I really love vids like this, where we get some insight into the way a crafting dm actually runs his home games. Don't be afraid to do more not directly craft related stuff like this.
The ambush at the mill was so funny with my group. Initially I was skeptical about their idea being the DM, but I allowed it and it was great. Our bard disguised himself and convinced the kobolds that we’re “lighting the mill on fire” that they were supposed to be at the east mill not the west mill. It was so funny and I was very impressed with their creativity. However, then they decided to sneak attack them as they were walking away. Our warlock rolled a crit miss with eldritch blast and accidentally messed up their coordinated attack. So then a normal encounter ensued that they almost dodged
Hey I just wanted to mention that I did a very similar thing with the blue dragon from episode 1. The dragon told one of my characters that she would let him live but that he would owe her a favor some day. When they made it to the hatchery she caught him outside and told him the eggs inside are hers and that she wanted him to retrieve them as payback for letting him live. After he retrieved the eggs she told him to extend his hand. When he did, she grabbed his hand and he began convulsing from the lightening shock. When she let him go he had a blue flame sleeve going up the arm she touched. He did not realize it at that moment but she gave him a gift. From that moment on, that character had permanent invulnerability to lightening damage. I thought it was a cool thing to do. His character always had an affinity for dragons anyways. Let me know what you think.
The dragons choice that you gave is exactly the way that I decided to run it, but with a really crazy twist- Once the players brought the eggs back, they hatched before the Dragon returned, and one of the dragons imprinted on one the characters, which caused a whole lot of havoc in/during negotiations when the dragon finally showed back up. Eventually the dragon decided to let her newborn dragon go with that character as long as they promised to protect the baby dragon (because all dragons show up with memories and at least some basic speech and flight ability, right???). It ended up being high amusement for the campaign when I got to use the dragon in the background to cause havoc (because the dragon didn't necessary travel with them all the time- Dragons are generally independent in my games, but the imprint keeps them coming back). It was particular amusement on the trail north out of Waterdeep, where small caravans were found gored from the dragon needing to eat. Causing many ethical problems.
Chapter 4 -- the trek from Baldur's Gate to Waterdeep is taking FOREVER. Granted, I'm going this on Roll20, and we usually only get 2-3 hours a session, and it's sporadic sometimes due to life... I inserted a little bit at Dragonspear castle on the fly, trying to use a book from pre-PHB release -- Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle -- to allow them to investigate. The players headed to the basement where they found passages blocked off. So, after trying to chop through the stone, they awoke something on the other side that now is stalking them. (Totally my insertion) They're just outside of Waterdeep, so it'll change up soon. But I haven't read too terribly far ahead -- does Jamna re-appear?
I removed the kobolds too. I used the beginner box adventure and the Murder in Baldur's Gate to liven up the HotDQ. The players got to play ancient wyrms too at a council of wyrms type of deal where they discussed the awakening of Tiamat and what they were going to do. Oh, and I used to mechanic from Dread, a jenga tower, to simulate a sleeping dragon. The characters were sneaking through a dungeon filled with the dragon's allies, and every sound they made forced you to pull a piece as the dragon's sleep was disturbed. Ultimately the dragon woke up and chased the characters out.
That session sounded like a lot of fun. Great idea of a dragon being manipulated to destroy the town. I like how the evil characters had a problem accepting the blessing of the priestess.
this is a great review you did an excellent job blending your experience and gameplay with the material the book comes with dispelling any of the bad reviews in the past
Just ran episode 1 for my party of 2, who were absolutely floored at the end. I set up an excellent reason to hate Cyanwrath, and I can't wait to see where this goes!
@@907Shaman Hey man, I wanted to get back at you about this. I was a brand new DM 6 months ago! We're about 2/3 of the way through HotDQ. We added a third player, a Bard, after session 1, and we never wanna go back to 2-PC games lol. As far as the module, it's great! Be sure to really get into the backstory of the Cult, and keep track of what's happening in other places and with the main villains. Get into their motivations and such, it'll really help. The biggest thing I've found though is that it is very short in flavor with the story, very linear and without much meat. Look around online, other people have accumulated vast HOARDS of info, lore, stats, stories, and more to make this campaign more enjoyable.
Great video! I started running this adventure (using 3-3.5 ed. rules) a few months ago (we play short sessions about once a month) and my players are up to the church part. I didn't take out the kobolds but I did add in the kids from the D&D cartoon to help the out. That's something I've always wanted to do in an adventure. I also skipped the part with the rats but that was by accident. I feel it didn't add much to the adventure, so I was okay with skipping it. Looking forward to the next video Scotty!
I feel your pain...I only get to run about once a month with my main group but we do like a marathon 8hr session. Sounds like an interesting idea with the kids...Next vid already uploaded...enjoy.
Fantastic review, and pretty similar to our first session... my players made a deal with the dragon for the eggs too, and although they are lvl 9 now, they still remember the rats... the toughest encounter they had apart from the blue half-dragon they fough in Greenest. SPOILERS AHEAD, BEWARE... I had changed many things too: The characters met the twin black dragons in the swamp, and struck (and later broke) another deal with them, Talis is the party's paladin sister (and they have a troubled relationship as she caused the death of the rest of their family when she joined the cult...), the warlock in the party is an evil servant to Bel sent to stop Tiamat, and they travelled to Dis in the 9 hells, in order to get aid from Dispater after the flying castle crashed (that was kind of my own transition chapter between HotDQ and RoT), and there they learn from Dispater and Bel of the real threat of the Cult, and had to choose between stoping the Draakhorn call, helping the elves, or trying to stop Varram for the next mission. I believe increasing the plot helped the adventure a lot, as making the backgrounds of the characters really involved with the Cult, Tiamat, and the general story. My advise: do not be afraid to tweak and add to the plot, as well as make it your own and change things as necesary.
Taking the kobolds out is actually a really good idea. One of my players rolled an 18 and shoved that into dexterity. As a human variant hr got +1 to dex and he took the athlete feat so he started with a 20 dexterity. Literally if he hit a kobold it would automatically die. It was honestly really annoying that I would just throw all these at him and he would jsut slaughter them.
HotDQ is the only 5e module i dont own and know nothing about, which is interesting after watching this video since the storyline very much sounds like the one for the campaign ive been working on. guess i may have to go pick it up.
By the way, if one of your players askes you to be evil and you say no. then he askes you if he can be chaotic neutral... thats a trap, what hes really asking is "can i be chaotic neutral so i can do evil stuff anyway ?"
DnD Basement Disagree. Evil characters can make for compelling, interesting characters if done well. One of my favorite characters I've ever run is an evil halfling Paladin, and I wound up being able to run a real Prince Arthas ttpe.
Starting a new campaign featuring this and your video has give me so many ideas to toy with. For starters im rocking the cult vibe where the cult discovers that parasite larvae live in the eggs that they use to try to create an army. In my campaign cyranwrath and modath are both assigned to gather an army for the rise of tiamat. Remiz has a two fold plan the first is to gather a strong enough force to conquer the sword coast and the 2nd (this is home brewing to change the camapign from a 2 part to 1 complete story. ) with the discovery of the black mask they managed to subdue and kidnap one the twin blackdragons of the mere or marsh of the dead. The other enlists the players help because remiz intends to not only slay the twin but using the mask and with tiamat help ress it into a dracolich that will ne the herald of the dragon god. So back to the cult and some more ideas (sorry for the rant but this has been a campaign brewing for some time so im excited to get it going. We did char creation and a sess 0 to learn the game roleplay intros etc..) Includes cyranwrath instead of dropping in chapter 3 at the hatchery he instead when he dies his body falls into a pool of the dragon larvae. Think resident evil and the cult is umbrella here. So lesser beings when the larvae borrows in go crazy and frenzy as the pain overtakes their bodies along with horrrific mutations. Scaley skin bones bursting guts spilling all the zombie tropes bit dragon theme. For the upper tiers im gonna have them run a test expertiment so animals and lickers can show up when the cult infests a town water supply. For cyranwrath though he becomes.my campaign idea of nemesis an undead dragon abomination hell bent on killing the players. I love the duels aspect of the modular so imma play that up alot so when he dies his only remainong brain cell is the part of his brain where his twisted sense of honor came from. Replace staaars like resident evil with duelssss, extended s's for fork tongur and all. Im also including that modath who servers alongside him is his partner in crime\lover and when he falls she will escape and bring him back. Later on in baldurs gate i have a hidden base where modath will retreat too and ill reintroduce my tyrant verison for dnd aka cyranwrath. In this instant cyran will survive cause the mutation includes regeneration but he will still bear witness to modath being cut down by the players. This will enrage him and set the course to constantly hunting them down like nemesis did to jill. There is some more home brewing going ob like replacing the long road with ironically the same title but all the missions will be pc backstory driven. By the end of the long roar the players will have to face their flaws and fears. The long road will end with baldurs gate quest and from their the hidden baze in the sewers will have a malfunctioning portal. It will drop them off the chapter 5 construction ahead area and from there lead to the marshes. Continue the game from there on like normal but have the ending be inside the well of souls with remiz and the abomination that wad cyranwrath. I imagine it bring like a crystal caverns but a hellish red verison with a swirling orange portal. Behind the portal shimmering in a dark red tint as the lights and flames reflects from the glassier barrier is a raging god tiamat. She will insult the players and threaten them as the players battle her champions. Sorry for rant but theres still a lot more to work on but do know your guides are super helpful even to this day. Thanks
I dmed this and i was a first time DM, they encountered the dragon. The bard of my group looked at him and said: "Hey dude, why are you here? I can see that you don't want to" i asked him to roll a d20, and guess what, a 20. So, since i didn't really know what to do, i started a conversation between the two, they bonded for a bit, and then the dragon left. I was like wtf did i just do. I noticed that i had to build the adversaries backstories. I learned a lot from it, and it was pretty funny at the time
Scotty, title: "Reveiw". Review. Thanks for reviewing it though, I've been wondering about the published 5E modules for a while and they were so confusing to my 4E-trained self that I just went ahead and created my own campaign and setting instead.
That's probably the easiest way. It's a lot of work to read the adventure and dig the "bones" out when it's written so lengthily. AD&D modules fit whole campaigns in 30 pages. I prefer that style.
***** My biggest problem was that I spent years listening to the Acquisitions Inc. podcasts before I played my first ever game of D&D. And that game was, coincidentally, Keep on the Shadowfell, and I joined the group at the gaming store as they set foot inside the keep, exactly the same place. Then I DMed that module for friends, and it's a really well made module. I struggled with Thunderspire Labyrinth because it was more free-form. Took me a long time to figure out that I could improvise missing details and didn't need to absolutely stick to everything that was written down. When 5E came out I wanted to make my own adventure, so I started looking for a suitable place to start it, researching Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk and holy crap so much back history to sift through if I wanted to even get started! So I figured why not start from nothing. I'm actually writing a campaign setting book for novice/intermediate DMs where the hard work of creating locations is done but where the backstory is minimal so they can pick and choose whatever they need or follow along in the adventure I created. It's hard work, but it's better than remembering a whole fictional history.
This might interest you: dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-i-want-to-hear-about-your-setting.html Check out some of the OSR products like Vornheim: The Complete City Kit, Carcosa, or Castle Gargantua. What I personally find most useful are tools, not locations per se. A generator for creating ruins from a certain era with a d20 or d100 list of good ideas. Fan-created Secret Santicore pdfs are great for offering just that.
***** Well, the idea is a bare-bones template a DM could build on, or cities you could take, rename, and redecorate while saving the hard work of coming up with a layout, store names, mood of the city, etc. Kind of a tool in that sense. I agree with that post's B point though. Which is why I'm also working on novels based off of my players' adventures. Big project I'm wholly unsuited for, but hey, gotta have a hobby! It's a very insightful post and I'm glad to see I've managed to side-step a few of its complaints, as far as it's possible to do so while writing a campaign setting anyway. Brief, vague histories in bullet-point format that give a DM just enough to work with on the spot if they need it, or throw it entirely aside to keep the current-day description. That was my goal going in: random DM picks it up and plays out of the book. No floating islands in the sky or ancient guardians keeping watch over ancient secrets of world-shattering importance, just "dis is sitty. Here am job. Do work go." and they can put as much Unobtainium islands in the sky as they want on their own time for added flavor. Need a mountain location? Here's one! Need a forest? Pick and choose! Want a city? Mix and match! I think that's how a campaign setting should be done anyway. No matter how good a DM you are, you just can't _be_ Drizzt or Minsk at a table, and the reason why the Star Wars RPG lacks appeal to me is because you have to erase Luke Skywalker or else everything your players do is pointless since he wins without your help anyway. Pre-established worlds have too much baggage to be useful, so make a world with none of that.
i am a new Gm, who only had 2 other people in the story so i had to join in sadly. we are all new to d&d so i added a custom deck of manythings and a whole race that i custom made for hoard of the dragon queen and rise of tiamat. i wanted to make it easier but not changing too much, so i needed to buff the PC but not nerfing the enemies, it was hard but so far its going good
Hey DM Scotty! love your vids! I'm in the middle of doing your Dragon puzzle waiting for paint to dry. Just wanted to say thanks for showing how to do these things step by step. Is there anyway I could sweet talk you into doing a Curse of Strahd review? I'm running a campaign now, but I'm new at DMing and the players are all new as well. Any tips would be awesome.
this is my first time DMing (my friend and I are co-DMing for our first time) and the missions do not seem very connected to each other in chapter 1. Do you have any tips for smoothly transitioning from one mission to another?
I rember i created a bandit encounter with this one its was a great time as i was able to introduce my party to accept new players that wanted to play [inexperienced players] i had to introudce 3 new people some time in the first 4 episodes ever since then they have been hooked
Kobolds aren't funny if run correctly (unless you're running them as such, which isn't who they are by nature). Tucker's kobolds, anyone? Before I even knew about Tucker's kobolds, I ran them as fairly tactical creatures who used traps to overcome their opponents. Six of them were able to outright demolish a five member group of 3rd level PCs from 3.5! Kobolds as comic relief doesn't make sense to me. But that's me. Though, why would the kobolds come out of their lairs? They would most likely not do this on a whim. They're not stupid.
I'd like some advise here. I'm currently playing through The Lost Mines of Phandelver with my group, it's my first proper time playing as DM, I intend on bringing my group into Hoard of the Dragon Queen then later into Rise of Tiamat (of course), I've already somewhat set up Hoard of the Dragon Queen in The Lost Mines of Phandelver with the cult of dragons faction in Thundertree. The problem I'm finding is that after mentioning moving into Hoard of the Dragon Queen after we finish the starter set and saying that we'll be starting again at level one my players seem extremely reluctant to make new character at level one or even drop their current characters back to level one. How could I possibly tackle this? Whether by a compremise with my players or by modifying the Tyranny of Dragons adventure to suit high level characters. I honestly like the idea of keeping the same characters and having a continuity between the adventures but I also thing starting from scratch would be really beneficial to the adventure in the long run.
I would say there are better starting points...This campaign works better with more experienced DM,s. This is the perfect starting place: amzn.to/2RWUdiN
Hey Scotty, I have a dire question. I have been wanting to run some 5th addition with pathfinder but I don't have enough money for the books because I have already spent my current spending money pool on Pathfinder materials. I prefer the Pathfinder system and dont have the money for any of the 5e materials. would it be possible to sort of fudge the rules of 5e to work with pathfinder? are the adventure books just a sort of "body" for you to work off of? thanks you for the help, love your work friend!
well this is why i just dont do adventures. i base myself of the ideas in there... but i do my own adventures. because by your own definition its like you didn't like the adventure to begin with. nor would your players like the adventure. so why bother and do it ? for me an adventure must be done as is if you commit to it. of course you could add a few things based on what your players do. but having read lal the adventures. they are pretty much already telling you what happens reguardless of what the players does. like for yourself adding th eeggs. might hhave seemed like a great idea. but in practice thats just running off another adventure. basically you are skipping the entirety of that chapter and changing it. so why bother to begin with ? i read the books. i love them they are awesome and the stories are already awesome as is. the majority of why people didn't like the whole tyrany of dragons is that it is a world changing event where the charcater have nothing to do to stop it. its gonna happen anyway. thats why they dont like it. i tryed running it to my group and you know what they did... they rushed to their death againast the cult right away. why ? because why try to find allies when we can simply run to them and stop the whole thing before it even get started ? we ended up letting this go and i entirely changed the story for something else. the reality being, they were right... it has nothing to do with the monsters. it has nothing to do with the story itself. it has everything to do with the fact that this is a campaign not a story. out of the 15 people i got to play with over the last 2 years all of them were against uber long campaigns. you know one single story that spans 15 levels worth of characters. evenb worse when you consider that story is gonna take 40 weeks to do and thats being optimistic. now what they want is an adventure that takes around 4-5 weeks to accomplish then pass to something else. keep the juice flowing and the content not the same. because lets face it. you have that big giant threat over your head and you just can't do anything about it. while you try your best to do your adventuring stuff elsewhere ? consider it like this... what if the lord of the rings. was all about that war and the ring like it is now... but in the 4th or 5th movie they still didn't do a thing about it and started questing. you know helping the farmers. saving a village against bandits. you know... completely forgotten about the famous ring. the reality is... having other "RELATED" adventures is fine. as long as it doesn't take the charcter long to go there or it is on their way. but having them turn around and go back when they know the threat is coming to a close. is something the players dont want to. they wanna be heroics. they wanna stop that thing thats going to happen. so why would they bother doing anything else then stopping the armageddon ? at first i thought people were just too wanting it to be like "they are god and kills everything" but in the end i figured that they were right. why would i bother saving a village that has no army t help me against those dragons. when i could simply go directly to the biggest town with the biggest army and convince them that they should get into the fold. unfortunately this story is in 2 parts and thats the problem... like Out of the abyss, it should of been a single book. not two. thats why the next adventures have all been 1 single book. it just is faster and thats why people liked them much more. instead of leveling 15 levels in 40 weeks. you do it in 30. thats already a big improvement for players. in the other books, players do not have the big threats over their heads. they just have to avoid the demons which they dont know why they are there and help the people around the place survive. adventuring at its best. i just think omost of what people say on th enet are cope out for "i dont like game of thrones except when its a show that last only 1 hour per session" because this is what tyranny is... game of thrones.
Wow, that must be the biggest post I have ever had...I understand your points. For me I like to start from something like the adventure and make it fit the characters.
I really love vids like this, where we get some insight into the way a crafting dm actually runs his home games. Don't be afraid to do more not directly craft related stuff like this.
thanks man, I will.
The ambush at the mill was so funny with my group. Initially I was skeptical about their idea being the DM, but I allowed it and it was great. Our bard disguised himself and convinced the kobolds that we’re “lighting the mill on fire” that they were supposed to be at the east mill not the west mill. It was so funny and I was very impressed with their creativity. However, then they decided to sneak attack them as they were walking away. Our warlock rolled a crit miss with eldritch blast and accidentally messed up their coordinated attack. So then a normal encounter ensued that they almost dodged
Very cool
Hey I just wanted to mention that I did a very similar thing with the blue dragon from episode 1. The dragon told one of my characters that she would let him live but that he would owe her a favor some day. When they made it to the hatchery she caught him outside and told him the eggs inside are hers and that she wanted him to retrieve them as payback for letting him live. After he retrieved the eggs she told him to extend his hand. When he did, she grabbed his hand and he began convulsing from the lightening shock. When she let him go he had a blue flame sleeve going up the arm she touched. He did not realize it at that moment but she gave him a gift. From that moment on, that character had permanent invulnerability to lightening damage. I thought it was a cool thing to do. His character always had an affinity for dragons anyways. Let me know what you think.
I really like that idea....it can be really cool to give rewards that are not money or treasure.
Thank you! This series is just what I needed as a relatively new DM trying to start this campaign
So glad you are finding it useful.
The dragons choice that you gave is exactly the way that I decided to run it, but with a really crazy twist- Once the players brought the eggs back, they hatched before the Dragon returned, and one of the dragons imprinted on one the characters, which caused a whole lot of havoc in/during negotiations when the dragon finally showed back up. Eventually the dragon decided to let her newborn dragon go with that character as long as they promised to protect the baby dragon (because all dragons show up with memories and at least some basic speech and flight ability, right???). It ended up being high amusement for the campaign when I got to use the dragon in the background to cause havoc (because the dragon didn't necessary travel with them all the time- Dragons are generally independent in my games, but the imprint keeps them coming back). It was particular amusement on the trail north out of Waterdeep, where small caravans were found gored from the dragon needing to eat. Causing many ethical problems.
That really sounds like fun!
I've been running this since October, on and off, and it's been fun so far... Thanks for your review!
Very welcome...how are you feeling about the adventure?
Chapter 4 -- the trek from Baldur's Gate to Waterdeep is taking FOREVER. Granted, I'm going this on Roll20, and we usually only get 2-3 hours a session, and it's sporadic sometimes due to life... I inserted a little bit at Dragonspear castle on the fly, trying to use a book from pre-PHB release -- Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle -- to allow them to investigate. The players headed to the basement where they found passages blocked off. So, after trying to chop through the stone, they awoke something on the other side that now is stalking them. (Totally my insertion) They're just outside of Waterdeep, so it'll change up soon.
But I haven't read too terribly far ahead -- does Jamna re-appear?
I removed the kobolds too. I used the beginner box adventure and the Murder in Baldur's Gate to liven up the HotDQ. The players got to play ancient wyrms too at a council of wyrms type of deal where they discussed the awakening of Tiamat and what they were going to do.
Oh, and I used to mechanic from Dread, a jenga tower, to simulate a sleeping dragon. The characters were sneaking through a dungeon filled with the dragon's allies, and every sound they made forced you to pull a piece as the dragon's sleep was disturbed. Ultimately the dragon woke up and chased the characters out.
Some great ideas!...sounds like fun.
I really enjoyed your perspective, and even better I enjoyed the story telling and enthusiasm
Thanks, I love this stuff.
That session sounded like a lot of fun. Great idea of a dragon being manipulated to destroy the town. I like how the evil characters had a problem accepting the blessing of the priestess.
I tried to add personality to the encounters to make them personal.
I'm beginning to integrate some of this in my game. It has been a broad circle to get here but I'm looking forward to it. Thank you for sharing!
So very welcome =)
Excellent video. Can't wait for part 2.
Cool, in the works now.
Some fantastic ideas here in this first video, Thank you!!
I will be watching the others with interest.
Cool, glad you got something from it.
this is a great review you did an excellent job blending your experience and gameplay with the material the book comes with dispelling any of the bad reviews in the past
Glad you found it helpful.
Just ran episode 1 for my party of 2, who were absolutely floored at the end. I set up an excellent reason to hate Cyanwrath, and I can't wait to see where this goes!
Very awesome. emotions like that really ramp up the game.
Jam Beat I’m interested to see how this performs with your small group. I’m a brand new DM about to run this as my first adventure for my group of 3
@@907Shaman Hey man, I wanted to get back at you about this. I was a brand new DM 6 months ago! We're about 2/3 of the way through HotDQ. We added a third player, a Bard, after session 1, and we never wanna go back to 2-PC games lol. As far as the module, it's great! Be sure to really get into the backstory of the Cult, and keep track of what's happening in other places and with the main villains. Get into their motivations and such, it'll really help. The biggest thing I've found though is that it is very short in flavor with the story, very linear and without much meat. Look around online, other people have accumulated vast HOARDS of info, lore, stats, stories, and more to make this campaign more enjoyable.
This helped me so much man, thanks for making my game better!
Great video!
I started running this adventure (using 3-3.5 ed. rules) a few months ago (we play short sessions about once a month) and my players are up to the church part. I didn't take out the kobolds but I did add in the kids from the D&D cartoon to help the out. That's something I've always wanted to do in an adventure. I also skipped the part with the rats but that was by accident. I feel it didn't add much to the adventure, so I was okay with skipping it.
Looking forward to the next video Scotty!
I feel your pain...I only get to run about once a month with my main group but we do like a marathon 8hr session. Sounds like an interesting idea with the kids...Next vid already uploaded...enjoy.
please, more of this.
You got it...working on part2
That seems to have been a lot of fun for you and your group. :) Cool.
We are having a blast...I plan to take the group all the way to 20 wit this book and the Rise of Tiamat.
That sounds like a very good plan. After that, your group should be pro like. ;)
Fantastic review, and pretty similar to our first session... my players made a deal with the dragon for the eggs too, and although they are lvl 9 now, they still remember the rats... the toughest encounter they had apart from the blue half-dragon they fough in Greenest. SPOILERS AHEAD, BEWARE...
I had changed many things too: The characters met the twin black dragons in the swamp, and struck (and later broke) another deal with them, Talis is the party's paladin sister (and they have a troubled relationship as she caused the death of the rest of their family when she joined the cult...), the warlock in the party is an evil servant to Bel sent to stop Tiamat, and they travelled to Dis in the 9 hells, in order to get aid from Dispater after the flying castle crashed (that was kind of my own transition chapter between HotDQ and RoT), and there they learn from Dispater and Bel of the real threat of the Cult, and had to choose between stoping the Draakhorn call, helping the elves, or trying to stop Varram for the next mission. I believe increasing the plot helped the adventure a lot, as making the backgrounds of the characters really involved with the Cult, Tiamat, and the general story.
My advise: do not be afraid to tweak and add to the plot, as well as make it your own and change things as necesary.
Sounds really cool... I totally agree about changing any plot element to fit your own game.
You seem like a very good DM. Great job on the Dragon Queen videos!
Thank you, I love to DM and have fun with this campaign.
Great tips!
Thanks, really worked for my game.
Taking the kobolds out is actually a really good idea. One of my players rolled an 18 and shoved that into dexterity. As a human variant hr got +1 to dex and he took the athlete feat so he started with a 20 dexterity. Literally if he hit a kobold it would automatically die. It was honestly really annoying that I would just throw all these at him and he would jsut slaughter them.
Taking the kobolds out is actually a really good idea...
Thanks...worked well for my game.
HotDQ is the only 5e module i dont own and know nothing about, which is interesting after watching this video since the storyline very much sounds like the one for the campaign ive been working on. guess i may have to go pick it up.
Yep, check it out.
Lawful Evil characters work very well for this adventure.
So true.
Do more like this. It was great
I have had many requests...I really need to make more.
love this review you are great!
this is so inspirational thank you
You are very welcome.
I love DM Scotty!
By the way, if one of your players askes you to be evil and you say no. then he askes you if he can be chaotic neutral...
thats a trap, what hes really asking is "can i be chaotic neutral so i can do evil stuff anyway ?"
LOL...gotcha
DnD Basement Disagree. Evil characters can make for compelling, interesting characters if done well. One of my favorite characters I've ever run is an evil halfling Paladin, and I wound up being able to run a real Prince Arthas ttpe.
if my dm does not allow me to be evil i leave the game
Starting a new campaign featuring this and your video has give me so many ideas to toy with.
For starters im rocking the cult vibe where the cult discovers that parasite larvae live in the eggs that they use to try to create an army. In my campaign cyranwrath and modath are both assigned to gather an army for the rise of tiamat.
Remiz has a two fold plan the first is to gather a strong enough force to conquer the sword coast and the 2nd (this is home brewing to change the camapign from a 2 part to 1 complete story. ) with the discovery of the black mask they managed to subdue and kidnap one the twin blackdragons of the mere or marsh of the dead.
The other enlists the players help because remiz intends to not only slay the twin but using the mask and with tiamat help ress it into a dracolich that will ne the herald of the dragon god.
So back to the cult and some more ideas (sorry for the rant but this has been a campaign brewing for some time so im excited to get it going. We did char creation and a sess 0 to learn the game roleplay intros etc..) Includes cyranwrath instead of dropping in chapter 3 at the hatchery he instead when he dies his body falls into a pool of the dragon larvae. Think resident evil and the cult is umbrella here. So lesser beings when the larvae borrows in go crazy and frenzy as the pain overtakes their bodies along with horrrific mutations. Scaley skin bones bursting guts spilling all the zombie tropes bit dragon theme.
For the upper tiers im gonna have them run a test expertiment so animals and lickers can show up when the cult infests a town water supply. For cyranwrath though he becomes.my campaign idea of nemesis an undead dragon abomination hell bent on killing the players.
I love the duels aspect of the modular so imma play that up alot so when he dies his only remainong brain cell is the part of his brain where his twisted sense of honor came from. Replace staaars like resident evil with duelssss, extended s's for fork tongur and all. Im also including that modath who servers alongside him is his partner in crime\lover and when he falls she will escape and bring him back.
Later on in baldurs gate i have a hidden base where modath will retreat too and ill reintroduce my tyrant verison for dnd aka cyranwrath. In this instant cyran will survive cause the mutation includes regeneration but he will still bear witness to modath being cut down by the players. This will enrage him and set the course to constantly hunting them down like nemesis did to jill.
There is some more home brewing going ob like replacing the long road with ironically the same title but all the missions will be pc backstory driven. By the end of the long roar the players will have to face their flaws and fears.
The long road will end with baldurs gate quest and from their the hidden baze in the sewers will have a malfunctioning portal. It will drop them off the chapter 5 construction ahead area and from there lead to the marshes.
Continue the game from there on like normal but have the ending be inside the well of souls with remiz and the abomination that wad cyranwrath. I imagine it bring like a crystal caverns but a hellish red verison with a swirling orange portal.
Behind the portal shimmering in a dark red tint as the lights and flames reflects from the glassier barrier is a raging god tiamat. She will insult the players and threaten them as the players battle her champions.
Sorry for rant but theres still a lot more to work on but do know your guides are super helpful even to this day. Thanks
Glad I inspired you. Great ideas.
I dmed this and i was a first time DM, they encountered the dragon. The bard of my group looked at him and said: "Hey dude, why are you here? I can see that you don't want to" i asked him to roll a d20, and guess what, a 20. So, since i didn't really know what to do, i started a conversation between the two, they bonded for a bit, and then the dragon left. I was like wtf did i just do.
I noticed that i had to build the adversaries backstories. I learned a lot from it, and it was pretty funny at the time
That is what makes games fun...the unpredictability of rolls...Good DM lesson.
Scotty, title: "Reveiw". Review. Thanks for reviewing it though, I've been wondering about the published 5E modules for a while and they were so confusing to my 4E-trained self that I just went ahead and created my own campaign and setting instead.
That's probably the easiest way. It's a lot of work to read the adventure and dig the "bones" out when it's written so lengthily.
AD&D modules fit whole campaigns in 30 pages. I prefer that style.
***** My biggest problem was that I spent years listening to the Acquisitions Inc. podcasts before I played my first ever game of D&D. And that game was, coincidentally, Keep on the Shadowfell, and I joined the group at the gaming store as they set foot inside the keep, exactly the same place. Then I DMed that module for friends, and it's a really well made module.
I struggled with Thunderspire Labyrinth because it was more free-form. Took me a long time to figure out that I could improvise missing details and didn't need to absolutely stick to everything that was written down.
When 5E came out I wanted to make my own adventure, so I started looking for a suitable place to start it, researching Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk and holy crap so much back history to sift through if I wanted to even get started!
So I figured why not start from nothing. I'm actually writing a campaign setting book for novice/intermediate DMs where the hard work of creating locations is done but where the backstory is minimal so they can pick and choose whatever they need or follow along in the adventure I created. It's hard work, but it's better than remembering a whole fictional history.
This might interest you: dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-i-want-to-hear-about-your-setting.html
Check out some of the OSR products like Vornheim: The Complete City Kit, Carcosa, or Castle Gargantua.
What I personally find most useful are tools, not locations per se. A generator for creating ruins from a certain era with a d20 or d100 list of good ideas. Fan-created Secret Santicore pdfs are great for offering just that.
I like this one too for overland travel www.drivethrurpg.com/product/156979/The-Perilous-Wilds
***** Well, the idea is a bare-bones template a DM could build on, or cities you could take, rename, and redecorate while saving the hard work of coming up with a layout, store names, mood of the city, etc. Kind of a tool in that sense.
I agree with that post's B point though. Which is why I'm also working on novels based off of my players' adventures. Big project I'm wholly unsuited for, but hey, gotta have a hobby!
It's a very insightful post and I'm glad to see I've managed to side-step a few of its complaints, as far as it's possible to do so while writing a campaign setting anyway. Brief, vague histories in bullet-point format that give a DM just enough to work with on the spot if they need it, or throw it entirely aside to keep the current-day description.
That was my goal going in: random DM picks it up and plays out of the book. No floating islands in the sky or ancient guardians keeping watch over ancient secrets of world-shattering importance, just "dis is sitty. Here am job. Do work go." and they can put as much Unobtainium islands in the sky as they want on their own time for added flavor. Need a mountain location? Here's one! Need a forest? Pick and choose! Want a city? Mix and match!
I think that's how a campaign setting should be done anyway. No matter how good a DM you are, you just can't _be_ Drizzt or Minsk at a table, and the reason why the Star Wars RPG lacks appeal to me is because you have to erase Luke Skywalker or else everything your players do is pointless since he wins without your help anyway. Pre-established worlds have too much baggage to be useful, so make a world with none of that.
Nice Video, help me alot.
i am a new Gm, who only had 2 other people in the story so i had to join in sadly. we are all new to d&d so i added a custom deck of manythings and a whole race that i custom made for hoard of the dragon queen and rise of tiamat. i wanted to make it easier but not changing too much, so i needed to buff the PC but not nerfing the enemies, it was hard but so far its going good
Sounds cool...I love when people make a campaign their own.
Hey DM Scotty! love your vids! I'm in the middle of doing your Dragon puzzle waiting for paint to dry. Just wanted to say thanks for showing how to do these things step by step. Is there anyway I could sweet talk you into doing a Curse of Strahd review? I'm running a campaign now, but I'm new at DMing and the players are all new as well. Any tips would be awesome.
The adventure looks really cool but I have not run it yet....happy gaming
this is my first time DMing (my friend and I are co-DMing for our first time) and the missions do not seem very connected to each other in chapter 1. Do you have any tips for smoothly transitioning from one mission to another?
Use player backgrounds to try and get the players involved...I added some of my own connections to the plot that I talk about in this series of vids.
Cool! Thank you so much!
I rember i created a bandit encounter with this one its was a great time as i was able to introduce my party to accept new players that wanted to play [inexperienced players] i had to introudce 3 new people some time in the first 4 episodes ever since then they have been hooked
Awesome, thanks for the share
Newbie DM here, first run through on this module, and was wondering how you came by that terrain. personally made or purchased?
Man sounds so fun
We always have a blast at my games.
+theDMsCraft no doubt
Do you know how many players this adventure is standardised for?
4-5 is a good number but you could go up to 6 or more but would not go less than 3.
@@theDMsCraft Perfect thanks
@@tompeters1113 Very welcome
Kobolds aren't funny if run correctly (unless you're running them as such, which isn't who they are by nature). Tucker's kobolds, anyone? Before I even knew about Tucker's kobolds, I ran them as fairly tactical creatures who used traps to overcome their opponents. Six of them were able to outright demolish a five member group of 3rd level PCs from 3.5! Kobolds as comic relief doesn't make sense to me. But that's me.
Though, why would the kobolds come out of their lairs? They would most likely not do this on a whim. They're not stupid.
Kobolds just did not make sense to me also. Right, why would they come out of their holes and fight in the open? That is why I used mercenaries.
I'd like some advise here. I'm currently playing through The Lost Mines of Phandelver with my group, it's my first proper time playing as DM, I intend on bringing my group into Hoard of the Dragon Queen then later into Rise of Tiamat (of course), I've already somewhat set up Hoard of the Dragon Queen in The Lost Mines of Phandelver with the cult of dragons faction in Thundertree. The problem I'm finding is that after mentioning moving into Hoard of the Dragon Queen after we finish the starter set and saying that we'll be starting again at level one my players seem extremely reluctant to make new character at level one or even drop their current characters back to level one. How could I possibly tackle this? Whether by a compremise with my players or by modifying the Tyranny of Dragons adventure to suit high level characters.
I honestly like the idea of keeping the same characters and having a continuity between the adventures but I also thing starting from scratch would be really beneficial to the adventure in the long run.
I would keep the characters and just raise the difficulty of the threats...really easy to do.
The great thing about it is as a DM no one will ever know you have made adjustments.
Is this good for people who are New to DND?
I would say there are better starting points...This campaign works better with more experienced DM,s. This is the perfect starting place: amzn.to/2RWUdiN
TheDMsCraft thanks
@@micah2455 glad to help
Hey Scotty, I have a dire question. I have been wanting to run some 5th addition with pathfinder but I don't have enough money for the books because I have already spent my current spending money pool on Pathfinder materials. I prefer the Pathfinder system and dont have the money for any of the 5e materials. would it be possible to sort of fudge the rules of 5e to work with pathfinder? are the adventure books just a sort of "body" for you to work off of? thanks you for the help, love your work friend!
It will be more work for you with stats...but yes, you can easily do that.
Funny... I thought GOT felt alot like D&D.
I am not a 5th player/dungeon master and never will. That said is there enough in it to use it for Pathfinder.
Sure, just have to modify the stats.
well this is why i just dont do adventures. i base myself of the ideas in there... but i do my own adventures.
because by your own definition its like you didn't like the adventure to begin with. nor would your players like the adventure. so why bother and do it ? for me an adventure must be done as is if you commit to it. of course you could add a few things based on what your players do. but having read lal the adventures. they are pretty much already telling you what happens reguardless of what the players does. like for yourself adding th eeggs. might hhave seemed like a great idea. but in practice thats just running off another adventure. basically you are skipping the entirety of that chapter and changing it. so why bother to begin with ? i read the books. i love them they are awesome and the stories are already awesome as is.
the majority of why people didn't like the whole tyrany of dragons is that it is a world changing event where the charcater have nothing to do to stop it. its gonna happen anyway. thats why they dont like it. i tryed running it to my group and you know what they did... they rushed to their death againast the cult right away. why ? because why try to find allies when we can simply run to them and stop the whole thing before it even get started ? we ended up letting this go and i entirely changed the story for something else. the reality being, they were right... it has nothing to do with the monsters. it has nothing to do with the story itself. it has everything to do with the fact that this is a campaign not a story.
out of the 15 people i got to play with over the last 2 years all of them were against uber long campaigns. you know one single story that spans 15 levels worth of characters. evenb worse when you consider that story is gonna take 40 weeks to do and thats being optimistic. now what they want is an adventure that takes around 4-5 weeks to accomplish then pass to something else. keep the juice flowing and the content not the same. because lets face it. you have that big giant threat over your head and you just can't do anything about it. while you try your best to do your adventuring stuff elsewhere ?
consider it like this...
what if the lord of the rings. was all about that war and the ring like it is now... but in the 4th or 5th movie they still didn't do a thing about it and started questing. you know helping the farmers. saving a village against bandits. you know... completely forgotten about the famous ring. the reality is... having other "RELATED" adventures is fine. as long as it doesn't take the charcter long to go there or it is on their way. but having them turn around and go back when they know the threat is coming to a close. is something the players dont want to. they wanna be heroics. they wanna stop that thing thats going to happen. so why would they bother doing anything else then stopping the armageddon ?
at first i thought people were just too wanting it to be like "they are god and kills everything" but in the end i figured that they were right. why would i bother saving a village that has no army t help me against those dragons. when i could simply go directly to the biggest town with the biggest army and convince them that they should get into the fold.
unfortunately this story is in 2 parts and thats the problem... like Out of the abyss, it should of been a single book. not two. thats why the next adventures have all been 1 single book. it just is faster and thats why people liked them much more. instead of leveling 15 levels in 40 weeks. you do it in 30. thats already a big improvement for players. in the other books, players do not have the big threats over their heads. they just have to avoid the demons which they dont know why they are there and help the people around the place survive. adventuring at its best.
i just think omost of what people say on th enet are cope out for "i dont like game of thrones except when its a show that last only 1 hour per session" because this is what tyranny is... game of thrones.
Wow, that must be the biggest post I have ever had...I understand your points. For me I like to start from something like the adventure and make it fit the characters.
Tutto m
My players kicked the dragon's ass. @_@
Oh wow, First level?
@@theDMsCraft 2nd, and with a bunch of ranged characters
They didnt kill it, but still
Newbie DM here, first run through on this module, and was wondering how you came by that terrain. personally made or purchased?
I make most of my terrain...check out the other vids on my channel and you will see how.