Here's What's In That $500 Beadle & Grimm Platinum Edition of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

Good stuff!

Pricey, but everything is stuff that I'd use. Too pricey. But I give them credit for making good choices.

Well, it is going all out. I'm satisfied with just the book, but I appreciate the quality they are producing. Probably a solid business investment for anybody planning to stream the campaign.

Speculating on the AP itself, this suggests that chapter four will be a "master key," tying together chapters 5-8 separately. Basically, four modules with a common MacGuffin, in addition to the starting module. So, basically five adventure modules with a full Waterdeep Gazetter and Urban play rules. Nice.

Still a woefully inadequate description in my opinion. For instance;

All of the most important maps
All of the major artwork

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How many maps? Which ones are "most important"? "Major" artwork? Don't know who's opinion that is, but again, how many? What size and formats?

22 mini's, ok, good to know the number. And I'm not worried about what they actually are. But apparently they are all unpainted? So for $500 I have to paint my own...

How many is

bunch of BATTLE MAPS

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??
And though I like the idea of isomorphic maps that can be re-arranged for different battles int eh city, those monochromatic maps are not very impressive If the rest are like that, not interested in using them.

Encounter cards... again, they don't say how many. 2 or 20? I do like the idea that they hang on the GM screen and have art for the players.

This is interesting;

why just roll a perception check when they can try and find it for themselves, hidden in the beautifully rendered artwork?

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Sounds fun, but of course totally re-ignites the problem between character and player capabilities.

multiple handouts

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I love handouts. But is this 2 or 20?

two large canvas maps

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Great! We know how many. But what size is large? 24 x 36 inches? or 12 x 16 inches?

four bonus encounters

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This is good. Don't need to know more than this.

5 fully-realized characters custom-made for Waterdeep

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Very good idea. But 5? That's a pretty measly set of character to select from. Especially given how easy it is to create characters and the cost of printing a double sided sheet.

6 exclusive wearable faction insignias

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What happens when two players choose the same faction? Only got 1 insignia...

Dragon coins... fun. But you know I'm going to ask, how many?

In short, not enough information to justify purchase. I get that they can't give away lots of things. That's fine, but come on, no reason not to tell us how many maps, how many hand outs, etc.

Lord Entrails, you read my mind.

Chaderick said:

Lord Entrails, you read my mind.

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I don't like being ... negative, but the only reason I can think of why they wouldn't say how many of a thing they include is because it will be viewed as an inadequate number.

I will note in the video I could see 3 dragon coins and one of the fabric maps, which looked maybe 20x30"?

Again looks like there is no scale on the map of Waterdeep. Has anyone ever figured this out? I dont think Ive ever seen a scale on any map of Waterdeep except perhaps the 3.5 City of Splendors hardcover.

I have a better impression of this than I first had, but I can't see myself plunking down 500 for this. Having painted minis would help. While these are the higher-end Nolzur's miniatures, I would think that the kinds of people who would pay for something like this have more money than time and/or art talent--which I why I might be spending a few hundred on Wizkids booster bricks this year, but find this set over priced.

I have a large-format printer, so the maps are not that important for me, but it would be nice to have. I especially like city tiles that can be configured on the fly for various city encounters.

The coins are a nice touch, but I would rather they dropped props that have no real use in play and spend the money on painted minis. Same goes for the handouts.

You do get the book, which is nice, so you don't have to spend 40-50 AND buy this. But I'm going to want the book anyway. So this just means I'll have two copies of it.

It includes a code to get the digital version on D&D Beyond. First time for something like this in 5e and it is about time--too bad it is only for a $500 premium product. Would be nice if hardcovers bought at marked-up FLGS prices came with D&D Beyond codes.

I like what Beadle & Grimm are doing and if I had more money, I would be tempted to buy this to just support the concept. If enough people by this, other companies are going to look at it and say "hey, I can do that and for less money."

Buy focusing on game aids used heavily in play and doing away with the fancy table props, a more affordable boxed adventure-accessories set could be made. I don't really need the book in a different format. The encounter cards are nice, but you still have to dig through and select them, I don't know that is making things *that* much easier compared to looking in the book and I usually have all the encounters printed in a table in alpha order anyway, or I use Herolabs. The DM screen is nice, but I generally prefer the newer core-set D&D screen. I've not found the adventure-path-specific screens that useful. But they could be, buy mixing core-rule references with adventure-specific tables. I withhold my judgment on the usefulness of the B&G screen until I see it. The coins are fun, but I don't see them be used in play. Maybe as expensive inspiration tokens. I don't need cloth maps and I don't need realistic scrolls for my handouts.

What I would really like to see Hasbro or Wizkids do is offer a boxed set with

(1) pre-painted minis for all encounters (at least minis for all monsters and NPCs not available from prior 5e prepainted mini releases)

(2) glossy paper handouts and battle maps, I don't need fancy materials and realistic props, just something nice to look at a conveniently pre-printed, especially large-format sheets like battle maps

(3) terrain tiles that fit the setting

That's it. Terrain, minis, handouts. Cardstock and glossy paper with the prepainted minis making up the bulk of the price.

No more buying bricks of boosters or buying in eBay to get the minis I need.
No more sizing and printing my own battlemats
No more buying sets of tiles that I barely use to make settings that are time-consuming to set up and still don't exactly match the feel of the adventure

Offer discounts or a D&D Beyond code when you buy a book+accessories set.

The B&G set is soooo close to what I want but goes wrong with unpainted minis, instead it offers high-quality non-gaming props and handouts and maps on fancy materials and aids like encounter cards and DM screen, which are nice, but not needed.

Nice if you have the $$$ to spare.