D&D 5E The Rise of Tiamat Can Be A Independent Adventure?

[edutrevi]

If I start DMing directly from 'The Rise of Tiamat' my group will understand the history or I need to buy first 'Hoard of the Dragon Queen'?
The question is: Does 'The Rise of Tiamat' have a introduction or it starts directly from the 'Hoard of the Dragon Queen' final? 'The Rise of Tiamat' can be a independent adventure?

Thanks.

 

[Wolfskin]

RoT has indeed a lengthy introduction and you can use it without HotDQ. That said, you'll have to make a few adjustments, but it's not absolutely required. The adventure does assume the characters did beat the baddies at Skyreach Castle -HotDQ's final-, though, so you'd have either to tell them "you did this and that" or give some NPCs the credit.

 

[Desalus]

Why would any group choose to start a campaign half way through the storyline instead of starting from the beginning? If you're going to play Tyranny of the Dragons, run 'Hoard of the Dragon Queen' first and then as a group decide if you want to continue onto 'The Rise of Tiamat'.

 

[machineelf]

"Why would any group choose to start a campaign half way through the storyline instead of starting from the beginning?"

There could be a lot of reasons. The first that comes to mind is that a group had already played some other, different adventures from levels 1-7 or so, and so the question is, can this adventure be of use for a group that is already level 7 or 8, but has not played the first part of the set due to the fact that they were involved in other adventures.