D&D 5E Tales from the Yawning Portal vs. Ghosts of Saltmarsh

[Nebulous]

I can easily believe at 4th level an encounter with 2 hill giants could be a TPK depending on the situation.

Two characters and a ranger pet were bleeding out, a third PC was at single digits. But they broke the morale of the surviving hill giant and it fled, that's how they survived.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Not to threadjack, but I'm currently running my players through multiple giant lairs from Storm King's Thunder. At level 10, they easily plowed through the hill giant stronghold of Grudd Haug. I beefed up the stone giants at Deadstone Cleft, and the players got wrecked. Giants hit hard and can absorb a lot of damage; they're punishing for careless players. That said, I added or accentuated opportunities for skullduggery and roleplaying to keep the lairs from becoming a grind.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I can't choose, I like them both. The only adventure books that are actually useful.

 

[Shiroiken]

TFtYP has better adventures in it overall, but GoS is more viable for use as a campaign. I'm using GoS as the base of my campaign, adding adventures from TFtYP as desired.

 

[Parmandur]

I can't choose, I like them both. The only adventure books that are actually useful.

They're basically the same as every other 5E Adventure book, really: collections of scattered modular Adventure material with some level of excuse to link them. TftYP is notable for not having much connective material, but that's about it.

 

[Prakriti]

I created a follow-up poll where you can vote for your favorite adventures in each book, and the results are... kind of strange. Ghosts of Saltmarsh is winning here, but losing when you tally up all the votes for each book's adventures. It seems people are fonder of the adventures in Tales from the Yawning Portal, but consider Ghosts of Saltmarsh a better book.

 

[Parmandur]

I created a follow-up poll where you can vote for your favorite adventures in each book, and the results are... kind of strange. Ghosts of Saltmarsh is losing when you tally up all the votes for each book's adventures. It seems people are fonder of the adventures in Tales from the Yawning Portal, but consider Ghosts of Saltmarsh a better book.

The framework of the initial sandbox chapter, and the "my players bought/stole a sailing ship and have gone rogue, help!" campaign toolbox in the back are really good. The Adventures in GoS also fit together to make a thematic campaign, whereas TftYP is a grab-bag of cool parts with no frame.