Quick summary of published campaigns?

[Kevtron]

I'll be having my first session zero as a DM coming up in a couple weeks. I plan to run a published campaign, as I have no idea how to make my own world. I'd like to present the different campaigns to the group and let them discuss which sounds the most interesting.


Are there any short (2-3 sentence) previews of each (including the new one) I could use to explain/tease each?


Cheers~

 

[GreyLord]

Page 68 of the DMG

There is also Ravenloft that was released which is a Dark world where Strahd the Vampire rules along with Dread Lords. It is a world made up of all the horror movies and stories you can think of, but in a D&D setting.

There are also the Magic the Gathering worlds that were converted to D&D (so I think Inistrad, or soon Ravinica or something) but I don't know anything about the Magic the Gathering worlds so can't help you there. there are at least two guides that were released for free on the internet from WotC if one wants to adventure in one of those worlds.

More in depth information about the Realms is found in the Sword Coast Adventurer's guide.

Eberron also has the Wayfarer's guide on DMguild but I think you have to pay for that.

 

[sim-h]

Do Lost Mine of Phandelver first.

The others, it's too late to prepare adequately if you only have a couple of weeks before you start [edit: assuming you have other things to do as well, like work etc.]. Seriously. You need to read the entire 300-odd page book, probably twice, do some filling in the blanks, and a whole lot of preparation unless you want to ad lib a lot of stuff.

 

[Zardnaar]

Just defualt to the Realms, the others are either out of print or are for other editions. Unless you go 3pp and pick up something like Midgard or borrow Pathfinders Golarion. YOu can't really grab one of the older settings and just run it with perhaps the exception of Mystara, Nerath or Greyhawk.

You don't really need a world you do kind of need a back drop. Can you buy PDFs is that an option?

 

[Hriston]

I think this may be what you’re looking for: http://slyflourish.com/guide_to_published_adventures.html

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Fallen Fortress + Sunken Citadel in Tales from the Yawning Portal might be a good place to start.

 

[Mercurius]

For your first shot at DMing you could do a lot worse than Lost Mine Of Phandelver in the Starter Set. It can be run pretty much out of box (with maybe an hour or two of reading before hand to familiarize yourself), and then you can transition to one of the hardcover story arcs. This also gives you time to properly choose and prepare for a longer campaign, plus the much-needed first experience of DMing.

 

[Zardnaar]

This is kind of a mini campaign setting with a detailed local area.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/produc...tooth-Ridge--Adventures-for-5th-Edition-Rules

LMoP is a slightly better adventure, this is a better location if that makes any sense.

 

[robus]

Are there any short (2-3 sentence) previews of each (including the new one) I could use to explain/tease each?


Cheers~

Funnily enough the "Best of" thread provides exactly that for this very reason

Edit: Err, except for the new one.... paging @Charles Rampant

 

[JeffB]

Phandelver is always a good choice. Fun little area to learn how to run/play the game.

Blacktooth Ridge is also an excellent suggestion- it's a starting town (with plenty of subplots and interesting folk) an overarching "campaign plot" (leading into the subsequent adventures) and has several adventure locations including a few small and medium fleshed out dungeons, and several wilderness encounter areas and adventure frameworks. Also the adventure that precedes it (A0- The Rising Knight) is a similar but slightly leaner product in a different part of the same region (South of the Blacktooth Ridge) and blends seamlessly with A1. (personally I think the Dungeon in A0 is a bit more interesting- a "living/sentient" temple of the now departed Big Bad Evil God who ruled the world for a 1000 years).

Picking up both A0/A1 is a heck of a lot of play value. I have run them as well as further adventures in the series in their original Castles & Crusades format. They do a great job of introducing an area without being overwhelmed by all the world details. The setting is expanded in each adventure as the DM needs it. And it's easy enough to drop into another setting if need be with minimal work.

A0 THE RISING KNIGHT