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Why is Hoard of the Dragon Queen such a bad adventure?
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<blockquote data-quote="Mark Stern" data-source="post: 6764722" data-attributes="member: 6801553"><p>We just started playing a few sessions ago. I have been DMing and writing modules for over 20 years. Here are my observations (hopefully they will help anyone playing or planning to play):</p><p>Remember, I have only read chapter one, so this is based solely on that.</p><p></p><p>The story line seems solid and has a lot of different paths the PCs can take. However, in order for a DM to handle this properly, he/she will have to read all of the missions ahead and create some sort of outline summary sheet to keep things moving. Mine looks like this...</p><p></p><p>Missions (each takes an hour starting at 9 pm and ends at 4 am)</p><p>The Old Tunnel</p><p>The Sally Port</p><p>Dragon Attack (shortly before midnight)</p><p>Prisoners</p><p>Save the Mill</p><p>Sanctuary</p><p>Half-Dragon Champion (shortly before 4 am) </p><p></p><p>The biggest problem with the adventure is the game mechanics. The adventure does not stay within a reasonable threshold for PCs of 1st level. My PCs gained enough XP to level up on their way to the keep. I had to have them arrive at the keep at 1 pm just so they could rest and level up before approached by the Governor at 9 pm. I hadn't done the math but years of experience just told me that there was no way the PCs should be able to survive what was coming up at 1st level without resting after fighting their way to the keep. </p><p></p><p>Even at 2nd level, the very first mission they did, "The Old Tunnel" dictates that they must have a character with thieve's tools or they will probably only be able to handle 1-2 of the 7 missions. My PCs got ambushed because of the lack of thieve's tools and used every resource they had to survive the encounter with the raiders at the tunnel grate. Remembering that this was supposed to be a 1st level encounter, I did the math.</p><p>The encounter threshold is 500. A deadly encounter for four 1st level PCs is 400 (which means an ambush here should kill at least one PC); 2nd level is 800. An ambush makes it harder and I have found that it should increase the threshold by about 20%.</p><p>Four 1st level PCs should be able to handle 1,600 (on average) before needing a long rest. That would leave the PCs with 1,000 (including the rats) to go, with 6 missions left to complete. If a DM is running it properly and not pulling punches, it should be impossible for them to complete more than 2 of the 7 missions after reaching the keep without a long rest. My PCs are 2nd level and should reasonably be able to complete 3 of the 7 missions. This assumes that all of the missions have about the same threshold as "The Old Tunnel".</p><p></p><p>So DMs are going to have to alter some things considerably if they want their PCs to be able to experience more than 2 or 3 of the missions. </p><p></p><p>I really wish writers were required to submit a summary of the encounter thresholds to be approved before a work can be published. This adventure requires way too much work for a DM.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mark Stern, post: 6764722, member: 6801553"] We just started playing a few sessions ago. I have been DMing and writing modules for over 20 years. Here are my observations (hopefully they will help anyone playing or planning to play): Remember, I have only read chapter one, so this is based solely on that. The story line seems solid and has a lot of different paths the PCs can take. However, in order for a DM to handle this properly, he/she will have to read all of the missions ahead and create some sort of outline summary sheet to keep things moving. Mine looks like this... Missions (each takes an hour starting at 9 pm and ends at 4 am) The Old Tunnel The Sally Port Dragon Attack (shortly before midnight) Prisoners Save the Mill Sanctuary Half-Dragon Champion (shortly before 4 am) The biggest problem with the adventure is the game mechanics. The adventure does not stay within a reasonable threshold for PCs of 1st level. My PCs gained enough XP to level up on their way to the keep. I had to have them arrive at the keep at 1 pm just so they could rest and level up before approached by the Governor at 9 pm. I hadn't done the math but years of experience just told me that there was no way the PCs should be able to survive what was coming up at 1st level without resting after fighting their way to the keep. Even at 2nd level, the very first mission they did, "The Old Tunnel" dictates that they must have a character with thieve's tools or they will probably only be able to handle 1-2 of the 7 missions. My PCs got ambushed because of the lack of thieve's tools and used every resource they had to survive the encounter with the raiders at the tunnel grate. Remembering that this was supposed to be a 1st level encounter, I did the math. The encounter threshold is 500. A deadly encounter for four 1st level PCs is 400 (which means an ambush here should kill at least one PC); 2nd level is 800. An ambush makes it harder and I have found that it should increase the threshold by about 20%. Four 1st level PCs should be able to handle 1,600 (on average) before needing a long rest. That would leave the PCs with 1,000 (including the rats) to go, with 6 missions left to complete. If a DM is running it properly and not pulling punches, it should be impossible for them to complete more than 2 of the 7 missions after reaching the keep without a long rest. My PCs are 2nd level and should reasonably be able to complete 3 of the 7 missions. This assumes that all of the missions have about the same threshold as "The Old Tunnel". So DMs are going to have to alter some things considerably if they want their PCs to be able to experience more than 2 or 3 of the missions. I really wish writers were required to submit a summary of the encounter thresholds to be approved before a work can be published. This adventure requires way too much work for a DM. [/QUOTE]
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