Tomb of Annihalation OR Waterdeep Dragon Heist

[RacingBreca]

Your experience and input is appreciated. I am somewhat new to DM'ing, meaning I've played a few homebrew sessions and run a one-off pre-written session.

I'm in the process of starting a new group, filled with 1st time players, and two veteran players.

My real dilemma is whether to run a homebrew world based off of a campaign that I created for another group and work towards PC driven adventures; or run a WotC adventure.

If I choose to run a WotC campaign, I'd like to do Tomb of Annihalation or Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. I'm considering these two because I've heard that they are well organized and I've played many of the other options (PotA, LMoP, and SKT).

My questions are;
-Do you prefer Homebrewed character driven campaigns or WotC generated campaigns? Why?
- Which of the two WotC campaigns mentioned do you recommend for a new group? Why?

Thank you,

[Whit]

Easy. It’s not what we like but what u like.
Now as for what u want
I’ll start with wizards. Waterdeep is easier than tomb so I would choose this.
Now between home brew or Waterdeep
Well first. If u go Waterdeep will u use adventure league or home brew with it.
For 30+ years I’ve homebrew and it’s more fun but can be overpowered
I’ve played al for 7-8 years 4th and 5th. Everyone is more balanced and not so over powered.

U have to ask the group also. I would not make it to difficult for newbies and make sure they have fun and that experienced players don’t get bored

[Whyrocknodie]

Run a homebrew game if you can, always. You may not have the time/energy of course...

I prefer homebrew games because they fit the group better, you have a complete understanding of your own game, nobody has previous experience in the game you are running and the game is not a mass-marketed product with all the baggage that goes with it. Annnnd it's not in the Forgotten Realms which is a huge win!

Of the two published scenarios, Tomb of Annihilation. It may be an utterly ridiculous dungeon crawl, but a quick google search for whatever 'dragon heist' is revealed this nauseating line: "Thus begins a mad romp through the wards of Waterdeep as you uncover a villainous plot involving some of the city’s most influential figures."

Burn it. Burn it with fire.

[Whit]

I’ll counter that with toa is filled with rumigung through a jungle crawl, dealing with armor restrictions disease etc etc. to much law minutia for newbies and heavy for dms. I don’t dislike it but see it as more advance rule knowledge for both dm and players
I would go with homebrew as well but stil pick waterdeep over toa

[Keravath]

ToA runs to level 11+
Dragon Heist runs level 1-5

If you have limited development time then I might recommend some of the adventures from Tales of the Yawning Portal since you could set them wherever you want and several are very good.

ToA can run very long. There can be a lot of jungle exploration and travel which can slow things down. It is a fairly large sandbox but the travel times crossing Chult mean that you can't really do all the of the secondary quest content and the primary quest within the time limits because it takes too long to get from one place to another. (I've played 23, 4 hour sessions in ToA and we are part way through exploring Omu in Chapter 3 ... we are about level 7 ... progression in other groups likely varies a lot).

I don't know much at all about Dragon Heist except that it has some significant flexibility in terms of who the "villain" might be.

Anyway, for the group you described, I'd probably not recommend ToA as a good starting point.

[KorvinStarmast]

If I choose to run a WotC campaign, I'd like to do Tomb of Annihalation or Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. I like them both. I think WD : DH, is more forgiving, and that will keep your new players both alive and guessing. It is built along the lines of Murder at Baldur's gate, which is also very much problem solving and not a grind.

ToA is a nice sandbox. And you can run into a Cyclops during a level 1 encounter. :smalleek: (We did, so we ran and hid).

[Finback]

Given you've said you played LMoP, why is that excluded? I thought it was a great intro for l1 players when I ran it (first time running 5e as DM too). It was a decent sandbox with an overarching plot.

As others note, Waterdeep lends itself well to urban settings, but is that what the players want? Or are they going to want to leave the city halfway to go fight orcs and dragons?

I would suggest perhaps giving them a dungeon crawl intro, per Yawning Portal, and then relocate them once you have a feel for the party dynamics and goals. After my group finished LMoP, I set up my own plots and stories, leading them around a bit (The Barber of Silverymoon was an AWESOMELY silly/weird adventure, from the Dragon website), before they ended up heading across the sea to Chult (when a) it came out b) I was hitting a wall with some plot devices that didn't pan out c) DINOSAURS).

[Finback]

it takes too long to get from one place to another.

A player who joined to fill a spot took a githzerai horizon walker, and I allowed a piece of magical equipment. He went with a helm of teleportation.

So far, the players have gotten places really quickly. Just... not the places they were expecting. A ziggurat about a day's walk away? *gives them the map of the other side of the continent*

[Millface]

Just finished running ToA, it was loads of fun, but it was also arguably more work than a homebrew campaign would have been. There's alot to it, I'd wait to run that until all of your players have at least one campaign under their belt and you have a little more experience at the helm as well.

As far as homebrew goes, I used to do it exclusively, then I got burnt out and ran some WotC modules. I was very surprised to note that the modules were harder on me than my homebrew for a few reasons.

1. The story is yours, and so you're going to care more about it.
2. The NPCs are yours, and so you're going to care more about them and you can pick NPCs that you're comfortable playing. This makes them more lively and in general my party has always connected the most with NPCs I make and breathe life into, rather than module generated NPCs that I try to put my spin on.
3. When the encounters are yours, you have most of the information of what's happening and what's going to happen stored in your head. You'll have notes, but you won't need to pause for 3-5 minutes every time a character does something you don't expect to see what the Module says about it. Improvisation is far, far easier in homebrew.

Having said that, I do homebrew things in the forgotten realms setting and I often will take things here or there from the published works. Having pre-existing structure is nice, and players really enjoy a persistent world where the things their characters do during one campaign can sometimes been seen when they roll new ones for the next.

I'll be going back to homebrew next and I'm never turning back. I just can't bring myself to care as much as a good DM should about stories that are written by somebody else. If you haven't done a long homebrew campaign yet, I would suggest starting there and seeing how you feel about it. The books will always be there if you decide you don't like it.

Edit: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?516507-Let-s-Read-The-Monster-Manual-II-Fantastic-Beasts-and-Where-to-Fight-Them This thread is absolutely bursting with adventure hooks based on the monsters available in 5e, if you do homebrew I'd give it a look. The entry of Slaads, for example, gave my the idea for my next campaign.

[sithlordnergal]

Your experience and input is appreciated. I am somewhat new to DM'ing, meaning I've played a few homebrew sessions and run a one-off pre-written session.

I'm in the process of starting a new group, filled with 1st time players, and two veteran players.

My real dilemma is whether to run a homebrew world based off of a campaign that I created for another group and work towards PC driven adventures; or run a WotC adventure.

If I choose to run a WotC campaign, I'd like to do Tomb of Annihalation or Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. I'm considering these two because I've heard that they are well organized and I've played many of the other options (PotA, LMoP, and SKT).

My questions are;
-Do you prefer Homebrewed character driven campaigns or WotC generated campaigns? Why?
- Which of the two WotC campaigns mentioned do you recommend for a new group? Why?

Thank you,

So, I'd actually run a hardcover if you are new to DMing. While having a homebrew is very fun, running a hardcover is an excellent way to get experience. It'll allow you to even out any wrinkles in your DMing style without you worrying about the plot or story as much. Don't get me wrong, you'll have to do prep work. It's just you have less prep work with a hardcover.

As for which one, I am currently running ToA, and plan to run Waterdeep: DH. Here's what my thoughts are:

ToA is better for somewhat more experienced groups, and ToA works best if you tweak it a bit. For example, every DM I have talked to feel that it works better if the players do not have a set time limit. This includes myself. Chult has a lot of fun, interesting places you can explore...but the time limit is so short that you can't actually get to the fun stuff. You're basically stuck going directly to the end goal once you learn where it is, because if you don't then your time limit is up and you lose your rewards. Case in point, you learn that there was once a dragon in Chult, and it supposedly had a fantastic treasure! Sounds like a fun adventure, right? Buuuut its on the other side of Chult, and getting to it would burn up nearly all of your time limit.

Next thing about Chult is get the Encounters in the Jungles of Chult side thing from the DMs Guild. It gives you some fun mini-adventure ideas for when your party is doing long treks through the jungle. It also provides some much needed magic items to the party.


As for Dragon Heist, it works well for new players and experienced players alike...provided the players enjoy RPing. You can easily go through an entire session and have little to know combat because you're doing social things. It is far more character driven then ToA, and makes heavy use of backgrounds. If your character is a Noble, you will have benefits. If your character is an Urchin, you can move faster through the city. I also highly suggest finding and running Once in Waterdeep if you plan to do Dragon Heist. It is a great opener, and your players can customize it to their liking.



EDIT: To be honest, I'd get the Encounters in the Jungles of Chult anyway. They can be refluffed for any forest exploration...and there's one adventure in particular that looks really fun to run. Sadly it is for a very high tier party, but it is similar to Dragon Heist in that combat is not a main focus. Just warn your players that if you run it, there is a chance of their characters being trapped in a perpetual Fey party for eternity.