D&D 5E Auroborus: A Mountain-shattering Rock-and-roll D&D World from WoW Developers

Urriak Uruk · Mar 24, 2021

Btw, I really like this image. Reminds me of Warhammer Beastmen, and Wheel of Time's Trollocs.

MichaelSomething · Mar 24, 2021

Reynard said:
I am suspicious of both the idea of doing really high powered stuff mechanically interestingly in 5E, as well as the idea of some benefit of have a vast power disparity within the player character group.

The thing that works well for your home group for 30 years is not necessarily something that is going to work well for a published product.

If 4th Edition taught me anything, it's that it doesn't have to be balanced if it's flavorful and immersive...

Whizbang Dustyboots · Mar 25, 2021

From Polygon: Warcraft and StarCraft co-creator Chris Metzen is building a new world in D&D

I know. I was surprised that Azeroth wasn't it -- it was a widely held belief that the World of Warcraft was based on Metzen's own D&D campaign -- and it's not orc-centric.

But very on-brand: Lots of big action and probable game balance issues:

Where regular 5th edition D&D campaigns can get bogged down in low-level fights, Warchief’s setting will give players incredible powers fairly early on. By tapping into this raw power, at least one player character in the party will be able to do incredible things. They could turn cities into stone, freeze entire oceans, or level mountains with the flick of their wrist. It will be up to the group’s Dungeon Master (DM) to roll with these punches.

The Aurobos website.

Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent is a 5E campaign setting by Chris Metzen and Warchief Gaming. The first release in this universe, Worldbook: Lawbrand, is based on the roleplaying campaign that Chris ran with his childhood friends in the eighties and nineties, before heading to Blizzard to work on worlds such as Warcraft, StarCraft, and more.

As a 5E compatible source book, Worldbook: Lawbrand gives players and GMs all the tools they’ll need to create their own adventures in this epic fantasy world.

Will you tame the world – or shatter it?

Ancient magic flows through the grimy streets of Lawbrand’s bustling Trade-Cities. Tensions between the ruling Sularian Church and the new generation of upstart adventurers threaten to ignite a firestorm of societal upheaval. In the wilds beyond Lawbrand’s borders, long-forgotten races and newly formed cults rise to claim their own territories – and exert their will upon civilization. And beneath it all, the ancient World-Serpent, Auroboros, awakens to devour all…

Filled with new player options to create characters in the world of Auroboros, Worldbook: Lawbrand gives access to five unique new races and four new subclasses. From the aquatic race of the Atsaad to the nature-wielding fighter subclass Wildkeeper, new backgrounds, and other new gameplay features, the adventurers of Lawbrand will be nothing like you’ve ever played before. In addition to character creation options, you’ll also discover new magic items, spells, and “Sigils”, a new form of customization.

The ancient World-Serpent, Auroboros, coils throughout Creation; its vast power capable of birthing startling new life or annihilating all that is. By taking the dread Mark of the Serpent, players can wield the Auroboros’ awesome power directly, gaining the ability to heal the sick and shatter mountaintops alike – but at great peril to themselves.

For once mortals start to descend through the Coils of the Serpent’s power, they risk losing themselves to madness, despair and ultimate oblivion…

Ooh, and Samwise Didier art!

The Kickstarter goes live on April 20.

Mecheon · Mar 25, 2021

Urriak Uruk said:
The last expansion I thought was an interesting concept was Warlords of Draenor, where they went back in time to Draenor and explored an alternate history where the orcs were uncorrupted (the Iron Horde). I though that idea was a pretty good one.

hi i'm number one "Warlords had some great ideas but failed on execution" person right here. Warlords had such promise.

Mind I'm the type of person who was basically ride or die for Warcraft for... Decades. And then Shadowlands and its "oops you're not running mythic dungeons too bad so sad no engaging content" came along. Me? Salty? Why would you ever think such?

Anywho, gonna keep an eye how this develops

Whizbang Dustyboots · Mar 25, 2021

Mecheon said:
Mind I'm the type of person who was basically ride or die for Warcraft for... Decades. And then Shadowlands and its "oops you're not running mythic dungeons too bad so sad no engaging content" came along. Me? Salty? Why would you ever think such?

The gap between patches is too long, but Castle Nathria has some good fights. Every raid needs a line dance encounter.

Ringtail · Mar 25, 2021

I like Chris Metzen's work on WoW, so I'm pretty excited for this.

I'm not expecting him to reinvent the wheel, it's still D&D after all, but I'm optimistic all the same.

Ruin Explorer · Mar 25, 2021

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
While it's popular in some quarters to scoff at Blizzard's game lore, I really enjoy Azeroth's lore and Metzen's infectious enthusiasm at Blizzcons before he left the company. I'm betting this will be another big fun setting. The fact that, in the video, he describes the church as "Lawful Good gone crazy" suggests that this will end up being another setting featuring the clash of civilization versus more "wild" people.

I can tell you what it means without even clicking the link - it means the whole thing is going to read like a late 1990s Image comic.

Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is pretty much a matter of perspective.

I note that I clicked the button to be notified when it got KS'd so I must not be entirely opposed to it!

EDIT - Metzen's stuff has always, always been extremely in that "Image revolution" vein (if he was a slightly better artist I'd say he was wasted on games - as is I don't think he was quite as competent or prolific as any of the Image guys). I'm fully expecting bad-but-sexy angels and the Sularian Church will no doubt be full of florid shrieking hypocrits and styled after the late-medieval Catholic Church, and there will be edgy demonic-types who are the real good guys, but also demonic types who are just bad and so on.

It's like no-one got the memo that Nemesis the Warlock did the whole schtick, only with twice the style and intelligence but 1/100th the sales in the 1980s. But hey I guess it bears some repetition.

EDIT EDIT - Clicking the link confirms that impression, frankly. This is an Image revolution-style deal much like Kingdoms of Amalur. That horned monster looks curiously like Simon Bisley drew it. Overall it looks a bit tacky/silly to me. But... maybe that's perfect? Maybe that's what I'd like? Tacky over-the-top D&D? I think it might be.