What adventure should I buy?

[Weimann]

So I'm in a game shop RIGHT NOW and I'm thinking about buying a 5e adventure. I have the core book and no experience. I'd intend to play it over the Internet in order to finally maybe start PLAYING RPGs rather than just having an academic interest.

The options are Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Princes of Apocalypse. Since Hoard of the Dragon Queen is half price compared to Princes of Apocalypse, I'm leaning to that one, but I am quite a fan of elemental themed which I gather Princes of Apocalypse have. My question is essentially if Princes of Apocalypse is twice as good as Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

[hymer]

If it's not too late, get PoA. HotDQ seems to have been made before the guidelines on encounter difficulty were finalized, and so it needs quite a bit of tweaking.

[JAL_1138]

Tangentially, if your friendly local game store does Adventurers' League, that can be a great way to get started and see if you like the system.

[Freelance GM]

If you're going for a big book, I'd say Princes of the Apocalypse, or Out of the Abyss. Hoard of the Dragon queen was fun, but I liked the other books better. Can't say anything about Rise of Tiamat, as I'm one of the weak-willed fools who bought it just to have Tiamat's stats.

HOWEVER, if you have little-to-no 5E experience and only the Player's Handbook, get the Starter Set. Lost Mine of Phandelver is EXCELLENT, and with your PHB, you can make custom characters instead of using the premades.

Also, running Phandelver doesn't require picking up a Monster Manual.

[Demonic Spoon]

One thing worth considering is that PotA is fairly open-world; I've heard it's a very hard adventure to start on as a brand new DM

[DanyBallon]

From review I read Out of the Abyss, is recomended for experienced DM, Hoards is pretty deadly at low level, and isn't a complete adventure as you need to buy Rise of Tiamat to reach about the same level, as Princes of the Apocalypse and Out of the Abyss, at the end of the campaign. So the lower price count ain't attractive as it seems unless, you don't mind not playing Rise of Tiamat. For new players and DM, the Starter set adventure is a must, but will get you only to 5th level. Princes of the Apocalyspe starts officially at 3rd level, but you get some small quests to fill in 1st and 2nd level, and also give you tips and ties for running after the adventure in the starter set.

[Anonymouswizard]

My suggestion?

Download the free GM materials and write your own!

No, seriously, 5e is by far the easiest system to wing I've found. It's easy to cough up an NPC (level gives proficiency bonus and hp (d8s if unsure), and then throw down some skills, favourite spells, and so on) at about 2 minutes, or 3 if you want to assign ability scores. I've already made my first homebrew monster/NPC without even having the DMG or MM, because it is as easy as 'assign ability scores, determine HP and AC, determine attacks, determine abilities', and need to make several more for my adventure in a week (including an 'eldritch knight' who pulls spells from banned schools and spell lists).

[coredump]

I assume you have already left, but....
Get the starter set. Lost Mine of Phandelver is a great adventure, especially for beginning DMs.
Next would be HotDQ. Better than PotA.
There are a couple of encounters tube careful about....but those are pretty easy changes.

[Madfellow]

My question is essentially if Princes of Apocalypse is twice as good as Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

It's at least three times as good. Go for Princes of the Apocalypse. Trust me, you don't want HotDQ.

[coredump]

It's at least three times as good. Go for Princes of the Apocalypse. Trust me, you don't want HotDQ.

I disagree. While PotA was theoretically more 'open' or 'sandbox'... the options were just more of the same. Having the choice of what order to deal with identical dungeons is still kinda boring.

Plus, as a new DM, the a more linear storyline is probably a bit easier to work with....hence HotDQ.

[Madfellow]

I disagree. While PotA was theoretically more 'open' or 'sandbox'... the options were just more of the same. Having the choice of what order to deal with identical dungeons is still kinda boring.

Plus, as a new DM, the a more linear storyline is probably a bit easier to work with....hence HotDQ.

HotDQ's linear nature can make the players feel like they're being railroaded, and its horrible lack of encounter balance is a dealbreaker for me.

[Weimann]

Well, I picked up Princes of the Apocalypse in the end, essentially on the premise that I liked the theme of elemental upheaval in WoW. Since most people seem to couch for it, I feel like I made a sound decision. Thanks for your advice, everyone.

[Weimann]

My suggestion?

Download the free GM materials and write your own!

No, seriously, 5e is by far the easiest system to wing I've found. It's easy to cough up an NPC (level gives proficiency bonus and hp (d8s if unsure), and then throw down some skills, favourite spells, and so on) at about 2 minutes, or 3 if you want to assign ability scores. I've already made my first homebrew monster/NPC without even having the DMG or MM, because it is as easy as 'assign ability scores, determine HP and AC, determine attacks, determine abilities', and need to make several more for my adventure in a week (including an 'eldritch knight' who pulls spells from banned schools and spell lists).I'm sure that would be the best, but it's also a matter of familiarity. When I said "no experience", that's no exaggeration. I've never played 5e, nor D&D, nor more than a handful disparate sessions of any one RPG system. No matter how easy the system, I just don't know what an adventure looks like.

[Anonymouswizard]

I'm sure that would be the best, but it's also a matter of familiarity. When I said "no experience", that's no exaggeration. I've never played 5e, nor D&D, nor more than a handful disparate sessions of any one RPG system. No matter how easy the system, I just don't know what an adventure looks like.

Okay, that would be a problem. Oh well, I hope you have fun running the adventure.