D&D 5E Rebalanced Tyranny of Dragons Coming In January

According to Amazon a 'rebalanced' version of Tyranny of Dragons is being released by WotC in January. There's no indication if there's a new cover, but the "adventure has been rebalanced to be easier for a new Dungeon Master to run and a better play experience".

2019's Tyranny of Dragons combined 2014's Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat with errata and new cover art. It was originally produced for WotC by Kobold Press during the early period of 5E when adventures were outsourced to local companies run by ex-WotC employees, such as Kobold Press, Green Ronin and Sasquatch Game Studios. This will be the third version of these adventures.

Tyranny of Dragons combines and refines two action-packed Dungeons & Dragons adventures—Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat—into a single sweeping campaign. It also includes a gallery of concept art providing a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of an epic adventure spotlighting Tiamat, one of the most legendary foes in D&D.

• A wonderful re-introduction to 5th edition’s first published adventures for new fans
• Begins as a low-level adventure suitable for new players and evolves into an epic, sprawling campaign bringing players all the way from level 1 to level 15
• Adventure has been rebalanced to be easier for a new Dungeon Master to run and a better play experience.
• Book includes gallery of concept art spotlighting Tiamat, one of the most legendary foes in D&D

 

[Echohawk]

Tyranny of Dragons combines and refines two action-packed Dungeons & Dragons adventures—Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat—into a single sweeping campaign. It also includes a gallery of concept art providing a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of an epic adventure spotlighting Tiamat, one of the most legendary foes in D&D.

• A wonderful re-introduction to 5th edition’s first published adventures for new fans
• Begins as a low-level adventure suitable for new players and evolves into an epic, sprawling campaign bringing players all the way from level 1 to level 15
• Adventure has been rebalanced to be easier for a new Dungeon Master to run and a better play experience.
• Book includes gallery of concept art spotlighting Tiamat, one of the most legendary foes in D&D

Isn't that exactly the same blurb the 2019 release got? The release that until now was only available with the collectible Hydro74 cover? The release that already has an Appendix E: Concept Art? My guess is that the January release is just the existing version of Tyranny but with a normal cover.

 

[Micah Sweet]

This seems to be a re-release of the previous combo release, with another round of errata and maybe even other edits.

Which also tells me that WotC is very confident that 2024 DnD will be backwards compatible. There's no need to spend so many resources to release a very old product without compatibility

Adventures can be compatible with any edition. They have very few mechanical bits, after all.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I didn't say it was new to include concept art.

I said, from the Dragonlance book forward it will be standard.

I hope it doesn't eat up too much page count. I've never really cared much about art.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The original first part (Hoard of the Dragon Queen) played badly - and not just because they hadn't figured out how to balance encounters (TBH, they haven't figured that out by 2022 either).
It was the literal railroad tour of the Sword Coast where nothing happened and no meaningful decisions could be made for weeks of play. I hated running this adventure, which would've been considered poorly designed even compared to the worst of the 2E era "read what the module writers want you to do and watch as important NPCs do the heavy lifting."

The type of issues you are talking about can't be fixed with a "re-balancing".

 

[Micah Sweet]

"Rebalanced to be easier for a new Dungeon Master to run and a better play experience" definitely suggests more than errata. My guess is the rules will be brought in line with other post-Tasha material, which per the designers has all been designed with forward compatibility in mind. And maybe some reorganization and/or supporting material for the "easier to run" part.

What rules? Adventures have very little in the way of mechanics.

 

[Micah Sweet]

What's the better choice? See that a book isn't up to today's standards, shrug, and reprint it anyway, knowing that in 2024, a huge new wave of players will be joining, along with a bunch of returning players who have been away for years -- or bring it up to today's standards?

If you are happy with the older version, don't buy the new one.

The better choice is new adventures.

 

[Von Ether]

It wouldn't hurt to provide guidelines for alternate locations if using the adventure in Eberron, Greyhawk, and Dragonlance.

 

[Smackpixi]

The original adventures were released, or finished, before 5e rules finalized, so they have always been a lil janky. And for some reason, never previously truly fixed for later printings. Calm down. That’s all this is. The clean up maybe will give some hints about future, but doubt it. These adventures just needed cleanup to be full 5e.

 

[JEB]

What rules? Adventures have very little in the way of mechanics.

Monster stat blocks and magic items. Of note, that could include a revamped Tiamat.

 

[JEB]

Isn't that exactly the same blurb the 2019 release got? The release that until now was only available with the collectible Hydro74 cover? The release that already has an Appendix E: Concept Art? My guess is that the January release is just the existing version of Tyranny but with a normal cover.

Doesn't look like it, no: Tyranny of Dragons | Dungeons & Dragons