The Rise of Tiamat (Dungeons & Dragons)

Excellent game book. I’m glad I was able to get one for a reasonable price.

Delivered on time. Outer binding was in great condition though inner binding of front cover leaked a decent amount of glue which attached the first few pages to it. Was able to carefully seperate it with a knife so minimal page damage but I'm glad I had an abundance of caution when I opened the book or I'd have torn the pages.

Can’t really find this book in the US but other than that great campaign.

Great adventure as an introduction to D&D or Forgotten Realms. The way it is written isn't for everyone but it gives you what you need to run a memorable adventure.

In the years of 2nd and 3rd edition, there was often a lot more text, detail and organization.Towards the end of 3rd edition, and through 4th, the margins became huge, font size increased from 10 pt to 16 pt, and the paper quality was changed to allow for color at the expense of quality (ink smears, thin so easily rips, etc.).Now, with 5th edition, they are starting to reverse those errors. Paper quality is back up (although not where it once was), and organization is returning. There is even a good bit of new material instead of just regurgitated, reformatted articles from Dragon Magazine or other sources. It still isn't back where I would hope it should be, particularly considering the premium price they charge. Font is still huge, same with margins. The lack of good mapping really drives me nutz (yes, it has maps, and they are better here than they have been in other products over the past few years, but that doesn't mean that they are super clear and easy to use).Content wise, I was pleased, but not awed.One of my personal issues with the content was that there is a great lore and history in the FR setting that was basically ignored to make this new adventure. With the updating of editions, some NPC's have radically changed (for example, Naergoth Bladelord from a Death Knight with a grand history into a minor side character that would be the equivalent of a L18 weight - and some characters such as Vargo Kent aka the Faceless are just gone), others are new, and there isn't nearly as much of a background as to why these changes happened (the reader is just left with the assumption that staff writers had to be paid to do something, so were given free reign to do keep busy and make busy work types of changes). What happened to Vargo? What about the Dire Dragon, who was the guardian of the well until 1370 +/- DR when the Cult made a deal to gain access to the Well? What about Arsekaslyx, who had a lair within the well (that was already mapped out and could have easily been referenced as an optional encounter). What about the actual Cult Fortress that was supposedly constructed, as there are no ruins or even major works, just caves that have been given a purpose? What was provided was good, but lacked the depth that I and my friends craved. Referencing older material is different than just reprinting it - and they did neither really, which was a shame as it could have easily offered so much more.

[SPOILERS] The Rise of Tiamat is a sweeping scenario designed for higher level characters as a sequel to Hoard of the Dragon Queen. The adventure is set up as a set of episodes that revolve around an axis of four council sessions. This council is comprised of various powerful factions who are interested in thwarting the designs of the Cult of the Dragon in freeing Tiamat from her hellish prison and unleashing her upon Faerun.As the PCs interact with the council, they must manage the differing preferences and proclivities of the council factions, while, at the same time, seeking to hinder the Cult's machinations.The council part of the adventure is fairly well done, with some decently deep descriptions of the council factions and representatives that should allow a DM to play their parts. Make no mistake, however, the council is a big part of the scenario and so if your DM is not up to role playing and talking and your players just want to kick in doors and murderhobo, then much of this scenario will be wasted. This is not to say it cannot be glossed over and the council simply used as a mission generator for the PCs, but that misses much of the point and flavor of the scenario.The council has an interesting mechanic, whereby PC actions (including the outcomes of various missions [including some from Hoard of the Dragon Queen]) are rated for each faction on a scorecard. Some actions will cause some factions to favour the PCs more, while those same actions might anger other factions. The PCs must maneuver these potentially treacherous waters and try to strike a balance that will result in the most overall support from the council factions come the final battle. Alas, a glance at the scorecard pretty much ensures that the PCs would have to work very hard not to get full support from the entire council. This could have been a brilliant mechanism to really force the PCs to carefully consider all of their actions in the adventure, but instead it becomes relatively meaningless. A clever DM could adjust the scorecard mechanics in such a way that this issue is fixed, but given the glaring problem with the end of this adventure, why bother (see below)?As mentioned, the council sends the PCs on various missions...or rather suggests that they do so, as the PCs are sufficiently powerful so that the council has no real means to force the PCs to do anything. The missions are not chronological, although a certain order suggests itself. They encompass a variety of mission types, including some that are purely roleplaying, others that are dungeon crawls, and everything in between. A lot of these set pieces are interesting, but there is a problem in that some of them ultimately end up accomplishing nothing. For example, there are two episodes where the PCs are tasked with recovering a powerful item called a Dragon Mask. In one, the mask has already been spirited away. In another, the mask the PCs gain is a false one. Having one of these is potentially frustrating to players, but can be used to show that not every mission can be completed. However, having two of them in close proximity feels more like tweaking the players' nose than good scenario design.The adventures weakest point is the ending, and it is a major problem. The end of the scenario finds the PCs travelling to the Well of Dragons, where the Cult is seeking to summon Tiamat herself. They have a veritable army at their service, including hundreds (if not thousands) of cult troops, mercenaries, dragons, and devil.The PCs are supposed to have mustered enough support from the council to field its own armies to attack the enemy forces. In theory, if everything goes well, the two armies fight it out, leaving the PCs alone to infiltrate the heart of the Well of Dragons and attack the leaders of the Cult who are performing the ritual to summon the Queen of Dragons.The problem is that while the ritual and inner temple are well detailed and provide a climactic final set piece for the PCs (including, possibly, a fight against Tiamat), there is almost no thought given to the massive fight between the Cult and the Council. Now, of couse, you don't need mass battle rules to run this combat. It is supposed to take place in the background, and rightly so. But SOME guidelines regarding consequences if one or more Council factions withhold support would have been nice! Absolutely no direction is given. If the metallic dragons withhold support, what happens? There is a one sentence explanation that the metallic dragons would best be allocated to counter that chromatic dragons on the battlefield, but no guidance as to what happens if there are no metallic dragons. Does another Council faction support entirely negate the chromatic dragons? If not, what effect is there on the battle?All of this can be handled by the DM of course, but that's sloppy design. The DM shouldn't have to figure out entirely what happens. What would have been better is a simple system wherein if certain Council factions are not present, the PCs have to face extra encounters and there would be an effect on a table for the results of the off screen battle that would have ramifications for the outcome of the adventure.In other words, the designers went way too far in the direction to moving the battle off stage and made it essentially irrelevant.There are also a lot of unnecessary typos, map errors, and the like which really need to be cleaned up by WOTC or by whomever they license scenarios. A simple proof reading by a group of dedicated volunteers could nip these in the bud...a course of action I had been harping on WOTC about since the days of D&D 3.0.In conclusion, Rise of Tiamat is not an easy adventure for new DMs to run. It is very free form and requires a lot of DM role playing and adjudication. Nevertheless, aside from the poorly designed ending, the scenario is worthwhile and engaging and is a sufficient successor to Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

Continuing from the events of the 1st book Hoard of the Dragon Queen this can either act as the consequences of the players actions from part 1 or can easily be a standalone story for higher level (starting) characters.Added extra flavour and expanded the experience.One word of advice prep, plan and don't be afraid to adapt the game, you'll have more fun running the game that way.

Should really be a 3.5 star but oh well. This is the second part to an epic tale that is part of a very enjoyable campaign so why the score? Well I and my group had a good 9 months play with the first part of this and eagerly awaited this to continue but although attempts were made to introduce intrigue and politics into the game they are way to thin without extra effort by the DM to flesh them out.There is also a nice attempt to add a 3rd dimensional feel to one of the maps which yet again brings me back to a very major gripe...the maps poor resolution and again bland. They also do not include player handouts or maps for several of the encounters making it yet again dependent on the DM to put in more work-something that those new to the game may find hard to do or simply lack the time to do. A plus is that many of the monsters/villains are in the back of the book however for those who do not have the Monster Manual they will need to wiki a lot of others.Overall could be much better with a little more thought and care by the makers. For those who enjoyed the first part HotDQ a must buy.Just be prepared to but a fair bit of work to get the most out of this product.

Its a decent book not read through it yet because dont want spoilers did think it was for more character options rather than quests still good tho

9/10 GM's recommend Tyranny of Dragons as a great campaign for players new and battle-scarred alike. The one that disagrees is playing Pathfinder by himself like a nerd.

My hubby is obsessed and is a dungeon master. He loves these books