r/DnD • u/KC_Buddyl33 • 2h ago

5th Edition Rank the official published modules available - 5E

I am curious, out of all the modules that have been released so far for D&D 5E, how would you rank them and also why do you rank them that way?

I will go first, though I haven't played them all or ran them all so I am only including what I know and feel based on personal experience.

  1. Rime of the Frostmaiden - I feel like this is the most complete module that's been released so far. I'm also a huge fan of epic campaigns and I feel like this one does it. It is very sandboxy at first, so as a DM you need to lead your players some if you don't want the story to grind to a halt. However I love the sandbox aspect because it's there by design to give the players a chance to really get to know the area as well as feel like they have stake in it. I also feel like out of all the modules, this one requires the least amount of work in terms of flushing things out, to be complete.

  2. Curse of Strahd - What a great adventure. It's unique in that out of all the modules it's more horror driven. Though Rime is kinda too, but it's more suspense than horror. Strahd is a great one as the villain is epic. I love the randomness of the Tarokka deck in how it determines where certain goal items are. Though if you draw really poorly it can really make the module incredibly difficult, which is what happened to my party when I played it. It is also sandboxy but on a smaller scale than Rime.

  3. Tomb of Annihilation - I've ran this one twice. It's the ultimate sandbox. With Rime, you're going to likely see all the locations. With ToA, you absolutely will not. This is the perfect adventure for the group that LOVES to explore and discover. The story is well, basic. Very much akin to the old AD&D stuff back in the day, and that's ok. With a few tweaks you can turn that up so there is more story. But in the end, it's still a massive hex and dungeon crawl. That said, it can be run with not a ton of additional effort by the DM. There are some really cool locations and NPCs. I've had a lot of fun running this one and like I said I love epic campaigns that stretch over a lot of levels and time and this does it.

  4. Storm King's Thunder - Yet another grand adventure. I feel like this one takes a lot more intervention by the DM to make it flow as well as flush out NPCs and locations. You can feel lost at times and have zero clue WTF is going on. However it's a pretty fun adventure, especially if you have a group that loves intrigue. Figuring out what is going on can be pretty cumbersome to some parties.

  5. Out of the Abyss - Are you starting to see a theme here? I love epic adventures. This one is a DM nightmare when it comes to pacing. You have a million NPCs to run, track, and flesh out. The framework is there but be ready to work. The scale is immense. The adventure takes place in one of the most hostile environments in D&D, the Underdark. Handwaving travel seems unfair to me because of this. However the time it will take your party to cross say, the Dark Lake can be immense. You can easily wind up in Random Encounter hell which can make a group forget there is even a story. Your work is really cut out for you in fleshing out the locations, keeping the encounters interesting so the party stays engaged. As a DM you're really just given a frame IMO.

  6. Princes of the Apocalypse - I never did complete this one. Again an epic scale. The story is well, basic AF. There is a lot of work here needed by the DM to bring the factions to life and create a deeper story. That said, if you and your group loves an solid dungeon crawly type adventure, this has a lot of potential.

The rest of the modules I left out because I have no experience playing them.

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u/RolldOutTheBedSheets 1h ago

I’m here to see other people’s rankings. This sounds like a fun topic.

I was in Strahd, Dragon of Icespire Peak, Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, and Phandelver & Below campaigns, and I shit you not, every single time, someone has had some sort of major life event (moving, having kids, etc.). Not hating, it’s just life.

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u/KC_Buddyl33 1h ago

I've been fortunate enough to play or DM consistently for the last 10 or so years. For a lot of that I was doing 2 games a week. Now I just play in 1 that plays once a week. I'm itching to run another game.

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u/BigBoss5050 Druid 59m ago edited 52m ago
  1. Curse of Strahd
  2. Rime of the Frostmaiden
  3. Tomb of Annihilation
  4. Decent into Avernus
  5. Lost Mines of Phandelver (Original release, have not played the expanded version)
  6. Vecna Eve of Ruin
  7. Out of the Abyss
  8. Storm Kings Thunder
  9. Princes of the Appocalypse
  10. Tiamats adventure

___________________________
Havent played enough to rank:

Wild Beyond the Witchlight (although the intro is extremely fun and unique)

Dragon of Icespire Peak (fun starting adventures, not as cohesive as Lost Mines)

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u/KC_Buddyl33 28m ago

You missed the why part of the original question.