Hoard of the Dragon Queen: Good or Meh?

 My Thoughts on Hoard of the Dragon Queen


Hoard of the Dragon Queen is the first ever Adventure Module created for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, and I have played through the adventure with my friends before, so I want to know: can it be better?


Whenever you start your adventure in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, you are a band of mercenaries on your way to a town named Greenest in search of the man who hired you on a job. Upon arrival to the town of Greenest, there is screams and cries as you look into the air and see a giant blue dragon spitting crackling lightning and electrical energy down upon the guardsmen of the town, they look hopeless against the flying threat. This scene of horror is supposed to unite our heroes as they originally were just coworkers, now they are fighting for their lives against an enormous dragon! Upon further inspection on the ground, many individuals in black cloaks with curved knives are killing guardsmen, small dragon-shaped creatures with slings flinging rocks helping these cloaked figures. The first goal of the adventurer's is to defeat some of these cultists and kobolds in order for them to reach the heart of Greenest where they will meet their quarry in the middle of battle. After the cultists lay dead at the party's feet, a stronghold with a singular watchtower on a hill loom over the inhabitants of the small town, two guardsmen shout out "Hurry inside before more of them come!" Upon entrance of the keep you see Lucas Plum, the man who hired you via a sending spell. He and the guard captain are in a heated discussion about what the next move is. Without much more time to talk, one of the guardsmen comes down to tell the guard captain that the dragon is approaching the keep, they need help defending the walls, and this is where the party fights the dragon. Upon reaching the top of the walls, the dragon roars and exhales a breath of pure lightning evaporating one of the guardsmen on the tower. The dragon in this fight does not particularly care about who it kills and what it does, as the dragon gains no treasure from the slaughter it is committing. A few well-placed arrows from the party makes the dragon fly off as it does not care to take unnecessary pain if it doesn't have too. After the dragon flies off, the screams and cries all but stop, but one more voice shouts out to the keep. "Bring out your greatest warrior, and we will spare your petty people."

A dragon-shaped man outside the keep walls asks for a 1 on 1 against any singular party member, which is supposed to be another showing of the power of this draconic cult. The player is supposed to lose this dual as the dragon man is very powerful in a 1 versus 1, but later on in the adventure, if he is outnumbered, he would quickly fall. 

This beginning opener to a game of Dungeons and Dragons really does hook the players onto the power of this draconic cult, and even brings the players together against the common evil, which I really like, because that is something you need in an adventure, your adventurer's need to have something to rally against, something to oppose, something for them to be adventuring against. However, there is one thing I think that could have been added as something a little extra. Having each player have their own quest, their own thing they need to have accomplished, is always a way to further develop the story, which can make for interesting gameplay.






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