So, even though I'm probably a bit late to the party, here's my review of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.

Over the Edge: One Weird Twist.

There were a couple reasons for this: One source document instead of a sequential process with a dead fork.

[...] My main criticism with this book is the columns and columns of text that start to blur together. I’ll also comment that if you plan on using the encounter chains as presented in the book, the chases have to meet some fairly strict requirements for success.

And then, because the website was the definitive edition, any future changes or additions to those installments.

If you’re looking for adventures for low-level characters, and you don’t have any stake in Waterdeep or a desire for something other than a more classic dungeon setting, go with something from Tales from the Yawning Portal instead.

I also decided at the last minute to completely scrap having Jarlaxle as my villain, and to choose a completely different NPC to use instead. I really am quite proud of it. So now it’s time for a little applied theory as we dive into some examples of how the node-based structure can be used in actual practice. If you have a party of heavy-armor wearers, summer creates dehydration dangers if they don’t keep drinking water. ADVERTISE ON TRIBALITY

If you are looking for a detailed guide to Waterdeep, you’ll be disappointed with the guide being only 25 pages long. Your group enjoys intrigue and facing villains that can’t be simply defeated in combat. For over a decade, I had been drafting copy for the Alexandrian in a vanilla Word file. A couple weeks later I started the Avernus Remix… and then literally the day before the first Avernus post went live, we went into COVID-19 quarantine. Furthermore, for a satisfying mystery you’d probably want to establish Bob before revealing he’s a killer, so there’s a “Bob exists / is here / is involved” revelation that points to Bob-as-a-node and then a “Bob did it” revelation that points to the Bob-as-solution. Mystra’s holy symbol is emblazoned on her shield.

She lived with him for six months, exploring the city with new eyes.

And, for the sake of flow, I’m going to continue this article straight on to the end of the adventure, and bring it all to a hopefully satisfactory conclusion.

I feel... Oh wow, from reading this review I didn't expect that RotF would be at the top of your list! You can view our current digital titles at: From the bar brawl at the start to the showdown at the end, this is a well-paced adventure that isn't afraid to let slower moments in as well. The Dragonward is a permanent magical effect, created by Waterdeep founder and legendary wizard Ahghairon, which stops dragons of all sorts from entering the city. (Is this an event or a location? A series of enigmatic phone calls that ring up a PC’s cellphone would be an example of the latter. Back in 2019, as the core of the Remix was wrapping up, I did my best to provide something workable via my running files and a Preview Draft that attempted to correct my draft document as much as possible to reflect the “definitive” version on the website, but it was clearly a stopgap effort. That made things a little easier, because now there was no reason for the party to have to remove the treasure from the vault. Waterdeep has laws and rules that are enforced strictly. Waterdeep.CompendiumPage.initialize(true); If you liked most of what you read in the ‘buy this adventure‘ list above, I’d recommend picking up a copy of Dragon Heist.

That can be important in Dragon Heist, because despite everyone’s best efforts to tell the story and figure out the mystery, there will be holes that need filling in. But 2020 has been weird and I’m terrible at self-promotion, so failed to actually mention it here on the site. Xanathar is a beholder and could easily kill your PCs, but they can exploit his mental state by enraging him, disrupt the guild’s chain of command or even destroy his lair. Your group just wants to kick down doors and kill monsters without worrying about annoying laws and people who enforce them.

“Waterdeep Dragon Heist takes D&D back to civilization in an environment which encourages a lot of roleplaying,” according to Chris Perkins, the Lead Designer for the book.

Sadly, Floxin and his goons killed many loyal Gralhund guards, as well as Lord Orond Gralhund, who will be sorely missed, so please send flowers.

At the end of the summaries of each season’s encounter chain, there’s a section on “weather effects”, which gives some mechanical changes based on the commonly encountered weather in Waterdeep during any particular season.

And the easiest way to make that happen is if the threat is real, which can be demonstrated by actually pulling the trigger (or swinging the axe, as the case may be).

This is hardcore D&D lore on steroids, with a pinch of danger where you may or may not be able to escape in the process. It actually shows that they’re invested in the world. If they’re really on top of the situation, they’ll suspect that Yalah had her husband killed to shut him up, and used the “Zhentarim Massacre” as a convenient cover for the murder. Something I learned when running my Ptolus campaign (which has literally HUNDREDS of props) is that my players will often ask me questions about a prop which they received weeks, months, or even years earlier, and I won’t necessarily remember exactly where they got that specific handout. What had finally motivated me to trash my twenty-year-old web-copy writing process was the Dragon Heist Remix. The problem is that this helplessness is not diegetic; instead of being focused on the game world (and the things that the players care about in that game world) it’s focused on you. I’ve already gone into the problems with this situation in a previous Dragon Heist article, but I’ll give an overview here so we can get into how to handle them. Also, that other NPC wasn’t actually one of the four villains, so I felt pretty justified in just rewriting the chase completely. (Or it can force the party to split up, which is also great for horror: It reduces the perceived power of the characters and it lets you put isolated characters at risk, presenting danger at a distance for the rest of the group. All of the villains share one thing in common, they are seeking the dragon hoard and it’s the job of your PCs to keep that from happening. [CDATA[ This doesn’t inherently create a sandbox, but it creates the OPPORTUNITY to start juggling hooks in the sandbox. They also know that Orond Gralhund was alive when they last saw him, and that he wasn’t killed by Floxin because they killed Floxin before he could get to Orond in the first place. This can be very effective when dealing with the problems created by genre expectations: There are all kinds of genres in which the main characters are placed in jeopardy, but are never in actual danger of being killed. The Yawning Portal is full of familiar faces such as the innkeeper Durnan. This is buried in a sidebar on page 6, in with all the story overview, the descriptions of the main villains, some pointless discussion about how the weather is hot in summer and cold in winter, and the list of abbreviations used in case you have somehow ended up as a DM but don’t know what “DC” stands for. Choose Yalah Gralhund, or Valetta from the Temple of Gond. Conversely, true autonomy often heightens the horror: It’s only when choices matter that enigmas are fully engaged with (because they know the outcome of those enigmas are not predetermined; in the most simplistic form, if they could solve this puzzle faster then they might be able to save Lisa’s life). Remember back when you were supposed to choose a main villain, but it didn’t really matter so much until a later time? This book provides a Dungeon Master with material to run a group of 4-6 players though a Dungeons & Dragons adventure from levels 1 to 5. Thanks, the ending rework sounds really enticing for me, plus the last tip confirms what I was going to do anyway as they sort of bungled the Gralhund investigation last time , Thanks for everything that you wrote in here. Dragon Heist completes the main adventure arc with a crazy chase through the streets and locales of Waterdeep, with each season and main villain running the chase a little differently. A corresponding product, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage Maps and Miscellany, was also released.

Your mileage may vary.

In addition, if you have a scenario that supports multiple scenario hooks, then it’s far more likely to be dynamic enough that players can choose how to interact with that scenario and what they want from it (rather than having the GM tell them those things). This was a really cool opportunity, but I blew it: I completely missed the fact that Dasher Snobeedle, a member of the Snobeedle family, had become one of the wererats sent to harass the new owners of Trollskull Manor (i.e., the PCs). Welcome to the Island features four all-new scenarios that can launch brand new story arcs, add intriguing complications to your existing arcs, or explode across you gaming table as exciting one-shots. The point here is that choosing the Cassalanters, for example, does not necessarily bind you to using the summer season. And, as a horror GM, you want to be aware of what your players actually care about: If they don’t care about something, then they cannot fear its loss.

Price: US$49.95 | CA$65.95 Sign up to receive our newsletter in your inbox each month. I still think Trench was a better choice than any of the official main villains, especially for my players, because defeat combined with betrayal is much worse (and paradoxically more satisfying) than just plain defeat.

But, of course, I didn’t do it the way the book says, for the usual reason that I didn’t think it made enough sense to create a coherent detective story. I was happy to see the inclusion of magen in this adventure as I have previously used them in both the 4th edition version of my campaign setting.

), You can use the UNEXPECTED to create quick enigma, disrupt the perception of relative power, or maximize the effectiveness of a phobia. These triggers can include stuff like: These triggers aren’t really a binding list. If you’re going to do a heist, you’re going to need people to get in the way.

In the autumn of 1471, Kora’s mother, Samira, took a short-term field job with the Snobeedle Orchard and Meadery. You know that that this gang war is the result of some provocative action taken by the new splinter group of the Zhentarim.

Volothamp Geddarm sets the adventurers off on an urban-themed treasure hunt for a massive hoard of gold within the city of Waterdeep. The party has already searched Waterdeep once looking for Yalah’s nimblewright, and arrived just in time to not catch it at the Gralhund Villa. My final word of advice is actually two words. SEVERSEN’S MYSTERIOUS ESTATE is hosting the most important party on the entire Island, and you’ve got an invitation. That kind of emotional engagement, of course, will heighten the players’ investment in the game world, expanding the depth and breadth of the horror itself.

Design Notes: Scenario Hooks for Over the Edge The expectation is thus that the PCs will constantly be placed in the perception of “danger,” but will never actually be at risk.

Apparently, Yalah has been busy talking with the publishers of the morning broadsheets and spinning her own story of what happened in the villa the previous day. – provokes actual discussion between the players.). But you’re generally looking for some combination of danger, anxiety, helplessness, and enigma. Your group loves exploring wilderness hex by hex to find that lost crypt and battle random monsters. The original essay included some simple examples of how node-based scenario design works (most notably the Las Vegas CTU scenario in Part 3 of the series), but those really only scratched the surface of what you can do with the structure.

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