THE RAVEN'S CALL is a new 5E adventure from the company that brought you TYRANNY OF DRAGONS

Written by Wolfgang Baur and Dan Dillon, The Raven's Call is a new D&D 5th Edition adventure from Kobold Press, the company that brought us Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat. Weighing in at 33 pages, it's an adventure for 3rd-level characters, and includes six pre-gens. Plus it features Hawkman (Thanagar version) on the cover. This is the second 5E product that Kobold Press has released since Gen Con, the first being the Southlands Heroes character options book. (thanks to Jeremy for the scoop)

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Meet the Trollkin... And Drive Them Into the Sea!

The trollkin and their shaman have come to a village by the sea, stormed its walls, and taken all the villagers as slaves and property. They have eaten their way through the saltfish, devoured the herd of sheep, and might be planning to eat the PCs next. Then, one escaped villager begs strangers on the road for help... And gives them the chance to shine as true heroes striking down raiders of pure evil.

The Raven's Call is an adventure for 3rd level characters that brings mythic power and a true rescue story for 5th Edition, and introduces locales and NPCs that players will never forget. It offers new monsters and new magic in the unique style of Wolfgang Baur, one of the leading RPG adventure designers.

A truly heroic adventure that players will never forget. This is a classic-style 5th Edition adventure for 3rd level PCs near any wooded shore.

Includes 6 pregenerated characters for immediate play or for use as NPCs.

Find it here.

 

[Gilladian]

The transition is pretty smooth if you're running in the realms, and not bad if you've converted to a homebrew setting; essentially you are hired by Gundren (the dwarf from the Wave Echo Mines) to take a cart of processed ore from the Mines to Red Larch, the main town in the PotA adventure, to deliver for him. Once you get there, you're at loose ends and being adventurers the result is pretty inevitable.

It does mean, as DM, you either have to convert some of the low-level "pre-adventure" adventures to higher level (boost the foes) or let the PCs have a pretty easy time of the early intro material. OR you can skip some/most of it, and just let them meet/make friends with the townsfolk at their own speed. I don't think it hurts the integrity of the adventure any.

 

[delericho]

More 5e adventures are always welcome. I would like to see some new adventures starting at 5th level though, which could be used to seamlessly transition from Lost Mine of Phandelver. LMOP has gained alot of praise, so I'm surprised someone hasn't taken advantage of that yet (outside of the brief tie-in suggestions found in Princes of the Apocalypse).

It's tricky for anyone other that WotC to do that, though, since LMoP is set in the Realms and leaves the PCs in a 'known' location, and of course nobody else can use them.

And WotC, of course, have only published two campaigns since LMoP (to date), one of which was written before the response to LMoP was known and the other of which does include the relevant suggestions. So they've done pretty much as much as they can.

 

[delericho]

I have the Pathfinder version. Its a good adventure.

How does it compare with, say, "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" or "Expedition to the Demonweb Pits"? Because my experience of WB's adventures is not exactly positive, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if both those adventures are less than his best work.

 

[myscha_sleddog]

So what's the deal with this? More and more commercially available content is going on sale claiming 5E compatibility. They all use altered logos and lean heavily on the old 3.5 OGL. It's kind of surprising to me to see this being done by folks who have executed work under contract for WotC. I'm excited to see cool and creative content become available, but isn't this flat-out illegal? Using "5E" is like saying "cola" instead of Coca-Cola, but it feels underhanded and sly. But then again, I did see a generic cola at the grocery store but it tasted like battery acid. I guess the last thing I would ever want to do is get sued by Hasbro and be forced to return all proceeds to original payers + damages. I keep imagining Patty Hewes (Glen Close) with a glass of liquor and her feet up on the desk smirking at how she tricked those hapless creatives into falling into her corporate trap!

How do you guys feel about this stuff? I wish WotC would just release a darn OGL so we can all make cool content for this awesome renaissance of D&D.

*the above posted is mostly humor, but at its heart is a real question.

 

[Morrus]

It's not illegal, no, any more than making a phone case compatible with iPhones is. There is IP law you need to be aware of, but it's doable if you know what you're doing.

 

[ChapolimX]

The transition is pretty smooth if you're running in the realms, and not bad if you've converted to a homebrew setting; essentially you are hired by Gundren (the dwarf from the Wave Echo Mines) to take a cart of processed ore from the Mines to Red Larch, the main town in the PotA adventure, to deliver for him. Once you get there, you're at loose ends and being adventurers the result is pretty inevitable.

It does mean, as DM, you either have to convert some of the low-level "pre-adventure" adventures to higher level (boost the foes) or let the PCs have a pretty easy time of the early intro material. OR you can skip some/most of it, and just let them meet/make friends with the townsfolk at their own speed. I don't think it hurts the integrity of the adventure any.

Thanks. It sounds good to me. As my game is in the beginning I will wait a little, but probably Princes of the Apocalypse it will be.

 

[MerricB]

How does it compare with, say, "Hoard of the Dragon Queen" or "Expedition to the Demonweb Pits"? Because my experience of WB's adventures is not exactly positive, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if both those adventures are less than his best work.

Sandboxy. Requires quite a bit from the DM (more than the beginning of Hoard, which it has a passing resemblance to - vaguely), and allows quite a bit of player agency.

I'm writing a review of it now. Should go up on my site relatively soon.

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

Review: http://merricb.com/2015/08/14/5e-adventure-review-the-ravens-call/

Cheers!