D&D 5E Is Dragons of Stormwreck Isle Based on the 80s D&D Cartoon?

We've known about the new starter set for D&D, Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, for some time, but we've known precious little about the boxed set.

The folks over at comic book.com have a theory, though -- they posit that the adventure is based on the 1980s Dungeons & Dragon cartoon. Looking closely at the cover art (which is very blurry) it looks a lot like Hank the ranger with his energy bow, and Diana the acrobat leaping over the dragon's lightning breath, while the one piece of interior art we can see features somebody with a glowing shield -- the signature magic item of Eric the cavalier in the cartoon.

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But that's not the only clue! WotC has been teasing the cartoon in various social media posts over the last couple of weeks, as has D&D Beyond.

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The cartoon ran in the 1980s and featured a group of children who found themselves in the magic world of Dungeons & Dragons, and were granted magical items by the mysterious Dungeon Master. Those children became Hank the ranger, Eric the cavalier, Diana the acrobat, Presto the magician, Shelia the thief, and Bobby the barbarian. The show also featured Uni the unicorn, plus the Dungeon Master, the villain Venger, and, of course Tiamat the 5-headed dragon.

A couple of years ago, a Brazilian car commercial featured a live action version of the D&D cartoon heroes.

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[Stormonu]

Most of the races in the cartoon are bad guys. Lolth was in an episode, which implies the existence of elves but I can't remember them actually meeting elves.

There was Dungeon Master, who was a ... whatever he was. (I like to think that he's a halfling wizard who couldn't exist under the rules as they were in place when the show was on, but that's just me). There are at least two of his people because Zandora seemed to be a Dungeon Master type individual as well.

I always figured that the cartoon was in Greyhawk, and that Dungeon Master was Zagyx in disguise.

 

[darjr]

Oh look, I said that about Dragon and even included the year they were published. 82 and 83. The show, according to Mark Evanier, didn’t start as a D&D show though and Gygax was brought in later when they bought the rights. So yes, he was involved but it was late into the development of the series.

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While a cool bit of info, and it explains a lot, the entirety of the show wasn’t written before it became a D&D cartoon. Just a pilot of sorts, right? Even that was a lot rewritten after, wasn’t it?

 

[embee]

Oh! Hopefully it will include "The Quest for Venger's Other Horn."

Nice bodyshaming there!

Did it ever occur to you that Venger has NO horn and that his "horn" is, in fact, an anomalous bony growth caused by a congenital condition?

If we embrace and celebrate our differences, there would be a lot less Evil out there.

 

[Jer]

While a cool bit of info, and it explains a lot, the entirety of the show wasn’t written before it became a D&D cartoon. Just a pilot of sorts, right? Even that was a lot rewritten after, wasn’t it?

Right - there was the original idea from Dennis Marks, then a lot of development, then a "cleanup pass" and a series "bible" that Evanier developed along with a pilot script. After that Marks and Evanier left and the series was produced by tons of other writers and producers.

Evanier wasn't on board until long after it had gone through multiple revisions after TSR Entertainment was on board and they had the rights to the name D&D. I guarantee that the names Cavalier and Acrobat were not in Marks's original proposal - they might not have even had class names in it. I suspect that the trappings of the Dungeon Master and the kids having class names tied to them as if they were superhero identities came after D&D was attached to it.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Could the knight to become a class? WotC should create one before Paizo published their 5th Ed. version of Pathfinder classes. Knight could be the martial version of the paladin, a softer version of 3.5 crusader class.

Other option for Diana could the "battle dancer", a martial artist based in capoeira. But as class we would need subclasses. My suggestion is to create a monk variant class, but with martial maneuvers (Tome of Battle: Book of the Nine Swords).

 

[Jacqual]

Let's see. The cartoon gang as 5E characters.

Hank, the Ranger.
Eric, the Fighter.
Diana, the Monk.
Presto, the Wizard.
Sheila, the Thief.
Bobby, the Barbarian.
Uni, the Unicorn.

The Animated Series Handbook had them all listed as those classes. They still work for 5E. I see no reason to change them.

I think that about right on the mark, but Uni, the sidekick

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think that about right on the mark, but Uni, the sidekick

You would need to design a CR 1/2 baby unicorn to do that.

 

[Parmandur]

You would need to design a CR 1/2 baby unicorn to do that.

Just use the Ranger animal companion stat blocks from Tasha's.

 

[Undrave]

I think that about right on the mark, but Uni, the sidekick

You would need to design a CR 1/2 baby unicorn to do that.

Just use the Ranger animal companion stat blocks from Tasha's.

How about a humanoid race with the ability to turn into a unicorn? (Or unicorn species with the ability to take a humanoid form?) That'd be popular and probably piss off those who complain about 'funny animal people' at the same time, that's a win win

 

[darjr]

How about a humanoid race with the ability to turn into a unicorn? (Or unicorn species with the ability to take a humanoid form?) That'd be popular and probably piss off those who complain about 'funny animal people' at the same time, that's a win win

Well that’s gonna surprise Bobby!