Fight the War Against Draconic Oppression in this Adventure for the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game.
In an audacious bid for power the Cult of the Dragon, along with its dragon allies and the Red Wizards of Thay, seek to bring Tiamat from her prison in the Nine Hells to Faerun. To this end, they are sweeping from town to town, laying waste to all those who oppose them and gathering a hoard of riches for their dread queen. The threat of annihilation has become so dire that groups as disparate as the Harpers and Zhentarim are banding together in the fight against the cult. Never before has the need for heroes been so desperate.
Pages: 96
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WotC bravely brings its tradition of mediocre adventures in the era of 5th edition with this wholly unremarkable product. Unfortunately, it does so on ground which has already been tread by the (superior) Red Hand of Doom.
Pros:
* High quality full-color book with heavy paper.
* Most of the art is good.
* First major adventure available for the new edition.
Cons:
* Plenty of editing mistakes, some seemingly related to the fluid nature of the rules during development; Others...not so much.
* Punishingly difficult in the early going.
* Zero PDF/eBook availability (at least at the time of this writing) is a MAJOR disappointment. -1 star.
The physical book is well-made. This isn't one of the flimsy modules from 1st edition; it's a hard cover book with full color pages throughout. The art is evocative of the setting and the maps are both beautiful and easy to read.
There's a lot of content here to keep a group busy for many gaming sessions so you're definitely getting your money's worth. It's a great start to fifth edition adventures and is hopefully just the first of many. I'll definitely be buying part 2 when it comes out.
Update 11/3 after playing through Episode 1:
In the effort of delivering a more balanced review I will say I found a lot of typos and editing mistakes in the text when I sat down and went through it in greater detail. None of it was game breaking, but it was definitely an irritation. I understand some of it was due to the product being developed while the final rules were still in flux, but there are also quite a few errors that could have been avoided by more through editing.
Typos aside, this was a pure joy to run and play. I've seen other people gripe about the unoriginality of the story line, the difficulty of the adventure etc., but we played for 6 hours, finished episode 1 in its entirety and my players were still eager for more at the end of the day. They loved the mission-based structure and really felt like they got to be heroes who made a difference with their decisions. In the end my player's enthusiasm means more then a written review to me.
Art and layout - a step away from shiny pages, and it works well. The art is beautiful, catching the feel for enemies and locations in a way that makes them useful as stimulus during game play as well as inspiration for DM's .
The layout is clear, using chapters and sub chapters to give DM's clear idea of objectives they can use in each session. Creatures encountered and rewards gained are clearly outlined. It is very easy to reference and use during game play.
Plot - fairly typical for this genre, but then as a first launch module,typical is not a bad thing. A nice sequence of linked locations with a strong theme running through it makes sure the players know what they're after all the time. Locations vary as the game travels right along the sword coast of Faerun, giving a nice mix of combat situations that require different tactics to survive. The entire game starts with a bang too, which gave my players a real sense of desperation and danger. I haven't seen players scared for the characters in a long while, and this one really had them playing carefully and thinking outside the square to avoid serious consequences.
The biggest stand out for me is the sheer volume of roleplay opportunities written into the game, and the great amount of freedom for both players and DM's to use in how the game is tackled. Entire sections are described where combat is not necessary to resolve the issue, if that's what your players prefer. Given the fairly deadly nature of combat in 5 th edition, this is a great option. The writers have also provided DM's with a myriad of interesting NPCs to help flesh out sections of travel as they see fit. More NPCs than required, and with enough interesting back story to determine the best fit for your group.
This is a feature that I haven't seen done well in a long time. It makes the whole module feel less railroady.
Progress can be tracked via xp or using chapters as appropriate points to level up. For me, the milestone level up option has always been great, as tracking xp for my group and I is tedious.
Overall- a great production. Well worth the purchase and a great way to start my 5th ed experience.
I may be a bit out of the loop on this but up until 4th edition I was an avid follower of the realms so with that in mind, when did the Cult of the Dragon start to have ties to Tiamat. I thought they were all about Draco Liches and how the World would come to be ruled by undead dragons which other then dealing with evil dragons doesn't seam to have alot to do with venerating Tiamat. Am I missing something on this? Does this involve Samaster somehow?
As I understand it, The cult had a split. Some of he old guard wants to carry on the old ways, but the younger guard is saying, look guys you interpreted the founding prophecy wrong and it's not dead dragons we are supposed to bring back, but lost dragons.
That's why the younger members think they have failed for all these years.
So they think maybe lost dragon means a mama dragon who has been locked in hell for 1000 years.
