What's everyone's feelings about the material put our by WOTC so far?

In order of their release, with a score out of 10 that is not all that reliable:

I hear that Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is so-so only. But it four chunks of a large campaign in only 160 or so pages. - 5/10

Vault of the Dracolich was a great tournament event style RPG. - 7/10

Murder at Baldur's Gate is good in the vein of its successor, Legacy of the Crystal Shard, but is out shadowed by it. - 6/10

Legacy of the Crystal Shard is amazing. One of the best D&D adventures I have come across. - 9/10

I hear good things about Scourge of the Sword Coast but haven't run or read it. Supposed to be better than Murder but not as good as Legacy. - 7/10

I don't know much about Dead in Thay other than its a mega dungeon crawl. - 6/10

Lost Mine of Phandelver is very solid. Probably the best "introduction" adventure since Village of Hommlet IMO. - 8/10

Tyranny of Dragons gets mixed reviews but seems to plays well outside of the Encounters program and with a half decent GM. There is room for improvement but I like the Dragonlance vibe. - 6/10

My copy of Princes of the Apocalypse is making its way to me, but early signed sound positive. - ?/10

@skywalker - Are modules like Murder, Legacy and Ghosts etc. considered 5e, as they came out about a year before the 5e rules were officially published?
I suppose the 5e rules were adjusted in the mean time. Can you run the modules with 5e as-is, or do you need to modify and adjust some technical aspects?

Edit: thanks for the answer.
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Quote from: Godfather Punk;822708@skywalker - Are modules like Murder, Legacy and Ghosts etc. considered 5e, as they came out about a year before the 5e rules were officially published?
I suppose the 5e riles were adjusted in the mean time. Can you run the modules with 5e as-is, or do you need to modify and adjust some technical aspects?

Ultimately, your call I guess.

I consider them as such as they came out with 5e playtest rules attached. Given the changes to monsters, the encounters do need to be adjusted, though most of that can be done by substituting direct from the MM.

I'm doing Tyranny of Dragons, we just made it to the Sea of Moving Ice. It's very playable, no part is unworkably bad (unlike a few 4e adventures that you can't even play without major mods...).

It does take some effort by the DM to make the adventures particularly good, and the lethality is a little high (or maybe it's just me). It all scales well, too, I've had from 5 to 8 players at a time, and it works.

Maybe I'm a tad bit off, but what happened to the detailed module of the past, everything has to be a commercialised campaign slaying demon Lord's like in Out of the Abyss, I mean okay let's beat the hell out of every demon Lord in the book , the chaotic bastards, but I'm okay with Kraynuk the orc overlord who just ransacked my village of Homlet , does every campaign have to be taking on World shattering antagonists ? Oh yeah, it's D&D , I'm going to kick the butt off of the entire Greek mythology, even Zeus can kiss my blip!

This is whats bugged me about these modules so far.

But after a point I realized that what these are are actually several modules with an interlinked theme. Hoard of the Dragon Queen for example is mostly just dealing with some raiders and following them to their base. Fairly straightforward stuff in each segment like "Save town from raiders." The second half kicks off the larger threat really and plays like some high level TSR modules.

Well considering that most won't end up fight more than one, severely wounded member of the Demon Lords in Out of the Abyss, unless you want a TPK, that isn't a 100 percent accurate.

These are entire campaigns for groups from level 1-18 or 20 so of course the endgame adventures are going to be bigtime. Remember how G/D ends with the Queen of the Demonweb Pits? Or take a look at Isle of the Ape.

The level 1 adventures and side-adventures are of more modest goals. The low-level Deathhouse from the Curse of the Strahd is excellent and Mines of Phandelver is of relatively modest scope.

To update this thread:

Out of the Abyss, excellent, essentially a sandbox with lots of nice side-adventures for the PCs to get lost in

Curse of Strahd, excellent, probably the best WoTC adventure and will one day be considered classic, of course it benefits from the bones of Ravenloft but there's lots of other good stuff here that is new

Storm King's Thunder, okay, some good-to-great stuff for DM's to grab but doesn't hang together as well as the other two

Quote from: Omega;961321This is whats bugged me about these modules so far.

But after a point I realized that what these are are actually several modules with an interlinked theme. Hoard of the Dragon Queen for example is mostly just dealing with some raiders and following them to their base. Fairly straightforward stuff in each segment like "Save town from raiders." The second half kicks off the larger threat really and plays like some high level TSR modules.

Tales from the Yawning Portal lampshades this.

EDIT: More specifically, it IS a bunch of different modules with a Tavern tossed in to be a central location should you wish to string them together. Now that you mention it, you could conceivably take chapters you like from certain modules, reskin the baddies, and make your own remix.

Quote from: Krimson;961406Tales from the Yawning Portal lampshades this.

EDIT: More specifically, it IS a bunch of different modules with a Tavern tossed in to be a central location should you wish to string them together. Now that you mention it, you could conceivably take chapters you like from certain modules, reskin the baddies, and make your own remix.

I disagree.  Yawning Portal's first chapter is a waste of space.  Not one of the dungeons are placed anywhere within reach of Waterdeep much less the old wizard's tower that the inn was built around.  Also, and this has nothing to do with the adventures/dungeons (like the rest of the chapter), but they turned the supposed 'Thinking Man's Barbarian' Durnan into an antisocial jerk that wouldn't have lasted a month in business.  I mean, the man doesn't even PRETEND to like dealing with customers.  Seriously, just sell the damn place to someone who wants to deal with people and go live like a hermit or something.

Getting back to the dungeons, the only one that could reasonably be close to Waterdeep as a starting point is Forge of Fury, and the best place to put would be in the Neverwinter Woods, near Guantlegrym.  Even the first one starts at a different place, putting you in a town called Oakhurst.

The only way I can see it working is by having your players pretend they're older adventurers and are sitting in the Portal recounting their adventures.

If that first chapter had information on Undermountain, or used it, instead of a bunch of haphazardly collected dungeons from most eras of D&D, then maybe the first chapter might have some use.  Instead it's a bunch of worthless fluff.

I dislike long adventure paths, so the only 5e adventure I have is phandelver - and that's pretty cool in my book. Quite open/sandboxy feel.

Quote from: Psikerlord;961426I dislike long adventure paths, so the only 5e adventure I have is phandelver - and that's pretty cool in my book. Quite open/sandboxy feel.

I tend to dislike most adventures because their often $20+ for a single use affair, but so far, at least two of the books have a lot of cool things you can use after you run the adventure.

Into The Abyss has an entire chapter on what you could find in the Underdark, from what the edible mushrooms taste like, what they look like to a random encounter table and passages section.  And the back has some concept art to give a sense as to what Drow and Duergar gear and architecture could look like, and it has Mind Flayer brain jars.

Storm King's Thunder has Chapter 3, which expands on several places on the Sword Coast, similar to how Into The Abyss did it, and the back has new magical items, including Giant Runes which can magically imbue your stuff with cool effects. Not to mention that it has a bit of a primer on the Giant tongue.  Volo's guide adds on to it, though.

Those two are worth the purchase price because it has at least one section that can be excised as is and used for other games and campaigns.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;961428I tend to dislike most adventures because their often $20+ for a single use affair, but so far, at least two of the books have a lot of cool things you can use after you run the adventure.

Into The Abyss has an entire chapter on what you could find in the Underdark, from what the edible mushrooms taste like, what they look like to a random encounter table and passages section.  And the back has some concept art to give a sense as to what Drow and Duergar gear and architecture could look like, and it has Mind Flayer brain jars.

Storm King's Thunder has Chapter 3, which expands on several places on the Sword Coast, similar to how Into The Abyss did it, and the back has new magical items, including Giant Runes which can magically imbue your stuff with cool effects. Not to mention that it has a bit of a primer on the Giant tongue.  Volo's guide adds on to it, though.

Those two are worth the purchase price because it has at least one section that can be excised as is and used for other games and campaigns.

Well that's pretty cool, I didnt know that.

And as noted in other threads. I DMed Tyranny of Dragons changing the setting to BX Karameikos with no real hassles. From the looks of it Storm King and Abyss would be doable too. Havent looked at Princes yet but probably would work too.

If I get to DM Curse I'll probably revert the setting out of the demi-planes and back to being a grounded kingdom. Unless I run it as a standalone and the players request it stay as is.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;961423I disagree.  Yawning Portal's first chapter is a waste of space.  Not one of the dungeons are placed anywhere within reach of Waterdeep much less the old wizard's tower that the inn was built around.  Also, and this has nothing to do with the adventures/dungeons (like the rest of the chapter), but they turned the supposed 'Thinking Man's Barbarian' Durnan into an antisocial jerk that wouldn't have lasted a month in business.  I mean, the man doesn't even PRETEND to like dealing with customers.  Seriously, just sell the damn place to someone who wants to deal with people and go live like a hermit or something.

Getting back to the dungeons, the only one that could reasonably be close to Waterdeep as a starting point is Forge of Fury, and the best place to put would be in the Neverwinter Woods, near Guantlegrym.  Even the first one starts at a different place, putting you in a town called Oakhurst.

The only way I can see it working is by having your players pretend they're older adventurers and are sitting in the Portal recounting their adventures.

If that first chapter had information on Undermountain, or used it, instead of a bunch of haphazardly collected dungeons from most eras of D&D, then maybe the first chapter might have some use.  Instead it's a bunch of worthless fluff.

Okay, so perhaps the Inn's location isn't optimal. I mostly got the book for the redux modules several of which I do not own and the maps. The maps are nice.