Dragon Delves Dedicated to Chris Perkins

The new Dragon Delves anthology is dedicated to Chris Perkins, who recently retired from Wizards of the Coast. The new adventure anthology is officially out in early release today. The new anthology contains a brief dedication to Perkins in the credits, acknowledgind his "decades of contributions" to Dungeons & Dragons. Perkins is also credited as a designer for the book.

Perkins had worked for Wizards of the Coast since 1997, holding a variety of design-related roles with the company and spearheading much of the work for D&D's popular 5th Edition. Perkins announced his retirement back in April, following the release of the final 2024/2025 Core Rulebook. However, his retirement was a brief one, as Critical Role's Darrington Press announced that he was joining the publisher as Creative Director, a role similar to the one he held at Wizards of the Coast.

 

[Demetrios1453]

So, how are the PCs supposed to defeat the two powerful monsters in the level 1 adventure? Let alone potentially both of them at the same time? I don't see a way to talk their way out of the two combats.....(not after they kill the dragon, if they do).

It's not highlighted as well as it should be, but in the "Gathering Samples" section, it states that the characters should advance to level 2 once they complete that section and before they enter the dragon lair.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Each adventure starts with a Key Plot Points bullet point summary of the adventure and a Preparation section which lists out stat blocks used in the adventure and a table of Key NPCs with Name, Role, Stat Block, and Location. I really like this and hope this is a feature of their adventures going forward. It mirrors the adventure prep advice in the DMG and is particularly useful for rookie DMs.

Yes, I very much agree with you that it should be the standard from here on out. It's something that will be helpful for DMs of any level, new or veteran.