Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 pukunui Apr 13, 2015 15:02:11	I have just had the distinct pleasure of being able to read both Tyranny of Dragons modules for the first time, followed in quick succession by Princes of the Apocalypse. Both stories are thus still fresh in my mind, and funnily enough, while my intention has been to follow up Lost Mine of Phandelver with Princes, I am actually finding myself drawn to Tyranny more.   I know the Tyranny modules have copped a lot of flak for being an error-riddled railroad, but I was actually quite pleasantly surprised when I read through them. Most of the errors are fairly minor and thus easy to resolve, and while it may be fairly linear, it looks to be a pretty wild ride!    One thing that I think Tyranny has in its favor is greater variety. It covers a lot more ground, both literally and figuratively. It serves as a mini-tour of the Sword Coast, and takes the PCs to a multitude of environments, including a swampy ruin, an alpine hunting lodge, a giant's flying castle, an iceberg, an extradimensional maze, and a volcanic caldera. Princes, on the other hand, takes place in a relatively small area and ends up feeling very samey-same. Even with the side treks, I fear it could get boringly repetitive, as the main gist of the campaign involves doing the same thing four times, just with slightly different window dressing each time.   Also, Tyranny culminates in an epic battle against a god. Fighting an archomental in an elemental node just doesn't compare. If they'd finished off Princes with an encounter with the Elder Elemental Eye, that would be another thing, but since they didn't, the climax just doesn't seem to have the same wow factor.   Tyranny is also more straightforward. While I know a lot of people hate linear adventures, I think they can be a good thing for newer players. Sandboxes are nice and all, but being able to literally go anywhere and do anything can be a daunting prospect for inexperienced players. Giving them some direction and structure can be useful.   Lost Mine of Phandelver has been the first experience with D&D for most of the players in my home group (which consists of my wife, two friends of ours, and me). While Princes offers a convenient way to follow that up (seeing as it is next door to the Phandalin area and even provides some hooks from Lost Mine to Princes), I feel like Tyranny might provide a more satisfying experience for us.
#2 BRJN Apr 13, 2015 18:22:26	Playing HotDQ, I had the most fun with the Random Encounters during the caravan run.  I missed most of the swamp castle but helped explore the basement.  (We still have two rooms to go.)  I came to the group late, joining at Balder's Gate.
#3 pukunui Apr 13, 2015 18:24:15	BRJN wrote:
#4 Varden_Khol Apr 13, 2015 18:48:51	My take from it is that Princes was a bit more investigative. The PCs need to be quite proactive in tracking leads that criss-cross over the one area. Whereas Hoard is more of a roadtrip adventure. With players moving from one place to another and stopping to take care of various episodes.   I think a newer group of players would probably like Hoard a lot more because it has that driving direction behind it.
#5 pukunui Apr 13, 2015 18:58:56	Varden_Khol wrote:
#6 BRJN Apr 14, 2015 16:38:51	pukunui wrote: