Questions/Tips for running Rise of Tiamat?

[Jaros]

So I'm currently considering running Rise of Tiamat for my players on Roll20. I'm not, however, planning on running Hoard Of The Dragon Queen, so I was looking for some tips/advice/suggestions from more experienced GMs and people who have ran/played it before.

Quick background stuff: I've played D&D on and off for ~15 years, only got into 5e and GMing last year, my players are friends who were all fairly new. We've run through the first few adventures in Tales From The Yawning Portal, but I was looking to carry on with something with more plot/characters/motivation. My players have just reached level 6 and would like to carry on with the same characters. Because of this I'm thinking RoT seems like a good choice.

My main concern is catapulting my players into a story midway through the plot, especially if it's going to essentially be a big info dump for the first council session.

One option I was wondering about for anyone who's played HotDG, do you think it would be possible to run a modified version of the end of that to lead the players into RoT? This would give them both more motivation to be involved in the conflict by the time of the Council, and more of a reason to be recognised as heroes by the council, as well as having some of the outcomes of HotDQ be relevant.

Alternatively, add in a hook at the end of this adventure (although theres only like one session left) that could lead them to an artifact/sect that leads into the Council? I'm still reading overviews and setup of RoT at the moment.

As a side note, any good recommendations of programs to keep GM campaign notes organised? I tend to get a bit messy with my notes!

[Talij]

I'm DM for a group that's about 3/4th of the way through RoT after starting with HotDQ.

I'd suggest starting with a modified version of the first chapter of HotDQ as the come across a town being raided by a cult and blue dragon. Honestly you probably don't have to tweak it to much as that chapter is brutal for level 1 anyways. The town can be anywhere so put it on their path wherever they happen to be. Throw in some red wizards to establish they are working with the cult. Make Leosin a wounded survivor of the attack so he can dump whatever important plot info you need.

Then have them follow the cult straight to the last chapter and do Skyreach Castle, which can be parked anywhere and you should be around the right level. After the castle, Leosin can bring you to Waterdeep, introduced you to the council as the heroes who stopped the Skyreach, to give the council reason to work with you on this, and you're off and running with RoT.

[Unoriginal]

So I'm currently considering running Rise of Tiamat for my players on Roll20. I'm not, however, planning on running Hoard Of The Dragon Queen, so I was looking for some tips/advice/suggestions from more experienced GMs and people who have ran/played it before.

Quick background stuff: I've played D&D on and off for ~15 years, only got into 5e and GMing last year, my players are friends who were all fairly new. We've run through the first few adventures in Tales From The Yawning Portal, but I was looking to carry on with something with more plot/characters/motivation. My players have just reached level 6 and would like to carry on with the same characters. Because of this I'm thinking RoT seems like a good choice.

My main concern is catapulting my players into a story midway through the plot, especially if it's going to essentially be a big info dump for the first council session.

One option I was wondering about for anyone who's played HotDG, do you think it would be possible to run a modified version of the end of that to lead the players into RoT? This would give them both more motivation to be involved in the conflict by the time of the Council, and more of a reason to be recognised as heroes by the council, as well as having some of the outcomes of HotDQ be relevant.

Alternatively, add in a hook at the end of this adventure (although theres only like one session left) that could lead them to an artifact/sect that leads into the Council? I'm still reading overviews and setup of RoT at the moment.

As a side note, any good recommendations of programs to keep GM campaign notes organised? I tend to get a bit messy with my notes!

I haven't run this adventure, but from the feedback I've seen the start is a big point of dissatisfaction for many.

I personally suggest to make Langdedrosa Cyanwrath far weaker on the first encounter (because a solo fight of a Veteran vs a level 1 is not a challenge, even if the Veteran wasn't an half-dragon), and to have the duel he offers explicitly not to the death. That way, win or lose, at least one of the PCs can get a nemesis who will grow in power as the campaign progresses, and he can become an awesome recurring boss.

[Jaros]

I'm DM for a group that's about 3/4th of the way through RoT after starting with HotDQ.

I'd suggest starting with a modified version of the first chapter of HotDQ as the come across a town being raided by a cult and blue dragon. Honestly you probably don't have to tweak it to much as that chapter is brutal for level 1 anyways. The town can be anywhere so put it on their path wherever they happen to be. Throw in some red wizards to establish they are working with the cult. Make Leosin a wounded survivor of the attack so he can dump whatever important plot info you need.

Then have them follow the cult straight to the last chapter and do Skyreach Castle, which can be parked anywhere and you should be around the right level. After the castle, Leosin can bring you to Waterdeep, introduced you to the council as the heroes who stopped the Skyreach, to give the council reason to work with you on this, and you're off and running with RoT.

Thanks, that's a really good idea!

I've been watching a video or two of people talking about their experiences with HotDQ, and I think I'm going to read up a bit and I might start it with just Greenrest (perhaps with the encounters beefed up) and include Castle Naerytar as well as Skyreach. This will probably mean they stick at level 6 for a good while, before getting level 7 towards the end.