I know I said I wasn't going to get it, but I was in town yesterday sorting out some stuff and decided to stop in my LGS.
I noticed there was hardly any 5E stuff and asked about it.

He said that it's just selling really well and not much stays in stock for very long.

So anyway, I went about my business and called in a non-rpg specialist shop in town. They specialise in boardgames, but have a stand with lots of DnD books on it, the only RPG stuff they carry actually.
I also asked them how their sales of 5E were and they said it sold steadily and at a very good rate. So that's good news, as after all this time, the Core books are still selling well (I specifically asked that question).

Whilst I was there, I decided to take a look at "Princes of the Apocalypse" and it looked quite impressive visually.  
The art was really evocative and flipping through the pages, I noticed lots and lots of maps, which was cool. So that sold me as it looked like it was chock full of rich content.

Having read through it all once last night I'm quite impressed.
The extra race and class stuff is nice to have, plus new spells, new magic items and the campaign itself looks really interesting to run.

There's an introductory section of mini adventures to get characters up to level 3, which is the recommended starting level for the campaign itself.
This in itself is really nice, as the mini adventures could be used for whatever really.

The campaign itself is really interesting and could be deconstructed to use for other stuff pretty easily.
The maps are gorgeous, as well as the various art pieces in there that REALLY help to set the mood.

It's set in "Forgotten realms" but there's a chapter for converting to various campaign worlds such as Eberron, Greyhawk, Krynn and Darksun

I'm really glad I got this actually and surprised I did as it didn't seem from what I read would be that interesting to me.

So I highly recommend this as a purchase, even if you don't actually run the campaign itself and pull it apart for other stuff.

I was rather disappointed that the "Full campaign" starts at level 3. Granted, if you go to chapter 6 there are some sketchy/not-so-sketchy adventures, but it's clear WotC doesn't really expect players to spend much time at level 1 or 2.

Is it in any way connected to T1-4?

Quote from: Doom;827184I was rather disappointed that the "Full campaign" starts at level 3. Granted, if you go to chapter 6 there are some sketchy/not-so-sketchy adventures, but it's clear WotC doesn't really expect players to spend much time at level 1 or 2.

I don't really see a problem with this at all.
They actually DO provide scenarios to get to level 3, so it's all there and at first glance they're very good and tie in fine with the campaign, much like how the village of Hommlett did.
I see it that there's just an option to jump in right at level 3 if you want to.

I also see the extra scenarios as really nice freebies as well.

Quote from: Old One Eye;827186Is it in any way connected to T1-4?

There ARE similarities, but all the names are changed and the scope is MUCH larger.

There's a town that's kind of Like Hommlet, and Nulb and so on.

There are dungeon complexes reminiscent of the Temple complex and Moathouse, but have very different back stories.

The section at the front basically says they didn't want to just recreate the original temple of Elemental evil campaign scenario for 5E, as you can buy it on DTRPG anyway and is easy to convert.
So they went with quite a dramatically different campaign, quite a bit bigger as well and a larger area impact than the original.

I agree with this strategy, as I'm currently running ToEE and it's been really easy to convert.

Princes of the Apocalypse is very different and it's a good thing, as I'll be running that too for some of the players from the original ToEE.

I was quite surprised about how much of an impact the really nice art in the book had on me, as this sort of thing doesn't normally bother me or interest me that much.

Reading through the book, looking at the art really sets the mood and feel of what 's ACTUALLY going on and what stuff looks like in game really well.
As a GM, it really helps you get a feel for how to describe things in general.

The book was pretty expensive ($60 AUD) but it has a LOT of content and I guess all that gorgeous full colour art has upped the price a bit. Especially as it's a hardback book. Oh, that and the crazy high Australian prices for imported goods in general.

Still, for the many of hours of fun RPG time I've had with 5E, it's a bargain.

Quote from: Doom;827184I was rather disappointed that the "Full campaign" starts at level 3. Granted, if you go to chapter 6 there are some sketchy/not-so-sketchy adventures, but it's clear WotC doesn't really expect players to spend much time at level 1 or 2.

There are adventures for levels 1 and 2 in the back of the book. And it also is easy to link to Lost Mine of Phandelver or whatever other starter module you prefer as written.

Princes of the Apocalypse is the first time I have payed a decent sum for a "Module" that I didn't feel like I got shafted. They really packed a lot into what you paid for and I appreciated the section in the back on converting it to other published settings as well as homebrew settings.

Yeah, it makes it more palatable in that whilst it's a Campaign scenario, it also has so much more in it that you can just generally use.

Everything is kind of split up into sections that you can cannibalise to your heart's content.  
So it doesn't feel like you've just spent $60 on a scenario.

It's got a decent table of contents too, something often overlooked in supplementary material.

Hmmm. I was pretty meh about this but you make me honestly consider giving it another look. HoTDQ was a serious party meat grinder let down. This sounds more useful. The fact they offered conversion material floors me.