Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pukunui" data-source="post: 9447986" data-attributes="member: 54629">I don't really like rating things, but I'll give it a go anyway:[spoiler=CAMPAIGN-LENGTH ADVENTURES]Top Tier<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Scourge of the Sword Coast [D&D Next] This is my absolute favorite D&D adventure, and it's from the D&D Next playtest! I have run it twice and have been itching to run it again. It's easy enough to bring into full 5e mode. The only real downside to it is that it ends kind of abruptly because its resolution got tacked on to the beginning of the original Dead in Thay (the assault on Bloodgate Keep). I think one of the best things about this adventure is that it comes with five adventure locations  (a village, an elf noble's manor, an old castle, an old hunting lodge, and a dwarven temple-fortress with obligatory mine) that are all different, interesting and fully jaquaysed! There are also some fun RP bits in the central town of Daggerford. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Curse of Strahd Played and DMed once each; would DM again. (I have the special coffin box version that I haven't ever opened, and I have some of the minis sets that WizKids has made that I haven't gotten to use yet.) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tomb of Annihilation DMed twice. The first time was as written with the time constraint so we missed a lot of content. The second time was more leisurely and thus more fun, I think. I didn't start the countdown till the PCs were ready to go to Omu. I also mixed in some Acquisitions Inc stuff with the second run-through. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Storm King's Thunder Played and DMed once each; would DM again. I don't get the hate this adventure gets. It's fantastic! </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Wild Beyond the Witchlight I am currently DMing this for my family, and I will also run it for my group that's about to finish Mad Mage. Yes, it's not to everyone's taste, but I think it does an excellent job capturing the whimsical feel of the Feywild and fairy tales, and it has a lot of fun bits and pieces. I think my Mad Mage group is going to really enjoy it. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lost Mine of Phandelver This is an excellent starting adventure. It has a few quirks, but I found them easy enough to iron out. I'm fairly certain this is the only 5e adventure I've been able to DM with virtually no effort. I would happily run this again except that I would need to find a whole new group of players because everyone else I game with has either played it or run it themselves!</li> </ul>Mid Tier<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Acquisitions Incorporated: The Orrery of the Wanderer Firstly, I am not an Acq Inc fan, so it surprised me how much I liked this book and the adventure. If you file off the Acq Inc serial numbers, this book provides an excellent upgrade to the basic "running a business" rules in the 2014 DMG. I would have much preferred that WotC simply adapt the Acq Inc franchise rules for 2024 than that weird bastion subsystem they came up with. Also, although I've only gotten to run parts of it, The Orrery of the Wanderer is a fantastic adventure. Yes, it has some goofy elements to it, but the adventure itself is actually solid and well written with a few handy little innovations that I wish were in more of the mainstream 5e adventures. (Sorry, I can't think of a specific example at the moment, but I'm sure I could find one if I went looking again.) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage Final session tonight! I agree it's not the greatest, but it was just the right kind of old school, beer and pretzels, kick in the door, kill the monsters, and take their stuff kind of adventure that my group needed at the time. It's taken us three years to get through it! </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen I have only read this one. It seems like it could be fun, but it could also have been a lot better. I don't own the optional add-on board game, but I hear it's pretty pants. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dragon of Icespire Peak I have read this and run a few of the adventures separately. I think it's OK. I was hoping that the Phandelver book would be LMoP and this mixed together (maybe with the three DDB-only add-ons included as well), but alas that was not the case. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Out of the Abyss I have read this all the way through, and I have used a few bits and pieces in other campaigns, but I have not ever tried running it as a campaign. I think as a generic FR Underdark sourcebook, it's probably fine. As an adventure, it seems like it would be a fairly depressing one. The idea of giving the PCs a demon lord each to duke it out is kinda cool, though. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Planescape: Turn of Fortune's Wheel I have read this one and would like to run it. It's a bit of a light touch that really needs more detail but I think it could still be a lot of fun. I particularly like the gimmick. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Princes of the Apocalypse As a campaign, I feel like this adventure would get boringly repetitive. I've never run it that way. I have, however, mined it for content. I think the opening adventure, "Trouble in Red Larch", is fantastic. I've used it to kick off two campaigns so far. There are also some fantastic set pieces and mini-dungeons that can be lifted wholesale. I've probably used close to half the content in this book without actually running the main campaign! </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tyranny of Dragons DMed once; might consider DMing again. I don't think this campaign is anywhere near as bad as people have made it out to be. However, I do think it needs some tweaks (and not just because of the incomplete rules). For instance, I strongly recommend starting with the PCs already in the village when the dragon attacks. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Legacy of the Crystal Shard [D&D Next] I only managed to run this one partway through before it ended in a TPK. However, I still like it a lot, and I think it has a lot of potential. I think its gazetteer of Icewind Dale is better than the one in Rime of the Frostmaiden. I really like the adventure and would be willing to run it again some day (possibly with elements from both Rime and SKT added in). </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Murder in Baldur's Gate [D&D Next] I have read this and used a few bits and pieces in my Tyranny of Dragons campaign when the PCs were in Baldur's Gate. The gazetteer is great and got a nice update in Descent into Avernus. The adventure is decent but I haven't run it. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle [D&D Next] This one is OK. I've run the first adventure ("Fane of the Sun Swallower") but have only read the others. The last part is probably the weakest. There's some fun sort of old school whimsical stuff in these adventures that is missing from the mainstream 5e adventures, I feel. (Like there's a magic shield with an apple tree pictured on it - once per day, you can magically reach into the shield, pluck the apple, and pull it out. If you eat it, the apple acts like a potion of healing. If an undead creature holds the shield, however, the tree appears withered and doesn't produce an apple.) There's also some goofy stuff, like a bunch of hillbilly-ish "dworcs" (half-dwarf, half-orc) that may not fly with today's standards.</li> </ul>Bottom Tier<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Waterdeep: Dragon Heist I tried to DM it but gave up partway through. I am feeling a bit salty that my DM is planning to run this next, but at least I know he's planning to use it more as a framework than as written. You can read my thoughts on this adventure in more detail here: <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/waterdeep-dragon-heist.653421/#post-7514845" target="_blank">Waterdeep: Dragon Heist</a> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Spelljammer: Light of Xaryxis I have only read this adventure, but it's 100% linear, has a sketchy ending, and basically destroyed Dark Sun (except that WotC wisely renamed everything before it went to print). </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep I was excited when I read this would be an underwater adventure. I've been wanting one of those for a long time. I do not own this book and haven't read it, but based on Justin Alexander's scathing review and other people's actual play reports, it seems like it's pretty terrible as written. The rivals idea is cool but doesn't seem to work in practice. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus I have played through this adventure, and I have read about it, but my physical copy reeks too much of binding glue, so I've never been able to read it myself. That being said, despite my DM's best efforts, I found it to be a real slog. I can't see myself ever running this. The Baldur's Gate gazetteer is great (even if it's just an updated reprint of the gazetteer from Murder in Baldur's Gate). </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk This is just such a WTF?! product. I really don't get what they were thinking at all. They couldn't just reprint LMoP as written. They had to tinker with it, which made it objectively worse not better. I was excited about the idea of a Far Realm / mindflayer campaign, but wow ... this product is just so bad on so many levels, from its poor editing to its questionable design and plotting decisions. I used to think Dragon Heist was the bottom of the barrel, but this one gives it a good run for its money. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos I really wanted to like this one. I got close to running it then changed my mind. I was going to add in some of the adventures from Candlekeep Mysteries as well. I still might do it at some point. But yeah, it really needs some more work to make it shine.</li> </ul>No Rating<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dragons of Stormwreck Isle I don't own this and haven't read it and don't know enough about it to even offer an opinion so can't rate it. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Vecna: Eve of Ruin I have started reading this but am only partway through. Can't really offer much of an opinion yet, but I am aware of the various concerns that others have voiced. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden I have only read bits of this one. It has some obvious flaws (the area has supposedly been locked in eternal night/winter for two whole years, yet most of the book is written as if this is not the case - I presume so you can more easily ignore that part and just use the book as a setting guide to Icewind Dale). Some of the adventure feels like a retread of Legacy of the Crystal Shard but it could still be fun. I have the chardalyn dragon "mini" and would love to get to use it some day!</li> </ul>[/spoiler][spoiler=ANTHOLOGIES]Top Tier<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Keys From the Golden Vault Currently DMing as part of an episodic campaign set in Eberron. While not all of these qualify as actual heists, I've enjoyed the first 7 adventures and am looking forward to running the rest of them. You can read more about my experiences with these adventures here: <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/keys-from-the-golden-vault-play-reports.697715/" target="_blank">D&D 5E - Keys from the Golden Vault play reports</a></li> </ul>Mid Tier<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel I have read through this book. I really like the Radiant Citadel and wish there was more to it. I also wish the adventures actually built off the Radiant Citadel connections and lore instead of it just being window dressing. While I also respect that this book provides non-European settings, which are sorely needed, I find that this hampers my ability to cut-and-paste many of these adventures into a typical pseudo-medieval European fantasy campaign. I also think that some of the adventures as written are structurally poor with railroading, plot bottlenecks, and the like. Justin Alexander has done a good job of explaining the issues there. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ghosts of Saltmarsh I have read through this book and have run a few of the adventures. I would like to use this as the basis for a seafaring campaign at some point, and I think the ships and seafaring rules in the back are great. Much better than what the Spelljammer set provided for spacefaring vessels. There are also some real hidden gems in the mini encounters section.</li> </ul>Bottom Tier<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Candlekeep Mysteries I really want to like this series, but I think it's just a bit too hit-or-miss. I couldn't run it as a campaign. There are a few I would like to run as part of some other campaign someday, though. There are certainly some interesting ideas here, but I think some suffered from over-editing while others needed to be fleshed out a lot more. There are a few that are structurally poor with railroady plots as well. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tales from the Yawning Portal I would give this book some leeway for being the first of its kind, but nevertheless I think that WotC played it too safe with their conversions here, introducing some wonky bits into the older updated adventures that could have been smoothed out if they'd been willing to do with these what they did with the ones in Infinite Staircase. So far I have only run the first two adventures. I didn't enjoy The Sunless Citadel but I absolutely love The Forge of Fury. I started to run the frost giant glacier adventure but didn't finish it. (I think one of the biggest issues is that the devs seem to have forgotten that they made giants Huge in 5e because they didn't resize the giant lairs. The giants all have to squeeze to get through their own hallways and such.)</li> </ul>No Rating<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Quests from the Infinite Staircase I am currently reading through this one. I like Nafas and the Infinite Staircase as a framing device, and I can see myself using it to run an episodic campaign that mixes these adventures in with a bunch of the other anthology adventures. That being said, I'm finding that I'm not a big fan of some of the older edition design aesthetics. I haven't been too impressed with The Lost City so far, for instance, as I mentioned in another thread recently. And I'm still a bit leery about introducing sci-fi into my fantasy, so I'm not sure about Barrier Peaks yet.</li> </ul>[/spoiler]Note: I have chosen not to include any of the DDB-only adventures (e.g. Rrakkma, Lost Laboratory of Kwalish, Divine Contention, Spelljammer Academy) as I don't own many of them and thus haven't read them. The ones I have read I've found to be nothing much and thus not worth commenting on.</blockquote>

Verification