Lidgar
Legend
My group says hello!If these players exist, I haven't met any.
My group says hello!If these players exist, I haven't met any.
There seem to be a lot of external pressures at that company. For example, they tend to hire a lot of freelancers to write bits of each adventure (instead of hiring full time writers). They also seem to face some corporate pressure to 'synergize' their products across media (e.g. the rumor that the balder's section of avernus was added to tie in to the video game (which is still not fully out)). And of course they've committed to nostalgia-based products. That would be the favorable way of saying it. The less favorable view is that they are not careful as editors or project managers (either for content or language), and they know they can rely on the community to fix or change their products (and even get paid by those fixes via dm's guild).
It is so much more than a starter set, though. IMO.I guess when they release a new starter set nearly 5 years after the basic game, a forum of (mostly) seasoned players aren't going to pay it much mind. (See also no reviews on here of Stranger Things, Rick & Morty.)
One thing I would note, from looking at the lists-
The only "classic" yet completely new adventure is LMoP. Phandelver is, near as I can tell, the only generally acknowledged great adventure they've put out, and that was in 2014.
It's now 7 years later, and most of the upper echelon adventures (such as CoS) are from borrowed material. Most of the "new" adventures are either polarizing at best (Tomb of Annihilation) or generally considered trash, with some people enjoying it (Waterdeep, Avernus).
This does not seem to be a great hit rate on the APs.
I would say that the overall quality has been ... fine. But it does seem really really weird that we are now seven years in, and it's hard to think of a single brand-new AP that I can wholeheartedly recommend.
Isn’t Rime new, not based on previous adventures? I mean, yes it’s set in Icewind Dale, but I don’t think it’s a reimagining or reproduction like Tomb of Annilihation (which struck me as a reimagining of Isle of Dread/Forgotten City & Tomb of Horrors), Curse of Strahd or Ghosts of Saltmarsh. And what about Candlekeep? It’s all new.
And in my opinion, if you’re going to put “Dragon Heist” in a title, there damn well better be a dragon you’re stealing from…
The two box sets are sand boxes, and I'm at a loss to understand how having stuff that happens in one area, but is not tied to a BIG STORY is bad, but I read that a lot about those two. Not everything advances the plot.
YMMV, of course, but most adventures are go to location X and kill stuff. I'd guess the vast majority of every quest is that in DnD history.Icespire Peak isn't bad because not everything is tied to the big story. It's bad because it's quest after quest of "go to location X and kill everything." I mean, not EVERY quest is that, but way too many are - or turn out to be, once the players arrive.
An introductory adventure should present a fuller picture of what the game is. There isn't enough exploration and very little role-playing at all. "Go get your next mission off the quest board" is shockingly bad, imo. Yes, a good DM can fix it, but as written that's just weak and uninteresting.
YMMV, of course, but most adventures are go to location X and kill stuff. I'd guess the vast majority of every quest is that in DnD history.
The gnome area is great for role play. You have to convince a dude to leave an area, even after you clear it out in another quest. Falcon's lodge? Umbrage hill, where you need to talk to someone after possibly scaring something off? The ratio seems about right to me, plus I'd guess most DMs have some roleplay in town, but maybe that's just me and my friends?
Plus, and this is key, most of the areas are playable in a session or two, and easily stolen (and, frankly, easy to modify if you want).
I agree on exploration, but there are almost NO good examples of that pillar in any adventure from WotC. Huge weakness, imo.
Just as a side note: Icewind Dale: the CRPG makes an awesome campaign for tabletop. The general goal of the campaign is pretty basic, there's some mystery behind the BBEG but not to much and different locations are awesome. I did it 2 times, and though we never made it to the end, there's some gems in there.good best-selling CRPGs from 20 years ago.
Just as a side note: Icewind Dale: the CRPG makes an awesome campaign for tabletop. The general goal of the campaign is pretty basic, there's some mystery behind the BBEG but not to much and different locations are awesome. I did it 2 times, and though we never made it to the end, there's some gems in there.
I swear there's money to be made to make the classic CRPG into tabletop campaign.
Who wouldnt buy the 1-20 campaign based off Baldur's Gate/Shadow of Amn/Throne of Baal?!
I personally ran it as a campaign before COVID and my players had a good time exploring Candlekeep and the Friendly Arms Inn, meeting Jaheira and Khalid, and fighting the Ogre with the belt fetish and an infestation of spiders!
Oh you can be sure I already have it. I indeed used their map for my games. The NPC are too high level, but I changed them to lower level Sidekicks (the UA ones).You might enjoy this product, in case you're not familiar with it:
Heroes of Baldur's Gate (5e) - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild
5E adventure by James Ohlin, lead designer of BG 1 & 2, set in BG and featuring many characters and locations from the games.
I’m amazed. The quality, detail and versatility of 5e adventures are particularly good. I’d set the best of them against any previous campaigns and the rest are still better than most of 3e and a great deal of 2e.Yeah, the quality of the published adventures has been really poor overall this edition. Which is kind of wild to me given that the playtest modules were really great! Murder in Baldur’s Gate, Legacy of the Crystal Shard, Scorge of the Sword Coast, and Dead in Thay were all fantastic! I didn’t read Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, but I heard good things about it. The Blingdenstone adventure in the playtest packets (can’t remember the name) was really good too, and of course Keep on the Borderlands and Isle of Dread are classics. It seemed like they had really stepped up their adventure design coming off of 4e, so I was really thrilled for Horde of the Dragon Queen… and then was very disappointed to find it was like… the opposite of everything I liked about the playtest modules.
I haven’t really played any modules from before 4e, so 4e was my main point of comparison. And I do think 5e’s modules are generally better quality than 4e’s from what I remember. But both are far lower than the quality seen during the playtest, in my opinion.I’m amazed. The quality, detail and versatility of 5e adventures are particularly good. I’d set the best of them against any previous campaigns and the rest are still better than most of 3e and a great deal of 2e.
3e in particular has about half a dozen decent modules the rest are kak. The Eberron adventures for instance were atrocious. City of the Spider Queen was a linear dungeon crawl but ok, Red Hand of Doom was pretty good but a bit repetitive. Cormyr was okay but again very linear. Shadowdale was probably the best actual campaign book. Sunken citadel and Forge of Fury were essentially just small dungeon crawls.
Even fondness for a lot of the 2e stuff is just nostalgia and rose tinted spectacles.
They’re not perfect but taken as a set, are far beyond what came before.
I mean, they did Curse of the Azure Bonds back in the day for the gold boxes…Just as a side note: Icewind Dale: the CRPG makes an awesome campaign for tabletop. The general goal of the campaign is pretty basic, there's some mystery behind the BBEG but not to much and different locations are awesome. I did it 2 times, and though we never made it to the end, there's some gems in there.
I swear there's money to be made to make the classic CRPG into tabletop campaign.
Who wouldnt buy the 1-20 campaign based off Baldur's Gate/Shadow of Amn/Throne of Baal?!
I personally ran it as a campaign before COVID and my players had a good time exploring Candlekeep and the Friendly Arms Inn, meeting Jaheira and Khalid, and fighting the Ogre with the belt fetish and an infestation of spiders!
Was that a videogame based on the adventure or the opposite, I cant remember?I mean, they did Curse of the Azure Bonds back in the day for the gold boxes…
It much easier to write something to cover a couple of levels than a full campaign book. I’m struggling to see what you see in them to be honest.I haven’t really played any modules from before 4e, so 4e was my main point of comparison. And I do think 5e’s modules are generally better quality than 4e’s from what I remember. But both are far lower than the quality seen during the playtest, in my opinion.
It was based on the book… barely. So atrocious.Was that a videogame based on the adventure or the opposite, I cant remember?