Rappan Athuk: Campaign update (5th edition)

 

Greetings all, I'm probably months behind on an update as to the games I have been running with session updates and such. For the past year I've been running my group through Rappan Athuk (FGG, 5E version). We're ten sessions in at this point and my player characters just reached 6th level. I'll provide a brief synopsis on what has happened to date and what plans I have for the campaign going forward. I'll provide a full review of Rappan Athuk at some point, but I'm certainly a big fan of this megadungeon. I do have some frustrations with the published work of Frog God Games, but overall, there are some really great encounters, dungeon levels and ideas presented within this book.

I had my group enter via the river, on their way to Zelkor's Ferry, the local village / home base outside of the entrance to the megadungeon itself. On the way there, they ran across a group of fleeing adventures, likely on their way back from Rappan Athuk, that was being slaughtered by a group of Kobolds. My intention was to show immediately that this was a deadly campaign and that even the wilderness in this place could kill you. Following this encounter, the group was introduced to locale of Zelkor's Ferry and some of it's inhabitants. One area FGG could have improved the adventure itself, would have been to flesh out the NPC's there and add some faction involvement here, but they went the way of Keep on the Borderlands a bit and left that work to the DM. 

I took the liberty of adding a bulletin board notice for bounties and other such offerings that the group could immediately take one. The first few sessions, the group took on the work of clearing out a local castle that was overrun with goblins. Once cleared, with no claim to the castle, the characters took ownership and set about dumping their hard earned loot into the restoration of the castle. This one area where 5E struggles a bit, what to do with all of that gold? So far, this is working great and gives them incentive to go explore more.

About four sessions in, the group finally decided to check out the nearby entrance to Rappan Athuk, the Mouth of Doom. This is a satellite dungeon and not the main entrance to the megadungeon itself, I should note there are several means of gaining access through the wilderness throughout the region. They were hired to find and/or recover a lost adventurer by a concerned family member, even at level 3-4 at this time, there some close calls. The standard encounters and random encounters aren't so overwhelming, but combined with some of the lethal traps, the players had to learn quick to proceed with caution.

The most memorable encounter to date was with Dungie, the Dung Monster, located on the 1st level of Rappan Athuk. The players definitely underestimate how deadly and how tough this encounter would be. The creature stumbled upon them based on a random encounter roll after they had followed in a few acolytes of Orcus into the main entrance of the dungeon. They managed to flee and escape the encounter, barely, after the group's paladin tossed a body of one of the acolytes in the Dung Monsters path, buying them time to flee. The group has not returned to the main entrance of Rappan Athuk since then.

Recently the group took up a bounty notice to clear out a group of bandits holed up in another satellite dungeon near Zelkor's Ferry. Clearing the bandits went pretty smoothly, but the group discovered that the ruins went deeper into caverns and tunnels beneath the ruined keep. It was there, that the first death of the campaign occurred. The group stumbled upon a Stone Roper, one of the custom monsters from this adventure. Ropers in general are bad news, but this one is able to turn victims to stone once in their grasp, and so it was that the party's monk got a bit too close and was tuned into a gem encrusted statue of his former self. Again, the group was able to drive the creature off and escape, along with their statue companion. They managed to get him back to Zelkor's Ferry in hopes that the local alchemist could help them and that is where we left off last.

I have given the group the ability to take on downtime activities between session which I use to give them perks and provide adventure seeds for future sessions, my hope is to get them back into the main dungeon levels itself as this is the real meat and potatoes of the campaign, dealing with followers of Orcus and perhaps even the big guy himself at some point. For now though, the group is focused on getting their new castle restored and becoming a political power in the region, I have some plans for that as well, there may be others with a claim to the castle and they won't take the players planting their flag too kindly.

5E adventures ranked (2020)

Wizards of Coast just dropped their latest (yearly) adventure this week, Rime of the Frostmaiden. I have not gotten my hands on the new book, so it will not factor into the rankings. With that said, let's look back at some of the hits and misses on the WoTC adventures since the launch of 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons as best we can without major spoilers. These ratings are purely subjective and for fun, I do own and have played and/or run all of the below though.

14. Hoard of the Dragon Queen (lvl 1-7): The Cult of the Dragon pursues an ambitious goal....bring Tiamat from the Nine Hells into Faerun! This was the first adventure released for 5th edition, with most of the heavy lifting completed by the Kobold Press as the WoTC official team was busy finishing up the Core Rulebooks. Why is it so bad though? Linear, some encounter balancing issues and just the whole caravan to the Waterdeep bit is just not a fun section to play or run. I do like the use of the cult and actual dragons, but this one was a pretty big miss.

13. Rise of Tiamat (lvl 7-15): Those pesky Cultist of the Dragon are still at....This the follow-up to Hoard of the Dragon Queen. There are some pretty epic encounters written within, but the linear fashion in which you get to those....blah, just overall not a fun adventure. I do like the premise of high level adventures taking on an aspect of a deity, but really this just didn't do for me.

12. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (lvl 1-5): A simple quest opens up a bigger conspiracy and plot within the fabled city of Waterdeep. This will probably be my most controversial ranking. Maybe I'm soured by my anticipation and let down for this book. Slight spoiler, your players will not be part of a heist despite the title of the book. There are several different options the DM can use for the nefarious villain of this adventure, all of which have detailed layers.....but.....as played it is very unlikely your players will see any of them. I had to home-brew a lot of this one to make it enjoyable for my players and honestly I feel like we could not get to end of it soon enough. Another miss from the WoTC team.

11. Storm King's Thunder (lvl 1-11): In the Savage Frontier, giants have set aside differences and banded together to strike out the kingdoms of man...This rehash of the of the Against the Giants series provides a sandbox setting for your characters to investigate and ultimately stop the giant menace. There are some good moments here, but it will take a crafty DM to put the pieces in place given the sandbox nature. One of the major strikes of the adventure is the intro....super weak. If WoTC hates low level play, why not just start the adventure at level three. You're better served to run the original Against the Giants series, which conveniently you can find in another adventure in this ranking.

10. Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus (lvl 1-13): Something wicked stirs in Baldur's Gate and the players are must find what has happened to Elturel, a neighboring city, their redemption waits in the Nine Hells. Kudos to WoTC shifting the setting here a bit. There are some fun themes, the Blood War, angels and devils, and some colorful scenes and characters in the Nine Hells. Drawbacks: again the intro feels really forced, removing some player agency and much the romp through the Nine Hells is a glorified fetch quest, where you have some of the notable figures ultimately take over and/or resolve things for the player characters. Close, but could of been better.

9. Dungeon of the Mad Mage (lvl 5-20): Dive into the fabled dungeon of Halaster Blackcloak, Undermountain. Explore haunted and dangerous halls in hopes of riches or a quick death...Each dungeon level was written by a different author, so they all have a unique feel. While I like the diversity in the dungeon, the over-arching plot can suffer a bit. There are some really good bits in here, but it is a bit watered down for the coddled 5E player. Magical locks preventing the players exploring certain levels until they reach a level....get out of here with that nonsense. If you want to run a megadungeon, go pickup Barrowmaze or Rappan Athuk instead.

8. Dragon of Icespire Peak (lvl 1-5): This adventure is part of the boxed Essentials Kit for new players. Players must take on the fearsome White Dragon of Icespire Peak before more havoc comes to the region. This is a pretty solid beginning adventure, there are some hand-holding bit, but some of the encounters are actually pretty tough for a new player, but I'm a fan. Sometimes straight combat isn't the answer, good players are made through such play. Most of the adventure is a series of bulletin-board types quest that you can do for the townsfolk, but provides new players and DM's with the tools to learn the game. You could worse if you're trying to break into the hobby than this one.

7. Princes of the Apocalypse (lvl 1-15): Elemental Evil stirs in the Dessarin Valley, storms rage, the earth shakes and mother nature herself stands to rip apart the world....This is the rehash of the famed Temple of Elemental Evil (a bit overrated in my humbled opinion). Oh boy, any DM definitely has his or her work cut out for them on this one....that being said, if your group enjoys some good dungeon rumps, there are some good ones in here. All manner of creature and beast will be tossed against the party, culminating into some really challenging and epic feeling battles. If WoTC could have organized this one a bit better it likely would have been a classic for the 5E era, but that was not the case. 

6. Out of the Abyss (lvl 1-15): Madness spreads through the realm of the Underdark. Can the players escape the clutch of the Drow only to find a far worse fate in the deep-dark depths...Of all of the adventures in the list, this one has perhaps the best start and first half. The group must find a way to escape as prisoners of the Drow, followed by a sandbox type romp through the Underdark evading capture while exploring the alien and dreamlike landscapes of the Underdark. The second half of the adventure doesn't follow-up as strongly, eventually leading the players to confront the demonic overlords who have been set loose in the deep realms, but if I were to run, I'd just drop that and enjoy the great first half of this book, of course with more Kuo-Toa!

5. Tales from the Yawning Portal (lvl 1-17): A collection of famous and iconic adventures from the history of D&D. This book isn't so much one grand epic adventure, but it contains multiple separate adventures across a broad level range. Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury, White Plume Mountain, Against the Giants and Tomb of Horrors. It is a who's-who of fantastic adventures here, some of them from the master himself, Gary Gygax. I really love that despite what some of the talking heads say, they still bring back these classics from time to time through each edition. Sunless Citadel is one of the best beginning dungeon crawls ever and though nerfed a bit, Tomb of Horrors is back to terrorize your players again. You know I'm a fan!

4. Ghosts of Saltmarsh (lvl 1-12): In the seaside village of Saltmarsh scheming plots, dangerous groups and far worse are stirring. It will be up to the players to set sail and set things right....Again we have a collection adventures, some though not as famous, but formed into a cohesive series of adventures surrounding the fabulous locale of Saltmarsh originally set in the World of Greyhawk. The original U series of adventures is included here, mixed with some other nautical themed adventures to breath new life into this adventure region. Plenty of room for DM's to expand upon what is included here, I'm looking at you Tower of Zenopus on the region map. I really like what they did on this one, great book organization and the included faction play can set this campaign going in multiple directions.

3. Lost Mine of Phandelver (lvl 1-5): What starts as a simple paid escort job quickly turns into a great adventure in the Sword Coast countryside. Outside of Keep on the Borderlands, I feel like this is quite possibly one of the best beginner modules of all time. A quick introduction and right into the encounter, followed by a short dungeon, where guess what some roleplaying and diplomacy from the players can easily win the day. The town of Phandalin provides a fairly solid sandbox for the players to explore and engage with, complete with competing factions and different plots to explore. The conclusion leaves the DM plenty of room to grow with as well. For such an early release for 5E, this one still holds up phenomenally.

2. Tomb of Annihilation (lvl 1-11): A great evil has placed a death curse across the land. Deep in the jungles of Chult, the characters must find the cause of the curse and end it before they meet their end....WoTC sends us the land before time of the Forgotten Realms in this one, Chult. Full of ancient temples, dinosaurs, undead and forgotten cities you will get the full Indiana Jones treatment in this as your players explore these lost lands. If you read any of my blogs, you know that I'm a huge fan of exploration in my games and this is by far the best offering from the official 5E releases for that type of play. The adventure culminates in forgotten city, full of Yuan-ti (snake people) and the deadly dungeon of the nine gods. Lots of puzzles, lots of traps....lots of death. This is a good one, not for the weak of heart, but plenty of chances for memorable encounters and stories to spawn from this adventure.

1. Curse of Strahd (lvl 1-10): The ancient vampire Strahd Von Zarovich is back for 5th edition to terrorize your players once again in the cursed land of Barovia. What can I say, I'm a sucker for Ravenloft. Despite being blocked by Chris Perkins on pretty much any social medial platform, this is his finest work. The NPC's, towns and sandbox elements of play presented in this adventure are all top notch. The reimagined Barovia for 5th edition is really fantastic. Your players will set out to find the elements and persons required to escape the dark realm of Ravenloft, doing their best to help the down trodden people of this cursed land, all the while being taunted and tested by the darklord Strahd. The culmination of course is the final assault on Castle Ravenloft, full of hungry undead and deadly traps, the darkness has teeth and it is coming for your players...now lets see some more Ravenloft for 5E, I'm buying all of that!