D&D General Starter vs Essentials vs Stormwreck Isle

[Zardnaar]

So I was after 1-2 new players as one of mine e is finishing his NZ holiday and departing back to the UK.

Put out an ad not expecting many replies. In a non D&D space. Got 6 replies. Back and forth for a few days. Figured some would no show and only 1 confirmation so cast summon players late in the day. Then confirmations rolled in.

I chose Stormwrack Isle. LMoP is a modern classic. The essentials kit is the best of the 3 as a product. Decent adventure but perhaps the most complicated.

Stormwrack has a weakest reputation of the three. I was looking through it from the perspective of a newbie player. One of the new players joined the Thursday group and returned for Sunday.

Anyway on the day 7 turned up 1 let me know they couldn't make it. I sold dragons Roost as similar to the Druids Grove in BG 3. Very minor tweaks made eg +1 zombie, ad hocked some dialogue including puns.

So things went really well. Using a jaded cynical eye DoSI isn't a great adventure. The other two are better imho. But LMoP is better imho for more experienced players. It's simpler to run than say DoIP.

But for inexperienced players 5/7 it worked great. I didn't gave to do much to run it. People seemed to be having a good time and we extended the session close to an hour by mutual consent. LMoP is very good but the starting ambush isn't good for new players vs easily dodged zombies. New players still figuring out dice and numbers.

2 players chose preconstructed characters the cleric and paladin. 2 experienced players did their thing and helped the rest. 3 mountain dwarves created uee to the amount of front liners one used a pike. Reach came in useful later on as well.

One player brought his 13 yo kid. I okayed it as I realize it's hard for parents and younger platers to find games. Zombie landed a crit dropping a PC. Kids turn boom healing word on it unprompted and he was delighted to find out he could follow it up with a cantrip. Boom sacred flame the zombie killer. The adventure also had advice to how to sell the effect to new players. Old and jaded it was a nice refresher for me as well.

Ad hoced in some inspiration similar to BG3 backgrounds and a boon to the paladin for resting in Bahumats shrine- a free bless spell.

Almost 5 hour session and they hit level 2. I know people like to start at level 3 or so online but yeah level 1 is fun occasionally. They were chomping at the bit to level up once they realized how close to the milestone they were.

3 mountain dwarves rolled up as well. Dwarf power. They all want to play again but real life might mean one can't make it.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I think Dragons of Stormwreck Isle is a fine adventure. I loved it when I ran it. It’s also the only starter adventure that doesn’t throw way overbalanced encounter at the characters at first level.

 

[Burnside]

I actually think it's generally a superior adventure to Dragon of Icespire Peak; there's a bit more of an emphasis on roleplaying which is nice, and IMO the two middle quests are both more thoughtfully done than anything in DOIP. Its main flaws as I see them are :

- Too many NPCs in the hub/starting area. Doesn't do a new DM any favors to make them manage that many NPCs. Could have easily been just 2 or 3.

- The design of the final climatic encounter isn't very good. Most groups are likely to never see the ritual that eats up a lot of page count because they will stop it from ever starting.

The Essentials Kit of course has the best bells & whistles in terms of the extra tools and content it provides (DM's screen, map, condition cards, item cards, additional follow up adventures on D&D Beyond), but I'd rate the adventures as Lost Mine, Stormwreck Isle, Icespire Peak.

 

[Zardnaar]

I actually think it's generally a superior adventure to Dragons of Icespire Peak; there's a bit more of an emphasis on roleplaying which is nice, and IMO the two middle quests are both more thoughtfully done than anything in DOIP. It's main flaws as I see them are :

- Too many NPCs in the hub/starting area. Doesn't do a new DM any favors to make them manage that many NPCs. Could have easily been just 2 or 3.

- The design of the final climatic encounter isn't very good. Most groups are likely to never see the ritual that eats up a lot of page count because they will stop it from ever starting.

The Essentials Kit of course has the best bells & whistles in terms of the extra tools and content it provides (DM's screen, map, condition cards, item cards, additional follow up adventures on D&D Beyond), but I'd rate the adventures as Lost Mine, Stormwreck Isle, Icespire Peak.

I liked icespire but it seems harder to run than LMoP and DoSI. I tend to like tbe sandbox type adventures though.

You're not supposed to use all the kobold just pick a few for 5-6 NPCs total.

 

[bedir than]

You're not supposed to use all the kobold just pick a few for 5-6 NPCs total.

There's no instructions in the adventure to do that.

Which is why it's the #1 piece of advice given online. I tell people to pick four and if they're a first time DM, pick 3.

 

[Burnside]

There's no instructions in the adventure to do that.

Which is why it's the #1 piece of advice given online. I tell people to pick four and if they're a first time DM, pick 3.

I actually just checked and in fact the adventure DOES advise you to just focus on 2 of the kobolds that you like, and have the players interact just with them.

I’d still argue that there’s no reason for there to even be 9 of them, and putting 9 in and telling the DM “pick two” is a bit awkward, but it’s accurate to say the adventure text advises you not to really use most of them.

 

[bedir than]

I actually just checked and in fact the adventure DOES advise you to just focus on 2 of the kobolds that you like, and have the players interact just with them.

I’d still argue that there’s no reason for there to even be 9 of them, and putting 9 in and telling the DM “pick two” is a bit awkward, but it’s accurate to say the adventure text advises you not to really use most of them.

I've run it twice and didn't notice either time.
And reading it now I see why. It's buried in middle of a paragraph rather than leading one or bolded to indicate the importance of doing so.

 

[aco175]

I played them all, but with my experienced group so not sure which would be best for new people. I liked Icespire which has the quest boards so players could choose somewhat where to go. I did not care for the kobold NPCs in Stormwreck so I ended up modifying a small village and limiting them some.

 

[Burnside]

I found the quest boards in DOIP to be shockingly lazy adventure design, but I do think that’s a matter of taste and style. For some groups I can see it working well. IMO their use in DOIP creates a bad impression on new DMs and players by making the world less organic, detailed, specific, and immersive than I prefer. One of the things I like best about D&D is that it’s generally more interesting than “go pick a quest off the job board, adventurers.” But if I’m running a strictly beer & pretzels game - and I’m in no way denigrating that style - then I’m sure it’s totally fine. I appreciate that Stormwreck Isle at least attempts to introduce some personal hooks & goals for the PCs.

 

[Lazybones]

I enjoyed Icespire, but I would not recommend it to a new DM or new players. Some of the starter mission options are absolutely lethal to first level characters, especially if players don't know which tactics to use (e.g., the ochre jellies, the manticore). Some of the middle quests are also super dangerous, like the lycanthropes that can each hurl a lightning bolt. A veteran DM can compensate for this, but a new one is likely to see a TPK if they run the module as designed.

I think that LMOP is overall more balanced, but I'm sure the number of TPKs that have resulted from the goblin ambush and the fight with the bugbear in the first dungeon run into the many thousands.

Haven't played Stormwreck Isle, but I do think the initial encounter is best of the lot for newbies.