D&D 5e: Out of the Abyss (Part 2 of 2)

Playing in a campaign while running a campaign (and alternating which campaign we play) definitely extended how many sessions--and thus how long--it took to play through the second half of Out of the Abyss.

By my reckoning, we've played through a total of 25 sessions, total, for Out of the Abyss. Each of those sessions ran for an average of three hours, meaning that the full book yielded roughly 75 hours of play time for players and probably another 120-150 hours of prep time to run it. On the whole, that's a pretty good deal even if you paid full price for the book--less than a dollar an hour for your entertainment.

As always, please be mindful that while I try to keep spoilers to a minimum, this discusses the end of 75 hours of game time and the epic conclusion of the campaign: 

HERE THERE BE SPOILERS. You have been warned.

As with the Tyranny of Dragons' storyline, and perhaps even more so, I get the feeling from the online D&D community that most groups don't finish the overarching campaigns they start. In fact, the Wizards team seems to have done research on this point, as Out of the Abyss is one of only three adventure modules that is designed explicitly beyond 11th level!

I'm going to refer back to what I liked and disliked about this module from my Part 1 post; feel free to check back if you need a refresher.

I have to admit, I had almost all of this post written by the time we reached the second-to-last session. Had I posted only what I originally wrote, I'd be doing a terrible disservice to my gaming group because my impressions from them as they experienced the campaign were almost exactly the opposite of  what they expressed as the campaign ended.

Original Pro: New and Different. 

 As my players' characters advanced in levels, most of them experienced what I believe should be considered  roleplayers' fatigue; on the one hand they wanted to be faithful to their characters as they envisioned them. On the other hand, they were trying something that was either extremely alien, or tremendously different from their normal characters in one key point. For example, our usual rogue played a paladin, and our usual paladin played a barbarian; in each case, I felt like by the second half of the campaign they were straining to make the "best" choices for their characters and were not enjoying it as much as they might have otherwise. In the end, three of my four players reported that while there was some strain, but really only one (my paladin-turned-barbarian) was "capped out." In fact, my rogue-turned-paladin felt like she was just coming into her own as a paladin, figuring out how to maximize her experience, when the campaign came to an end.

My original conception was that the second-half would become a sort of palate cleanser--an experience that will be enjoyed more in retrospect, and which will allow future experiences to be received with greater joy. As it turned out, I was just a bit off. One of my players described Out of the Abyss as a roller-coaster ride: while you're on it, you're screaming and wanting to get off, but the second it's over, you take stock of the situation, smile from ear to ear, and get in line for the next one!

On the DM's side of things, it's been exciting seeing how my slightly-less-than-heroic party deals with problems. One of the fun aspects of their characters has been the slow transformation from vagabonds and exiles into heroes. This has placed some exceptionally quirky moral quandaries in front of them, and their answers were interesting: do we trust an evil wizard to get rid of evil demons? (Yes.) Is it morally just to use the demons to destroy an evil city? (Maybe, but ultimately, we'll not test it.) Most drow are evil; are people who don't accept the party because they have drow in it our enemies? (Depends.)

These are definitely questions that don't normally come up, and I've had fun being on the other side of the screen while these are discussed.

Original Pro: Fear and the Bizarre.

Gravenhollow

Not knowing how things work in the Underdark continues to make for some very cool interactions between PCs and locales. Gravenhollow was a definite highlight, as was my own invention of The Vault of Eternity. (In all honesty, I had hoped this would be one of their peak experiences for the campaign, but I think the most interesting thing to come out of the dungeon for my players was the loot they recovered; its backstories and names were exciting and drew my players in. EDIT: My players, upon reading this post, chastised me; when I asked them about Out of the Abyss, they thought I meant exclusively the "as written" content. When they realized I meant the campaign "as run," they all put Vault at the top of their lists!)  The Tower of Araj, the break-in to Sorcere--all of these were fun for the very reason that they were new and exciting. I suspect that if any of my players had drunk deeply of R.A. Salvatore's writing in recent years, they'd have been enjoying it even more, but as it stood they all had a sense that these were "real" places they were breaking into, exploring, or sharing tea in. It's been almost twenty years since I read Salvatore's early works, but the echoes of them in my memory still helped me set the mood without getting lost in the details.

The centerpiece of this second act, for me, had to be the Maze Engine. Gathering the pieces for Vizeran's ritual was interesting, but it would have been just another fetch quest without running into the modrons. My players wanted to adopt them (I think they seriously considered running an Underdark petting zoo with Glabagool, Stool, and the modrons...). Helping them get back to the Engine itself, and then participating in the weirdness that ensued was perfect for Out of the Abyss. It's one of those encounters that will forever be linked with playing through the campaign.

The fear component of the first half may have dropped off, but the bizarre continued unabated.

Original Pro: More Common Magic Items.

The second half was somewhat stingy on treasure (I mean, come on: kill several demon lords and get squat for treasure?), but I more than made up for that with The Vault of Eternity. That's not to say there weren't any magic items, but the items were common (generic), or else served a specific purpose (rather than just being "fun loot").

For me, this is a failing in the second half. Because my players had The Vault, I don't think they were as aware of how little loot there really was in their return to the Underdark.

Original Pro: Fun NPCs.

Vizeran DeVir

Finally moving away from the jail-break NPCs was a definite blessing; they were "used up."The they're not. The PCs are constantly having to intervene to save them from run-of-the-mill Underdark threats, and finding ways to explain their presence (or absence) became tedious. My players, frankly, didn't know what to do with them. Neither did I. If I was going to run this campaign again, I'd leave them out entirely and just add in a few magic items or NPC guides to replace them.
biggest problem with second-half NPCs is the Expeditionary Force. I understand in theory that they're supposed to be an army to deal with the demon threat, but

The librarians in Gravenhollow, the archwizard Vizeran, and the opportunity to meet Jarlaxle were all appreciated. The reappearance of Basidia (and Stool) was a welcome tie-in to help the second half of the adventure connect to the first without re-living everything.

Original Con: Repetitive.

Because the faerzress was designed to hinder teleportation, the issue of travel from one place to another continues to be dangerously tedious if following the rules as written. I dropped or modified a lot of encounters to prevent having to run an additional several sessions of wandering monster encounters which were unimpressive, unchallenging, and ultimately boring. This is definitely still an issue in the second half, though I was better prepared to deal with it since I was expecting it. (Again, having a dungeon crawl in the middle helped break up the monotony.)

Original Con: Asymmetry.

Though less sand-boxy in the second half (there's a prescribed list of ingredients and the only issue is where to start looking), there was still some unhelpful asymmetry particularly in the travel encounters. The problem was still with the lower end encounters. Designing a new dungeon, tweaking "random" encounters to include more powerful enemies, and streamlining travel all helped somewhat to deal with this.

Original Con: Tedious NPCs.

See above, but it bears repeating briefly: What is the point of the Expeditionary Force? They're woefully underequipped, underpowered, and undermanned to deal with the basic threats of the Underdark, let alone the threat of demon lords!

Original Con: Underdark Parties Not Welcome.

This one still bothers me. Almost all of the issues of infiltration and trust evaporate when you have two drow in the party. The bottom line is this: either the party can be outsiders (surface dwellers who are aliens to the Underdark) or they can try something different (be Underdark dwellers who fit in). The overall effect is thereby diluted when the players understandably try to run Underdark outcasts. If I were to run this adventure again, I think I might ban Underdark races!

Overall:

The cities shine brightest in the first half, while Gravenhollow, the Maze Engine, infiltrating Menzoberranzan, and the final two fights shine brightest in the second. (My players completed an absolutely flawless infiltration of the Purple Worm Hatchery, meaning they never even had to fight a Worm--as such the encounter itself became forgettable). Being able to bring my friends to the depths and show them Menzoberranzan (and the other Underdark cities) was fun. As in the first half, the characters they encountered there were interesting, even fascinating. As they explored the depths, the slow accumulation of stories (madness! destruction!) had a wonderful slow fuse that allowed us all to savor it; in the second half, that fuse illuminated "the bomb" of the demon lords and Gromph's failed ritual, allowing the PCs to see how to deal with it. (My players are always happier with a clear goal--in this case, Vizeran's ritual.)

Two of my four players unequivocally preferred this campaign to Tyranny of Dragons, one speculated that she would have enjoyed it more than Tyranny if she'd figured out "how to play" her character sooner, and only one of my players definitely enjoyed Tyranny more.


Bottom line? Both halves are good--at times, even great--but it may be best as a palate cleanser when you need to give your players a real "reset" from traditional adventuring. It never quite got stale, but I'm definitely ready to leave this one behind and go back to something more traditional! EDIT: If you listen to my players, you really need to run The Vault of Eternity to get the most bang for your buck from Out of the Abyss.