D&D 5E [SPOILERS] Enhancing Tomb of Annihilation

[JesterOC]

Still a little worried about levels 1-5. I grabbed the Return of the Lizard King. But I really don't like how that adventure starts. It makes a lot of assumptions and feels a bit railroady.

It (the Lizard king adventure) does push the plot ahead very well, but I have a feeling it will feel a bit like the curse of Strahd does with my current group. Meaning the players will just want to survive, but won't have much else pushing them forward.

 

[darjr]

Look at the AL mods. They tie into the book and are good. The dino races in 7-1 are fun.

 

[Croesus]

Still a little worried about levels 1-5. I grabbed the Return of the Lizard King. But I really don't like how that adventure starts. It makes a lot of assumptions and feels a bit railroady.

It (the Lizard king adventure) does push the plot ahead very well, but I have a feeling it will feel a bit like the curse of Strahd does with my current group. Meaning the players will just want to survive, but won't have much else pushing them forward.

Ditto on Return of the Lizard King. I really didn't like the beginning in the Feywild, and overall it does feel too railroady, as you mentioned.

That said, I plan to use the idea of the lizardfolk village threatened by other lizardfolk. I have a home-brew lizard-folk race (Tzen) based on an old Asprin book called Bug Wars. Without going into too much detail, I'll have the evil 5E lizardfolk attack the Tzen, who face defeat only because of demonic support the lizardfolk are receiving. Along come the PCs, who can help or leave. If they help, they can gain a powerful ally. If they leave, then the lizardfolk with demonic help will cause other problems.

I heartily recommend Encounters in Port Nyanzaru, available at DMs Guild. It has 13 short encounters that can be used as hooks, to fill out a session, to break up monotony, whatever. The writing style and ideas helped get the creative juices flowing.

 

[Stormdale]

I'll be incorporating large elements/encounters from the original Dwellers of the Forbidden City- bugbears, mongrelmen, bullywugs, tasloi etc and having the party enter the city via one of the original modules entrances.

Stormdale

 

[Stormdale]

Oops double post.

 

[Gleep Wurp]

Thoughts

1. how do i Nudge the players to Omu without encouraging them to make a beeline there and avoid all the stuff in the distance, and also keep them on track since they have a time limit and Omu is 43 days away

2. Why is Ras Nsi so cool but the party probably wont fight him if they play their cards right?

3. What are the most "mandatory" side quests (Kir Sabal! Orolunga!) and which ones are worthless or distractions (Artus Cimber? Fort Beluarian)

4. Should I start singing Ataaz Muhahah to the tune of Hakuna Matatah?

5. Why are the firenewt and vegepygmy minis available from WOCT so terrible and why cant i have nice Grung mins?

6. Chultan cannibals eat undead zombies?!?

Enhancing: playing up the themes while still in the Port city. The Merchant Princes are a semi-evil bunch, controlling trade and amassing wealth, but not caring if there is slavery, and throwing criminals to the dino pits. People can express desire for the old kings and queens to return.

I'm planning on having PCs leaving DDAL07-01 with the curse JUST starting and then starting the Hardback. I'm going to have a riot break out because a distraught widow paid here land penny for a Raise Dead from the clerics of Waukeen and it doesn't work. The charlatans!

 

[Stormdale]

My solution? Handwave the hew crawl aspect. Figure out roughly how many days you want the journey to take and have several of the very cool encounter areas that you want the party to locate occur during that journey. The guide is the key here, they lead the party through the jungle and just happen to go via 2,3,4 (or however many) of the encounter areas you want. You could even have a flow chart with several options and allow the guide to hint at what is one each path to increase the illusion of choice (or to make choice meaningful) for the pcs as you go.

In my own game I am looking at a canoe trip and the guide leading them to: Camp Righteous→ Camp Vengence→ Aldani basin→ heart of Obolo→ Mbala (I will be moving it).

Stormdale

 

[Sacrosanct]

I'm changing the random encounters. Travel is slow, and the map is huge. 3 rolls a day, and an encounter on a 16 or higher? 90% of the game will be random encounters lol. So I'm making it on a 20, instead of 16 or higher.

I'm also a bit worried about level 1 or 2 PCs going right out into the jungle, because they will get waxed. So I'm stressing all the things they can do in Port in order to get them to level 3 before venturing into the jungle proper.

Lastly, I think this AP probably more than any other (except Ravenloft maybe), should really have emphasis placed on the environment. The heat, humidity, jungle, colors, bugs, etc all give excellent flavor and really help set the stage of the adventure. I made an Appendix N thread a few days ago, and I highly suggest watching some of those shows/movies to help give you an idea of how to describe Chult to the PCs and really do it justice.

 

[GlassJaw]

Lastly, I think this AP probably more than any other (except Ravenloft maybe), should really have emphasis placed on the environment. The heat, humidity, jungle, colors, bugs, etc all give excellent flavor and really help set the stage of the adventure. I made an Appendix N thread a few days ago, and I highly suggest watching some of those shows/movies to help give you an idea of how to describe Chult to the PCs and really do it justice.

I haven't picked up ToA but am curious - does it include rules for heat, humidity, etc? I agree the environment should have a huge effect. I've always wanted to run a Lost/Survivor type campaign in a harsh jungle.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I haven't picked up ToA but am curious - does it include rules for heat, humidity, etc? I agree the environment should have a huge effect. I've always wanted to run a Lost/Survivor type campaign in a harsh jungle.

Page 110 of the DMG has rules for heat already. But ToA does have expanded rules on dehydration on top of the rules in the DMG. Basically, if you drink any water but rainwater, you're gonna get sick unless you boil it. And if you don't drink 2 gallons a day, you're gonna get levels of exhaustion. And then if you don't use proper insect repellent, good chance you're gonna get really sick as well. Yeah, it's pretty brutal, but I like it. One of the PCs in my group is a ranger, and as much crud as the ranger gets from a DPR standpoint, this adventure campaign is tailored for them. That class alone will save the party a TON of grief (there are rules for getting lost in the jungle as well). It goes to show that when taken as a whole, with all three pillars considered equally, the ranger isn't nearly as craptastic as a lot of people think it is. I highly suspect if you play ToA RAW, it will be the most powerful and effective class hands down just for those exploration factors (because exploration is HUGE in this campaign).