The Next Dungeons & Dragons Storyline Will Be...

And the new storyline for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition is...

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Waterdeep: Dragon Heist! The plot will focus on an urban treasure hunt and a focus on urban and city-based adventures with special rules for running games in that environment. The adventure itself will have variable goals and antagonists similar to the original I6: Ravenloft module, where the DM chooses what "villain" will be the secret villain of the campaign, which will change outcomes of various events. The adventure itself will also have downtime built into the adventure along with the ability to own property in Waterdeep. The adventure for Level 1-5 will be released on September 18, 2018, with an MSRP of $49.95.

A second announcement is anticipated later this weekend, as the product codenamed "Catacombs" has a release date of November 20 and is also a 256-page hardcover book. This would make Waterdeep: Dragon Heist the codename "Broadway" (which also had a custom dice release announced for solicitation last year with the other products, including "Marathon" which turned out to be Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes).

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Wizards of the coast made the announcement as part of a weekend-long live streaming event on their Twitch channel, "Stream of Many Eyes". Other products announced during the live stream include updates to the Neverwinter MMO and its Barovia expansion, a new official history artbook about Dungeons & Dragons with images throughout the history of the game, and a new series of boxed sets with props and handouts for published adventures released so far as well as for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.

This article will be updated with more information as the Wizards of the Coast live stream continues.

 

[BBShockwave]

From Perkin's Twitter feed:

Images are missing... can you repost please?

 

[Ogre Mage]

It makes me sad to see how many of you are talking about “the pirate in bondage gear”...the dude is dressed like Zed from Zardoz! It’s a classic Sean Connery character and film, folks, practically ripped from Appendix N!

I have not seen that film, but my former boss told me that Zardoz is the worst science-fiction movie of all time and among the worst 5 movies of all time.

If this module is an urban treasure hunt, I think rogues, bards, enchantment/illusion wizards, trickery clerics and sorcerers with subtle spell will loom large.

 

[Leatherhead]

Chris Perkins is posting some pics of the art from the book on Twitter:

There seems to be a plethora of rapiers in this art set. Even the paladinish guy is holding one.

Also some hand crossbows.

I wonder if this art is meant to reflect AL characters?

 

[Hexmage-EN]

>Releases MToF
>All about extraplanar conflicts

Eh, more like 25% about extraplanar conflicts. It did detail the Blood War and the Gith, but then proceeded to be a grab bag of PHB race lore and subraces before transitioning into a bestiary with a bit more emphasis on the planes than before, but not much.

I still like Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes overall, but it definitely felt like a case of bait-and-switch.

 

[Staffan]

Since the adventure is only level 1-5 (I'm guessing it's smaller because they include variants, and a big chunk of the book is a Waterdeep sourcebook in disguise as an adventure), I'm hoping it will have lots of forward-pointing hooks in it.

My comparison for this would be the Dark Sun adventure Freedom!. Over the course of that adventure, the PCs (usually individually rather than as a group) have opportunities to get mixed up with many different groups: the Veiled Alliance, the Templars, various nobles, and so on. There are some places in the adventure where being involved with a group in an early part affects what happens in a later part, but the main reason for the involvement is to provide the PCs with allies/patrons that can send them off on later adventures. That's what I would hope to see out of this adventure.

 

[Maialideth]

Yet another Forgotten Realms book. I'm probably going to pass on that, unless it has enough good stuff to plug into my own game. I really want to support D&D, I would buy every book (I bought Chronomancers for AD&D 2e...) just not Forgotten Realms, it is too boring.

 

[gyor]

An Adventure Guide for Waterdeep, we already have the SCAG.

I wish WotC would realize there is alot more to FR then the Swordcoast.

I would have put this adventure in Calimshan.

Still I will try and keep an open mind. I wonder if it contains any player material if its part Waterdeep Adventurers Guide.

 

[CapnZapp]

The SCAG was so thin and weak it basically doesn't count.

 

[gyor]

The SCAG was so thin and weak it basically doesn't count.

Still would have prefered a city from a different region, Skuld, Calimport, ect...

 

[gyor]

http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/dragonheist