D&D 5E Rank the Official 5e Adventures (Updated)

[TheSword]

RotFM (which I'm running currently) is worse than SKT because of its illogical, frozen, no-sun setting (at least SKT had some variety). The encounters are poorly designed - with frequent challenges that have only one solution (that is also beyond what the party can achieve at the recommended levels). The dungeons are too small to have good exploration potential. The segments of the adventure have absolutely nothing to do with each other - the main villain has nothing to do with the other factions - and is dealt with halfway through the adventure, so the party has zero reason to continue the adventure.

RotFM ranks so low because it doesn't even have good parts to take from it. I have to "beef" it up with sidequests from other adventures and ignore the stuff in the book because it is so poorly designed.

Your active dislike of Rime of the Frost Maiden is one of the most consistent things about these boards. Hot enough to get the ten towns through any amount of nuclear winter!

I kid. It’s clear you know what you’re talking about and at least have played it. But I think if you’re honest you disliked it from the start (that first Rime thread), and went from there. I think it’s more imaginative than you give it credit, and easier to fix than you suggest. But you’ve definitely stuck to your guns.

 

[Retreater]

Your active dislike of Rime of the Frost Maiden is one of the most consistent things about these boards. Hot enough to get the ten towns through any amount of nuclear winter!

I kid. It’s clear you know what you’re talking about and at least have played it. But I think if you’re honest you disliked it from the start (that first Rime thread), and went from there. I think it’s more imaginative than you give it credit, and easier to fix than you suggest. But you’ve definitely stuck to your guns.

It's true. And some of my feeling is probably due to burnout, since I've been running three or so games on Virtual Tabletops every week for the duration of the pandemic. And perhaps I could fix it better if I wasn't trapped on VTT with its maps, encounters, etc., already installed. And I'm trying to make it a better experience by writing my own encounters, pulling in dungeons from other sources, and plan on ending it at the climax of the adventure (instead of letting it wander for 5 more levels, as it's written.)

 

[TheSword]

It's true. And some of my feeling is probably due to burnout, since I've been running three or so games on Virtual Tabletops every week for the duration of the pandemic. And perhaps I could fix it better if I wasn't trapped on VTT with its maps, encounters, etc., already installed. And I'm trying to make it a better experience by writing my own encounters, pulling in dungeons from other sources, and plan on ending it at the climax of the adventure (instead of letting it wander for 5 more levels, as it's written.)

Ha ha. Have the city shake itself loose of the ice and hover over Bryn Shandar like in the first Independence Day film! That should speed stuff up!

 

[Retreater]

Ha ha. Have the city shake itself loose of the ice and hover over Bryn Shandar like in the first Independence Day film! That should speed stuff up!

That's a real idea I would do if I were running a more free-form system (like Dungeon World). As it's presented in RotFM, the city is very underwhelming. It's inadequately mapped (especially from a VTT standpoint), details are glossed over since it's presented as an afterthought with no bearing on the rest of the adventure.

How I have handled the adventure is to put scraps of an ancient poem in several of the Icewind Dale locations. The party needs to recover those and recite them on the Frostmaiden's island to weaken her power. Then they will battle her, end the curse, and the adventure ends. Which sort of amazes me is not the adventure structure that WotC used.

It definitely has the feel that it was written by a team that had no idea what was being written by other designers, then bound in a single book. Almost none of it goes together in plot or theme.

 

[Burnside]

I really like Rime for its characters, locations, maps, ideas, and encounters, but I agree that the overarching plot is a mess and there are multiple "how did it go to print like this"- level plot holes. But I'm quite happy with it after re-writing the main storyline; I think it's a good sandbox and easy to re-purpose.

Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation, and Lost Mine of Phandelver are the only official 5E ones that I've run where I have felt no need to heavily re-work a lot of stuff.

 

[Gradine]

Did everyone just kind of skip out on Candlekeep Mysteries? It's not even that new anymore

 

[Burnside]

Did everyone just kind of skip out on Candlekeep Mysteries? It's not even that new anymore

I left out Candlekeep Mysteries, Tales from the Yawning Portal, and Ghosts of Saltmarsh because I think comparing anthology/compilation books to campaign books is apples to oranges.

(Also I haven't read or played Candlekeep Mysteries.)

 

[Malmuria]

Re: RotFM, I haven't read it, but from what I've read about it it seems like they were trying to take the quest structure from the essentials kit in order to create a sandbox with lots of player choice and moving, interacting parts. Do people dislike this structure (preferring a more linear plot), or is it that the quests themselves were not enjoyable?

 

[Enrico Poli1]

Updated:

TOP TIER
Tied 1/2/3: Curse of Strahd/Tomb of Annihilation/Descent into Avernus
4: Lost Mines of Phandelver
5: Rime of the Frostmaiden

MID TIER
6: Ghosts of Saltmarsh
7: Tales of the Yawning Portal
8: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
9: Dragon Heist

LOW TIER
10: Storm King's Thunder
11: Out of the Abyss
12: Tyranny of Dragons

UNPLAYABLE
13: Princes of Apocalypse
14: Candlekeep Mysteries

 

[Burnside]

Re: RotFM, I haven't read it, but from what I've read about it it seems like they were trying to take the quest structure from the essentials kit in order to create a sandbox with lots of player choice and moving, interacting parts. Do people dislike this structure (preferring a more linear plot), or is it that the quests themselves were not enjoyable?

I actually appreciate the structure (although I hope they don't now think they should all be like this) and (most of) the individual quests are enjoyable. And the book doesn't obfuscate things for the DM in the way that early 5E hardcovers do. It takes the essential kit structure and adds more interesting scenarios, characters, and locations than the ones featured in Icespire Peak.

But it still needed a supervising editor to ensure that the book has internal logic and, albeit loose and episodic, works as an overarching campaign with a main storyline that makes sense on a basic level. It falls down on that count. Lots of great detail work, but somebody needed to keep their eye on the big picture and they didn't.

And when they got to the final dungeon/lost city, they actually stopped doing the detail work as well.