without any of it. The whole chapter seemed to be unnecessary. The reason the caravan existed seemed nonsensical. They went in a direction that didn't make sense to drop off gold to some guy that would take it in the opposite direction. It didn't make sense. I think the chapter would have been ok had it made sense in the context of the story and the map.

 

[DaveDash]

The problem I had with the caravan is the opposite of what you listed. I had Stealth skills. We had a bard for persuasion. None of mattered. You figure out what's going on without any of it. The whole chapter seemed to be unnecessary. The reason the caravan existed seemed nonsensical. They went in a direction that didn't make sense to drop off gold to some guy that would take it in the opposite direction. It didn't make sense. I think the chapter would have been ok had it made sense in the context of the story and the map.

I completely agree with you on all of this. We also figured out through eavesdropping where they were going, so it made the whole thing semi-pointless.

The value of this chapter seems to depend on how much effort the DM wants to put into it to make it plausible and/or how much the players are willing to suspend disbelief. It all comes back to the fact that the designers just put it in there for the sole purpose of being a realms sight seeing trip. It never was going to 'fit'.

 

[Celtavian]

I completely agree with you on all of this. We also figured out through eavesdropping where they were going, so it made the whole thing semi-pointless.

The value of this chapter seems to depend on how much effort the DM wants to put into it to make it plausible and/or how much the players are willing to suspend disbelief. It all comes back to the fact that the designers just put it in there for the sole purpose of being a realms sight seeing trip. It never was going to 'fit'.

I didn't run the module. Did they develop the areas in the module? I know the Realms. It didn't seem like a site seeing tour. Seemed like an attempt at a role-playing chapter that utterly failed.

 

[Zardnaar]

So does PotA deserve its high rating or is it mostly people rating it due to it being pretty? Is iteasier than HotDQ to sex it up a bit or add the elements of a plotline or some interesting NPCs or is it more or a explore a bit and find dungeons to hack up? How would you rate it vs adventures of the cailbre of.

Savage Tide AP
Rise of the Runelords AP
Kingmaker AP
The Night Below (2E)
Assault of Blacktooth Ridge (C&C)
Skull and Shackles AP
Nights Dark error (B10 BECMI)

As these are some of the better adventures I have run/looked at over the last 3 years or so. It doesn't sound dreadful at least and I am wondering if I should just rate for RoD and get a double deal. IDK if I will run it either but might see if I can talk one of my players into running it so if it is on the easy side that is fine as a few my players do some random (read very suboptimal) things at times.

 

[Jester David]

Wow. I'm quite surprised at the mostly "meh" people seem to be giving PotA. I guess it's just the type of module that appeals to me. My party is loving the crap out of it. They have wandered in a little above their level, but are doing a surprisingly good job of taking names. ( And kicking butts. ) As a veteran of ToEE and RttToEE, I guess I'm using the skills I learned there to embellish the adventure a bit.

I think it's because it needs to be played. Sometimes you just need to see things in action. The big gap in the adventure - the non-story - is less obvious to players. They fill in the gaps without realizing and it becomes their story. Just like a railroad can have an illusion of choice, a sandbox can have an illusion of story.
But it reads poorly as a result. Which is problematic. A good adventure gets played twice: once in the DM's head as they read and again at the table. Sandboxes are poor for the former. A great adventure will finds a way to strike a balance. PotA is just "good".

 

[Connorsrpg]

I personally have not read it all yet, but I like it just for the appendices alone.