[UPDATED] Out of the Abyss Reviews Have Started Rolling In

I just found one of the first reviews of Out of the Abyss. I thought it could be nice to keep all links to reviews in one thread, so here is the first I found:

http://diehardgamefan.com/2015/09/0...he-abyss-dungeons-dragons-fifth-editiondd-5e/

The previews have been okay, but this review is what has me stoked. This kind of adventure is right up my alley. Can't wait for it to show up!

 

[Barantor]

Which hero is that?

Driz'zt was supposed to be in it, but I guess they took him out or just teased it, but his dwarven pal the king is still in there.

If you're introducing people to the game and just want them to try it out, that's pretty much *exactly* what the Starter Set was designed to do.

The Starter Set is a great adventure and the best adventure they have put out so far because it isn't 1-15+ in level. It is a pity that they didn't rig the other adventures to have this one be the lead in for all of them, thus boost their sales of this great product.

Apart from that... Well, the thing is, WotC doesn't want people to just try adventures with no commitment. If people play a short adventure they quickly reach the end. And that leads to a "Well, that was fun. Goodbye everyone" moment. If you play a campaign, even just planning on showing off people the start, then there's the incentive to keep playing. It's easy to keep playing. If they don't like it, then the fact they're walking out on the story doesn't matter. If they're curious enough to keep playing and the story isn't over, that keeps them coming back! Which moves people from playing D&D as a one-time game night thing to regular players.
It's a Scheherazade situation. If you keep ending on a cliffhanger, people will keep listening to the story night after night.

Doesn't work for all folks though unfortunately. I've run games with some new folks and they got to the end and were "that was great, but I want a different character". I find that short adventures can be used as either one shots, which can give short term fun without commitment, or as an aside to a campaign that folks are running on their own.

For instance, in my current campaign I am introducing two newish players to our campaign by having the other players play one shot characters as a kind of 'back story' for the two new ones to be integrated.

I imagine in a few years, once they get a nice backlog of adventures, they'll start retiring adventures and making them public. But that'll be a few years. But, really, if you're super interested in those adventures it doesn't take much searching to find a password.

I was hoping it was more of a two behind type thing where they would release them once a few new seasons were under the hood. It's sad that if you want them you have to go to odd measures.

 

[pukunui]

Driz'zt was supposed to be in it, but I guess they took him out or just teased it, but his dwarven pal the king is still in there.

I don't think Drizzt was ever supposed to be in Out of the Abyss. He does still feature in other parts of the Rage of Demons storyline, though, like Salvatore's tie-in novel, Archmage.

As for Bruenor, his part to play is fairly minor, and you could easily replace him with any other dwarven king. Furthermore, I don't get the impression that players are expected to know who he is in terms of all that he's done in the novels and such. He's just a questgiver really.

 

[Iosue]

Driz'zt was supposed to be in it, but I guess they took him out or just teased it, but his dwarven pal the king is still in there.

Wizards has at no point said that Drizzt was going to be in Out of the Abyss.

Here's the product announcement. Note the lack of Drizzt.

 

[Jester David]

Driz'zt was supposed to be in it, but I guess they took him out or just teased it, but his dwarven pal the king is still in there.

He was meant to be part of the storyline. In addition to Out of the Abyss, that includes two video games, a novel, a season of Organised Play and more. Drizzt was likely never going to be much of a part of this adventure, because the PCs are heroes. Perkins even said Drizzt wasn't the hero of OotA but no one listened.

The Starter Set is a great adventure and the best adventure they have put out so far because it isn't 1-15+ in level. It is a pity that they didn't rig the other adventures to have this one be the lead in for all of them, thus boost their sales of this great product.

I imagine because they can't ask people to replay that adventure or have every storyline start at level 5.

Doesn't work for all folks though unfortunately. I've run games with some new folks and they got to the end and were "that was great, but I want a different character". I find that short adventures can be used as either one shots, which can give short term fun without commitment, or as an aside to a campaign that folks are running on their own.

Longer stories can easily be turned into smaller ones. OotA for example. It begins with the PCs escaping from drow slavery and being persued. It could end when it ends, or after a session with the PCs escaping pursuit. Princes of the Apocalypse has 13 small dungeons, any of which could be a small stand-alone adventure.
You don't need set-up. There's no set-up for classic dungeon crawls. PotA is 13 short stand alone adventures for a fraction of the price.

But if you *need* small stand alone adventures there are dozens on dndclassics.com and there's also En5ider.

I was hoping it was more of a two behind type thing where they would release them once a few new seasons were under the hood. It's sad that if you want them you have to go to odd measures.

It might also be a rights issue, if they have republishing in the contract. And it really depends on the adventures not being played. They need enough low level adventures to replace the ones being made public.
But if they never released them, oh well. It's not like they released any of the prioir RPGA adventures.

 

[Barantor]

I imagine because they can't ask people to replay that adventure or have every storyline start at level 5.

That would open up more possibilities for more 'starter' style adventures on the cheap though wouldn't it? Right now if you want official 5E content you have to go with longer adventures to get anything... besides that starter set.

Longer stories can easily be turned into smaller ones. OotA for example. It begins with the PCs escaping from drow slavery and being persued. It could end when it ends, or after a session with the PCs escaping pursuit. Princes of the Apocalypse has 13 small dungeons, any of which could be a small stand-alone adventure.
You don't need set-up. There's no set-up for classic dungeon crawls. PotA is 13 short stand alone adventures for a fraction of the price.

But if you *need* small stand alone adventures there are dozens on dndclassics.com and there's also En5ider.

Oh I know dnd classics all too well, it has filled out the gaps of a few things I didn't get the first time around lol.

PotA was the one I was closest to buying, but I can make my own items easier and fill them in with previous material if I am going to 'stick in' parts of anything.

While I understand that some folks might like an all encompassing storyline, they just aren't for me nor the groups I tend to run. I love 5E and will continue to run it, but with 1-15+ level adventures that are running as much or more than a core book, I won't be buying them when I can create my own adventures with previous content that is just as easy to plug in.

 

[aramis erak]

A boxed set might be nice, but at $70, I think it would be out of a lot of people's price ranges. Even now, at $50 and with an Amazon discount, I have to think twice about buying an AP. I don't understand why they can't make the big APs and also make a few shorter adventures too (maybe in the 32-64 page range) at the same time. If they were serious about getting people to play D&D and the whole branding thing, they would be providing people with some variety and some choices. Right now, you either love the hardcover APs or you don't. That's a pretty inflexible strategy.

The problem isn't that they aren't publishing them, it's that they aren't SELLING the shorter modules.

The D&D AL modules get leaked pretty freely. A not too difficult search turns up the password, too.

A few are a bit rough - some minor QC issues that, given the AL staff's errata & suggestions, would be a couple hours edit each, and salable.

I think the real trick would be adding suitable art for point of sale.

 

[Jester David]

That would open up more possibilities for more 'starter' style adventures on the cheap though wouldn't it? Right now if you want official 5E content you have to go with longer adventures to get anything... besides that starter set.

More short adventures would mean competing with the Starter Set. That's a pricey product they want to be evergreen.

PotA was the one I was closest to buying, but I can make my own items easier and fill them in with previous material if I am going to 'stick in' parts of anything.

While I understand that some folks might like an all encompassing storyline, they just aren't for me nor the groups I tend to run. I love 5E and will continue to run it, but with 1-15+ level adventures that are running as much or more than a core book, I won't be buying them when I can create my own adventures with previous content that is just as easy to plug in.

That's fine. But you have to accept that WotC is unlikely to do both products.

It's a reality of the publishing business that it's more profitable to make fewer books that sell more to offset the high production costs (writing, editing, art, layout, etc). Right now, if you want adventures, you buy the storyline books. Even people who don't want the storyline books will buy them to have any adventure content they can plug into their game. That means more sales of those products. If they offered an alternative, that means fewer sales, as those people who would rather have smaller adventures or story-less adventures would purchase those. You yourself almost purchased PotA (which is seriously almost effortless to pull apart and plug into homegames). I means competing with yourself and making less profit even if more total books are sold.

 

[turkeygiant]

The only reference to Drizzt I have noticed in Out of the Abyss is in one of the random encounters, and it is just a beholders memory of him, he isn't even called out by name.

 

[Zardnaar]

Same here. I always order my 5e books from the Book Depository. The free shipping rocks, and it's generally pretty fast too.

I have used them before. Thats not to bad of a price.

 

[delericho]

Even back in the day ("the day" being pre-2e), adventures were set in Greyhawk by default. The only D&D adventures to ever be setting neutral were 4e...

2nd Ed had a good number of setting-neutral adventures. And unlike the 3e adventures, that actually meant "setting-neutral", not "assumed Greyhawk".