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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[Jer]

Lots of speculation how classes might work in a set based on the cartoon, but... I'm also curious if/how they would pull in other PC races, since all the canonical characters are human, as far as I can recall. Were there any significant "NPCs" that were other races?

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.

A halfling was in one episode.

Spoiler

Except he was a little man who could make half his body disappear at a time. And then he turned out to be Venger in disguise.

I think there was a gnome wizard in one episode.

Spoiler

I think he was a gnome anyway - he was a big plant monster who turned out to be a gnome wizard under a curse.

I don't know why, but when they wanted to introduce non-humans into the show they created their own. Like the Cloud Bears.

 

[Undrave]

It does make sense. In the cartoon the PCs killed nothing. That is the way of new modules.

Is it just me or you bring this up all the time??

 

[Parmandur]

Is it just me or you bring this up all the time??

I mean, think about the existential horror of it: what if somebody out thee is playing a game of D&D without combat??? WHAT IF THEY ARE DOING IT WRONG???????

And for what is worth, Witchlight can go sideways really easy.

 

[Yaarel]

The Magician from the show is a good match for the Wild Mage Sorcerer from the PHB.

Maybe the hat is an arcane focus.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Makes sense. The cartoon doesn't have enough material for a full setting, but for a starter set? Hell yes.

It plays to older players nostalgia and Gen Z/Millennial fascination with the 80's.

 

[Parmandur]

Makes sense. The cartoon doesn't have enough material for a full setting, but for a starter set? Hell yes.

It plays to older players nostalgia and Gen Z/Millennial fascination with the 80's.

Particularly if they have plans for that material...and it would fit Winninger's "cameo" Setting, in my estimation.

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

Gygax worked directly on the show, and he preferred Humans-only in general.

There were definitely gnomes. I remember this episode:

 

[overgeeked]

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.

 

[Zaukrie]

It would save me money if it is based on the cartoon..... Which is cool. I have more stuff than I could ever use ...

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

Some of the characters from the cartoon were also featured in the Secret Lair drop for the Forgotten Realms Magic the Gathering set. I nabbed a few of those just because I loved the cartoon so much.