[UPDATED] RAGE OF DEMONS! New D&D Storyline Features Drizzt, Underdark, & Demon Lords!

Following Elemental Evil this fall, Rage of Demons will launch a new storyline featuring Drizzt Do'Urden, the Underdark, and various demon lords from the Abyss including old favourites like Demogorgon, Orcus and Graz’zt. This will feature on tabletop, console, and PC. "The demon lords have been summoned from the Abyss and players must descend into the Underdark with the iconic hero Drizzt Do’Urden to stop the chaos before it threatens the surface." It begins with the adventure Out of the Abyss, which releases on September 15th for $49.95, and is being designed for WotC by Green Ronin Publishing. (Thanks to Charles Akins for that last scoop!)

​

Drizzt? WotC's Chris Perkins says: "Drizzt's role in the RoD story varies depending on the platform. In the TRPG adventure, the PCs are the stars."

Inspiration: "My inspirations for RAGE OF DEMONS were Lewis Carroll's Wonderland stories and EXILE, by R.A. Salvatore." [Perkins] So this is the Alice in Wonderland inspired story that's been previously alluded to.

Here's the full announcement.

"Today, Wizards of the Coast announced Rage of Demons, the new storyline for Dungeons & Dragons fans coming in Fall 2015. The demon lords have been summoned from the Abyss and players must descend into the Underdark with the iconic hero Drizzt Do’Urden to stop the chaos before it threatens the surface. Rage of Demons is the story all D&D gamers will be excited to play this fall, whether they prefer consoles, PCs or rolling dice with friends.

Following on the critically-acclaimed Tyranny of Dragons and Elemental Evil stories, Rage of Demons will transport characters to the deadly and insane underworld. Rumors of powerful demon lords such as Demogorgon, Orcus and Graz’zt terrorizing the denizens of the Underdark have begun to filter up to the cities of the Sword Coast. The already dangerous caverns below the surface are thrown into ultimate chaos, madness and discord. The renegade drow Drizzt Do’Urden is sent to investigate but it will be up to you to aid in his fight against the demons before he succumbs to his darker temptations.

Dungeons & Dragons fans will have more options than ever to enjoy the Rage of Demons storyline. The themes of treachery and discord in the Underdark are in Sword Coast Legends, the new CRPG (computer role-playing game) coming this fall on PC from n-Space and Digital Extremes. The epic campaign that drives Sword Coast Legends' story forces players deep into the Underdark and continues well after launch with legendary adventurer Drizzt Do'Urden.

For fans of Neverwinter, the popular Dungeons & Dragons-based MMORPG will bring a new expansion – tentatively titled Neverwinter: Underdark – in 2015. The update will see adventurers travel with Drizzt to the drow city of Menzoberranzan during its demonic assault as well as experience a unique set of quests written by the creator of Drizzt, R.A. Salvatore. The expansion will initially be released on PC and will come out on the Xbox One at a later date.

Players of the tabletop roleplaying game can descend into the Underdark in Out of the Abyss, a new adventure which provides details on the demon lords rampaging through the Underdark. Partners such as WizKids, GaleForce 9 and Smiteworks will all support Rage of Demons with new products to help bring your tabletop game to life. To really get in the mind of Drizzt, fans will have to check out Archmage, the new novel by R.A. Salvatore, scheduled for release in early September.

“Rage of Demons is a huge storyline involving all expressions of Dungeons & Dragons, and we’re excited to bring players this story in concert with all of our partners,” said Nathan Stewart, Brand Director at Wizards of the Coast. “I can’t wait to see everyone interact with one of the world’s most recognizable fantasy characters: Drizzt Do’Urden. Descending into the depths won’t exactly be easy for him, and D&D fans will get their mettle tested just like Drizzt when they come face-to-face with all the demon lords.”

​

 

[Raunalyn]

Sorry, but no. Drizzt-hate is simply one of the many examples of fan-negativity rampant on these boards and elsewhere on the intertubes. It's tiring for those of us who don't feel the need to bring "hate" into our hobby lives.

Now, I'm not saying everybody has to "love" Drizzt or that your dislike of a fictional character isn't legit. But Drizzt-hate goes way beyond, "I don't care for that character and how he is used in D&D fiction."

And, like most irrational hate, the "crimes" attributed to our poor dark elf go beyond truth and rationality. And is equally tiring.

If you didn't notice, some of those "crimes" are obviously satirical.

 

[Mephista]

We do not know exactly what Perkins said about Alice. We have someone who reported what Perkins said. Apparently Alice in wonderland was a "spark". That can mean a lot of things.

What I do see in the text is the word wonderland. Explore the wonderland that is the Underdark or something. Seems Alice was a weak spark.

We got the whole "see how deep the rabbit hole goes" bits, we have Underdark mushrooms that are giant, sentient, and magical. There's a bit more going on, I guess.

 

[I'm A Banana]

For Dark Sun:
It suggests to set the adventure in The Great Alluvial Sand Wastes. Instead of Red Larch, they suggest Kled. AWESOME!! I've always been curious about Dark Sun, but never bought anything about it .... so what are those places and were are they located?

Here ya go.

For Dragonlance:
They suggest thinking about which era of The Lance you want to play in, then suggest the best place would be Abanasinia a couple years after The War of the Lance. A good replacement for Red Larch would be Gateway. Sweet!! Dragonlance has always looked great with all that insanely, lovely dragon artwork and that guy with the red cloak and golden-looking skin on the cover of everything. I've always been curious about Dragonlance, but never bought anything about it .... so what are those place and were are they located?

This should do nicely.

For Greyhawk:
They suggest using the original Temple of Elemental Evil locations. So the Kron Hills and Hommlet. You know, that sounds just as interesting! I've always been curious about Greyhawk, but never bought anything about it .... so what are those places and were are they located?

Try this.

For Eberron:
They suggest all kinds of different stuff for Eberron!! YES YES YES!!! I've always wanted to check out Eberron, but never bought anything about it .... so what are all those places about and were are they located?

This should help out.

They do not have ANY 5th Edition material to help us with this. They just assume that we have material from older editions to use if we want to run it in Greyhawk or Dark Sun, or Birthright, etc. If you don't ... well .... too bad.

They presume that the people who love those setting so much are already familiar with them and are willing to work a bit to use them. Which isn't an unreasonable assumption.

ToD clearly borrowed from Dragonlance. The foreword from Mike Mearls in PotA says that PotA is the successor to The Temple of Elemental Evil. And as others have stated, I wouldn't be surprised if Out of the Abyss borrows heavily from Queen of Spiders. I think it's kind of rotten to take these iconic stories that help build this hobby, and throw them into The Forgotten Realms because well .... it's The Forgotten Realms.

Well, it's 'cuz the novel/game lines make the suits at WotC/Hasbro all

 

[delericho]

We got the whole "see how deep the rabbit hole goes" bits, we have Underdark mushrooms that are giant, sentient, and magical. There's a bit more going on, I guess.

Very likely. Actually, this is the aspect of this adventure that I'm most intrigued by - I wonder what they're cooking up?

 

[James Ray]

Where can I get hold of the critically acclaimed version of Tyranny of Dragons?

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[halfling rogue]

So earlier I alluded to the fact that I don't want to purchase a long AP because it doesn't fit my group's needs...but there is something about this adventure that keeps me excited. When I found out that this is the AP inspired by Alice and Wonderland it oddly made sense and I instantly wanted to play/run it. Still not sure if I'll buy it. I might wait for reviews.

I also find it interesting that some pretty creative minds have all come together to create it. Perkins being the foremost. I am not familiar with anything Green Ronin has done. How are they in adventure writing, anything we might expect coming from them?

 

[Zaukrie]

I like Kenson's work. Looking forward to this.

 

[Hussar]

So earlier I alluded to the fact that I don't want to purchase a long AP because it doesn't fit my group's needs...but there is something about this adventure that keeps me excited. When I found out that this is the AP inspired by Alice and Wonderland it oddly made sense and I instantly wanted to play/run it. Still not sure if I'll buy it. I might wait for reviews.

I also find it interesting that some pretty creative minds have all come together to create it. Perkins being the foremost. I am not familiar with anything Green Ronin has done. How are they in adventure writing, anything we might expect coming from them?

Give credit where it's due, Green Ronin has made some bloody fantastic modules:

http://greenronin.com/freeport/

---------

In other news, the regular crowd has spent it's bile on a product, deliberately misreading announcements to spread misinformation far and wide. Jeez, it would be nice, if just once, we could have a WOTC announcement without the standard trolls taking a big steaming dump on everyone's good time. Sheesh.

Howzabout waiting just a few minutes and thinking. Hrmm, Green Ronin, the guys that gave us Freeport are going to write a module where the PC's are second fiddle to a Marty Stu NPC? Really? You honestly think these guys are that bad at adventure design? Do you honestly think that WOTC is that stupid as to repeat the old 2e style modules? It's not 1992 anymore. No one has written a module like that, let alone a major release module, in nearly twenty freaking years.

Yet the usual crowd jumps to the conclusion that if they make mention of some character, they automatically will ram it down everyone's throats and force them to use WOTC's IP. Never minding that those self same critics then proceed to claim that we should be using the "good" Mary Sue NPC's like Manshoon or whatever other ridiculously named Forgotten Realms NPC that they can think of.

How about waiting and seeing before revving up the hate engine? Is that too much to ask?

----------

On the plus side, my ignore list just gets longer and longer. Threads like this do make it easier to gather all the right names in one place.

 

[Chocolategravy]

Oh wow. They are actually going to produce a mega-adventure that features the PCs having to put up with Drizzt as a mary sue.

That should go over well.....

I literally stopped reading at Drizzt. If it had been in paper format I'd have hurled it at something.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I literally stopped reading at Drizzt. If it had been in paper format I'd have hurled it at something.

Then keep reading because you have no idea.