New D&D Adventure Reveal On 17th May at 'The Descent'

Perkins was talking about the 9 Hells...

 

[Parmandur]

My bet is that we will see an AP featuring Dragonspear Castle which houses a portal to Hell and has long been a thorn in Baldur's Gate foot.

SPOILER for Siege of Dragonspear Castle

The last Baldur's Gate game was a story about a how a crusader wished to invade hell to free a loved one while her close advisor conspired to free his devil master.


There's also a possible link between Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Zariel. The wiki states that Zariel was the one who suggested to the Thayians and the Dragonc Cult to summon Tiamat to Toril because whe wanted to get rid her layer of Hell of her. So maybe we will see the next step in the large metaplot of HotDQ -> Rot -> SKT -> ? .

I believe those events with be linked in the next AP, but I dont know how

WotC doesn't do metaplot anymore: but possible connections, definitely. Perkins went into how Baldur's Gate ties into Chult, for example.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

WotC doesn't do metaplot anymore: but possible connections, definitely. Perkins went into how Baldur's Gate ties into Chukt, for example.

Sorry, megaplot would be the term I was looking for. You, one big chain of events.

 

[Parmandur]

Sorry, megaplot would be the term I was looking for. You, one big chain of events.

Oh, yeah, for sure: I think that's the real reason for the continued Sword Coast usage: creating a giant sandbox for DMs to remix to taste.

 

[GarrettKP]

WotC doesn't do metaplot anymore: but possible connections, definitely. Perkins went into how Baldur's Gate ties into Chult, for example.

What makes you say they don’t do metaplots?

There’s a lot of evidence that suggests they in fact are doing one for 5e right now. Both in how some of the books obviously have direct ties to each other (Dragon Queen, Rise of Tiamat, Storm Kings Thunder, Tomb of Annihilation all work together to tell a story with major connections, as do Princes of the Apocalypse and Out of the Abyss) but also in the fairly obvious set up they have been doing involving the black standing stones in all the major adventures.

Not only am I sure they are doing a meta plot, I’m pretty sure I know exactly what the plot is. And I know part of it is teased in Ghosts of Saltmarsh.

Hell I’m pretty sure one of them even said at the beginning of this editions life span that they wanted to create a D&D version of the MCU in terms of interconnected storytelling.

 

[Parmandur]

What makes you say they don’t do metaplots?

There’s a lot of evidence that suggests they in fact are doing one for 5e right now. Both in how some of the books obviously have direct ties to each other (Dragon Queen, Rise of Tiamat, Storm Kings Thunder, Tomb of Annihilation all work together to tell a story with major connections, as do Princes of the Apocalypse and Out of the Abyss) but also in the fairly obvious set up they have been doing involving the black standing stones in all the major adventures.

Not only am I sure they are doing a meta plot, I’m pretty sure I know exactly what the plot is. And I know part of it is teased in Ghosts of Saltmarsh.

Hell I’m pretty sure one of them even said at the beginning of this editions life span that they wanted to create a D&D version of the MCU in terms of interconnected storytelling.

Not a metaplot as in what happened in 2E: more like Lego set-pieces. Storms King Thunder lays this out nicely, going over the ways to mix and match the advernture products. The idea isn't to have a set plot that everybody follows, but leave the timeline indeterminate and provide potentials that a given DM can remix as desired.

The obelisks are an easter egg for Crawford's home game, and they have explained they are hooks for the DM to use as desired, as with all of the other potential connecting hooks.

I am curious as to what you are referring to in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and your overall theory, however?

 

[GarrettKP]

Not a metaplot as in what happened in 2E: more like Lego set-pieces. Storms King Thunder lays this out nicely, going over the ways to mix and match the advernture products. The idea isn't to have a set plot that everybody follows, but leave the timeline indeterminate and provide potentials that a given DM can remix as desired.

The obelisks are an easter egg for Crawford's home game, and they have explained they are hooks for the DM to use as desired, as with all of the other potential connecting hooks.

I am curious as to what you are referring to in Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and your overall theory, however?

I’ve never seen them say the obelisks are from Crawford’s home game, and I’ve seen members of the staff treat them as something more (Mearls said he couldn’t talk about them during a reddit AMA, implying they are to be paid off later.)

Having seen some of the pages being spread around by folks with review copies. There is another prominent obelisk in Saltmarsh. On top of that, Tharizdun plays a part in the adventures (yes I know these are old adventures, but still).

My theory is that Tharizdun is the big bad of the “D&DCU” ala Thanos. And I think they have done a good job setting that up covertly. He (or his cult) has played a part in two major adventures now (Princes and Abyss). And, assuming 5e is keeping some of the 4e multiverse lore with the Dawn War, his influence extends to almost every adventure, even if it is just a small connection.

The way I see it, there are two major Adventure branches that have some crossover, but mainly work parallel to each other.

Tyranny of Dragons, Storm Kings, and Tomb of Annihilation have a connecting through line that ties them together. SKT directly involves the outcome of Tyranny, and connects to Annihilation through the Ring of Winter plot.

Princes of the Apocalypse and Out of the Abyss are directly tied by DeVir, the cultist of Tharizdun. I am pretty confident that The Descents Adventure will directly tie into Out of the Abyss (Perkins said a Devil focused “response” to Abyss was planned and I think that’s what this is).

The outlier right now is Dragon Heist and Mad Mage (and Strahd, but that’s a separate setting outlier and the only adventure that doesn’t have a prominent black obelisk as far as I’m aware). There’s some connections if you squint, like the cult of Asmodeous being big players in Waterdeep (which might directly connect to The Descent).

One branch has a lot of Tharizdun influence in it. And I think there’s a chance these two branches overlap in the future in a major multiverse story involving Tharizduns attempts to escape his prison Demi plane. And I think in the end the Obelisks will be revealed as anchors in the material plane Tharizdun uses to spread influence.

If 4e lore is being retained (and we haven’t really see anything to say the Dawn War isn’t being retained) then Tharizdun has a major connection to Demons, Primordials, and the Far Realm. A lot of the obelisks have been found in connection to those themes. One in the actual Elemental Cults lairs, one in a demon infused underdark, one literally housing a demon in Chult, and most recently one inside a mansion infused with Far Realm influence.

To me, at worst there’s two meta plots going on and one involves Tharizdun. But I think he will cause the two branches to connect eventually.

 

[Parmandur]

I’ve never seen them say the obelisks are from Crawford’s home game, and I’ve seen members of the staff treat them as something more (Mearls said he couldn’t talk about them during a reddit AMA, implying they are to be paid off later.)

Having seen some of the pages being spread around by folks with review copies. There is another prominent obelisk in Saltmarsh. On top of that, Tharizdun plays a part in the adventures (yes I know these are old adventures, but still).

My theory is that Tharizdun is the big bad of the “D&DCU” ala Thanos. And I think they have done a good job setting that up covertly. He (or his cult) has played a part in two major adventures now (Princes and Abyss). And, assuming 5e is keeping some of the 4e multiverse lore with the Dawn War, his influence extends to almost every adventure, even if it is just a small connection.

The way I see it, there are two major Adventure branches that have some crossover, but mainly work parallel to each other.

Tyranny of Dragons, Storm Kings, and Tomb of Annihilation have a connecting through line that ties them together. SKT directly involves the outcome of Tyranny, and connects to Annihilation through the Ring of Winter plot.

Princes of the Apocalypse and Out of the Abyss are directly tied by DeVir, the cultist of Tharizdun. I am pretty confident that The Descents Adventure will directly tie into Out of the Abyss (Perkins said a Devil focused “response” to Abyss was planned and I think that’s what this is).

The outlier right now is Dragon Heist and Mad Mage (and Strahd, but that’s a separate setting outlier and the only adventure that doesn’t have a prominent black obelisk as far as I’m aware). There’s some connections if you squint, like the cult of Asmodeous being big players in Waterdeep (which might directly connect to The Descent).

One branch has a lot of Tharizdun influence in it. And I think there’s a chance these two branches overlap in the future in a major multiverse story involving Tharizduns attempts to escape his prison Demi plane. And I think in the end the Obelisks will be revealed as anchors in the material plane Tharizdun uses to spread influence.

If 4e lore is being retained (and we haven’t really see anything to say the Dawn War isn’t being retained) then Tharizdun has a major connection to Demons, Primordials, and the Far Realm. A lot of the obelisks have been found in connection to those themes. One in the actual Elemental Cults lairs, one in a demon infused underdark, one literally housing a demon in Chult, and most recently one inside a mansion infused with Far Realm influence.

To me, at worst there’s two meta plots going on and one involves Tharizdun. But I think he will cause the two branches to connect eventually.

That's some high grade speculation, salute. There is an obelisk in DotMM and in Curse of Strahd, actually, somewhere in the jumble.

The easter egg nature of the obelisks came up in Dragon Talk or Dragon+, I forget if Perkins or Crawford said it but it was referencing Crawford's game (yeeeears ago, I think it may have been circa Curse of Strahd IIRC), but they are there for a DM to use as hooks for connecting the adventures if desired. They don't have plans to establish a canonical "result" for any of the APs, as they are potential rather than actual events. They happen only at individual tables, not in an official capacity. Which is what I meant about metaplot. They definitely want to leave connections as they go, to help DMs set them up.

 

[GarrettKP]

That's some high grade speculation, salute. There is an obelisk in DotMM and in Curse of Strahd, actually, somewhere in the jumble.

The easter egg nature of the obelisks came up in Dragon Talk or Dragon+, I forget if Perkins or Crawford said it but it was referencing Crawford's game (yeeeears ago, I think it may have been circa Curse of Strahd IIRC), but they are there for a DM to use as hooks for connecting the adventures if desired. They don't have plans to establish a canonical "result" for any of the APs, as they are potential rather than actual events. They happen only at individual tables, not in an official capacity. Which is what I meant about metaplot. They definitely want to leave connections as they go, to help DMs set them up.

I'd love to see a link to that. Because I have listened to and read most every episode/issue of Dragon Talk and Dragon + and do not remember that. I do remember they said Curse of Strahd used elements of Crawfords home campaign and that the standing stones in Strahd were from Crawfords original homeworld, but they are not the same thing. So until I see a source where they said the Obelisks won't pay off, I will stick to my theory.

EDIT: Maybe you are confusing their comments with this: https://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/06/22/hey-whats-up-with-the-megaliths-in-curse-of-strahd/

They say exactly what you said, but only about the standing stones in the Curse of Strahd campaign. Which is not the same as the strange obelisks in the other hardcovers. I know Perkins himself has added most of the Obelisks in the hardcovers. Dan Dillon wrote the portion of Mad Mage where the Obelisk appears, and he told me the obelisk was added after he submitted his work by Perkins. I am certain they are there as a payoff later.

 

[Parmandur]

I'd love to see a link to that. Because I have listened to and read most every episode/issue of Dragon Talk and Dragon + and do not remember that. I do remember they said Curse of Strahd used elements of Crawfords home campaign and that the standing stones in Strahd were from Crawfords original homeworld, but they are not the same thing. So until I see a source where they said the Obelisks won't pay off, I will stick to my theory.

EDIT: Maybe you are confusing their comments with this: https://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/06/22/hey-whats-up-with-the-megaliths-in-curse-of-strahd/

They say exactly what you said, but only about the standing stones in the Curse of Strahd campaign. Which is not the same as the strange obelisks in the other hardcovers. I know Perkins himself has added most of the Obelisks in the hardcovers. Dan Dillon wrote the portion of Mad Mage where the Obelisk appears, and he told me the obelisk was added after he submitted his work by Perkins. I am certain they are there as a payoff later.

Yes, I think that is what was kicking around the back of my brain. I could've sworn they were the same as the obelisks popping up all around, but who can say?

If it is part of a pay-off for later, I would go with anchors for the return of the Mindflayer empire that Volo's described as suddenly disappearing in a flash.

 

[GarrettKP]

Yes, I think that is what was kicking around the back of my brain. I could've sworn they were the same as the obelisks popping up all around, but who can say?

If it is part of a pay-off for later, I would go with anchors for the return of the Mindflayer empire that Volo's described as suddenly disappearing in a flash.

Either way, I cannot wait to see what they end up becoming.