New D&D Adventure Reveal On 17th May at 'The Descent'

Hussar · May 16, 2019

One nice thing about using Tharizudun for a "Thanos" style bad guy, if they are doing that, is that there is so little actual canon lore regarding Tharizudun. Yup, he appears in a few modules, or at least cults do, but, by and large, there isn't anything really specific. So, they can avoid the whole "You can't do that" stuff when doing planar adventures.

Hexmage-EN · May 16, 2019

Hussar said:
One nice thing about using Tharizudun for a "Thanos" style bad guy, if they are doing that, is that there is so little actual canon lore regarding Tharizudun. Yup, he appears in a few modules, or at least cults do, but, by and large, there isn't anything really specific. So, they can avoid the whole "You can't do that" stuff when doing planar adventures.

4E did a lot with him in the Points of Light setting's Dawn War (which is similar to the War of Law and Chaos in other editions).

Basically, Tharizdun betrayed his fellow gods to lead a number of godlike, mostly-chaotic elemental lords called the primordials against them, but this attempt was thwarted (this explains Tharizdun's alias Elder Elemental Eye and the Princes of Elemental Evil's interest in him). Later he discovered a "Seed of Evil" that promised him even greater power and a new army. This Seed was created by the obyriths, the twelve surviving demon lords (including the Queen of Chaos, Obox-Ob, Dagon, and Pazuzu) of a multiverse whose destruction they themselves had caused. They needed a tear in the planar fabric to escape to a new multiverse, and they wanted Tharizdun to plant the Seed in the Astral Plane, but he instead planted it in the Elemental Planes. After the Abyss formed he tried to take control of it and its demons to attack the gods but was again thwarted. Eventually the other gods had enough of the destruction Tharizdun was causing, so they worked together to defeat and imprison him.

This is all technically 4E specific, but the 4E cosmology itself is essentially the product of an alternate outcome to the War of Law and Chaos, one where attempts to organize the Outer and Elemental Planes were thwarted and the Abyss formed in a different place. Further, the 4E origin of the demons (and devils as well) work well as an elaboration on the origins given in 3.5's Fiendish Codex series, which themselves still followed the Great Wheel cosmology and inherited many details from 2E. Given that there is little detail on Tharizdun given outside of 4E one could use much of the lore concerning him from that edition without contradicting much else.

SkidAce · May 16, 2019

I selfishly hope its not Tharizdun as a capstone villain. I've been using him since the early 80s, in various campaigns over the years.

Sigh...

GarrettKP · May 16, 2019

So since tomorrow is the stream (and I doubt any more info will drop regarding the event) I am gonna go ahead and make my final guess on the 4 big products they are announcing. I am pretty confident about 3 of them. Here we go:

The big adventure being announced will be focused on the Bloodwar and will have a heavy focus on Zariel and her fall. This is also likely the followup to Out of the Abyss that Perkins mentioned in an interview last year.

The setting book will be Eberron, which is why Artificer is getting so heavily playtested again. Expect final versions of the crunch found in Wayfinder's Guide, but with less a focus on Sharn to avoid as much overlap as possible.

The box set will be an Eberron Starter Set. It will be more expansive than the previous starter sets, with a starter adventure, plus things like maps and maybe paper minis to accompany the adventure. Will also include a new version of the basic rules tailored to include Eberron content.

The mystery 4th product will be a surprise setting book. I am not sure on which setting, but my top 3 guesses would be Planescape, Spelljammer, or another Magic The Gathering setting (likely one with a close D&D parallel like Innistrad so they can reuse some of those assets).

I'm confident the first two are 100% correct. I am about 90% sure on the box set. I am maybe 50% sure on the mystery 4th product.

Can't wait to eat crow or say I told you so by the end of the weekend!

Parmandur · May 16, 2019

GarrettKP said:
So since tomorrow is the stream (and I doubt any more info will drop regarding the event) I am gonna go ahead and make my final guess on the 4 big products they are announcing. I am pretty confident about 3 of them. Here we go:

The big adventure being announced will be focused on the Bloodwar and will have a heavy focus on Zariel and her fall. This is also likely the followup to Out of the Abyss that Perkins mentioned in an interview last year.

The setting book will be Eberron, which is why Artificer is getting so heavily playtested again. Expect final versions of the crunch found in Wayfinder's Guide, but with less a focus on Sharn to avoid as much overlap as possible.

The box set will be an Eberron Starter Set. It will be more expansive than the previous starter sets, with a starter adventure, plus things like maps and maybe paper minis to accompany the adventure. Will also include a new version of the basic rules tailored to include Eberron content.

The mystery 4th product will be a surprise setting book. I am not sure on which setting, but my top 3 guesses would be Planescape, Spelljammer, or another Magic The Gathering setting (likely one with a close D&D parallel like Innistrad so they can reuse some of those assets).

I'm confident the first two are 100% correct. I am about 90% sure on the box set. I am maybe 50% sure on the mystery 4th product.

Can't wait to eat crow or say I told you so by the end of the weekend!

Good guesses, I think. My wild prediction is Dragonlance will see some action.

jasper · May 16, 2019

Has any one made a list of the guesses in this thread?
One more guess. Hasibro will come to it senses and put me in charge of D&D.

Len · May 16, 2019

jasper said:
One more guess. Hasibro will come to it senses and put me in charge of D&D.

You’ve ruined it by spelling their name wrong.

Urriak · May 16, 2019

GarrettKP said:
So since tomorrow is the stream (and I doubt any more info will drop regarding the event) I am gonna go ahead and make my final guess on the 4 big products they are announcing. I am pretty confident about 3 of them. Here we go:

The big adventure being announced will be focused on the Bloodwar and will have a heavy focus on Zariel and her fall. This is also likely the followup to Out of the Abyss that Perkins mentioned in an interview last year.

The setting book will be Eberron, which is why Artificer is getting so heavily playtested again. Expect final versions of the crunch found in Wayfinder's Guide, but with less a focus on Sharn to avoid as much overlap as possible.

The box set will be an Eberron Starter Set. It will be more expansive than the previous starter sets, with a starter adventure, plus things like maps and maybe paper minis to accompany the adventure. Will also include a new version of the basic rules tailored to include Eberron content.

The mystery 4th product will be a surprise setting book. I am not sure on which setting, but my top 3 guesses would be Planescape, Spelljammer, or another Magic The Gathering setting (likely one with a close D&D parallel like Innistrad so they can reuse some of those assets).

I'm confident the first two are 100% correct. I am about 90% sure on the box set. I am maybe 50% sure on the mystery 4th product.

Can't wait to eat crow or say I told you so by the end of the weekend!

Interesting thoughts!

The first one is pretty much baked in, though I'm hoping the big adventure showcases the other devils as well as Zariel. Also I suspect that although it's a follow-up to Out of the Abyss, it will be less a sequel and have more indirect links like Tiamat to Storm King to tomb of Annihilation.

Setting book being Eberron also seems almost 100%, so much of that work is already completed. Hopefully comes with new art and stuff.

I don't know what else the box-set could be other than Eberron, but I also don't know how much bigger it will be than say Phandelver. Slim rulebook for the classes and spells, a 1-5 level adventure including maps and monsters, Eberron pre-made characters sheets. I don't think they'll add too much more than that, partners can sell minis and other bits and bobs (Beatle and Grimm's).

4th product in my mind can be literally anything. It could be a new monster/lore book specific to Eberron in the style of Volo's Guide/Mordenkainen. I don't know how much more they could add in a Xanathar's Guide book, but I still think it's possible especially if they plug in more Eberron stuff. And it can also be a setting book.

If it is a setting book, I kind of doubt it's going to be a Magic Setting that isn't already done in a Planeshift. It would be easy to do but the team seems more interested in covering content that is mostly unexplored in 5e, purposefully leaving gaps in some areas to fill in later. For example, Mordenkainen's could have easily used main Archdevils but instead didn't stat them, I suspect to cover them in the Descent. Why make a product that is already for free in a Planeshift (even if they will obviously add more). I think this case is especially true for settings like Innistrad that are just Ravenloft but slightly different.

That still leaves room for Magic settings like Tarkir (which is kind of 3 settings in one with their wonky timelines) or Theros (because it's just unique). Spelljammer also makes sense because of previous content hinting at it, as does Planescape for the same reason. I'll add maybe Greyhawk as there have been some hints in past books and Dragon talk towards it, but that could just because Greyhawk is so pervasive in D&D.

Other setting like Dragonlance, Dark Sun or Mystara probably need a more robust release so I doubt it's them (also no hints towards them).

gyor · May 16, 2019

My guess is the Blood War AP, Volo's Guide to Spirits and Specters, Mystara Setting Book (this is why Saltmarsh Mentions Mystara and not Dragonlance), and the book set is for Eberron.

This of course doesn't count Adventerer's Inc book.

GarrettKP · May 16, 2019

gyor said:
My guess is the Blood War AP, Volo's Guide to Spirits and Specters, Mystara Setting Book (this is why Saltmarsh Mentions Mystara and not Dragonlance), and the book set is for Eberron.

This of course doesn't count Adventerer's Inc book.

I'd be floored if Mystara got a book before the other 3 big settings (Eberron, Planescape, Dark Sun).

New D&D Adventure Reveal On 17th May at 'The Descent'

Hussar

Legend

Hexmage-EN

Legend

SkidAce

Legend

GarrettKP

Explorer

Parmandur

Book-Friend

jasper

Rotten DM

Len

Prodigal Member

Urriak

Explorer

gyor

Legend

GarrettKP

Explorer

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