Which 5E Campaign to Invest In?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I've recently really gotten interested in 5e again as it looks like they're starting to move past pre-made campaigns to more player-oriented material. That material in turn got me interested IN said pre-made campaigns, and I was wondering which one would be the best to get my paws on and maybe introduce my circle of RPG playin' friends to.

As far as I'm aware, there's 3 of these out by now:

Tyranny of Dragons, which is made up of 2 books (Hoard of the Dragon Queen and I can't remember the other one, something of Tiamat)

Elemental Evil, which is covered in the Princes of the Apocalypse book

and the most recent one, Rage of Demons, which is covered in the book Out of the Abyss.

I'm curious as to which one to pick up and run. Which one is the best written, which is the most engaging story, the most fun to play, etc. It looks like, from my cursory glances at each at the local bookstore, all these campaigns take place in or around the Sword Coast in Forgotten Realms, which is a setting I'm quite fond of. Are there connections between these stories? What lore do I need to know (especially if they involve my favorite spot in the Realms, good ol' Neverwinter!)?

Thank you for your advice! :smallsmile:

[steppedonad4]

Personally I'm not all that excited by ToD or PotA. Hoard was OK but had holes. I never played through and haven't read Rise because Hoard wasn't very inspiring for me. PotA is very, "Here's a dungeon, go explore it because... well... just because!"

Out of the Abyss, however, is not just a campaign it's also an Underdark sourcebook. I am loving DM'ing it. It's so rich with inspiration and material. Hell, the story really is mostly just a backdrop to the awesomeness that is exploring the Underdark. Personally I'd recommend getting it even if you weren't planning on running it as a campaign as it serves as a great resource for any ventures into the Underdark, but if you're also looking for a campaign, then this is the one I'd point to and say, "Yeah, get that!"

[Kane0]

Tyranny of dragons is the most linear, but also the most brutal at the squishy levels.
Princes of the apocalypse is the most open, but has copped a little bit of criticism for a lack of initial hook and its dungeon-crawly nature.
Out of the abyss is a bit of both and brings a ton of underdark flavor, but many stereotypes and tropes can't be applied unless your group is already accustomed to the game and/or setting.

I'd recommend Princes for a starting group, it offers a lot of content to draw from and use while also giving the DM a lot of freedom and creative license. All you have to do is do an intro session or two to get everybody familiarized and off you go!

[Falcon X]

Out of the Abyss is, hands down, the best written and most fun of the three, albeit the most difficult and complicated. Most reviewers are wishy-washy on the others, but OotA is getting reviews like "it's the best module in the past ten years". Frankly, I agree with them. It's a delight to read and I really look forward to playing it.

That being said, it all depends on your group.

Tyranny of Dragons - The most linear and thus most newb friendly of the bunch. It has the least variety of weird and interesting creatures, pitting you largely against intelligent humanoids and dragons. You will also get the most into politics and factions.
If you are going to do this one, make sure you read review sites like Slyflourish to get ideas of how to spice it up.

Princes of the Apocalypse - Lots of fighting and elemental dungeons. I haven't read through much of it yet, but people say it's the one for killing a bunch of stuff.

Out of the Abyss - Where would I begin?
It's starts the quest by forcing everyone into a common goal that they all believe in. It puts choices in the player's hands. It's monsters and environments are wondrous. Each chapter has a very unique, complex, and entertaining plot. It gives so much power to the DMs and players to make it their own by just giving a wealth of possibilities.
It is definitely for experienced DMs, largely because it's sandboxish, but also because you're encouraged to keep close tabs on inventory, watch sanity ratings, manage a bunch of NPCs following you, and manage a bunch of drow chasing you.
It can take on very different tones. You can play up the survival/horror aspect, or you can forget all that and hack and slash till kingdom come, or you can focus on the high roleplaying value of all the people you encounter, or ignore that entirely.


I'm curious as to which one to pick up and run. Which one is the best written, which is the most engaging story, the most fun to play, etc. It looks like, from my cursory glances at each at the local bookstore, all these campaigns take place in or around the Sword Coast in Forgotten Realms, which is a setting I'm quite fond of. Are there connections between these stories? What lore do I need to know (especially if they involve my favorite spot in the Realms, good ol' Neverwinter!)?
All the games take place in Forgotten Realms. Princes and Dragons are in the Sword Coast, but Out of the Abyss is in the Underdark with only a brief trip to the Sword Coast.
There are no noticeable connections between the stories.

Lore? No necessary, but helpful. I can post links if you want, but...
Hoard of the Dragon Queen: Evil Dragons, Kobolds, The Cult of the Dragon, The Harpers. It was nice to read up on specific areas too, like the "Mere of the Dead Men", or the recent events of Baldur's Gate.
Princes of the Apocalypse: The Temple of Elemental Evil, the 3.5 Monster Manual IV entry on the Elder Elemental Eye and his servants, the old Planescape book on the Inner Planes and monsters, with a focus on the elemental princes.
Out of the Abyss: R.A. Salvatore's "Exile". Alice in Wonderland. Anything Underdark related. Dungeonscape from 3.5.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

What's been happening in the Mere of Dead Men? That place holds a soft spot in my heart too, particularly West Harbor.

[Douche]

Are there connections between these stories?

I read in a review for OoTA that it's intentionally cut into two parts, so that you could conceivably play the starter set til like level 7, and then come in at part 2 of OoTA, skipping part 1.

Other than that, I don't think there are any connections between the various campaigns

[Falcon X]

What's been happening in the Mere of Dead Men? That place holds a soft spot in my heart too, particularly West Harbor.
Nothing new is really going on in the Mere. It's just that Hoard just shoves you right through it, vaguely mentioning the undead, Voaraghamanthar, etc. and it's much better to work those things back in, like what Sly Flourish recommends: http://slyflourish.com/hodq_chapter_6.html

Mostly it's just taking what Ed Greenwood said back in 2004: (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/wn/20040310a) and applying it to your quest to Castle Naerytar in Hoard.



I read in a review for OoTA that it's intentionally cut into two parts, so that you could conceivably play the starter set til like level 7, and then come in at part 2 of OoTA, skipping part 1.
Yeah, it's a pretty clear split down the middle. Part 1 can really be done by itself as an escape from the Underdark, but part 2 really gains value from establishing the setting in part 1.

[Falcon X]

Okay, okay, I'm underexaggerating. Most of the Mere is untouched. However, Castle Naerytar has been taken over by the Cult of the Dragon as a waypoint for their treasure.
Many of the lizard men and Bullywugs are working with the cult. The black dragon is roughly allied, but mostly stays out of their business.

Lord Neverember is also trying to rebuild the road through the Mere to Neverwinter.

[EvilAnagram]

If you want the stats for Tiamat, Tyranny of Dragons.

If you want the stats for powerful elementals, Elemental Evil.

If you want the stats for all the demon lords, Rage of Demons.

Think like a DM. Stories are malleable, stats are forever.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

It sounds like OotA is the one I should spring for first! Thanks for the advice, folks! :smallsmile:

[quozl]

Another one you may want to consider is the Lost Lands setting from Frog God Games

There is a kickstarter ending in 5 days for a 5e Sandbox campaign setting, plus a book of adventures set there . Sorry, I can't post the proper link as I've lurked here for ages rather than posted so I don't have a high enough post count!
www dot kickstarter dot com/projects/froggodgames/the-lost-lands-borderland-provinces

They're very well known in 3.x and Pathfinder D&D and do my favourite Sandbox style campaign settings/mega-adventures (Slumbing Tsar, Sword of Air, Rappan Athuk). This is their first campaign book for 5e but they have previously done 5e adventure compilations (Quests of Doom 1, 2, etc) and a bestiary Fifth Edition Foes.

Their stuff is more 'old school' or whatever that vague term means. To me it means a detail sandbox environment with encounters and adventure sites spread throughout it, and with an assumption that players should not explore every single room and fight every single creature they ever meet, because if they do they will die horribly.

Here's a video talking about my very favourite of them - The Slumbering Tsar Saga. I like it so much that I'm planning on doing my next campaign converting it to 5e even though I have it for Pathfinder! I really wouldn't suggest that you do that, but you might find the kickstarter above interesting as it offers 5e support. I love their stuff and it's a bit different from the WotC stuff.
www dot youtube dot com/watch?v=LE6SKcXp2Ps

[steppedonad4]

Then there's also this: http://merricb.com/dungeons-dragons-5e/the-great-list-of-dd-5e-adventures/

[Joe the Rat]

OotA has been fantastic from a player perspective.
Step 1: You all meet... someplace, and band together to go somewhere else.
Step 2: Where do you want to go?
Step 3: Oh @#$%! that's a demon lord.


Once we finish, I'm planning on picking this one up for myself. I'll run it sometime, I'm sure, but I will get a lot or mileage out of the mushrooms alone.

[kaoskonfety]

If you want the stats for Tiamat, Tyranny of Dragons.

If you want the stats for powerful elementals, Elemental Evil.

If you want the stats for all the demon lords, Rage of Demons.

Think like a DM. Stories are malleable, stats are forever.

Interestingly, I could not disagree more on the main purpose for getting these. The stories are malleable - and therefore are of greater value. Having the stats for Orcus makes me chuckle, but in no significant way helps me write or run a game. I can slap a pile of HP, AC and 2d4 deadly and thematic superpowers on a lich and claim its Orcus, advance 5 ancient dragons a few Hitdice, mash their HP together, add some "its a god" superpowers and have a working avatar of Tiamat.

Monsters are the work of minutes to hours, variant with how complex I want the interactions. A short campaign, written well, takes weeks, easily.

Sadly I own none of them, but on review Rage of Demons has definitely caught my eye as the strongest contender of the lot. I'm holding out a few more months though, to wait out the 'hype' (and make sure it doesn't show up at Christmas).

[brocadecity]

Princes is pretty sandboxy. That's been tricky with my group because they like more direction, so I've had to make up a lot, but i like the atmosphere of the campaign and how it requires players to do detective work

[eugee]

Tyranny of Dragons (HotDQ & RoT) should have been one book--especially because a ton of the information the DM should know during HotDQ is printed in RoT. It's a site-based adventure, and pretty linear. It reminds me of Dragonlance--there's a loose story and the players shape it. Lots of dragons.

Princes of the Apocalypse is a mega-dungeon, following the adventure that inspired it. It's pretty sandboxy for published material, but only to the point of "which of the next 4 dungeons do you want to do first?" It's a solid adventure though, and up for a lot of great fights.

Out of the Abyss is definitely an Underdark sourcebook, and more event based than anything, and the characters will have an impact on those events if they participate. It's also pretty foreign to most adventures players will be used to.

I love all three of them. My group is almost finished with Tyranny, and I'm struggling to decide which one we'll do next.

[EvilAnagram]

Interestingly, I could not disagree more on the main purpose for getting these. The stories are malleable - and therefore are of greater value. Having the stats for Orcus makes me chuckle, but in no significant way helps me write or run a game. I can slap a pile of HP, AC and 2d4 deadly and thematic superpowers on a lich and claim its Orcus, advance 5 ancient dragons a few Hitdice, mash their HP together, add some "its a god" superpowers and have a working avatar of Tiamat.

Monsters are the work of minutes to hours, variant with how complex I want the interactions. A short campaign, written well, takes weeks, easily.

Sadly I own none of them, but on review Rage of Demons has definitely caught my eye as the strongest contender of the lot. I'm holding out a few more months though, to wait out the 'hype' (and make sure it doesn't show up at Christmas).

The interesting thing to me on these campaigns is the stat blocks. Stories in RPGs, as I said before, are malleable. I go in with a rough idea of politics and adventure hooks, and I see where the players want to go. The adventures are a bit stilted and push a single story, but I find that players can do a lot to build the story they want. As a DM, it's my job to recognize the story they want to play and build it as we play.

[steppedonad4]

The intestine thing to me on these campaigns is the stat blocks.

You failed your saving throw against the Madness of Juibelex, didn't you?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Incidentally, what's up with the Elder Elemental Eye in Princes of the Apocalypse being in Faerun? Tharizdun was a specifically Greyhawk god and I thought the most important thing ABOUT the cults of the EEE was that they were essentially a front for Tharizdun worshipers to advance their agenda of world destruction. :smallconfused:

[EvilAnagram]

You failed your saving throw against the Madness of Juibelex, didn't you?

My phone does not care what I mean. Only what it thinks I should mean.