Which Adventure to DM?

[Genoin]

I am looking to DM a 5e game, and I am interested in doing one of the following

1. Curse of Strahd
2. Princes of the Apocalypse
3. Out of the Abyss
4. Hoard of the Dragon Queen + Rise of Tiamat

Without going too much into spoiler territory, can you guys give some advice on the pros and cons of any/all of these? Any that you would steer clear of with newer players for example? I really enjoy Forgotten Realms so I am leaning toward Out of the Abyss, but only just barely.

[Man_Over_Game]

1. Curse of Strahd - Utilizes a lot of horror and intensity. Much more open-world than most other modules, very professionally done, but best done for experienced players. Levels 1-10.

2/3 -Sorry, don't have any information on these.

4. Hoard of the Dragon Queen + Rise of Tiamat - A fun adventure with a lot of traveling. It does a great job of utilizing a variety of skills and actions from your players, but tends to be a bit railroad-y.

[Genoin]

1. Curse of Strahd - Utilizes a lot of horror and intensity. Much more open-world than most other modules, very professionally done, but best done for experienced players. Levels 1-10.

2/3 -Sorry, don't have any information on these.

4. Hoard of the Dragon Queen + Rise of Tiamat - A fun adventure with a lot of traveling. It does a great job of utilizing a variety of skills and actions from your players, but tends to be a bit railroad-y.

Thanks for the advice. I may actually be running more than one of these. One will be for a group of brand new players, so with the Tiamat ones it probably wouldn't be a big deal that it is railroady (personal experience tells me that newer players don't mind the plot train as much). Good to know that Curse of Strahd is high quality but better for veterans.

[Man_Over_Game]

Thanks for the advice. I may actually be running more than one of these. One will be for a group of brand new players, so with the Tiamat ones it probably wouldn't be a big deal that it is railroady (personal experience tells me that newer players don't mind the plot train as much). Good to know that Curse of Strahd is high quality but better for veterans.

On the note of Hoard of the Dragon Queen, it's really well designed, and perfect for newer players who are just getting their feet wet. Rise of Tiamat is designed for the players who got past the first half, and now want to tread with sharks, so it feels like a good progression from railroaded tutorial to full-blown campaign. Just don't be surprised if the early module requires a specific direction, and your players decide they want to explore elsewhere. You often don't have information on the surrounding areas, so they might step off course and catch you off guard if you aren't expecting that.

[Genoin]

On the note of Hoard of the Dragon Queen, it's really well designed, and perfect for newer players who are just getting their feet wet. Rise of Tiamat is designed for the players who got past the first half, and now want to tread with sharks, so it feels like a good progression from railroaded tutorial to full-blown campaign. Just don't be surprised if the early module requires a specific direction, and your players decide they want to explore elsewhere. You often don't have information on the surrounding areas, so they might step off course and catch you off guard if you aren't expecting that.

Gotcha. Sounds perfect for that group then. I'll just read ahead and try to be ready to improvise if they do decide.

I would still love to hear about the other two if anyone has any experience with them, particularly Out of the Abyss.

[djreynolds]

OotA is fun, make your maps ahead of time.
Go to staples by the huge graph paper and draw it out. Everything, it's a 3d world, the whole place.

Decide who is to be kept alive for NPCs

Also, sounds crazy, keep it as dark as possible during play, lie and say the power went out, it makes it feel sunless.

And have the drow catch up when the players need to pick up the pace.

Enjoy