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Why is Hoard of the Dragon Queen such a bad adventure?
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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 6479370" data-attributes="member: 57112"><p>This right here is the problem. In neither of these scenarios is the party expected to fight the Dragon. One they're supposed to talk away, the other they're supposed to either avoid our join in a grand, desperate assault against (which is entirely their choice, at that point, at which point yes, the Dragon leaving is a tad convoluted).</p><p></p><p>The problem isn't that these creatures are put in the adventures. The problem is the assumption, by either the DM or the players, that creatures only exist in modules to be fought. This doesn't really make a ton of sense; are PCs only supposed to run into perfectly balanced encounters, always and forever? Or should they be expected to run into situations where their non combat abilities (stealth, subterfuge, discretion, our just sheer cleverness) are not just helpful but required?</p><p></p><p>Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with the "There is a problem," "I hit it until it's not a problem anymore," style of gameplay. But these are the only players I can really imagine seeing the assault on Greenest as nothing but an insane suicide mission. And those guys are going to have issues with other parts of the adventure as well.</p><p></p><p>I'm not defending the full adventure by any stretch, I've so far only read the first part, and I can see it being very exhilarating, if not necessarily the way I would kick off a campaign. But at my table my players are expected to buy into the matter at hand. By explaining to them before character creation, in two simple sentences, that this campaign is heroic fantasy, and they are expected to play ultimately heroic (if still flawed) characters, they'll come to the table with all the buy-in they need. If they show up with a grizzled, bitter CN mercenary who turns their back on Greenest the instant they see the dragon, they've missed the point and I send them back to the drawing board. If that's the campaign the all want to play, then this adventure isn't for them and I've got to back to the drawing board. But neither one those in a knock on the adventure itself.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 6479370, member: 57112"] This right here is the problem. In neither of these scenarios is the party expected to fight the Dragon. One they're supposed to talk away, the other they're supposed to either avoid our join in a grand, desperate assault against (which is entirely their choice, at that point, at which point yes, the Dragon leaving is a tad convoluted). The problem isn't that these creatures are put in the adventures. The problem is the assumption, by either the DM or the players, that creatures only exist in modules to be fought. This doesn't really make a ton of sense; are PCs only supposed to run into perfectly balanced encounters, always and forever? Or should they be expected to run into situations where their non combat abilities (stealth, subterfuge, discretion, our just sheer cleverness) are not just helpful but required? Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with the "There is a problem," "I hit it until it's not a problem anymore," style of gameplay. But these are the only players I can really imagine seeing the assault on Greenest as nothing but an insane suicide mission. And those guys are going to have issues with other parts of the adventure as well. I'm not defending the full adventure by any stretch, I've so far only read the first part, and I can see it being very exhilarating, if not necessarily the way I would kick off a campaign. But at my table my players are expected to buy into the matter at hand. By explaining to them before character creation, in two simple sentences, that this campaign is heroic fantasy, and they are expected to play ultimately heroic (if still flawed) characters, they'll come to the table with all the buy-in they need. If they show up with a grizzled, bitter CN mercenary who turns their back on Greenest the instant they see the dragon, they've missed the point and I send them back to the drawing board. If that's the campaign the all want to play, then this adventure isn't for them and I've got to back to the drawing board. But neither one those in a knock on the adventure itself. [/QUOTE]
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Why is Hoard of the Dragon Queen such a bad adventure?
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