First Published 17 September 2016 | Last Updated 14 January 2019
This article is relative to the world of Toril.

Hoard Of The Dragon Queen

The Rise Of Tiamat

Released 14 August 2014 / 21 October 2014

An epic tale so big it needed to be told across 2 books! Well, that's not entirely true...

After the financial failure of D&D 4th edition the 5th Edition team were assembling the rule books on a shoestring budget - so they brought in outside company Kobold Press to write the inaugural D&D 5e adventure. Due to last minute rule changes and printing schedule variances, it was decided to release the adventure in 2 parts. Part 1 (Hoard Of The Dragon Queen) was actually released on the 14th of August 2014 - almost a week prior to the Player's Handbook (and a month prior to the Monster Manual). This wasn't an issue though, as the book contained all the information needed to play, and anything that needed further information was available as a free downloadable appendix from the Wizards Of The Coast website.

The second part (The Rise Of Tiamat) was released on October 21, a month after the Monster Manual.

Between the two books is a sprawling adventure that criss-crosses The Sword Coast from one end to the other, hunting the evil Cult Of The Dragon. It contains everything you would expect from a classic D&D adventure - The PCs will battle iconic creatures, visit well known locations, and meet some important personalities of the region.

The complete adventure is for levels 1-15, and although it states either book could be played stand-alone, it would be a rather disjointed plotline if you tried. The books have been quite highly criticised by many for a variety of reasons. The adventure is very rail-roady (meaning the players are pulled along with the story, rather than making their own choices), and the books contain many errors and inconsistencies - mainly due to them being sent to print prior to the final rules being signed off.

It was possibly not the best adventure to start a new edition with based on the points above, and usually ranks lowest in 5e adventure polls - but regardless some do have fond memories of playing it.