D&D 5E Why is Hoard of the Dragon Queen such a bad adventure?

[jayoungr]

Hi, I stumbled across this old thread from a google search. I am a first time DM, and this module will be my first campaign. I am interested in reading your blog posts mentioned here, and was also wondering if you had any tips for this adventure specifically for first time DM's.

The links to these blog posts are no good. Do they still exist?

The original article was reposted on this board, here:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...Dragon-Queen&p=6422605&viewfull=1#post6422605

And this post later in the thread has links to the follow-up "13 Tips" article on the Wayback Machine:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...-Queen/page4&p=6730156&viewfull=1#post6730156

Good luck! The "Enhancing" thread mentioned by @DEFCON 1 above is always open for questions.

 

[discosoc]

HotDQ is (in my opinion) the best AP story. It had a great start, with interesting NPC's, and a real epic feel. It just lacks in the mechanical department, so you really have to prep it hard and fill in some blanks (especially the second book) to present the story in a fun way.

 

[jayoungr]

It just lacks in the mechanical department, so you really have to prep it hard and fill in some blanks (especially the second book) to present the story in a fun way.

I actually found the second book (assuming you mean Rise of Tiamat) easier to run than HotDQ, due to the way it was structured as a series of missions rather than one long investigation. What are the "blanks" that you found bigger in the second book? Just curious!

 

[robus]

I actually found the second book (assuming you mean Rise of Tiamat) easier to run than HotDQ, due to the way it was structured as a series of missions rather than one long investigation. What are the "blanks" that you found bigger in the second book? Just curious!

I'm guessing the Thay chapter and the Metallic Dragons chapter. I ditched those and sub'd in the main adventure from SKT which so far has been going well.

 

[Jacob Powell]

Running this campaign and I enjoy it. I'm the DM for my group and I'd have to say if your players tried to fight the dragon in the first episode that's really there own fault. My party used stealth and moving tactics to avoid the dragon and the dragon became more of just the scene. They never charged the dragon. He took damage from archers on the keep and flew off later in the raid.

 

[Grymm428]

I've been running games D&D games for nigh on 34 years now, and I've seen and run canned modules to campaigns of my design in worlds I've created. In my opinion, HotDQ has railroading problems, but then again, which pre-written adventure doesn't contain some amount of railroading. HotDQ requires some work on the DM's part, but again, isn't that part of the GM's involvement? If you're looking for a campaign that is easy to run, this is not the campaign for you.

 

[Parmandur]

Holy Necro, Batman!

I have to say, for all of it's weaknesses, the book is still in print after four years.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Holy Necro, Batman!

I have to say, for all of it's weaknesses, the book is still in print after four years.

In many ways it seems WotC learned from their mistakes in regards to HotDQ. They no longer split storylines into two books, possible since the bad reputation of HotDQ effected sales of the better regard but less talked about RoT. And of course going from the most on rails adventure to more sandboxy APs.

 

[Gradine]

HotDQ's greatest sin (other than its absolutely horrendous editing) is just how much it asks of the DM to fill in the gaps. It's a LOT. And yes, that's fine for a DM with a lot of experience in homebrewing and/or adaptation, but it is not what you want to put out there as your first big AP experience in your record-breaking sales-phenomenon with presumably hordes of new DMs in the wings. Lost Mine fills that niche much better, but then it's also much shorter as well.

 

[gyor]

I don't like how they statted up Tiamat, compare it to 2e and 3e she doesn't feel like a God.