After "Tyranny of Dragons", I was a little hesitant about WotC's next storyline product. And some of the hype surrounding this adventure was also off-putting - I try not to buy into the hype because that too often leads to disappointment. That was probably a wise choice. This isn't an instant classic, and it certainly isn't 5e's killer app, or anything of that sort.
But it is a very good adventure.
This is a 256-page hardback book divided into 7 chapters and 3 appendices.
Chapters 1 and 2 present background information for the adventure. Chapter 1 gives details of the various factions in play and also the four elemental cults. This is all fairly interesting stuff, and useful for running the adventure. Chapter 2 then provides something of a gazeteer of the region in which the adventure takes place, including some adventure hooks that a DM may wish to pursue later. This is all fine.
Chapters 3, 4, and 5 then present the meat of the adventure itself - chapter 3 the overland investigations into the cults, chapter 4 the upper levels of their domains, and then chapter 5 the lower levels and the climax. This is all good stuff and well presented (though I personally would prefer the stat-blocks to be embedded in the text).
My one concern here, and it applies to the adventure as a whole, is that this is actually pretty short. The meat of the adventure accounts for less than half of the book, and the book itself already seemed pretty short for a full-blown campaign. So it's good stuff... there just doesn't seem enough of it.
Chapter 6 then provides some supporting adventure material: two optional 'intro' adventures, and eight sidequests.
The main "Princes..." adventure is intended to run from levels 3-15. The two intro adventures are therefore provided as a means to advance 1st level PCs to a point where they're ready for the main plot. They are, consequently, not an essential part of the story. Nonetheless, I really liked these, and would recommend they be used.
Sadly, I was less enamoured with the sidequests, only two of which really interested me. A shame, but at least they're non-essential material.
Chapter 7 and the Appendices then provide additional support material for the adventure. Chapter 7 is monsters and magic items, both of which were solid. (I'm a fan of the way 5e presents monsters generally.) Appendix A details Genasi as a new PC race, while Appendix B gives new spells. All good stuff.
Appendix C then provides some guidance on how to port the adventure to other worlds: Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Greyhawk, and Eberron; and then some suggestions for porting to a homebrew world. In particular, it provides specific advice about how the adventure might alter to fit the flavour of different worlds, and also how the various factions might be replaced if the setting doesn't include a direct analogue. I have to applaud, therefore, not just the inclusion of guidelines, but also the way the guidelines were presented. Good stuff.
One final note: after all of this, there's an Afterword followed by a few pages of concept art, some of it for items that were considered and rejected as not quite fitting. I felt this was a really good use of a few pages, and hope it is repeated in future storyline products.
So, how does that leave "Princes of the Apocalyse" overall? Well, I remain somewhat disappointed that the 'main' adventure is so short. It really doesn't feel enough for a full-blown campaign. And yet, it does feel like a complete adventure.
In terms of quality, it fares rather better. It's true that it's not an instant classic, and it's probably not up there with, say "Lost Mine of Phandelver" or "Rise of the Runelords". Indeed, I didn't think it was quite as good as "Giantslayer", the other adventure I've reviewed recently. However, it is better than both "Tyranny of Dragons" (as a whole, or either part alone), and it's better than "Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil". It's a good adventure, and I can recommend it, especially for a DM willing to beef up the sidequests for his own use.
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