Finally started running HotDQ

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

alienux

May 11, 2015 9:39:04

I've been running LMoP for a small group for several months, and it's bee fun. But, although I do like the adventure, both I and my players found the first chapter to be a little dull. We did like how things picked up in the second chapter, though.

 

So, having said that, I have a new group of 5 (soon to be 6) that I started this past weekend with Hoard of the Dragon Queen. There is one player who is in both groups, but the rest are new. 3 of them have a good bit of previous D&D experience, and the other two are new to D&D. One of them knows of D&D, but hasn't played before. This is a group of 4 adults and a couple of kids.

 

I just wanted to add my .02 cents on HotDQ now that I've had a chance to run a session. I've read some reviews that complained about the book not giving enough details for a DM, but that's precisely what I like about the adventure. Some of the complaints I've seen were saying that there isn't enough description, built-in dialogue, or specific instructions on how to run an encounter or part of the story.

 

I think the way those things are done in this book are actually great. It gives me a chance to read through the sections we're going to play to get the framework, and then allows me to fill in the details on my own as we go. I don't have to memorize too many things from the text ahead of time or spend too much time looking through paragraphs of info to try to find a specific piece of information during play. I can just learn the basic structure of the encounters and interactions, and then let them play out and focus on responding to the players rather than looking up specifics.

 

I know there are quite a few mistaks in the book that have been identified, but since one of the authors has posted responses here to all of those and given corrections, I don't find the errors to be a big deal.

 

All in all, I'm really enjoying running the story and I'm enjoying how it's being presented by the book. Things have gone smoothly and I'm really looking forward to the next session.