Any tips on running Hoard of the Dragon Queen?

[Psithur]

I'm a new DM, and I'm going to be running Hoard of the Dragon Queen starting this September. Are there any tips from fellow DMs/GMs that have also run this in the past?

[Imbalance]

That which was shared with me, parts I did employ:

https://d20.pub/resources/hoard-of-the-dragon-queen-maps-and-images/
https://slyflourish.com/greenest_in_flames.html

[Sparky McDibben]

Don't use the canned opening. Start the players in Greenest, let them get to know some people (if possible, have the party invested in the people of Greenest before the dragon attack), etc. You might even have them run a quick little pre-mission before the campaign starts to build some bonds and get them to level 2 (Greenest is brutal for a level 1 party).

[Psithur]

Sparky McDibben thank you for that suggestion. I'll take that into consideration.

[Unoriginal]

I haven't DMed it, but I know one of the issues in the beginning is that after a lot of fighting as lvl 1 PCs, an half-dragon shows up and challenge whoever dares to a 1 vs 1 duel in exchange of freeing hostages, and there is no way for 1 lvl 1 PC to win that fight as it is written, or even do anything but show up and get destroyed.

My advice is to make that half-dragon weaker at the start, like enough to be a dangerous opponent for a lvl 1 (or what the PC will be during their first meeting, if you want it to happen later) but not an automatic defeat, then have him show up more times as a true recurring nemesis for at least one PC, challenging said PC each time (should both of them survive, of course), and him growing in power at each encounter.

If you want I can help you coming up with statblocks to represent that NPC at different points.

[Zhorn]

Langdedrosa Cyanwrath (the half-dragon veteran) is very annoying to work around.
He was intentionally inserted to win the 1v1, writing in as an attempt to set up a personal grudge for the party so when they encounter them in later chapters they can have a more satisfying feeling when they beat him then, rather than just another nameless mook.

It all comes down the the DM on making the whole thing work because it is so unfair a scenario for level 1 characters.

I'm more inclined to leave him unedited but telegraph to the players that he's beyond their level and facing him at the start is and unfair fight that will most likely result in death.
Have the NPC Sergeant Markguth be the one to step in to fight and allow the players to control him so it's not just a cutscene with the DM rolling all the dice. This lets the players feel like they've faced him, but not risk their own characters in the intentional curb stomp. Again, yes, intentional. the module even phrases the loss of Cyanwrath as a bad thing "...If by some mischance Cyanwrath is killed..."

[Cheesegear]

I'm a new DM, and I'm going to be running Hoard of the Dragon Queen starting this September. Are there any tips from fellow DMs/GMs that have also run this in the past?

1. If you're playing with new players, play Chapter 1 as written. It's brutal. Teach your players that death is real, and it starts immediately:

a) This sets up the stakes for the adventure. Tiamat is coming. This isn't a joke. Trying to prevent Tiamat forming on the Material Plane is a big ****ing deal, and yes, people will try and kill you - and succeed - to make it happen.

b) It teaches your players that death isn't 'Game Over.' There's still so much Book left and you died on the ninth page. Don't worry about dying. It's part of the game. It's part of the story. Having your players die in Greenest should happen.

2.
a) The real killer of Hoard of the Dragon Queen is Chapter 4. You get a list of 20 NPCs to choose from, and you have make a caravan of like, nine, plus Guards. It takes a lot of planning to do on your part. I suggest you read how Chapter 4 works like, right now, and start making a doc or spreadsheet.

b) Chapter 4 takes ~60 in-game days. This can be exceptionally rough on your players. Especially if you introduce survival mechanics. But in reality, 60 in-game days is a long, long time. Don't play out each day individually. You're better off playing out weeks at a time.


I haven't DMed it, but I know one of the issues in the beginning is that after a lot of fighting as lvl 1 PCs, an half-dragon shows up and challenge whoever dares to a 1 vs 1 duel in exchange of freeing hostages...

An adult blue dragon fights the party at level 1. No idea why people focus on the Half-Dragon Fighter.


and there is no way for 1 lvl 1 PC to win that fight as it is written, or even do anything but show up and get destroyed.

Correct. Luckily, Langdedrosa doesn't kill the PC. He drops the PC to 0 hit points, and then makes one Melee attack afterwards. That Melee attack should probably hit, and of course if it hits, it's a crit. This gives the PC two failed Death Saves. If the attack misses, nothing happens. Langdedrosa then walks away. A Cleric or similar can easily do a ranged Healing Word. But my advice for specifically that fight is to have the Duel take place no more than 30 ft. away from the gate. This will allow most Level 1 PCs to get into Touch range with a single Movement/Turn for a stabilise/Lay on Hands/Cure Wounds/etc. when the fight is over.

EDIT: Having read the fight again just now, the attack is actually scripted. It automatically hits, and only deals one death save. Well huh, guess I played my players on hard mode on that one.


My advice is to make that half-dragon weaker at the start...

Mine isn't. My advice is to have him obliterate the PC like he's supposed to, so it feels that much sweeter when the players fight him again at Level 3, and not in a 1v1. So the entire party groups up on him and destroys him. Make sure to make Langdedrosa a condescending a-hole so your party hates him out of character too.

[Unoriginal]

An adult blue dragon fights the party at level 1. No idea why people focus on the Half-Dragon Fighter.

Because "a big dragon torches the whole town" is different from "one NPC breathes in your direction and you get obliterated".



Mine isn't. My advice is to have him obliterate the PC like he's supposed to, so it feels that much sweeter when the players fight him again at Level 3, and not in a 1v1. So the entire party groups up on him and destroys him. Make sure to make Langdedrosa a condescending a-hole so your party hates him out of character too.

Different tastes.

In the context of this adventure, I prefer an ongoing rivalry where both rivals progress as the campaign advances to "smug donkey hole wins because he could force a 1 vs 1, then gets deleted from existence once the PCs reach him".

I'm not saying that kind of foe is bad, don't get me wrong, I just think it's a bit of a waste to set up a bad guy with a cool design willing to challenge people to an honorable duel and to keeps their word about the hostages if it's to make the half-dragon "that guy the PCs and player hate and will gang up on at the first occasion".

[ProsecutorGodot]

An adult blue dragon fights the party at level 1. No idea why people focus on the Half-Dragon Fighter.

My advice for this encounter: ignore the book. There are guards at the fort for a reason and it makes zero sense to encourage the DM to have them only present to demonstrate the dragons deadly breath attack. They should be able to attack the dragon and help repel it, same as the players.

[Cheesegear]

Ultimately there are two roadblocks in Hoard.

Chapter 1 has the potential to be incredibly lethal for the players.

Chapter 2 focuses fairly heavily on stealth and/or roleplaying. That shouldn't be a problem because it's pretty clear what the players are supposed to do. Starting a combat inside the camp is likely problematic. Make sure to tell players that combat is a bad idea right now.

Chapter 3 is a dungeon crawl, with three bosses. At least one of them can try to escape. Simple stuff.

Chapter 4 has the potential to be incredibly complicated for the DM.

Chapter 5 is roleplaying, or a dungeon crawl. Player's choice.

Chapter 6 is stealth, or a dungeon crawl. Player's choice. However there are two very powerful NPCs that can kill the players easily at this point walking around the castle. You should indicate that the players don't want to deal with them right now. Fortunately, if combat starts inside the castle, and the two NPCs aren't involved in the fight, they decide to leave the castle and not risk getting into combat with people that are willing to storm a castle.
The players can of course choose to beeline for the two NPCs...They'll likely die. But they can choose to do it.

Chapter 7 is a minor dungeon crawl. In fact the story is set up so if the players accidentally skip it, that's fine. If your players are looking like they're about to go around it, find ways to point them in that direction. 'You see smoke above the trees [from a chimney] in that direction.' or similar. Most players have a 'If the DM describes it, it must be important, let's check it out' mentality. I just don't like skipping content. There are a couple of magic items there, too. Your players wouldn't want to miss out on those.

Chapter 8 is a dungeon crawl, with a fairly significant roleplaying opportunity. Rise of Tiamat even accounts for what happens if the players choose to roleplay.

Overall, having DM'd Hoard twice, I have to say that one of it's major...Issues...Is how lethal it is. From what I understand there are real-world circumstances which screwed around with how hard the authors thought it would be. In as much as the finished product is harder than what they probably intended. A strong party will go through Hoard just fine. I have no problems at all with the perceived - and/or actual - difficulty of the combat encounters in Hoard. Other DMs and players, might. I have no problems at all killing character, and I actually think killing the characters of new and/or inexperienced players is an important step, and I prefer to rip that band-aid off sooner, rather than later.

My stumbling block, both times, both for me - the DM - and my players at both tables...Was Chapter 4.