Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and the old splintering the fan base chestnut...

[HawaiiSteveO]

If I understand it correctly, the new book is 1/2 sourcebook on Waterdeep and 1/2 city adventure for levels 1-5.

Wanting to know what all the fuss was about, I picked up the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron on DDB and totally dig it! My new campaign is going to be set in Khorvaire.

Obvious question - why would I buy Dragon Heist?

To me heist theme is fantastic for Eberron, and I suppose adventure portion could be set in Sharn with some serious changes.

Has WOTC said anything about details included in book to help DM's use in other settings?

Not great value for first part of the book though, aside from cherry picking to flesh out Sharn?

 

[delericho]

Obvious question - why would I buy Dragon Heist?

To me heist theme is fantastic for Eberron, and I suppose adventure portion could be set in Sharn with some serious changes.

Has WOTC said anything about details included in book to help DM's use in other settings?

I think there was some mention of it including systems for running urban adventures in general (though I may be mis-remembering - was that Ravnica?). That may or may not be worth the price of entry.

Not great value for first part of the book though, aside from cherry picking to flesh out Sharn?

Given that D&D Classics has "Sharn: City of Towers" for $15, I think I'd recommend picking that up rather than cherry-picking things to adapt from Waterdeep - other that both being big cities, they're pretty different.

As for the "splitting the market" thing: I don't think WotC are overly concerned about it in this case, largely because I think they're aimed at different groups - the Eberron 'book' is aimed at a smallish number of Eberron fans who use D&D Classics, while the Waterdeep book is aimed at the mass-market segment (who number in the millions, many of whom may never have heard of Eberron, D&D Classics, and may have no interest in either).

 

[Jester David]

All their adventures have been half adventure, half guide to a region of the Realms (apart from Tales from the Yawning Portal of course. And Curse of Strahd, which was a guide to Barovia.) It's no change to their design.

I imagine the adventure part of the adventure will work just fine in Sharn, although it will likely need some small tweaks or changes. A little planning would help (swapping out proper nouns and the like) but I imagine you could convert most on the fly.
Heck... you could write down your conversion as you go, edit it into a book, and sell it on the Guild for future Eberron fans.

Early on, the adventures used to mention conversions. Princes of the Apocalypse did. But they stopped that, likely in response to fan feedback. The hard truth is that most players run homebrew settings and homebrew adventures. So adventures always sell to a small minority. When you start getting into specific settings, that's a fraction of a fraction.

 

[Oofta]

With the disclaimer that I haven't purchased either book yet, I'd say it depends.

I always run things in my own campaign world, so a book on Waterdeep isn't directly applicable. However, I do find books like these useful source of inspiration. I may not have a Waterdeep in my world but maybe I have a ShallowHarbor which fits roughly the same role as Waterdeep. I buy the book, change some names and other details to confuse the FR fans and bazinga! I have a city and several adventures.

Whether you need that or would find it useful is something I can't answer.

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

I agree, I don't think the folks at Wizards are losing sleep over it, and I certainly am not that worked up about it.

Aside from classic stuff, there's not a lot of content out for Eberron 2.0 right now, and grand heist city adventure clicks for Sharn for sure.

Hope we see some previews on new book soon - DDB out 9/7! Been wanting to do urban adventure for ages.

 

[Jester David]

As for the "splitting the market" thing: I don't think WotC are overly concerned about it in this case, largely because I think they're aimed at different groups - the Eberron 'book' is aimed at a smallish number of Eberron fans who use D&D Classics, while the Waterdeep book is aimed at the mass-market segment (who number in the millions, many of whom may never have heard of Eberron, D&D Classics, and may have no interest in either).

Just as a bucket of cold water over Eberron fans, the Wayfarer's Guide quickly shot to Platinum on the Guild in a single day. That's a 1000 copies sold. And the Eberron Campaign Setting and Sharn: City of Towers 3e books, as well as the 4e Campaign Setting have both been in the "Hottest Classic Titles" since then.
But...
All three Eberron books are only at Silver. Which is around 100 to 250 sales, spread out over the many years those books those books have been on the Guild.

So while the Wayfarer's Guide to Eberron sold really well, people who purchased it did follow up with other Eberron purchases. It likely sold to people who were already fans and had the books.

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

As a side note, I saw there is an Eberron season of Adventurers League coming up.

I'm not that familiar with it, never played in organized setting. Are these suitable for home group as well - adventure path type of idea?

I see there was a Curse of Strahd season - why would there be something separate from the actual book?

http://dndadventurersleague.org/storyline-seasons/embers-of-the-last-war/

 

[jasper]

As a side note, I saw there is an Eberron season of Adventurers League coming up.

I'm not that familiar with it, never played in organized setting. Are these suitable for home group as well - adventure path type of idea?

I see there was a Curse of Strahd season - why would there be something separate from the actual book?

http://dndadventurersleague.org/storyline-seasons/embers-of-the-last-war/

Yes all adventure league adventures/modules/books are great for homebrew. And as homebrew you can change the various hooks to fit your group.

Edit to add.
Consider the Season 4 adventures as add on stuff to go along with the book. Or as stand alone for people who did not have the time to run thru the whole book.

 

[Reynard]

I imagine the adventure part of the adventure will work just fine in Sharn, although it will likely need some small tweaks or changes. A little planning would help (swapping out proper nouns and the like) but I imagine you could convert most on the fly.

Why do you think that? You don't think the setting of Waterdeep and the particular factions and Realms elements that implies will be integral to the adventure? And if not, why would WotC bother nailing it to Waterdeep so solidly in the marketing? Have any of the previous adventures been generic enough to convert to a setting as specific as Eberron (or, say, Darksun or Planescape) on the fly?

 

[ccs]

I see there was a Curse of Strahd season - why would there be something separate from the actual book?

http://dndadventurersleague.org/storyline-seasons/embers-of-the-last-war/

My 1st thought(s) on that are:
1) Help hype the book.
2) An AL season might be too short a time to play through the actual book. Thus x # of sessions sharing the theme/setting.

My 2nd thought is:
By not playing through the actual book, there's no "official version" ending to whatever adventure is being featured.