If important bad guys are killed, they are immediately replaced, If the players get their hands on crucial magic items, they are teleported away. If the players do anything to actually affect the story, the DM is told to counteract them. You have to convince them to use stealth when they want to fight, repeat whole sections of the adventure, constantly rework unbalanced encounters, force them into a tedious spying mission, then force that mission to fail. Right from the beginning, you need to railroad your players into even starting the quest. A ton of effort is needed just to run the adventure. Sadly, while the fun factor and PC challenge is low, the prep work required and the DM challenge is really high. You are fighting kobolds, cultists, lizardfolk, bullywugs, and even a four-armed troll, a vampire, and a storm giant (for no good reason) but just one dragon, and it’s not even Tiamat. But the unforgivable is that there are no dragons in the dragon adventure. There is just so much pointless padding in the middle, that it feels like they had a cool beginning and ending but nothing else. The wyvern flight to chase a flying castle and the castle itself are great, if thematically nonsensical. The dragon siege at the beginning is badass and the solo combat challenge that one of the bad guys throws down is an awesome way to motivate players. It’s all downhill from here.īut there are some good ideas here. And, of course, the players’ actions mean nothing in the end. It wants to be a grand tour of the Forgotten Realms, but they ended up with just two dots on an empty page with an arrow pointing between them. The entire story follows a 2000-mile slog along a straight road, with zero deviation. There are barely any dragons, the plot hooks are weak, the villain’s scheme makes no sense, the excruciatingly long 2 nd Act is dense, boring, and yet somehow devoid of any information about the locations visited, and it’s a total railroad, literally. An awesome idea, a classic D&D adventure with high stakes and epic consequences…Įxcept the adventure is a mess. The story involves an evil dragon cult trying to resurrect Tiamat, the five-headed Queen of Dragon, and unleash a horde of dragons upon the Realms. That being said let’s start with the first and worst:Īs the seminal adventure that launched the revitalization of an entire industry, you would think that this adventure would be one of the absolute best stories ever written. ![]() All of the adventures are excellent and if the synopsis intrigues you and your players, then who cares what I think. My rankings are purely subjective and should be ignored in favor of the theme and setting. ![]() I’ll also rank each one based on it’s use of theme, DM prep required, expected player experience, and how cohesive and well-presented it is. We’ll talk about the central theme, settings, major monsters, main villain, and unique features of each adventure. Let’s explore each published adventure and look all the things that make them special to find the perfect one for your campaign. But not all adventures are created equal, and which one will best suit your group of players? From sweltering jungles filled with dinosaurs and death, to vast underground caverns overrun with the devious drow and death, to cursed lands and haunted castles plagued by vampires and death, and even to the bowels of hell, tormented by demons, devils, and you guessed it, life (no, I’m kidding, it’s death) these adventures have something for everyone. Each one a 200+ page excursion into the themes, tropes, and locations that make D&D the best epic fantasy this mundane world has ever seen. Since the birth of 5 th Edition, Wizards of the Coast has released, to date, 15 Campaign Adventure books. Now you and your players are wondering “What’s next?” I’m sure you’d love to run your group through your homebrewed campaign filled with excitement, intrigue, action, adventure, and enough backstory, attention to detail, and lore to put Game of Thrones to shame. Perhaps you’ve vanquished the vile white wyrm, Cryovain in the Dragon of Icespire Peak. So, you’ve played through the Lost Mine of Phandelver and defeated the despicable drow, Nezzar. These are depicted in the order of release. Can’t decide which epic adventure to torment your players with next? We’ll help you decide.
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