Module Advice

[Anderlith]

My wife is interested in giving me a break from being forever DM. She wants to run a module because she is inexperienced. She is interested in Tyranny of Dragons, but I’ve been told that it’s problematic. What is the playground’s opinion?

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

My wife is interested in giving me a break from being forever DM. She wants to run a module because she is inexperienced. She is interested in Tyranny of Dragons, but I’ve been told that it’s problematic. What is the playground’s opinion?

PROBLEMATIC AF

It's just kind of a mess. A lot of the earlier adventures are. There's missing references, information badly organized, scale creep... in particular, the Tyranny of Dragons path was written before the rules were finalized. The story isn't bad, but smooth sessions require a lot of prep work.

[Anderlith]

As addendum, what would be the best module for a “classic” D&D adventure nothing too odd like Out of the Abyss.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

As addendum, what would be the best module for a “classic” D&D adventure nothing too odd like Out of the Abyss.

I'd probably roll with Lost Mines of Phandelver, one of the modules from Tales from the Yawning Portal or, if she wants to run something longer, Storm King's Thunder. SKT is good high fantasy, and most of the prep work is further into the module, giving her time to get used to things. Tales has a good reputation, though I haven't personally run anything from it. Roommate has good things to say about Lost Mines, and as part of the starter set it's probably basic enough to let her find her feet. It transitions pretty seamlessly into SKT, too, which is a plus. SKT may even have guidelines for doing so in the introduction.

Of the other modules, Tomb of Annihilation is very fiddly and has several bits that are quite difficult to run in ways that are actually fun; Out of the Abyss has organizational problems and weird-ish tone; Curse of Strahd is a very different tone but a great module; and Princes of the Apocalypse has tremendous organizational problems, an issue with a missing NPC, a hook that shouldn't be where it is, and a bunch of sandbox content that doesn't add much to the story. Conceptually it's good, but it needs a lot of cleaning up and preparation.

[2D8HP]

As addendum, what would be the best module for a “classic” D&D adventure nothing too odd like Out of the Abyss.

There's an updated to 5e version of Into the Borderlands which incorporates B1 In Search of the Unknown (the first module I every ran) with B2 Keep on the Borderlands, and a short linking adventure, good advice is contained in them, from the same publisher there's also The Isle of Dread, which is a "classic Hex crawl" rather than a "Dungeon crawl".

From WotC (so they should be easy to find) there's Tales of the Yawning Portal, and the new Ghost of Saltmarsh which contain "classic" adventures, but for a new DM Phandelver from the "Starter Set" is pretty good.

[Zhorn]

I'd vote for Lost Mines of Phandelver. Simple start, easy to adjust to be roleplay light or heavy, enough sandbox to let players wander a bit with each section having enough going on that players don't need to be following a 'quest' to get involved at each location. There's enough smaller stories throughout aswell that you can modify it to play out differently, or set up as a lead-in for another module (there's drow for OoTA, there's dragon cultists for ToD, there's undead and a necromancer, orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, close to Triboar for a SKT tie in, or not too far away from Waterdeep for Dragonheist or a trip to the Yawning Portal).
It's generally a good module for any level of DM/Player experience.

[Kurt Kurageous]

I'd probably roll with Lost Mines of Phandelver

Absolutely. It's meant for new players AND a new DM, including hints on how to present each scene to the players.

IMO, HotDQ's opening scene is the best scene. But it requires shrewd resource management and a bit of luck for four players to survive. Running that as a novice DM might mean its the ONLY time they DM, as they are likely to host a TPK.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Another vote for Lost Mines of Phandelver. It's just... good, classic, simple D&D. Nothing really stands out, but it's all solid and it's easy to run.

For the actual published modules... I've only done two, Out of the Abyss (the first half) and Curse of Strahd. Of the two, I'd definitely suggest CoS--the sections are well organized, the areas are well-mapped and have good encounter design, and the entire thing just drips with flavor. It was a ton of fun to run. OOtA has been a lot rougher--even if you ditch the thousand-and-one NPCs, you have to build the travel sections from scratch if you want them to be interesting, and three out of the four city chapters I've run (Slooboodoodoop, Gracklestugh, Neverlight Grove, and Blingdenstone) were total messes. Whereas with CoS I could skim the chapter on, say, Arganvostholt an hour before the game and run a memorable game, the only really good parts of OOtA have been when I've thrown out the book and designed my own encounters.

I've heard that Horde of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat have problems with encounter balance. Tomb of Annihilation is giant dungeons and a giant hexcrawl; if your group isn't a fan of exploration for its own right and lethal dungeoncrawls, you'll be pretty miserable. Storm King's Thunder, I've heard good things about, but also that there's a huge open-ended section in the middle where the DM has to basically build a couple chapters' worth of plot with little guidance.

[SirGraystone]

One of the official campaign depending on how often you play can take between 6 and 12 months to play, that's a long time to replace someone. My favorite so far as been Curse of Strahd for the gothic horror. But for a new DM yes Lost Mine of Phandelver is a good entrance to D&D that's why it was in the starter kit, it's been written for new players in mind.

Yawning Portal and Ghost of Saltmarsh, are more a collection of adventure then a real campaign, which make then good for someone wanting to try the DM's hat for a few weeks only.

[Segev]

For “giving a break,” I strongly recommend Tales From the Yawning Portal. The dungeons are well-written and updated nicely to 5e, and there are several old classics that are just nice to see redone. (White Plume Mountain has a special place in my heart.)

They are presented in an order that Eve runs from low to high level.


If she wants a campaign, Tomb of Annihilation is one I’m enjoying running. It is a sandbox with a timer on its plot, though “losing” to the timer isn’t the end of the module, let alone the world. Just sad for some. I even dropped the first Yawning Portal dungeon into it.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Another vote for Lost Mines of Phandelver. It's just... good, classic, simple D&D. Nothing really stands out, but it's all solid and it's easy to run.

For the actual published modules... I've only done two, Out of the Abyss (the first half) and Curse of Strahd. Of the two, I'd definitely suggest CoS--the sections are well organized, the areas are well-mapped and have good encounter design, and the entire thing just drips with flavor. It was a ton of fun to run. OOtA has been a lot rougher--even if you ditch the thousand-and-one NPCs, you have to build the travel sections from scratch if you want them to be interesting, and three out of the four city chapters I've run (Slooboodoodoop, Gracklestugh, Neverlight Grove, and Blingdenstone) were total messes. Whereas with CoS I could skim the chapter on, say, Arganvostholt an hour before the game and run a memorable game, the only really good parts of OOtA have been when I've thrown out the book and designed my own encounters.

I've heard that Horde of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat have problems with encounter balance. Tomb of Annihilation is giant dungeons and a giant hexcrawl; if your group isn't a fan of exploration for its own right and lethal dungeoncrawls, you'll be pretty miserable. Storm King's Thunder, I've heard good things about, but also that there's a huge open-ended section in the middle where the DM has to basically build a couple chapters' worth of plot with little guidance.

I'm surprised to hear that about Sl[incoherent bubbling]oop and Neverlight Grove, actually. I haven't run them yet, but they don't seem that bad compared to the fiasco that is Gracklstugh and the whole back 9, which basically requires rewriting every single encounter the party might, uh, encounter. Both of those two cities seem quite orderly compared to the rest of the adventure.

Storm King's Thunder drops the thread of its plot for a while. It benefits a lot from a party that focuses on the objective and is OK with riding some rails at times. SKT also has a bunch of really great dungeons and quests that are all exclusive to one another for some stupid reason. It benefits a lot from switching the focus to those and away from wandering around the Sword Coast and northern mountains in search of plot.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I found Sloodledoodledoo to be annoyingly railroady. The big cinematic scene is great, but if your party isn't willing to walk into the painfully obvious trap the book gives you bupkiss to work off.

Neverlight was good

I'm actually more upset at Blindgenstone than Gracklestugh. I had to read that chapter three times to get it straight, but at least it felt like an actual place. Blindgenstone's skeletal by comparison, and the maps are utterly useless. I have no idea what anything is supposed to look or feel like.

[BloodOgre]

For someone who hasn't DMed before, you definitely want something where the adventure is well mapped out and moves from point A to point B, to point C, etc. I have played and DMed several of the Adventure league modules from the first season and found them to be pretty decent for the most part. They are short, they can be played stand-alone, but if done in order, each one leads into the next and there is XP guidance and play level guidance and how to adjust the adventures based on strength of the party. The biggest issue is finding copies of them. You might want to ask your local D&D store if they have any AL content and if they would allow you to play older seasons.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

I found Sloodledoodledoo to be annoyingly railroady. The big cinematic scene is great, but if your party isn't willing to walk into the painfully obvious trap the book gives you bupkiss to work off.

Huh. Good point.

I'm actually more upset at Blindgenstone than Gracklestugh. I had to read that chapter three times to get it straight, but at least it felt like an actual place. Blindgenstone's skeletal by comparison, and the maps are utterly useless. I have no idea what anything is supposed to look or feel like.

At least the plot pieces in Blingdenstone all seem to connect to each other. Gracklstugh brings up quest items and NPCs and never mentions them again. It has locations that aren't there, plot hooks that the PCs can't discover and can't use if somehow they do, and the whole location is PC Captured -> Given a Quest -> PC Captured -> Given a Quest -> PCs Captured... until they finally, finally get to leave.

[Segev]

Huh. Good point.



At least the plot pieces in Blingdenstone all seem to connect to each other. Gracklstugh brings up quest items and NPCs and never mentions them again. It has locations that aren't there, plot hooks that the PCs can't discover and can't use if somehow they do, and the whole location is PC Captured -> Given a Quest -> PC Captured -> Given a Quest -> PCs Captured... until they finally, finally get to leave.

Good grief. I have been impressed that Tomb of Annihilation, while it has "PCs captured" hooks, has them as things that CAN happen IF the PCs come to the attention of certain beings and are not able to overcome them. It treats them as one of several entry-points into various plot threads, and all of the important bits seem to have multiple ways to accomplish.

There is exactly one point I can say is explicitly railroaded, and it's done in such a way that the only way the PCs would have reasonable expectation to prevent it would be to know it's coming and deliberately seek to thwart it...while spreading themselves enormously thin to do so. (It involves a set of MacGuffins and how the last one is...disposessed.)

[Grod_The_Giant]

At least the plot pieces in Blingdenstone all seem to connect to each other. Gracklstugh brings up quest items and NPCs and never mentions them again. It has locations that aren't there, plot hooks that the PCs can't discover and can't use if somehow they do, and the whole location is PC Captured -> Given a Quest -> PC Captured -> Given a Quest -> PCs Captured... until they finally, finally get to leave.

I dunno, there are some NPCs in Blingdenstone that I have no idea where they came from. And Gracklestugh wasn't ultimately that bad once I figured it out-- all the major players want to talk to the player and give them a mission, and they all send you to the Wholstone Tunnels. The only obligatory capture I saw was if you tried to walk in the front gate.

[allthingslich]

As someone that nevers run pre-published stuff/adventures, I'd vote Lost Mines of Phandelver as well. Just as you need to usher new players into the game with a pleasant experience, an inexperienced DM has enough to juggle at the table, without fighting against the flow and pacing of the story. Phandelver seems pretty solid in this regard. And it isn't long, so if it all goes to $hit, not a lot lost.

[darknite]

There are some nice adventures in Tales from the Yawning Portal that might work for you.

[Ronin Sama]

We just finished Lost Mines of Phandelver. It was actually my first go as DM and very easy to run.

[Kane0]

Both Lost Mines of Phandelver and The Sunless Citadel (found in Tales from the Yawning Portal) are excellent starter adventures for players and DMs.

Tyranny of Dragons is also fine, but it does require more effort on the DMs part.

I recommend whatever she is most interested in. At the end of the day that will drive the game much more than how well it was rated by others.

[DrKerosene]

I also vote for Tales From The Yawning Portal specifically for the Sunless Citadel adventure. But I haven’t run or played in Lost Mines Of Phandelver.

[Aergentum]

I haven't played many modules since usually I'd rather play homebrew campaigns; but I really liked Lost Mines of Phandelver. I experienced it as a player and not as a DM , but ad the end of the campaign I took a look at the book and references and seemed pretty easy to run.
For starters this is the best one.

I DMd only Hoard of the Dragon Queen and though I really love the setting and the overall adventure story, the module is badly organized and some references are missing.

[DanDare2050]

Another vote for Phandelver. I have helped several newb DMs through running it. Beware it can teach some bad habits about plot arcs but makes DM life easy.

Alternatively get someone who knows what they are doing to whip up a classic 5 room dungeon to run.

[Segev]

Another vote for Phandelver. I have helped several newb DMs through running it. Beware it can teach some bad habits about plot arcs but makes DM life easy.

Alternatively get someone who knows what they are doing to whip up a classic 5 room dungeon to run.

Yawning Portal won’t teach any bad lessons on plot arcs. You can link the adventures in order, but they’re not designed to push it. They’re unrelated. Just a set of old fashioned dungeons.

Tomb of Annihilation actually has a bunch of “five room dungeon” type locations in chapter two, if you want to go that route. She could just run one or more of those.

But I will keep recommending Sunless Citadel as a two-level starter dungeon. It is in Yawning Portal.

[Ventruenox]

I would also suggest Dralnu's Army of the Damned, a free level 1-5 adventure set in the horror realm of Innistrad. I ran it over several sessions for my table, and they loved it.

[Aergentum]

I found a group of new players who'd like to try D&D and obviously I'd start with Lost Mines of Phandelven as their first adventure....but what after that? It's a nice module, but a bit short.

I have Hoard of the Dragon Queen at hand and I've already DMd it once. Considering that the players will end Lost Mines about level 4 they would be at a good lvl to start HoDQ, BUT...I'm not sure if they would enjoy that story...

I've been considering also Curse of Strhad and Dragons Heist...what are your thoughs on these modules?

[Segev]

I found a group of new players who'd like to try D&D and obviously I'd start with Lost Mines of Phandelven as their first adventure....but what after that? It's a nice module, but a bit short.

I have Hoard of the Dragon Queen at hand and I've already DMd it once. Considering that the players will end Lost Mines about level 4 they would be at a good lvl to start HoDQ, BUT...I'm not sure if they would enjoy that story...

I've been considering also Curse of Strhad and Dragons Heist...what are your thoughs on these modules?

I don't know either of those, but I can say that Tales From The Yawning Portal has dungeons that run fairly continuously up the ranks. The second one is a dwarven mining fortress that's been overrun by orcs, which is geared for levels 3-5, IIRC, and might follow on nicely from Lost Mines. (I don't actually know Lost Mines of Phandelven at all, so I can't give direct linking advice.)

I'm really liking running Tomb of Annihilation, which is designed to run from 1-11, and is very fuzzy about its lower levels, enabling you to ramp up challenge quickly if you want to meet a level 4 requirement.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Dragon Heist is interesting, but it's intended for players levels 1-5. After Lost Mines, you could jump into Tomb of Annihilation if you thought people would enjoy that; you'd skip most of the city encounters and a lot of the wilderness stuff, focusing more heavily on Omu and getting into the Tomb; Dungeon of the Mad Mage is also a possibility for a dungeon-heavy adventure. Curse of Strahd is great, but it's got a different tone and isn't a classic high fantasy adventure if your players are looking for that. Storm King's Thunder starts at the level where your players will be, and it's module with a classic feel that I think is fairly simple for newer players.

[KorvinStarmast]

My wife is interested in giving me a break from being forever DM. She wants to run a module because she is inexperienced. She is interested in Tyranny of Dragons, but I’ve been told that it’s problematic. What is the playground’s opinion?

I've been reading through the Ghosts of Salt Marsh book that I just got. It is a recreation of a series that were favorites of mine in AD&D era. I think they have done it justice, and the growth is pretty neat. I'd recommend taking a serious look at that.

[2D8HP]

I've been reading through the Ghosts of Salt Marsh book that I just got. It is a recreation of a series that were favorites of mine in AD&D era. I think they have done it justice, and the growth is pretty neat. I'd recommend taking a serious look at that.

+1 Likewise, the suggestions in Saltmarsh for mixing the setting and adventures in it with those from Tales of the Yawning Portal are spot on.

Besides, with the new Backgrounds of "Fisher", "Marine", "Shipwright", and "Smuggler" there's expanded oppurtunities beyond the "Sailor" background to have a PC who says "Matey", "Seaward ho! Hang the treasure! It's the glory of the sea that has turned my head.There's never a man looked me between the eyes and seen a good day a'terward", "For thirty years, I've sailed the seas and seen good and bad, better and worse, fair weather and foul, provisions running out, knives going, and what not. Well, now I tell you, I never seen good come o' goodness yet. Him as strikes first is my fancy; dead men don't bite; them's my views" and "ARRRR!"

I'm impressed.