[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!)

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!)


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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.”





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Mhyr

Explorer
The general theme of this storyline is verrry much my cup of tea!!! ... although I would've preferred other demon lords.

Linking it to Drizzt is not exactly what I would've wished for, but he surely is an iconic D&D- and Realms-character. I liked the first couple of novels I read back in the day and to be honest I can enjoy the new ones (on train to and from work). When we started playing in the Realms again (with LMoP) I gave each player a novel to get into the world and 4 out of 7 featured Drizzt. A famous deus ex machina or DMPC would be horrible, of course. Tying the adventure(s) and the novels together to immerse the players deeper in the setting/world, is much appreciated though. What I am saying is, I could life with a strong marketing horse like Drizzt, if it is done properly

So all in all, I am really looking forward to this one and wonder how they actually handled these aspects (demons, Underdark and Drizzt)!
 

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steeldragons

Steeliest of the dragons
Epic
In all seriousness, cause D&D is serious business, what other themes are there left? Right now we got draconic, elemental, and soon demons/drows. The undead theme comes to mind. Giants/titans too. Any suggestions?

I was just thinking the next thing, almost certainly, must be Giants...and nodding to Against the Giants in plot (of course, having already done drow/underdark, I'm not sure where they'll go for the "who's really behind it all" thing)...since that seems to be their pattern/inspiration here. Take the old stuff, rework the theme and details.

Undead, generally speaking, aren't "big/mega/powerful" enough in/of themselves to follow the trend they seem to have set up. So I'm going to bet Giants next.

I would expect, following Giants, a "Ravenloft-ish uber-vamp demi-place + wants to turn the world into an undead paradise" storyline is plausible.

Maybe an "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" rip off, to bring in some new weird monsters, try to highlight/play up 5e's modern/sci-fi munitions & vehicles stuff.

And, either in that or as a separate product, something that involves/focuses around the introduction of Psionics. Psionic critters. Psionic classes/subclasses. Psionic races...maybe that could all be wrapped up in the sci-fi package of an EttBP-themed product.

EDITTED after reading @delericho post: The SLAVERS story! How did I forget the Slaver series?! That'll be one for sure. Not sure who/how they use as the big bads there...just other high leveled NPCs seems something of a "downer" after dragons, elemental princes, and demon lords.

...Slavers meets Giants? The giants are looking for slaves...and cold cuts? Slavers supply giants with raw meat and promises of a giant-led world for giant's help in conquering/building the slaver's own empires?...Nevermind, WotC, I can work with this myself...

OO! OO! Just had a lil' mental hiccup. What if Grazz't's presence in this one leads to a section/segment of the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth! That'd be pretty awesome. And, if not, then Drelzna (and, by extension, Tsojcanth) and Strahd, for sure, MUST be a team up for the Ravenloft/Vampire path when they get around to it.

EDIT 2 for additional mental hiccup: Strahd, Drelzna and ACERERAK! Ravenloft meets Tsojcanth meets Tomb of Horrors. THERE'S your Undead AP. Uber-Vamps and the uber-Lich in cahoots/working toward... something.
 
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Queer Venger

Dungeon Master is my Dad
Sweet! My current Greyhawk campaign involves Graz'zt! Looking forward to some 5e info on him to see how it compares to what I came up with.
Yes, I hear that Graz'zt is a big player in Greyhawk, nice we'll get official stats and possible cross=over ideas into Greyhawk (that would be awesome). I've always been a big fan of Graz'zt and wonder at the similarity in Driz'zt's name (a possible relation?). Maybe someone should start a Rage of Demons speculation thread. Im super jazzed at this, definitely a much better release concept (and more iconic of D&D) than Alice in Wonderland.
 

CapnZapp

Legend
*Speculation Alert*

Based on 3e and 3.5e release schedules (and my failing memory) didn't they release tons of information on the Forgotten Realms setting prior to going into Eberron and all the associated books? If so I'm wondering if they aren't using that same model again (only releasing books/info in a new setting after reaching market saturation and tapering off releases for the previous one). If so, it doesn't bode well for those groups who enjoy the 5e rule set but don't care for the Forgotten Realms setting. Personally this doesn't matter to my group and I since we just enjoy playing through the adventure paths and make/modify the settings to our own taste anyway.

In my opinion, (re)building off of the successes of the current releases is a sound (if conservative) business model to use when in the early stages of rebranding/rebuilding.
Personally I wonder how successful an edition needs to be for this strategy to give us a new Birthright..
 




Here is where a well-implemented digital aide (Char-Gen, Combat Tracker, Maps, Campaign Tracker, etc) could really bridge the gap between dice, console and pc-gaming. I really hope WoTC and Hasbro gets it together one of these days (editions).
 

SavageCole

Punk Rock Warlord
Drizzt is a double-edged sword. For every unit his presence sells, his presence un-sells at least one. Making him bolt-off in the story will go a long ways towards marketing this product.
 

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