I'm going to be running DL1: Dragons of Despair in 5E in January (and livestreaming it!) -- I ran it many years ago in 1E, and this will be my first time revsiting it. Of course, I've read the novels more than once, too.
This isn't about DL mechanics or changes to races or anything. Just the adventure itself. We won't be using pre-gens.
It has a reputation as being a bit of a railroad (though I find the first half actually lacks direction, and the second half is a decent dungeon crawl), and I feel there are some other areas it could be improved. I may be misremembering bits.
This isn't about DL mechanics or changes to races or anything. Just the adventure itself. We won't be using pre-gens.
It has a reputation as being a bit of a railroad (though I find the first half actually lacks direction, and the second half is a decent dungeon crawl), and I feel there are some other areas it could be improved. I may be misremembering bits.
- I'd ditch the wicker dragon 'fake out' - I feel it undermines the actual real dragon reveal later
- I feel like the mission to Xak Tsaroth needs better signposting. There's a lot of wandering around wondering where to go next in the first third of the adventure. While there's only one real option - Xak Tsaroth - it's not made super clear until the Forestmaster simply outs and tells them heroes what to do halfway through the adventure. And in the novels at least its partly pushed by Riverwind's memories.
- Meeting in Solace, staff revealed
- Run away! Where to?
- Lake, draconians on road, mountain peak
- Darken Woods, get given mission by a unicorn
- Hitch ride across plains
- Swamp fake dragon
- Xak Tsaroth
- Solace (and some clear direction)
- Journey to Xak Tsaroth with expositional encounters (ie meeting draconians for the first time)
- Xak Tsaroth
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