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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pukunui" data-source="post: 6590092" data-attributes="member: 54629">I have just had the distinct pleasure of being able to read both Tyranny of Dragons modules for the first time, followed in quick succession by Princes of the Apocalypse. Both stories are thus still fresh in my mind, and funnily enough, while my intention has been to follow up Lost Mine of Phandelver with Princes, I am actually finding myself drawn to Tyranny more.I know the Tyranny modules have copped a lot of flak for being an error-riddled railroad, but I was actually quite pleasantly surprised when I read through them. Most of the errors are fairly minor and thus easy to resolve, and while it may be fairly linear, it looks to be a pretty wild ride! One thing that I think Tyranny has in its favor is greater variety. It covers a lot more ground, both literally and figuratively. It serves as a mini-tour of the Sword Coast, and takes the PCs to a multitude of environments, including a swampy ruin, an alpine hunting lodge, a giant's flying castle, an iceberg, an extradimensional maze, and a volcanic caldera. Princes, on the other hand, takes place in a relatively small area and ends up feeling very samey-same after a while. Even with the side treks, I fear it could get boringly repetitive, as the main gist of the campaign involves doing the same thing four times, just with slightly different window dressing each time.Also, Tyranny culminates in an epic battle against a god. Fighting an archomental in an elemental node just doesn't compare. If they'd finished off Princes with an encounter with the Elder Elemental Eye, that would be another thing, but since they didn't, the climax just doesn't seem to have the same wow factor.Tyranny is also more straightforward. While I know a lot of people hate linear adventures, I think they can be a good thing for newer players. Sandboxes are nice and all, but being able to literally go anywhere and do anything can be a daunting prospect for inexperienced players. Giving them some direction and structure can be useful.Lost Mine of Phandelver has been the first experience with D&D for most of the players in my home group (which consists of my wife, two friends of ours, and me). While Princes offers a convenient way to follow that up (seeing as it is next door to the Phandalin area and even provides some hooks from Lost Mine to Princes), I feel like Tyranny might provide a more satisfying experience for us.</blockquote>

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