Second Dungeons & Dragons Product for Fall 2018: Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

Wizards of the Coast announced the second product for Fall 2018, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

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A video promotion from D&D Beyond (linked below) aired at the end of the Saturday events on the "Stream of Many Eyes" and was uploaded to YouTube shortly after. The book will be a megadungeon that runs from Level 6-20 that details 23 different levels to Undermountain each with their own feel and theme, along with a full detailing of Skullport. It's stated in the video that running the module with weekly sessions will take at least eight months. Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage will be out November 13, 2018, with an MSRP of $49.95.

[video=youtube;wbVRQIOuI8s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbVRQIOuI8s[/video]
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This is the second product announced during the "Stream of Many Eyes" event on the Dungeons & Dragons Twitch channel. The event will continue on Sunday with celebrity games and potentially more product announcements from third-party companies like Gale Force Nine. The first product announced, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (along with a special dice set), were announced on Friday, June 1.

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[Aldarc]

Except those Kara Tur books are still complimentary to the other FR books that WotC have produced. They work together because they are still in the same setting. Plus there aren't so many that it is completely unaffordable for your average player to keep up with, even if they also buy some DM's Guild FR PDFs.

Let's say WotC opened up Dragonlance for use in the DM's Guild. Players and DM's would then have a choice to either buy FR books (both WotC and DM's Guild), buying just Dragonlance books from DM's Guild or buying both FR and DM's Guild products.

As opposed to how they have the choice of buying either Sword Coast products or Kara-Tur products or Forgotten Realms products vs. Ravenloft products. Again, what you are describing is already there, so the argument you make is somewhat absurd. Choices already exist, even if one were precluding their settings, between DMs Guild and official options.

While there are some that would buy both, it would likely cannibalise some of the FR sales, both WotC and DM's Guild. Even if the combined sales of both products did generate more profit for WotC, the potential increase in profit is likely not worth the potential downside risks for WotC. Plus they would then be under pressure from Dark Sun, Eberron, Greyhawk, Planescape, Birthright, Mystara, Spelljammer, etc. fans for their setting to also be released, leading to further fragmentation.

This is too much of a slippery slope argument. But opening up the DMs Guild for other settings would also provide a potential metric for future setting development or designer talent, much as they kinda already do with DMs Guild.

 

[Coroc]

A question (or two) to hardcore fans of different Settings:

1: Did you already use up all official stuff ever published for your Setting and in desperate need for some new plot ideas/ a continued official Canon ?

2: Are you in desperate need for some hard to convert stuff e.g. all the Darksun Special rules on weapon breakage how to stat a half giant etc?

If 1. and 2. which is of more importance to you?

 

[DQDesign]

A question (or two) to hardcore fans of FR monopoly:

1: Did you already use up all official stuff ever published for your FR and in desperate need for some new plot ideas/ a continued official Canon ? and for this reason you desperately need undermountain conversion n° 4 or 5 or hardcover multi-part APs set in Faerun?

2: Are you in desperate need for some hard to convert stuff e.g. Purple Knight build?

If 1. and 2. which is of more importance to you?

 

[guachi]

Point one carries no weight. You can use the same argument for why we don't need new FR adventures.

You can always run/convert old adventures so you clearly don't need a new adventure.

It's blindingly obvious that when it comes to entertainment, people like new things. That a person could even bring "did you watch/read/listen to all the old stuff" up makes me wonder if you've ever encountered human beings before.

 

[gyor]

While I support opening up dmsguild to other D&D settings, I will say the FR setting is huge. You focus on regions of Toril like Old Empires, Cold Lands, Unapproachable East, Utter East, Cold Lands, Lands of Intrigue, Border Kingdoms, Hoardlands, you can go further afield, Kara Tur, Mazatica, Archrome, Ozze (I'm surprise no one has tried to do anything with the Contentient of Ozze), Katashaka, Zakhara, or go further afield to other worlds in Realmspace, Spelljammer ports on Selune, Abier the Primordial gritter Twin of Toril, Glyth, and others, or even other planes like the Shadowfell (including Ravenloft) the Lower Planes, Upper Planes, Elemental Planes, Energy Planes, Sigil (just don't call it Planescape, but Sigil has been mentioned in FR products). So there is so much opportunities to explore new and barely or unexplored territory. FR is insanely vast and varied with tons of nations, regions, worlds, mirror planes, outer planes, transitive planes, demiplanes, elemental planes, energy planes, Far Realms, and so on. FR has barely had its surface scratched.

 

[TheSword]

A question (or two) to hardcore fans of FR monopoly:

1: Did you already use up all official stuff ever published for your FR and in desperate need for some new plot ideas/ a continued official Canon ? and for this reason you desperately need undermountain conversion n° 4 or 5 or hardcover multi-part APs set in Faerun?

2: Are you in desperate need for some hard to convert stuff e.g. Purple Knight build?

If 1. and 2. which is of more importance to you?

Frankly a lot of older material across all publishers, settings and editions is not as good quality as what is being produced now by the WOC team. Adventure design has become far more demanding than a map with Keyed rooms. Plot hooks are more involved. Production values are much higher. Maps are usable as battle maps if expanded in high res... I could go on. For instance pick a random selection of Ravenloft AD&D modules and compare to Curse of Strahd. The quality is worlds apart. Similarly I am sure that the joint mega adventure being discussed will bear little resemblance to the Ruins of Undermountain boxes which while awesome concepts were not in the same league. Your point that we should use earlier edition materials is a satirical reference I presume to the suggestion that lovers of birthright, dark sun etc use earlier editions materials.

WOC owns a big library of IP and concepts - enough for them to dine out on for the next 20 years and then some. They are slowly working their way through that IP, re-imagining and converting as they go. The focus seems to be on delivering quality, balanced products that fit the design aesthetics of 5e and will appeal to their broad base of new customers. They would be crazy to release that ip to other writers before they get chance to play with it themselves. That gains them nothing that doesn’t exist already and risks losing the chance to reinvent the earlier stuff first. Being first is important in business, as is build up, hype, and pining desire. Look at how many people are stoked to see Undermountain get the WOC treatment. Why on earth would they dilute this with a soft launch of Eberron, Darksun, Dragon Lance etc?

We know that Dark Sun will be coming at some point. It’s been openly discussed. We know that planar adventures will certainly be a thing at some point too. Just as it has in every edition prior. The suggestion that the team will only ever do Forgotten Realms stuff has been firmly debunked by Curse of Strahd. The fact that Princes of Apocalypse and others details how to convert to Eberron, Greyhawk etc suggests they haven’t finished with those either.

What we need to do is be patient. Call for the products by all means, but forum posters getting sh¥$y because WOC doesn’t offer up its IP to the piranhas is pointless. As is cutting off our nose to spite our face on principal because we aren’t seeing Greyhawk products published. If posters don’t want the books that’s their call, people shouldn’t pretend that they’re making some kind of moral stand though.

 

[Aldarc]

A question (or two) to hardcore fans of different Settings:

1: Did you already use up all official stuff ever published for your Setting and in desperate need for some new plot ideas/ a continued official Canon ?

Have we run out of setting materials or plots for Forgotten Realms?

Look, in this great renaissance era of what people are practically hailing as D&D Rebirth, it would be nice to see D&D honor those non-FR settings that form an influential part of D&D's legacy. Give newcomers a taste of D&D beyond Forgotten Realms (or Critical Roll for that matter). Give returning gamers that renewed feeling of nostalgia for those other settings explored in their days of youth. Give these settings a partial facelift in a shiny new adventure book, a breath of fresh air that breathes renewed life into their lungs. They did so for Ravenloft. I would love to see a showcase adventure path that shows what makes Greyhawk so gosh darn special for grognards. What makes Dark Sun special? What makes Planescape special? What makes Eberron special? What makes Dragonlance special? Show me in a well-written modern 5e adventure design or some setting compilation splatbook.

While I support opening up dmsguild to other D&D settings, I will say the FR setting is huge.

FR has barely had its surface scratched.

And yet FR has been given repeated opportunties to scratch that itch, no?

 

[DQDesign]

Call for the products by all means, but forum posters getting sh¥$y because WOC doesn’t offer up its IP to the piranhas is pointless.

I'm very offended to be considered a piranha. I'm only a D&D fan, like many others, who wants to be allowed to give life to IP wotc is leaving to oblivion. For me, wotc can take 99% of profit from dmsguild, the important thing is revivify IP they are lucky to manage but they did not create.

 

[Coroc]

[MENTION=5142]Aldarc[/MENTION] Ye you got a Point there but i fear that todays Wotc products cannot / would not give Feelings of nostalgia, at least with their FR products i do not get any.

Besides big names like Xanathar etc. it is totally different than e.g. 2nd ed. Not that it is bad, it is just different. Being a Player in an OotA campaign atm, with a DM who sticks quite Close to the book, it is underdark yes, but back then the underdark was darker, more cruel i dunno how to say it, i ran the Menzoberranzan boxed set back then it was just different.

I did not formulate my question 1 to suggest some one should first use any official product [MENTION=6781549]DQDesign[/MENTION] and [MENTION=6785802]guachi[/MENTION] , that was purely rethoric exageration, it is just that i am curious what People need more: updated mechanics or a new story.

 

[GarrettKP]

http://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/06/04/dungeons-and-dragons-fifth-edition-campaign-settings/

heres your 4th hardcover for the year. Told y’all.