D&D 5E Announcement coming February 6th

[GarrettKP]

I think you are right that Marathon is not Adventure material, but I also doubt that Catacomb is an Adventure book: beyond not wanting to break Perkins, they have also cited that most groups were not processing two books of adventure material in a full year. So, I forsee them pulling back on Adventure specific material this year.

Speaking to this specifically, from what I have heard they have brought in plenty of freelance writers to help with a book this year, plus they just hired another staff member in Kate Welch. Plus Adam Lee (one of the Story Designers for D&D that works with Chris Perkins) said he was put in charge of an upcoming book.

Seems more than likely that all of that means they needed help with 2 APs released closely together. The reason I have guessed in the passed that Broadway and Catacomb are Waterdeep and Undermountain are because of the release dates. Being so close together means that if Catacomb and Broadway are both APs they have to be linked, and I can easily see them being Waterdeep and Undermountain books meant to compliment each other.

That also fixes the "Groups cannot play through it fast enough" issue, by having both books be tied to one Adventure, with one detailing the city and the other detailing the dungeon. Seems more than logical to me. But as you said, we shall see soon.

 

[Parmandur]

Speaking to this specifically, from what I have heard they have brought in plenty of freelance writers to help with a book this year, plus they just hired another staff member in Kate Welch. Plus Adam Lee (one of the Story Designers for D&D that works with Chris Perkins) said he was put in charge of an upcoming book.

Seems more than likely that all of that means they needed help with 2 APs released closely together. The reason I have guessed in the passed that Broadway and Catacomb are Waterdeep and Undermountain are because of the release dates. Being so close together means that if Catacomb and Broadway are both APs they have to be linked, and I can easily see them being Waterdeep and Undermountain books meant to compliment each other.

That also fixes the "Groups cannot play through it fast enough" issue, by having both books be tied to one Adventure, with one detailing the city and the other detailing the dungeon. Seems more than logical to me. But as you said, we shall see soon.

They also said at Gameholecon that they wouldn't do linked APs again, however.

 

[GarrettKP]

They also said at Gameholecon that they wouldn't do linked APs again, however.

They could get around this by calling Catacomb (Undermountain) an Adventure Supplement (Ala Tales) and not include a plot. It could just detail all of Undermountain and be released for people playing the Waterdeep Adventure who wanna delve into the famous dungeon.

 

[vecna00]

This got me pondering what D&D product announcements might be divisive or controversial within the D&D community, so here are my hype theories...

-Complete Book of Kenders
-Intersectional Feminism of the Demonweb Pits
-D&D 5e Essentials
-Netflix's Bright Official Campaign Setting
-Dungeon Master's Screen Re-Reincarnated

I mean...I would buy all of these books.

 

[briggart]

They also said at Gameholecon that they wouldn't do linked APs again, however.

That's not what I got from the Gameholecon panel. My impression is they were specifically saying that they won't split what's basically a single adventure in 2 different books, like for Hoard/Rise of Tiamat, and that they were moving from two to one storyline/year, but Chris Lindsay explicitly said that they may "very very well tell that story over the course of multiple books".

EDIT: it's around the 38 min mark:
https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/11/the-state-of-dungeons-and-dragons-podcast/

 

[vecna00]

In Dead Gods, Orcus is not looking for an amulet, but rather his wand. The backstory is that Orcus has been killed by the drow goddess Kiaransalee, and is now a vestige of his former self. He goes by the name Tenebrous. Using a secret power known as the Last Word, Tenebrous begins seatching for the Wand of Orcus because it holds a sliver of his power and can restore him to his true form. The Last Word is powerful enough to slay gods, but it is also consuming Tenebrous.

So he targets deities associated with knowledge. He kills several of them, including Maanzecorean, in his quest for the location of the Wand. He also kills and replaces Primus, the god of the Modrons, and unleashes the Modron March earlier than scheduled so the Modrons can hopefully find the Wand.

It’s a great backstory and the two modules use a lot of established lore in very cool ways. I just put my players through them last year as part of our 5E campain, so it’s all fresh on my mind.

You are correct, but I was referring to the amulet he was looking for in the Great Modron March.

 

[GarrettKP]

That's not what I got from the Gameholecon panel. My impression is they were specifically saying that they won't split what's basically a single adventure in 2 different books, like for Hoard/Rise of Tiamat, and that they were moving from two to one storyline/year, but Chris Lindsay explicitly said that they may "very very well tell that story over the course of multiple books".

EDIT: it's around the 38 min mark:
https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/11/the-state-of-dungeons-and-dragons-podcast/

Thank you for finding that! Ya, my guess that Broadway and Catacomb are connected seems spot on to me. Plus during Nathan Stewarts latest fireside chat he said cosplayers better "get their cosplays of Durnan ready. It may come in handy in the future." I have no doubt in my mind that Catacomb is Undermountain.

 

[vecna00]

Thank you for finding that! Ya, my guess that Broadway and Catacomb are connected seems spot on to me. Plus during Nathan Stewarts latest fireside chat he said cosplayers better "get their cosplays of Durnan ready. It may come in handy in the future." I have no doubt in my mind that Catacomb is Undermountain.

Maybe we're getting Undermountain for Marathon, akin to Tales from the Yawning Portal. Just a really long dungeon crawl split into chapters with going back to Durnan for what little exposition is needed. I think it could fit.

 

[Parmandur]

They could get around this by calling Catacomb (Undermountain) an Adventure Supplement (Ala Tales) and not include a plot. It could just detail all of Undermountain and be released for people playing the Waterdeep Adventure who wanna delve into the famous dungeon.

True,,they could. I think if/when they do Undermountain (and I'm certain it's on their drawing board somewhere), I think Waterdeep is likely to be Chapter One, Urban Adventure giving context to the Megadungeon par excellence.

 

[Parmandur]

That's not what I got from the Gameholecon panel. My impression is they were specifically saying that they won't split what's basically a single adventure in 2 different books, like for Hoard/Rise of Tiamat, and that they were moving from two to one storyline/year, but Chris Lindsay explicitly said that they may "very very well tell that story over the course of multiple books".

EDIT: it's around the 38 min mark:
https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/11/the-state-of-dungeons-and-dragons-podcast/

Interestingly, that was precisely what I was thinking of: he said they weren't going to do a two part Adventure again, but then seems to decide that is somewhat misleading. My read is that the planar shennanigans if the AP will tie into the planar supplement(s).