Dragons of Stormwreck Isle REVIEW & DM Tips
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ค. 2024
- We finished playing the new DnD Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle and it's time to review it. We also breakdown the entire adventure to help new DMs run it.
The review will be spoiler free, but our Stormwreck Isle breakdown will not. Be sure to send this video to your Dungeon Master for tips and advice on running this new DnD Starter Set.
As always thanks so much for watching. Please let us know in the comments what you think about this new Starter Set. Is it better than The Lost Mines of Phandelver? Is The Dragons of Stormwreck Isle the new standard that all players should play? Let us know! We love hearing your thoughts.
00:00 Introduction
05:30 DoSI - Thoughts & Recommendations
07:22 SPOILERS - DMs ONLY
07:46 Adventure Background
09:23 Notable NPCs
14:04 Dragon's Rest
17:48 Seagrow Caves
21:06 The Cursed Shipwreck
24:55 Clifftop Observatory
27:12 Final Battle
29:54 Rewarding Your Players!
33:54 Final Thoughts - เกม
I really enjoy your insights as DMs and players, particularly for this Starter Set. Thank you!
Thanks so much Kenneth! We're still trying to figure out the best formula for these types of reviews. Glad to hear that you're liking what we're doing...I think it means we're on the correct path. Thanks again for watching and commenting!
Just completed the first 2 chapters with my family. We're having a lot of fun
Great vid guys!!!
From the sounds of it, this seems like a great set to kitbash (use the individual locations/encounters as one shots or sidequests in other games), which makes it interesting for vet dm's. Thanks for the review and keep up the awesome work!
Thanks Wayne! Certainly not the worst thing to do with this box set. It's clearly the worst Starter Set in terms of value (lack of stuff) and the adventure is pretty milquetoast.
Splitting up my long winded comments for the algorithm. This was a great review of this product. You make excellent observations, and I really enjoy hearing you talk about the way things went in your actual game sessions.
Thanks Gordon! We hope folks find this type of breakdown helpful for running their games!
You guys are making great videos, keep it up!
Oh, and I love that you busted out in song! Awesome all around!
Thanks so much. We love the encouragement. Also, we break out into song more than you'd think. t We usually spare the audience and cut it out of the video! Have a great day Michael!
Hey liches, nice to see You kept promise and returned to review adventure itself!
I like the personal touch of reviewing adventure by giving us glimpses of YOUR party playing. Sure a lot of us would like to see how that looks like, even without all the high-end production stuff streamers usually have...
Just wanted to point out again that box art is a quacking clickbait, and should be called that way. Last two box sets had actual dragons that were on a box art.
We've had lots of internal discussions about figuring out how to post our sessions. It's something we'll tackle eventually!
And yeah, that cover is totally bogus!
I’m hoping to run this soon. I plan to make some adjustments- namely having Aidron at Dragon’s Rest when the adventurers arrive and have him there for a good portion of the game interacting with the characters. Then have him go after Sparkrender by himself and get captured. Hoping this gives the PCs more motivation to go after Sparkrender as they want to rescue their wyrmling friend.
This is greatly appreciated content. These review/storyexplanation/dmtips are perfect.
I’m a new dm and got this, and we are one session in, so the ‘avoiding this at all costs’ part is out of the picture. Luckily, I’ve had plenty of time to prep. I already printed out maps for them. Gotta have some kind of grounding for where you are.
I just wasn’t sure about the details of dragon’s rest, and runara as a whole, so this is infinitely helpful.
I think I might make runara *idealistic*, but not *practical* in her pacifism. She’s gonna be like “yeah we’ve tried everything, idk what to do so please just make this annoyance not annoying anymore”
So glad to hear you found the video helpful! Good luck running the adventure and feel free to reach out if you have any questions about it!
Great video guys. I have this set and have just started playing it. The biggest issue I have is figuring out how much to tell the party and when. If you follow the guide, so much of why this adventure exists and the context for the players is only explained by Runara before the final chapter. Makes it so disengaging for the players and incredibly hard for a new DM. Do you have any suggestions for a new DM running this with a newbie group to set the context without spoon feeding everything? Thanks!
I bought this box to start a campaign as a beginner DM. I'd say that is a good starter set for players but that's it. The story is quite different with the Essential's kit : it's way more tailored for a baby DM and i had so much fun with my beginner players in the first session.
We like the Essentials Kit a lot more. It's weird that they made DoSI so bare bones in comparison.
im gonna make a quest board for my players where there are jobs that can be completed by people who live near or in dragons rest and some of them will be the main story quests hidden in there too
Don't torture your players by dragging this out =P Beat it and move on to better things! There is a very high chance that the side quests you make for the board will be much more creative and outshine the main story quests.
I bought the set because I liked the retro reference art. Based on what I’ve read, your thought that this is a good set for an experienced DM and new players is very true.
That said; what published product ISN’T greatly improved by a creative and committed DM? Breathing life into a setting and NPC’s is about reacting to the players. Leaning into what appeals to them and not forcing what doesn’t appeal to them. No amount of detail in a static description can accomplish that.
But come on: they expect a *new DM to run 9 kobold NPCs? Or know enough to not really run them? I even understand the limp octopus because at least it’s easy to manage mechanically.
We totally forgot to mention how they put in the kids from the DnD cartoon. THEY EVEN MADE MINIS! It was annoying that they didn't show up in the adventure or anything. Such a wasted opportunity (and a clear nostalgic cash grab).
Those kobolds could have been cool had they been fleshed out and given some unique artwork etc...We got the appeal that WotC was going for. "Hey the party can interact with NPCs that are typically MONSTERS!" They just biffed the execution so badly.
To be very clear, the octopus was a fun battle for the players...it was just boring for Wolf as the DM. There was a part of the video we cut where he lamented not home-brewing the abilities of that thing just a bit to make it more exciting. Giving it multi-attack and being able to grapple at the very least would have helped.
Really cool video! Are you still thinking to try the Pathfinder 2e Beginner Box? I'd love to hear a post-play comparison of the two!
Hi Rob! We've started playing PF2E Beginners Box. It's a great product and we will be talking about it in the near future!
Wow. As a new DM playing D&D for the first time, I am SO glad I’m not the only one who thought this story wasn’t constructed well for newbies. There’s glaring flaws that make it tough to set up and run if you don’t have experience to “improv” a lot if it so the story moves along naturally.
I had such a hard time juggling all the NPCs in Dragon’s Rest, and I simply felt relieved to hear you echo my sentiments and frustrations. Sorry, this is NOT a starter set as advertised.
Also, thanks for the tips to help improve the experience to overcome the adventure’s flaws. It really helps!
Been running this as a new DM and I must agree on how scattered the book is. I had little time to prepare our latest session and trying to find anything relevant to a single thing while not sharing too much was so difficult.
I'm going to go through the whole book and just write it down in my own notes. Also stealing that library- > lore bit.
Glad to hear that we were able to help out a bit! Thanks so much for watching and dropping a comment.
What are alternatives you would suggest to pick up as a unexperienced DM? You said you'd avoid it but unfortunately didn't name alternatives. Would have loved some hints to look into!
The previous Starter Set and the Essentials Kit are both better. The Essentials Kit comes with more stuff and the previous Starter Set has a better adventure. If you're looking for a good 3rd party product, The Fey Sister's Fate from Goodman Games is excellent. We have a review of that on our channel.
I would agree with a chunk of this. For me, Runara cannot be a super powerful polymorphing dragon, as that completely undermines player agency; and the players have to be there on a collective mission, as otherwise the party will lack cohesion.
For me, Sharruth, the ancient dead red dragon buried beneath the lsland is in fact, a dracolich and the succesful completion of Sparkrender's ritual will mean he rises. He is very keen that this ritual is not interrupted, so he is killing the myconids, encouraging the harpy to sink the ships, and using zombies to kill the Dragons Rest folk. And he would have gotten away with it, too, except for those pesky players...
I would still recommend it for new DM. It is still a better ruleset than the previous Starter Set. What do you reckon ? I mean, of course the adventure layout is subpar thus they sort of failed with the overall product but that's what they were "trying" to do. It's not a super clear beginner box but it's not incomprehensible either. As for the adventure by itself, probably Lost Mines is more fleshed out and rewarding.
It's sorta fine. We wish it were better though. No excuse really since this is their third attempt at such a product.
Still waiting on that pathfinder playthrough. 😔
It's coming! We promise!
@@BasicLiches Can't wait!
“How can you make a starter set and not include any handouts?” Bruh. Printing separates and putting them in the box adds, like a buck per unit to the manufacturing cost. Do you not understand the point of a starter sets?
What’s that? No, not introducing new players to the game in the most welcoming way possible. Maximizing per unit profits by selling a ton of them at Target. Duh.
Ha! Totally true. Lately it seems like WotC has been more about maximizing profits instead of putting out awesome products. They've had a string of sub-par releases and it appears like they're phoning it in while working on "One DnD".
I seriously hated the lack of an adventure hook for DOSI. How can a starter set lack an adventure hook for the baby DM if people use custom characters? Bad adventure hooks kill homebrew questing.
Why are we here again? Will be echoed too often in this.
It's a poorly written and poorly organized product that feels rushed.
@@BasicLiches with all that drama at WotC, they should concentrate on releasing quality adventures first and foremost. (A functional CR system and magic item selling system would be great too)
Yeah, dont sing. its bad
A. The story has good bones. Good DMs should have more than enough to work with. B. Runara wasn't the one who trapped the red dragon, her father was. It's like you didn't even run it before releasing your "opinion" on it. Lame AF
A. The story involves bones. It's a Beginner's Box for new DMs, not good ones.
B. An honest mistake, but such a minor detail that has negligible impact over much of anything.
C. Lame AF is how we felt after playing through this "adventure".
So you lack the creativity to actually enjoy it, and at that, you cared so little that the details didn't matter to you. Grown men bitching about something that could be something great if you had the ability to do it. Hilarious