Princes of the Apocalypse is a campaign for Dungeons and Dragons 5e. It is a re-working of the classic Temple of Elemental Evil adventure series.

Princes of the Apocalypse Description:

Princes of the Apocalypse is an epic campaign that takes characters from level 3 to 15. If you ran Lost Mine of Phandelver from the Starter Set, information is included to have a party start from where it left off. There is even a chapter that focuses on expanding the adventure to have PCs start from level 1.

The general synopsis of the campaign is covered in the first chapter. It introduces the four elemental cults and details about running the adventure. There are adventure hooks you can use and factions players can join to add to their immersion in the story.

Your PCs will adventure in the Dessarin Valley and the next two chapters are dedicated to giving you a lay of the land and how the campaign develops within it. They tell you about important characters, faction contacts, random encounters and the regions in the Sumber Hills the PCs venture into to defeat the elemental cults.

The fourth chapter covers the four elemental temples and the challenges that confront the adventurers within. All of chapter five is dedicated to the Temple of the Elder Elemental Eye.

Chapter six starts with a section for groups that want to start adventuring at level one. It has a number of scenarios and encounters that lead up to the main story and gets them to level three. It also contains side treks you can use in the main campaign for a change of pace.

The last chapter is full of the monsters and magic items not found in the Monster Manual. It is followed by three appendices. The first details a new race for PCs, the genasi. Next is a list of all the spells introduced in Princes of Elemental Evil. And the last appendix gives you information on running the adventure in other realms including, Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Greyhawk and Eberron.

Quick Review of Princes of the Apocalypse:

I read through Princes of the Apocalypse and decided I would run my D&D group through it. I am impressed with the sandbox nature of the campaign and how the DM can add side treks if they like. The openness could let them stumble into encounters that are way over their heads, but at least you are not railroading them through the adventure.

The Dessarin Valley is set on the Sword Coast and the book has enough information on the area you could use it as a base for your characters even after finishing this book.

The elemental theme is a bit overdone. But the cultists and new monsters have some interesting abilities and spells. None of my players decided to make a genasi, but it is nice they have the option. If you are going to run this campaign you should download the player companion. There are options for players to create aarakocra, deep gnome, genasi and goliath PCs. The companion is nice but it would have been nice to have all this info in the campaign book. Not just the genasi.

The adventure hooks and factions are an excellent way for players to connect to the story. I like how they are used and think they add a lot of roleplaying opportunities for each individual character.

The ability to run this in other settings is great too. I love Dark Sun and appreciate the having the details to run this campaign on Athas.

I have never played the original Temple of Elemental Evil, but after reading the campaign book and starting the adventure I am really pleased with Princes of the Apocalypse. So far my players are really enjoying it too. If you are starting a 5e game it makes an excellent starting point.