Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 gvaughn1 Sep 20, 2014 6:37:13	Hi everyone, this is my first post.  Looks like a really good community.   My friends and I are going to take a stab at a 5e campaign and I'm looking for advice on which adventure to run.  First, a little about us: I'm the DM; I have some degree of DM experience (although not a ton) and I've NEVER played 5e We'll have 4-5 players + me (it may be 3 married couples lol, if I can convince my wife to give it a go; if not it will be me running 2 married couples) In this case, the 3 guys all have a lot of D&D experience from past editions.  The wives have no D&D experience (one has played a few times like 20 years ago)   What would you recommend I run for them?   I have the Player's Handbook, the Starter Set, and Hoard of the Dragon Queen.  (and MM and DMG on order).  And I'm also aware of those Sundering modules that are available.   And I'm no Donald Trump, but money isn't necessarily a huge concern.  So I'm willing to buy something new if necessary.   So... pros and cons of the options: Starter Set adventure: PROS: might be an easy, simple way to get the newer players into the game and it spells things out nicely.  And since the players have the PHB, they can create their own PC's instead of using the pre-gens if they want.  But if anyone just wants to use a pre-gen, that's available too.  CONS: Not sure what to do once it's done... there's no sequel and I don't see any modules for characters of levels 5-10. Hoard of the Dragon Queen: PROS: looks like a pretty detailed, involved adventure.  And the quality looks better than the starter set.  And it probably introduces more monsters and magic items than the starter set (I'm guessing).  And - it has a sequel!  CONS: Will it be too complex for the newbies? And there are no pre-gens (although I could steal the pre-gens from Starter Set) Other Options?  Are those Sundering adventures any good?  Are they appropriate for a group of mixed experience? Any advice on which path to take?   Thanks! George
#2 Sailing_Pirate_Ryan Sep 20, 2014 7:01:07	My plan is to start off with Lost Mines of Phandelver, taking them up to level 5 or so, and then write my own homebrew adventure for levels 6+ since, by that point, I'll have a firm grasp on who their characters are, what they're capable of, and what they enjoy doing.
#3 Eric888 Sep 20, 2014 8:32:04	Hoard of the Dragon Queen is a brutally difficult adventure. It is insane that it was made as an introduction to the game. From what I hear it gets easier at higher levels, but the level one adventure in particular is a meat grinder. I strongly recomend avoiding that one or at least dramatically toning down the encounters. This is not just my experience. There have been many reports of TPKs among adventure league reports on google plus.   Lost Mind of Phandelver is a much better adventure. It is fun and not frustrating.
#4 DM_HEEGZ Sep 20, 2014 12:17:32	I have been recommending the Starter Set. Its fun, and covers most of the bases for new groups. Once you complete that, give Hoard a shot. By that point you should be ready to make some of your own stuff or buy another adventure, etc. You can also extend the Starter Set adventure, and just make up your own stuff afterwards, several people have posted that their groups are doing this.
#5 caridhor Sep 20, 2014 13:30:52	We didnt like lost mines at all, but the sundering we thought was great, and being neverwinter and FR fans that helped, as well hoard was fun.
#6 gvaughn1 Sep 20, 2014 14:05:50	After reading the comments I'm now leaning towards the Mines adventure from the Starter Set.  With half the group being total newbs I think I'll stick to something not TOO difficult.   Question: If we completed Mines, the party would presumably be 5th Level.  Wouldn't that be way too high level for Hoard, which starts at 1st?  Although i suppose I could heavily customize it to power it up.   PS: Another favorite tactic of my lazy A** is to take the old classic 1e modules and re-stat them to match up with later edition games like Pathfinder.  So maybe Mines first, then an old school module re-statted for 5e...   D&D is fun.  That's for damn sure.   Thanks
#7 Zardnaar Sep 20, 2014 14:57:41	You could tweak the story for HoTDQ and have the PCs start halfway through or something like that.
#8 Tony_Vargas Sep 20, 2014 15:39:26	Eric888 wrote:
#9 gvaughn1 Sep 21, 2014 7:00:50	Thanks for the responses.  It would appear that after I run them through Mines I may be able to have them come in somewhere in the middle of Hoard.  (It sounds like a difficult adventure so that may work out better than running them throuh Hoard at 1st level anyway)
#10 DM_HEEGZ Sep 21, 2014 7:56:21	When we finished LMOP, our group was about 30xp each shy of hitting level 5 still (so basically level 4). We did a random encounter to level up, and then took on one of the bosses to finish LMOP. For Hoard you can always pick up at one of the later episodes, or increase the difficulty of the first 3 episodes which I think could be very easily done, as they are quite hard as written!   I'm not sure if you have access to a public gaming venue, but there is another option in Expeditions for official play. They are not quite as straightforward as LMOP though, and a bit more work to come by.
#11 The_Jester Sep 21, 2014 8:17:07	Both!   Seriously. Start with the Starter Set and get to level 2 or 3. Just get them to the town and maybe a little bit after and then move onto Hoard of the Dragon Queen. That mod can be a little deadly (encounter design was/is still in flux) so having slighly higher level characters can help. And you can judge how well everyone is liking the game first with the $20 product before jumping into the $30 book.
#12 gvaughn1 Sep 21, 2014 21:26:30	The_Jester wrote:
#13 Noon Sep 23, 2014 1:39:02	DM_HEEGZ wrote:
#14 bbbrisco Sep 23, 2014 10:30:03	gvaughn1 wrote:
#15 gvaughn1 Sep 23, 2014 19:03:39	bbbrisco wrote:
#16 Kavrek Sep 23, 2014 20:00:20	Hoard of the Dragon Queen is the best choice. The difficulty that many parties have with the first night of encounters really comes down to 3 things that can all be easily avoided or marginalized and the advenutre, while not perfect, will be more rewarding and detailed for the players enjoyment in the long run. In addition the faction options to let the players join the Harpers etc...is really a fun way to make their character feel connected to the setting. Something the Mines does not have, though it could be added.   The problems that the party and DM will have to deal with or consider are:   P1) Bad dice rolls by the party/good dice rolls by the DM and monsters   A1) DM screen and slight modification to the damage done to the party. I firmly believe that no persons first experience with D&D should be a character death. Alot of the fun of the game is letting people become excited about their fantasy hero, letting this character die in the first few games can effectively teach someone about making better combat choices, it can also teach them that the game isnt for them before they have even begun to explore its potential.   P2) Approaching the combat as a series of uni-demensional encounters to be handled with the same tactics leading to exhaustion of player resources and dwindling HP totals with no rest built into the first night of the adventure   A2) Outside the box thinking by the party should be encouraged, as in real life, not all challenges should be handled with direct combat in D&D. Stealth, the "actor feat", and the first level spells "Disguise Self"," Charm", or the "Friends" and "Minor Illusion" cantrips all work wonders at the beginning stages of the adventure. In adddition the "Dragon Cult Infiltraitor" back ground in the HotDQ adventure appendix gives the party a great advantage.   The enemies forces are much less difficult to handle if a charisma based character in a disguise sends half the forces away from the party (who is lying in wait somewhere nearby to ambush the rest of the enemies forces) before engaging them in combat. A cleric with the trickery domain and the actor feat in one of my games rolled a 27 on his deception check in disguise to fool the enemy, it was alot of fun.   P3) Party composition is leaving gaps in defenses or leading to failed combat and obstacle checks (like traps or noticing sneaky enemies).   A3) This adventure really doesn't support the "play what ever you want" mentality. Even though 5th edition is much better than previous iterations of D&D about party make-up flexibility, certain class-roles are still needed. The group will want a melee fighter type to tank/melee control, that character will need a good strength score and proficiency in athletics (fighter/totem barbarian/paladin). A support class for healing and buffing the party and debuffing the enemy with spells like guidance/bless/bane/slow (cleric/druid/bard). A class with good skill checks for knowledge et all/perception/investigation and proficiency with thieves tools (wizard/rogue/bard/monk/ranger). Finally a 'face character' with high charisma and proficiency in social skills (intimidate/persuasion/deception/performance) really pays off in HotDQ (sorcerer/warlock/bard/rogue).   Let the players know that creating party synergy during character creation/selection is almost always the key to being successful in any premade adventure or module as they are written to highlight and challenge all four of the major class-role archetypes.   *I should make a note that when it comes to premade modules "DPR" (damage per round) is not considered one of the four major class roles. They are: Protector/strength class, utility/skill class, support/healing class, social/personality class.
(Reply to #16) Eric888	Kavrek wrote:
#18 Dracones Sep 24, 2014 12:35:16	I was thinking about running Lost Mines and then moving onto this conversion of I6 Ravenloft:  http://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/2fxgh3/i6_ravenloft_converted_to_5e_in_time_for_halloween/   That'd get the party up into some decent levels and give everyone a real feel of the game. After that I could look into more 1e/2e modules to use or if everyone wanted to restart(now that they know the game) we could all re-make for level 1 and do Horde. By then the 2nd book for Horde should be out.   There's a ton of 1e/2e modules out there that should convert over pretty well. I'd almost rather go back and play the best of the classics rather than use new material that's coming out that may end up being hit or miss.
#19 Tsulia Sep 25, 2014 18:51:02	'from 20 years back' and 'guys have experience from past editions' both strike out at me. Have you considered running an older campaign (1/ADD/3.5/4th) and converting npc's to 5th?
#20 gvaughn1 Sep 25, 2014 20:57:37	Tsulia wrote:
#21 Prism Sep 26, 2014 3:41:50	Eric888 wrote:
#22 Tsulia Sep 26, 2014 8:22:39	gvaughn1 wrote: