What do you think of Princes of the Apocalypse? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 DMStevenH Mar 31, 2015 6:49:05	I'm just interested in people's opinions. Mine are very positive. I like the module a lot. It's structured but non-linear. Broad and flexible enough to allow some DM creativity but still proscriptive enough that it's an actual adventure and not just a setting. I'm very pleased and can't wait to start running it. Even if I never got a chance to play this adventure I'd still be happy with the book. Luckily I'm going to be wrapping up LMoP with a new group very soon so I'll be able to transition straight in to PotA. What does everyone else think?
#2 pukunui Mar 31, 2015 11:55:04	I haven't got a full copy yet (just the Adventurers League version), but I like what I've seen so far. I am also wrapping up LMoP and intend to send the group over the hills to Red Larch afterwards.
#3 gregsc Mar 31, 2015 15:36:55	I've read the first few chapters now, and I'm looking forward to running it. Plenty of chances for investigation and role playing at the beginning, and a lot of different paths to take that all lead further into the adventure.
#4 joeburgos Apr 01, 2015 6:21:17	Really well written, beautifully illustrated, carefully developed and a superior approach to sandbox style gaming. IMO the best long term campaign adventure series for 5e since Lost Mine of Phandelver. Sasquatch Studios sets the bar pretty high with this one and I hope that future AP's follow this level of quality. Im really liking Wizards new approach of giving us expansion books that are a mixture of campaign setting, rules manual and adventure module, and will actually have utility at the table. I have reviewed it on EN world a 5/5.
#5 Rhenny Apr 01, 2015 6:21:44	I'm going to end (or postpone) my current Ghosts of Dragonspear castle campaign that is 3/4 finished to start anew using PotA. It seems that good. It has depth and breadth, cool story, great new monsters/foes, pcs have lots of options. Great work.
#6 Drizzt73 Apr 02, 2015 0:35:23	Are there many Magic Items in this adventure? and is there a mix for classes? as Hoard and Rise were underwhealming Thoughts appreciated
#7 DMStevenH Apr 03, 2015 8:31:36	Uh, sorry to say but not really. The adventure is absolutely swamped with potions and scrolls of various spells but permanent magic items are pretty rare. There're a couple of rings, two or three weapons, some armour and a magic shield plus a couple of wonderous knick-knacks. There're no fewer than six legendary items though if you count the weapons carried by the four prophets of elemental evil. These six items are really cool and powerful so I think it's the inclusion of the four legendary elemental weapons that skews the item distribution a little bit.
#8 sirkaikillah11 Apr 03, 2015 13:00:53	Does it play out entirely in the forgotten realms or is their some exploration of the inner planes? The Dm manual has a ot of cool fluff about the inner planes. I was hoping they might go thier in this adventure path. I mean its forgotten realms with a bady cult again. Please tell me they go to the inner planes.
#9 DMStevenH Apr 08, 2015 1:59:55	It's possible to go to the elemental planes of earth, air, fire and water. There are numerous portals but it's not mandatory. The adventure also ends at level 15 or there abouts so there's plenty of scope to continue after that point if that tickles you.
#10 Sands666 Apr 08, 2015 3:06:08	DMStevenH wrote:
#11 DMStevenH Apr 08, 2015 9:06:34	The adventure makes a few suggestions. None of them are hugely fleshed out but there are a few good paths open that could involve a journey to various elemental planes or a confrontation with the elder elemental eye (Whatever that is...). Which btw, I was a little dissapointed not to have the mystery of what the elemental eye actually is/wants be given more attention.
#12 Sands666 Apr 08, 2015 14:30:40	DMStevenH wrote:
#13 frothsof Apr 11, 2015 12:55:29	I love it, a vast improvement over Tyranny of Dragons.
#14 BRJN Apr 11, 2015 16:04:02	DMStevenH wrote:
#15 BRJN Apr 11, 2015 16:08:10	frothsof wrote:
#16 pukunui Apr 11, 2015 16:22:54	I was recently given the ToD adventures for my birthday. I only just finished reading through them the other day, and I reckon they're nowhere near as bad as many people are making them out to be. That being said, Princes has been great so far. While it doesn't seem to be as much of a sandbox as it could be (since each area is geared towards a specific level, which lends itself to the PCs tackling things in a specific order), I like that Rich has taken both combat and non-combat approaches into account. The PCs don't have to blast through everything they encounter. They can be sneaky and pose as cultists and go around talking to the bad guys before fighting them. Some of the cultists even appear to be friendly (like the Feathergale Knights). I also like that there are some cultists who are less fanatical and can be convinced to side with the PCs (eg. Windharrow). I've been compiling a list of errors and discrepancies on my initial readthrough. So far, everything I've found has been relatively minor.
#17 Devilbass Apr 11, 2015 20:27:50	I've been enjoying reading through it. I'll second pukunui's thoughts on it thus far. I'm planning on running two groups through it, so I'll be able to give greater insight into it as time goes on.
#18 TheNovaLord Apr 12, 2015 14:58:24	Ran hotdq twice and it plays a lot better than it reads I get to be a player in Pota so hopefully it lives up to the hype
#19 arnwolf666 Apr 12, 2015 16:13:49	I really wish they would take these adventures up to at least 19th level. I would like to see how they intend those upper levels to be played.
#20 Sands666 Apr 13, 2015 18:24:54	arnwolf666 wrote:
#21 pukunui Apr 13, 2015 18:30:13	Yeah, that's what the magical canned air is for! Now that I've read through the whole of the main adventure (still working my way through the side treks), I'm actually a teeny bit disappointed. While it's nice that the adventure is fairly open-ended, it's still pretty clear that the authors had a specific progression in mind when they designed the difficulty of each section. Plus, it feels a little repetitive. Each of the cult lairs on the surface seem distinctive enough, but once you get down into the temples, and the fane, and the nodes, things just start getting a little samey-samey. As I've said in another thread, having just read through the Tyranny of Dragons modules before reading Princes of the Apocalypse, I'm actually finding myself wanting to run the former more than the latter. I also wish they'd spread out the cults more, maybe put the water cult off the coast rather than inland, and the fire cult could've been in a volcano or something, while the air cult could've been actually up in the clouds - or, at the very least, Feathergale Spire could've looked more like that cool floating "air beacon" in the concept art at the end. I feel like the only truly fantastical element in the whole thing is the Stone Bridge, and it doesn't even really feature in the adventure. (The Weeping Colossus is pretty cool, but it's pretty much just window dressing.)
#22 BoldItalic Apr 14, 2015 6:35:34	My group has started PotA with a transition from LMoP. We have tried to avoid narrative dissonance, and so far it is working out quite well but it's taken a bit of work from all of us. Consequently, in the first session, we have really only got as far as hooking the characters into the material, without actually started the adventure itself yet. But that's okay, we aren't in any hurry. Their characters were heading for Triboar anyway, following various personal quests relating to their established backstories, so that's where we've picked up on the new material. Triboar is the overlap. There's not enough detail about Triboar in the book to use it as a stopping place, but there's some detail about Triboar inns and taverns and so on in various wikis and I've used that. We've managed to use some of the adventure hooks on pp12-14 but it wasn't straightforward because they are not really written for players to pick from. I'd recommend paraphrasing them as a handout. Here are three examples of what we have ended up with: Show The fighter/soldier is on his way eastwards to rejoin his unit after visiting relations in Neverwinter. That was already established and it still works, Now, a mysterious map he found in LMoP has turned into an ancient dwarven map of the Tyar-Besil fortifications and he feels obliged, as a professional military man, to study them, or at least their ruins. So he has a reason to delay his journey eastwards and visit the Sumber HIlls. This is the "Strange Map" hook. The dwarven cleric is a priest of Helm with an artisan(leatherworker) background. He has been sent to Triboar by his superiors to negotate with the priests of Tempus there, with a view to setting up a small shrine to Helm inside their temple but the priest of Tempus keep delaying the meeting so he has a week or two to kill. He would like to visit the Stone Bridge, which is famous in dwarven lore, and he is also helping the soldier, who doesn't read dwarvish, to make sense of the map. Separately, he has a grudge against the Black Earth cultists who raided his workshop and destroyed his business, which is the reason why he turned to Helm and the priesthood. This is a modified version of the "Settle a Score" hook. The female barbarian/noble is related to Darathra Shendrel, the lord protector of Triboar, but there is bad blood between them and she will not enter Triboar. Her story is that her mother, who is actually Darathra's sister, was rejected by the family and sought refuge with her father, who is the chieftain of one of the Uthgart tribes. Separately, some of her tribespeople have been abducted by the fire cult and taken to a place called "The Temple of Eternal Flame". She has sworn to find them and rescue them but she doesn't know where the temple is. She wants the cleric to help her find it and the fighter to help her rescue the tribespeople. This is the "Rescue Your People" hook, straight out of the book.
#23 BRJN Apr 14, 2015 16:23:14	pukunui wrote:

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

DMStevenH

Mar 31, 2015 6:49:05

I'm just interested in people's opinions. Mine are very positive. I like the module a lot. It's structured but non-linear. Broad and flexible enough to allow some DM creativity but still proscriptive enough that it's an actual adventure and not just a setting. I'm very pleased and can't wait to start running it.

Even if I never got a chance to play this adventure I'd still be happy with the book. Luckily I'm going to be wrapping up LMoP with a new group very soon so I'll be able to transition straight in to PotA.

What does everyone else think?

pukunui

Mar 31, 2015 11:55:04

I haven't got a full copy yet (just the Adventurers League version), but I like what I've seen so far.

I am also wrapping up LMoP and intend to send the group over the hills to Red Larch afterwards.

gregsc

Mar 31, 2015 15:36:55

I've read the first few chapters now, and I'm looking forward to running it. Plenty of chances for investigation and role playing at the beginning, and a lot of different paths to take that all lead further into the adventure.

joeburgos

Apr 01, 2015 6:21:17

Really well written, beautifully illustrated, carefully developed and a superior approach to sandbox style gaming. IMO the best long term campaign adventure series for 5e since Lost Mine of Phandelver. Sasquatch Studios sets the bar pretty high with this one and I hope that future AP's follow this level of quality. Im really liking Wizards new approach of giving us expansion books that are a mixture of campaign setting, rules manual and adventure module, and will actually have utility at the table. I have reviewed it on EN world a 5/5.

Rhenny

Apr 01, 2015 6:21:44

I'm going to end (or postpone) my current Ghosts of Dragonspear castle campaign that is 3/4 finished to start anew using PotA. It seems that good.

It has depth and breadth, cool story, great new monsters/foes, pcs have lots of options. Great work.

Drizzt73

Apr 02, 2015 0:35:23

Are there many Magic Items in this adventure? and is there a mix for classes? as Hoard and Rise were underwhealming

Thoughts appreciated

DMStevenH

Apr 03, 2015 8:31:36

Uh, sorry to say but not really. The adventure is absolutely swamped with potions and scrolls of various spells but permanent magic items are pretty rare. There're a couple of rings, two or three weapons, some armour and a magic shield plus a couple of wonderous knick-knacks. There're no fewer than six legendary items though if you count the weapons carried by the four prophets of elemental evil. These six items are really cool and powerful so I think it's the inclusion of the four legendary elemental weapons that skews the item distribution a little bit.

sirkaikillah11

Apr 03, 2015 13:00:53

Does it play out entirely in the forgotten realms or is their some exploration of the inner planes? The Dm manual has a ot of cool fluff about the inner planes. I was hoping they might go thier in this adventure path. I mean its forgotten realms with a bady cult again. Please tell me they go to the inner planes.

DMStevenH

Apr 08, 2015 1:59:55

It's possible to go to the elemental planes of earth, air, fire and water. There are numerous portals but it's not mandatory. The adventure also ends at level 15 or there abouts so there's plenty of scope to continue after that point if that tickles you.

#10

Sands666

Apr 08, 2015 3:06:08

DMStevenH wrote:

#11

DMStevenH

Apr 08, 2015 9:06:34

The adventure makes a few suggestions. None of them are hugely fleshed out but there are a few good paths open that could involve a journey to various elemental planes or a confrontation with the elder elemental eye (Whatever that is...).

Which btw, I was a little dissapointed not to have the mystery of what the elemental eye actually is/wants be given more attention.

#12

Sands666

Apr 08, 2015 14:30:40

DMStevenH wrote:

#13

frothsof

Apr 11, 2015 12:55:29

I love it, a vast improvement over Tyranny of Dragons.

#14

BRJN

Apr 11, 2015 16:04:02

DMStevenH wrote:

#15

BRJN

Apr 11, 2015 16:08:10

frothsof wrote:

#16

pukunui

Apr 11, 2015 16:22:54

I was recently given the ToD adventures for my birthday. I only just finished reading through them the other day, and I reckon they're nowhere near as bad as many people are making them out to be.

That being said, Princes has been great so far. While it doesn't seem to be as much of a sandbox as it could be (since each area is geared towards a specific level, which lends itself to the PCs tackling things in a specific order), I like that Rich has taken both combat and non-combat approaches into account. The PCs don't have to blast through everything they encounter. They can be sneaky and pose as cultists and go around talking to the bad guys before fighting them. Some of the cultists even appear to be friendly (like the Feathergale Knights). I also like that there are some cultists who are less fanatical and can be convinced to side with the PCs (eg. Windharrow).

I've been compiling a list of errors and discrepancies on my initial readthrough. So far, everything I've found has been relatively minor.

#17

Devilbass

Apr 11, 2015 20:27:50

I've been enjoying reading through it. I'll second pukunui's thoughts on it thus far. I'm planning on running two groups through it, so I'll be able to give greater insight into it as time goes on.

#18

TheNovaLord

Apr 12, 2015 14:58:24

Ran hotdq twice and it plays a lot better than it reads

I get to be a player in Pota so hopefully it lives up to the hype

#19

arnwolf666

Apr 12, 2015 16:13:49

I really wish they would take these adventures up to at least 19th level. I would like to see how they intend those upper levels to be played.

#20

Sands666

Apr 13, 2015 18:24:54

arnwolf666 wrote:

#21

pukunui

Apr 13, 2015 18:30:13

Yeah, that's what the magical canned air is for!

Now that I've read through the whole of the main adventure (still working my way through the side treks), I'm actually a teeny bit disappointed. While it's nice that the adventure is fairly open-ended, it's still pretty clear that the authors had a specific progression in mind when they designed the difficulty of each section. Plus, it feels a little repetitive. Each of the cult lairs on the surface seem distinctive enough, but once you get down into the temples, and the fane, and the nodes, things just start getting a little samey-samey.

As I've said in another thread, having just read through the Tyranny of Dragons modules before reading Princes of the Apocalypse, I'm actually finding myself wanting to run the former more than the latter.

I also wish they'd spread out the cults more, maybe put the water cult off the coast rather than inland, and the fire cult could've been in a volcano or something, while the air cult could've been actually up in the clouds - or, at the very least, Feathergale Spire could've looked more like that cool floating "air beacon" in the concept art at the end.

I feel like the only truly fantastical element in the whole thing is the Stone Bridge, and it doesn't even really feature in the adventure. (The Weeping Colossus is pretty cool, but it's pretty much just window dressing.)

#22

BoldItalic

Apr 14, 2015 6:35:34

My group has started PotA with a transition from LMoP. We have tried to avoid narrative dissonance, and so far it is working out quite well but it's taken a bit of work from all of us. Consequently, in the first session, we have really only got as far as hooking the characters into the material, without actually started the adventure itself yet. But that's okay, we aren't in any hurry.

Their characters were heading for Triboar anyway, following various personal quests relating to their established backstories, so that's where we've picked up on the new material. Triboar is the overlap. There's not enough detail about Triboar in the book to use it as a stopping place, but there's some detail about Triboar inns and taverns and so on in various wikis and I've used that.

We've managed to use some of the adventure hooks on pp12-14 but it wasn't straightforward because they are not really written for players to pick from. I'd recommend paraphrasing them as a handout. Here are three examples of what we have ended up with:

Show

The fighter/soldier is on his way eastwards to rejoin his unit after visiting relations in Neverwinter. That was already established and it still works, Now, a mysterious map he found in LMoP has turned into an ancient dwarven map of the Tyar-Besil fortifications and he feels obliged, as a professional military man, to study them, or at least their ruins. So he has a reason to delay his journey eastwards and visit the Sumber HIlls. This is the "Strange Map" hook.
The dwarven cleric is a priest of Helm with an artisan(leatherworker) background. He has been sent to Triboar by his superiors to negotate with the priests of Tempus there, with a view to setting up a small shrine to Helm inside their temple but the priest of Tempus keep delaying the meeting so he has a week or two to kill. He would like to visit the Stone Bridge, which is famous in dwarven lore, and he is also helping the soldier, who doesn't read dwarvish, to make sense of the map. Separately, he has a grudge against the Black Earth cultists who raided his workshop and destroyed his business, which is the reason why he turned to Helm and the priesthood. This is a modified version of the "Settle a Score" hook.
The female barbarian/noble is related to Darathra Shendrel, the lord protector of Triboar, but there is bad blood between them and she will not enter Triboar. Her story is that her mother, who is actually Darathra's sister, was rejected by the family and sought refuge with her father, who is the chieftain of one of the Uthgart tribes. Separately, some of her tribespeople have been abducted by the fire cult and taken to a place called "The Temple of Eternal Flame". She has sworn to find them and rescue them but she doesn't know where the temple is. She wants the cleric to help her find it and the fighter to help her rescue the tribespeople. This is the "Rescue Your People" hook, straight out of the book.

#23

BRJN

Apr 14, 2015 16:23:14

pukunui wrote: