D&D 5E Rage of Demons more details.

[Corpsetaker]

Like what?

Most demon lords plot to get to the material plane. So they can cause destruction and increase their influence and power, Along with causing destruction. The Gnolls were created because Yeenoghu was summoned to the Material Plane one day and went on a rampage.

Demon Lords live for moments like these. Zuggtmoy plans on increasing her power by joining with a city sized fungus, Orcus is going to put a city of mind flayers under his control, Demogorgon is destroying a major base of a powerful rival Demon Lord. Graz'zt is off recruiting. Juiblex for sure has no reason to go back, as the only thing he does is destroy and devour things and turn them into copies of himself, and there are more things to devour in the Underdark then in his Layer were he has wiped pretty much everything out already.

Look, all this doesn't take away the fact that it's lame having "all" the lords gated in through the use of a spell gone wrong. Thing is though, Demon Lords will also be worried about their domains in the Abyss so they will want to return. It really is an awful and cheesy plot for an AP.

 

[steeldragons]

If we take into account the fact that there are the...what, 8 (?) most commonly referenced demon lords coming to the Prime as a result of this..."mishap."

The Abyss, at its most conservative estimate consists of 666 layers....anywhere up to infinite. There's a whoooole bunch of other demon lords whose names we don't know [yet] and countless lordlings who will be all too happy to wrest what control/power/destruction/and followers they can while the 8 big-names are lost in their own chaos-making on the Prime.

Hell, for all we know, the whole thing with this poor drow wizard (surely a male) was engineered entirely by Lolth and while these guys are futzing around on the Prime [note Lolth's conspicuous absence from the "famous demon lords invading the Underdark" line up?], SHE is subsuming their layers as fast as she can.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Though some layers are harder to take then others Graz'zt was trapped on the Material Plane for years. During which his loyal Majordomo Verin kept rivals from taking over any of his 3 layers. Zuggtmoy was trapped for 10 years on the material plane and her servants managed to keep her direct rival for control of the Layer Juiblex from taking over. Fraz-Urb'luu was imprisoned on the Prime for 200 years. During which various other demons fought over his layer and destroyed a good chunk of it. Before he returned and took it again. Though he has not managed to get his layer back to it's former size and glory yet.

Meanwhile Orcus was dead for a time before simply walking back into his layer and forcing any usurpers to run. Demogoron has numerous allied Demon Lords so he would keep control of his even if he were gone for a bit. Yeenoghu and Baphomet generally go on short rampages on the material plane before going back.

 

[graves3141]

If we take into account the fact that there are the...what, 8 (?) most commonly referenced demon lords coming to the Prime as a result of this..."mishap."

The Abyss, at its most conservative estimate consists of 666 layers....anywhere up to infinite. There's a whoooole bunch of other demon lords whose names we don't know [yet] and countless lordlings who will be all too happy to wrest what control/power/destruction/and followers they can while the 8 big-names are lost in their own chaos-making on the Prime.

Hell, for all we know, the whole thing with this poor drow wizard (surely a male) was engineered entirely by Lolth and while these guys are futzing around on the Prime [note Lolth's conspicuous absence from the "famous demon lords invading the Underdark" line up?], SHE is subsuming their layers as fast as she can.

I guess that could make sense. The whole thing still sounds goofy though, like some kind of dream sequence instead of a "real" event in the Realms.

I was planning on buying Out of the Abyss for sure this fall but now I wonder if I should pick PotA instead. I guess I will wait for some reviews and just hope like hell that the plot for Out of the Abyss will make more sense after we know more details about the entire AP.

 

[JeffB]

It really is an awful and cheesy plot for an AP.

New line of collectible minis announced for RoD.

Here's the rare...

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I guess that could make sense. The whole thing still sounds goofy though, like some kind of dream sequence instead of a "real" event in the Realms.

I was planning on buying Out of the Abyss for sure this fall but now I wonder if I should pick PotA instead. I guess I will wait for some reviews and just hope like hell that the plot for Out of the Abyss will make more sense after we know more details about the entire AP.

I would get it for the Demon Lord Stat Blocks alone myself.

 

[graves3141]

I would get it for the Demon Lord Stat Blocks alone myself.

Many people will. This AP may be the closest thing to a book on demons that we will see in 5E. That alone may sell a lot of books.

 

[MerricB]

Personally, in my FR games, I greatly, greatly tone down the NPC badasses in the world. I don't follow the canon so it's easy to do.

I'm not sure how many NPC badasses there are in the Realms at present, actually. Drizzt is a great fighter, but nowhere near the power needed to take on a demon prince singlehandedly. Elminster may be less powerful than he was (and has his own problems), and after that the Realms are really in a different state from during the 3E era.

There's also the problem of these NPCs actually leaving their homes: it leaves them undefended, and they have enemies that are happy to take advantage of it!

I'm currently reading through the Companions Codex trilogy, set in the period between the Sundering and Tyranny of Dragons. An orc horde (sponsored by the drow) attacks the Silver Marches: Nesme falls, and other places are besieged for *months*. This is in the same area of the world as Out of the Abyss, and no Elminster is coming to aid them.

Who's the best wizard nearby? Probably Laeral Silverhand in Waterdeep, Open Lord of the City. Is she going to leave Waterdeep undefended to travel into the Underdark on mere rumours of trouble there? (Menzoberranzan has been a major source of worry for the surface people for centuries, but it's not being attacked...) No, she's going to send agents to find out what's really going on. That'd be the PCs.

The question is what happens next, when the threat is identified. In The Rise of Tiamat, cities all over the Sword Coast sent armies to confront the Cult of the Dragon (and were kept busy throughout with the destruction caused by the cult). It's one of the reasons that The Rise of Tiamat is one my favourite adventures of all time: it really displays the world working in response to a threat, rather than just letting the PCs handle it. Sure, the PCs are the major agents working against the cult, but that's fine.

I still haven't really pinned down Princes of the Apocalypse, despite having now run it for many sessions. I don't really get the same sense of the Elemental Cults proceeding towards a goal. What they're doing affects the valley and little else - so it isn't that surprising that the other powers in the region aren't involved. (Once they do find out, well, they probably feel the PCs can handle it...)

There's a lot of unanswered questions about the structure of Out of the Abyss, so it's impossible to properly discuss it at present.

Cheers!

 

[Warbringer]

Well, the Underdark can go down for miles. The surface world only goes up for under a mile. There's potentially more room below than above.

More rooms below ... So that's how they got there; booked on AirDND

 

[Sacrosanct]

I fail to see what the big deal is. There hasn't been an edition of D&D where I liked every module or adventure setting that was put out. Getting upset at WoTC or predicting doom for D&D because you don't like this particular adventure seems awfully odd to me.