The Rise of Tiamat

[Jhaelen]

3 out of 5 rating for The Rise of Tiamat

... considering the mess that the first module was, this doesn't say much, though. It's salvagable but will require a DM to put a lot of additional work in it. Fortunately, there are a few highlights along the way, otherwise it wouldn't be worth spending that effort. The module's layout is confusing with several sections being out of order and there's plenty of walls of text that don't make this easy to run. THe module would also have greatly benefitted from a higher page count; some of the episodes are no more than rough outlines.

 

[gnarm gimblegear]

5 out of 5 rating for The Rise of Tiamat

If you survived the first half of this campaign, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, you'll do yourself a disservice if you do not follow it up with this gem.The first look into high level Dungeons & Dragons for the 5th edition is epic. Just look at Tiamat's stat block and you'll immediately be intrigued.This campaign still pales in comparison to the classic Dragonlance series, but it has all the makings of adventure on a grand scale. It will take a caring DM to pull it off and keep the players engaged, but the reward could be a lifetime of gaming memories.

 

[Netherstorm]

4 out of 5 rating for The Rise of Tiamat

Ultimately, The Rise of Tiamat is a much better conclusion to the first 5e adventure series than 4e's E1-E3 or the 3E stuff which ended with Bastion of Broken Souls. There's good stuff in this book, but it skimps on details in a big way in certain chapters (I am thinking mainly of Chapters 6 and 8 - Not even sure why they bothered with chapter 8 at all). Another annoying feature is that there are two bait and switch moments that is sure to annoy the hell out of your players. The way the book is organized is odd too. You will need to flip around between chapter one (which is sort of the 'hub' of the whole story), chapter 5 which has some really vague and lame encounters meant to be inserted whenever you so choose, and a loose section in the beginning with more drop-in encounters (who vary in quality). You the DM can make this work, but it's not something you can just run right out of the book. You will need to make a considerable effort prior to each session... though hey, when do we not have to do that? It's just that if you're used to the 4e style which was very, very easy to prepare for, this will feel a lot harder. There's a lot of great moments in this, and it feels like the right choice to kick off the new edition with. This game is called Dungeons & Dragons, and this path gives you dungeons and it gives you dragons. It's very good and gives me great hope for the things to come. I talk about this adventure in excruciating detail in my blog, Power Score, chapter by chapter. Check out the link for more.

 

[Morrus]

4 out of 5 rating for The Rise of Tiamat

Of the two parts to this storyline (the other being Hoard of the Dragon Queen), The Rise of Tiamat is the better half. It feels more polished. It's not perfect, but as the conclusion to 5E's first storyline it beats the initial efforts of the previous edition's launch adventures. Recommended.

 

[Bugbear70]

3 out of 5 rating for The Rise of Tiamat

An improvement over its predecessor, but its many inconsistencies keep me from giving it 4 stars. There are flashes of brilliance here, but it's still basically an adventure outline buried in a wall-of-text. With all the potential buried in there, one could work it up to a formidable adventure, but when I drop thirty bucks, I expect to have most of the work done for me.

 

[Diehard GameFAN]

3 out of 5 rating for The Rise of Tiamat

So there you go: 2,000 words on why The Rise of Tiamat has a LOT of problems and a further 2,000 on why the second half of Tyranny of Dragons is pretty sweet and well worth purchasing. I’ll admit I strongly prefer Hoard of the Dragon Queen to this as it’s a better overall product quality wise (take that for what you will) and it’s certainly better laid out and far friendlier to the non diehard crowd. Still, once you get past the obvious layout and editing issues, you’re getting an exceptional amount of content and value for a relatively small price tag. The Rise of Tiamat is certainly a fine way to end The Tyranny of Dragons and it will keep you occupied for several months to come. Certainly longer than this in-depth and long-winded review anyway.

 

[EthanSental]

5 out of 5 rating for The Rise of Tiamat

Really excited by the cover and not disappointed as I went through it!

 

[delericho]

2 out of 5 rating for The Rise of Tiamat

Like "Hoard of the Dragon Queen", this adventure surprised me. Unlike HotDQ, it was not a pleasant surprise. Based on the early reviews, I had been led to expect that this was a vastly better adventure than its predecessor.

It isn't.

The adventure starts well, laying out various factions that can play against each other in interesting ways. This looked really good, and led me to think there would be huge scope for scheming, and role-play, and other shenanigans. My only concern here was that I was sure a better means of showing the factions must surely be better - an org chart for the evil Cult, essentially.

But then things started to go wrong.

The adventure is split into nine Episodes, with two of those split into several sub-episodes that should happen at different times during play.

Episode one, which basically structures the adventure, which is fine. Except that this episode essentially boils down to four departmental meetings for the forces of Good. No, really.

After each of the four meetings, the PCs are then presented with a choice of where to go next, pointing into two of the other episodes. Which would be fine, except that the choice is an illusion: it's not a choice of "which mission do you want to do", it's "which mission do you want to do first?" After which the PCs have to do the other mission anyway.

Worse, where HotDQ provided lots of scope for different approaches within each episode, allowing PCs to fight, negotiate, or trick their way through, or even evade entire sections of the episode; here there is generally a clear 'best' solution, further reducing the scope of PC agency. A real shame.

Finally, as far as the adventure itself is concerned, the climax of the adventure sees the PCs desperately fighting to prevent Tiamat being summoned. If she is, that's probably a TPK. Which means that success for the PCs is a wonderful anti-climax. Which is not ideal, to say the least.

One more thing: this storyline has featured dragon-themed armies working to free a five-headed Dragon Queen from her prison. It has featured a flying castle. It has featured five colour-coded "wyrmspeakers" that act as high lords in the cult. It features an undead warrior who is allied to the cult but not total in his loyalties. It features a crown that is absolutely key to the final ritual. It features red robed wizards whose betrayal at a key moment can strongly affect the outcome. It even features a council to bring metallic dragons into the fight, and a detour to an ice-bound dungeon.

Basically, I enjoyed this campaign an awful lot more when I read it twenty-five years ago and it was called "Dragonlance".

And so ends the first "storyline" for 5e. Such a shame.

 

[JEB]

4 out of 5 rating for The Rise of Tiamat

An improvement on the first half of Tyranny of Dragons, with a lot of work put into developing factions and NPCs. Still, the result is more "good" than "great".

 

[Jester David]

4 out of 5 rating for The Rise of Tiamat

This is a quick, partial review, as I reviewed this product alongside it's sister, Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

Much better than the first part and largely independent. Aside from some small backstory, it would be possible to play this adventure on its own, skipping HotDQ entirely. The climax is a little weak though, and potentially unsatisfying, so some modification might be needed. A good DM could have a lot of fun with this adventure.

Read my full review of Tyranny of Dragons here: http://www.5mwd.com/archives/2890