Combining Adventure Paths

[Lonely Tylenol]

So, at this point, WotC has released two fully-fledged adventure paths in Tyranny of Dragons (Hoard of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat) and Princes of the Apocalypse, both of which are by default supposed to run in the world of Faerun. From what I can tell, Tyranny of Dragons is supposed to run from level 1 to 15, and Princes of the Apocalypse from 3 to 15, with obvious gaps in-between.

I don't have all these adventure paths (thus far I've only bought the core trilogy), but I'm planning on being the go-to DM on the island for 5e, and I want to introduce new players to the edition through pre-set adventure paths with the existing world of Faerun (less daunting for new players in general that way), and I was wondering: do these adventure paths play nice with each other, and with other adventures not explicitly part of these paths? Can you play both adventure paths smoothly, without the game feeling overcrowded, or too sporadic, or anything of that sort? I know this is going to be more about game "feel" than anything else, because I doubt anyone had played the adventures concurrently by this point, but I would like to know if anyone who has the books feels they can play nice with each other.

I suppose this applies to Lost Mines of Phandelver as well, although less so, because LMoP is meant to finish before level 5.

[Envyus]

Lost Mines and Princes mix very well. Princes and Tyranny not so much.

[Rhaegar14]

Hoard of the Dragon Queen is extremely linear and will not mix with other adventures. Rise of Tiamat is a bit less so, but by that point in the story they probably won't really be focusing on anything else.

[Inchoroi]

So, at this point, WotC has released two fully-fledged adventure paths in Tyranny of Dragons (Hoard of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat) and Princes of the Apocalypse, both of which are by default supposed to run in the world of Faerun. From what I can tell, Tyranny of Dragons is supposed to run from level 1 to 15, and Princes of the Apocalypse from 3 to 15, with obvious gaps in-between.

I don't have all these adventure paths (thus far I've only bought the core trilogy), but I'm planning on being the go-to DM on the island for 5e, and I want to introduce new players to the edition through pre-set adventure paths with the existing world of Faerun (less daunting for new players in general that way), and I was wondering: do these adventure paths play nice with each other, and with other adventures not explicitly part of these paths? Can you play both adventure paths smoothly, without the game feeling overcrowded, or too sporadic, or anything of that sort? I know this is going to be more about game "feel" than anything else, because I doubt anyone had played the adventures concurrently by this point, but I would like to know if anyone who has the books feels they can play nice with each other.

I suppose this applies to Lost Mines of Phandelver as well, although less so, because LMoP is meant to finish before level 5.

I'd ignore Tyranny of Dragons completely. Buy Princes of the Apocalypse, and maybe the Starter Set; Chapter 6 of Princes has starting quests to get characters interested in the town of Red Larch, which are very good. In addition, as I'm doing in my game, you can run, with little in the way of changes, the Starter Set adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver and then lead them directly into Princes of the Apocalypse, but that's not strictly necessary. Princes also has a bunch of side treks available when you want a detour off the campaign path itself; they're already written in Chapter 6 as well, and they're very good.

[Lonely Tylenol]

Thanks for the responses, guys. Looks like Princes of the Apocalypse and Lost Mines of Phandelver play nice with others, and Tyranny of Dragons doesn't. Good to know. :smallsmile:

From what I've gathered, both PotA and LMoP constrain themselves to one city or region, while ToD involves a lot more travel between different places in order to get from plot point to plot point. Would you guys say this is at least part of why ToD doesn't mix as well with the others?

[1Forge]

Yeah city issues can live in the same world continental issues usually take priority otherwise.

[Safety Sword]

I think that the fact that PotA was designed and built after the rules were set makes it make a bit more sense than Hoard of the Dragon Queen (which is balanced horribly in some places).

HotDQ is pretty linear, not much room for exploration because the pace is supposed to be set by the investigation into the Cult of the Dragon. Nothing says you can't change it, but if there's no urgency then the players will probably circumvent a lot of the middle story as presented in the module.

As for mixing them, I don't really see the need. Unless you want a Tiamat Air Elemental. :smallamused:

[Lonely Tylenol]

As for mixing them, I don't really see the need. Unless you want a Tiamat Air Elemental. :smallamused:

Mostly to avoid the sinking feeling you might get when you realize that the gap between the climactic midpoint event and the very next adventure in the story... Is 3-4 levels long. :smalltongue:

I do really well with creating adventures within the context of my own world. Within another setting?... Not so much. For example, when I started my 5e game, I decided that the orcs' aggressive expansion into the Many-Arrows Pass was going to be a defining event in my world which created a rift in continental politics and had far-reaching implications on a regional level (where it choked off trade to and from poorer regions). Mountain dwarves, as a species, had been largely uprooted, and now roam the lands, bitter, displaced, and deprived of home and identity, which has caused some to sink to the level of barbarism. This historical event was meant to shape the world in ways that would influence most of their first tier of adventures.

Then I looked at a map of Faerun.

My world is no longer Faerun.