D&D 5E The Larger Failure of "Tyranny of Dragons"

[dave2008]

I posted because of the frustration I'm having trying to find an adventure to run for a group that wants a "classic Dnd" experience, which would seem to be Tyranny of Dragons, but because it's awful I have to update something from a previous edition.

If that is the case, then why rant against Tyranny? Just ask for help and you will get a lot more useful responses, instead of the re-hash of opinions and evidence that disagree with your statement. Which is completely useless for your stated goal. Seems like and odd choice to me.

But more importantly, if you're tired of discussing the topic, why are you posting in the thread?

Is that really the more important question?

Regardless, I didn't say I was tired of discussing the topic, just that it wasn't needed. I think the quality, or lack thereof, of Hoard and to a lesser extent Rise, has been well established.

 

[dave2008]

I posted because of the frustration I'm having trying to find an adventure to run for a group that wants a "classic Dnd" experience, which would seem to be Tyranny of Dragons, but because it's awful I have to update something from a previous edition.

Also, I will echo @Eltab 's comment regarding making HotDQ better, that may be a quicker and easier option if you already have HotDQ or Tyranny.

EDIT: Here are the links:
Enhancing Hoard
Enhancing Rise
What is After Rise

 

[Acolyte of Zothique]

Bullocks.

I second this. Try watching Chris Perkins running through the 5e adventures on 'Dice Camera Action', he makes the material his own and diverts wildly from what's published. I've been doing the same thing while running Descent into Avernus and it works very well.

So, yeah, Bullocks. With bells on!

 

[dave2008]

You know good adventures.

Personally, I have yet to see a good adventure (from any publisher) or one I would run straight out of the box, but that is why I don't run published adventures!

 

[hawkeyefan]

I posted because of the frustration I'm having trying to find an adventure to run for a group that wants a "classic Dnd" experience, which would seem to be Tyranny of Dragons, but because it's awful I have to update something from a previous edition.

I think you’d be better off with Tomb of Annihilation if you want a more old school feel. It’s a hexcrawl followed by a dungeoncrawl, with a classic D&D villain as the antagonist. Maybe your group will like that?

Shrugs.

The amount of hoops people are jumping through to defend this adventure kind of proves the idea it's bad.

Curse of Strahd for example is generally regarded as the best adventure but avoids the this is a crap adventure type threads.

I don’t think anyone’s “jumping through hoops to defend” it so much as simply stating that most of the criticisms can be addressed pretty easily. And that the book actually offers a good deal of guidance on how to do that.

But it’s far from perfect. It was being made simultaneously with the playtest, and that shows. It’s largely linear (or at least chunks of it are), which is a negative to many. The opening scenario requires a good amount of DM judgment and a good grasp of the 5E system, which is probably not the smartest move for the start.

But for all it’s flaws, it’s far from “unplayable” or “horrible”. It has plenty to offer. And even an adventure like Curse of Strahd that is widely acclaimed (with which I’d agree) has shortcomings and a host of detractors who make those shortcomings out to be massive.

 

[Acolyte of Zothique]

then do not start with any of the hardcovers or really any large adventure, they’d have to be a complete railroad for that, and maybe not even then.

I would not run one of the hardcovers if I wanted to run something ASAP; you have to read through and understand the material first. To say differently is completely ridiculous. Even Curse of Strahd requires preparation.

If anyone wants to run a 5e adventure asap then either use one of the starter boxes (Lost Mines and/or Essentials kit) or generate an adventure from the copious tables in the DMG. It's almost like the game encourages people to use their imagination; fancy that.

 

[Acolyte of Zothique]

You like tweaking stuff, I'll do it if I want to I'm not a fan of doing it because I have to.

What you are explicitly saying here is that in a published adventure you don't like being creative and using your imagination. In a medium that emphasises those qualities. Why even play a tabletop RPG then? What happens when your players inevitably diverge from the published adventure? The mind boggles.

 

[Umbran]

Personally, I have yet to see a good adventure (from any publisher) ...

There's a movie, "Sin City". I can't stand it. Don't like it one bit.

However, I recognize that it is a well-made film. There's craftsmanship in it, and it does exactly what it set out to do. In that sense, it is actually a very good movie, that I just don't happen to want to ever see again.

For the holidays, I would like to see a day on EN World where folks recognize the difference between, "I don't like it, myself," and, "this is not good."

 

[Zardnaar]

What you are explicitly saying here is that in a published adventure you don't like being creative and using your imagination. In a medium that emphasises those qualities. Why even play a tabletop RPG then? What happens when your players inevitably diverge from the published adventure? The mind boggles.

I normally Homebrew, if I'm running a prepublished adventure I've paid good money for I expect a certain level of quality.

HotDQ fails that metric.

 

[Azzy]

You have to also remember Amazon reviews are also those who bought the book so people would be inclined to rate it positively.

You obviously have no familiarity with Amazon bitchfest ratings.