Category: Tyranny of Dragons

D&D, Play Advice, Tyranny of Dragons

Hoard of the Dragon Queen – Adventure Structure

In my last article, I talked about the importance of the overall structure of campaign adventures. It’s very hard to run an adventure when you don’t understand the steps the characters must take to navigate their way through it. Each adventure has its own structure, and some have multiple paths. Hoard of the Dragon Queen is relatively straight-forward. However, there’s a couple of areas that … Continue reading Hoard of the Dragon Queen – Adventure Structure

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D&D 5E, D&D Adventurers League, Review, Tyranny of Dragons

5E Adventure Review: The Scroll Thief

The Scroll Thief, the sixth adventure of the first season of the D&D Adventurers League, is a curiosity: an investigative adventure that fails to have an investigation! It’s probably fairer to say that The Scroll Thief is a dungeon crawl that happens to have an investigation attached, but, in either case, the investigation feels odd. The adventurers are sent to interview three people from whom … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: The Scroll Thief

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D&D, D&D 5E, D&D Adventurers League, Review, Tyranny of Dragons

5E Adventure Review: DDEX1-04 Dues for the Dead

Dues for the Dead is the fourth adventure released by the D&D Adventurers League and the closest to a traditional dungeon crawl. Designed by Steve Winter, who has written and edited more adventures than more people (including Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat), it sees the player characters asked to investigate the catacombs beneath Valhingen Graveyard in Phlan. The characters are … Continue reading 5E Adventure Review: DDEX1-04 Dues for the Dead

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D&D, D&D 5E, D&D Adventurers League, Elemental Evil, Forgotten Realms, Rage of Demons, Tyranny of Dragons

D&D Expeditions Narratives

Have you ever wondered about what the background was on the adventures of the D&D Expeditions line? Now, you can find out! Travis Woodall, the D&D Adventurers League Content Manager, has uploaded three documents to the DMs Guild – one for each season – that have information on the story themes, city information, and NPC information that guided the creation of the adventures. Season 1 … Continue reading D&D Expeditions Narratives

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D&D, D&D 5E, Play Advice, Session Report, Tyranny of Dragons

The Rise of Tiamat: Dealing with the Yuan-Ti

The second section of the Tomb of Diderius has the problem most small lairs have: what happens when the party kills most of the monsters and then retreat? Are they followed by the Yuan-Ti seeking revenge? Do the Yuan-Ti just kill Varram and flee? Having monsters act intelligently when a party of adventurers makes return visits to their lair is one of the major challenges … Continue reading The Rise of Tiamat: Dealing with the Yuan-Ti

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D&D, D&D 5E, D&D Adventurers League, Play Advice, Tyranny of Dragons, Uncategorized

The Rise of Tiamat revisited: The Tomb of Diderius

The track of Varram, the white wyrmspeaker, takes the characters into the Serpent Hills. The Rise of Tiamat basically glosses over a lot of what can be found in this area – the random encounter table has a few entries for ruins or relatively minor encounters. Once upon a time, TSR released a product that gave a large number of encounter tables for the Serpent … Continue reading The Rise of Tiamat revisited: The Tomb of Diderius

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D&D, D&D 5E, D&D Adventurers League, Tyranny of Dragons, Uncategorized

The Rise of Tiamat, revisited

Several months ago, we expanded our D&D program here in Ballarat to two nights a week. With Out of the Abyss not yet available, I decided to replay the Tyranny of Dragons adventures. Along the way, we had a TPK in Castle Naerytar, requiring the use of Lost Mine of Phandelver to get a new bunch of PCs to the proper levels. And then we … Continue reading The Rise of Tiamat, revisited

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D&D, D&D 5E, Elemental Evil, Play Advice, Rage of Demons, Tyranny of Dragons

What to play after finishing the D&D Starter Set

It is fair to say that the D&D Starter Set adventure, “The Lost Mine of Phandelver”, is a good adventure. I’ve run it at least four times, and each time the players are do things the other groups haven’t done. It’s a really good introduction to the game, and it manages this by just being a fantastic adventure. There’s a lot in it for experienced … Continue reading What to play after finishing the D&D Starter Set

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D&D, D&D 5E, Play Advice, Tyranny of Dragons, Uncategorized

Running Hoard of the Dragon Queen, episode 8

The finale of Hoard of the Dragon Queen is exceptionally challenging to run. You’ve got competing factions, a big sprawling castle to explore, and a dragon! All of which means that things can go very well or very badly indeed. Each of the episodes in Hoard is really an adventure unto itself, changing up the challenges and providing different ways for the players to be … Continue reading Running Hoard of the Dragon Queen, episode 8

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D&D, D&D 5E, D&D Adventurers League, Session Report, Tyranny of Dragons

The Rise of Tiamat, session 12 (finale)

The Well of Dragons. 1489 DR. The armies of the Sword Coast had reached the Well of Dragons, and the evil dragons and the forces of the Cult of the Dragon had risen to oppose them. As the battle commenced, word came from the mages of the Harpers and Emerald Enclave: the Cult had begun the ritual to summon Tiamat to the Realms. At this … Continue reading The Rise of Tiamat, session 12 (finale)

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