Read The Rise of Tiamat Dungeons Dragons Wizards RPG Team 8601410707941 Books

Product details Series Dungeons & Dragons Hardcover 96 pages Publisher Wizards of the Coast (November 4, 2014) Language English ISBN-10 0786965657

The Rise of Tiamat Dungeons Dragons Wizards RPG Team 8601410707941 Books Reviews

• A common theme among the reviews is that, though a fun adventure, this is not for novice DMs. I agree with the assessment--This adventure has some wonderful, exotic elements--Xonthal's Tower, an encounter with the Red Wizards of Thay, etc.-- but it's also very burdensome for the DM. So, after having run it myself, I'd like to offer some suggestions on how to tame this beast. First, acquire a cheat-sheet for the Council members--one page that briefly summarizes all the council members--and distribute it to your players. I created my own, but I've since discovered that multiple DMs have shared their own council cheat-sheets online, and some of them are quite good. There's no way your pcs will be able to effectively role-play the council sessions without such an aide. Second, the encounter at Neronvain's stronghlod might require you (the DM) to run an ungodly amount of "monsters" in the battle, making over 20 attack rolls/round. Here, I would suggest that you assign each of your players a set of monsters to run. That way, they remain engaged since they're doing most of the dice-rolling, and you can focus on running the head hanchos, which will be burden enough. I would also recommend that you make many of the monsters in this encounter "minions," where one or two successful attack rolls will take them out. That way, you don't have to keep track of hit points for the minor combatants. Third, dramatically simplify the mechanics in the Red Wizard encounter. Do what works best for you, but keep it simple. There's a wonderful opportunity here for captivating role-playing that might be spoiled by burdensome mechanics. Fourth, despite all the emphasis on getting the council members to cooperate, their cooperation doesn't play much of a role in the finale, at least as the adventure is written. I would recommend that the full cooperation of council members does have a role in weakening Tiamat (see p. 88). In my game, the metallic dragons were able to hinder the Dragon Cult ritual by interfering with the human(oid) sacrifices, and other forces of the council were able to damage Tiamat's temple. These interruptions conferred the first two penalties on Tiamat found on p. 88. The pcs were then able to confer two more penalties on Tiamat before her arrival in the material plane.
  
  One final suggestion--The Tiamat mini is expensive, roughly $65, but it's really cool, and it adds a lot to the final encounter. In my group, we all split the cost and then threw dice for it at the end of the adventure. (The individual who won the mini, however, kindly gave it to me in gratitude for having run the adventure.) In any event, I'd recommend that you suggest the price-sharing/dice throwing strategy to your gamers. They'll probably accept the proposal with enthusiasm.
  
  Good luck, and have fun!
• The second part in the tyranny of dragons. Unlike Hoard of the Dragon Queen this one is more sandbox giving your players more freedom to roam the sword coast. It is playable without doing the first instalment giving player hooks and explains events that happened. The book itself is as you would expect from wizards quality with beautiful pictures and we'll written descriptions. The maps are clearly laid out and the sandbox feel gives the DM more freedom then the first book.
• Beautiful book! My son & his friend wanted to start a D&D group bc I had told them about how I played when I was little. I first got them the starter set bc I wanted to make sure they were really going to be into it. And they loved it, so of course bought the next 6 books! These are very expensive in the book store & hobby shop so I decided to get more bang for my buck and grab several of these here on . They are high quality and have beautiful artwork. This was so worth it bc they have a perfect size group & they are all into the game now & have these books as starters. I will probably get Sword Coast Adventure guide as well and I also got the DM book, Monster Manual, 4 other books & the Players Handbook (even though you can get a free version from Wizard's of the coast website to start, but it doesn't have all the races & classes the full book has). So I basically just picked up all this to get the kids going & hopefully they will take turns making their own adventures soon!
• I'm really enjoying the quality of D&D 5th edition materials. This particular volume is written in a lively, and engaging manner and there are a number of story hooks, maps, excellent illustrations, and subplots that achieve a 5-star level. I highly recommend this adventure. The price point is great too.
• The content was interesting however i think the paper quality is worse than other publications additionally it came with two pages missing a piece
• Great continuation to Horde of the Dragon Queen. I will have fun playing this with my friends and am sure they will find the story captivating. One of the sections within the story also has some challenging puzzles for the characters to figure out. As the DM I was planning on creating some puzzles but the one included are quite good. If you are playing Horde of the Dragon Queen do yourself a favor and get this to continue the adventure to completion. It can also stand as its own adventure, just start with higher (7th or 8th) level characters.