The Next Dungeons & Dragons Storyline Will Be...

And the new storyline for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition is...

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Waterdeep: Dragon Heist! The plot will focus on an urban treasure hunt and a focus on urban and city-based adventures with special rules for running games in that environment. The adventure itself will have variable goals and antagonists similar to the original I6: Ravenloft module, where the DM chooses what "villain" will be the secret villain of the campaign, which will change outcomes of various events. The adventure itself will also have downtime built into the adventure along with the ability to own property in Waterdeep. The adventure for Level 1-5 will be released on September 18, 2018, with an MSRP of $49.95.

A second announcement is anticipated later this weekend, as the product codenamed "Catacombs" has a release date of November 20 and is also a 256-page hardcover book. This would make Waterdeep: Dragon Heist the codename "Broadway" (which also had a custom dice release announced for solicitation last year with the other products, including "Marathon" which turned out to be Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes).

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Wizards of the coast made the announcement as part of a weekend-long live streaming event on their Twitch channel, "Stream of Many Eyes". Other products announced during the live stream include updates to the Neverwinter MMO and its Barovia expansion, a new official history artbook about Dungeons & Dragons with images throughout the history of the game, and a new series of boxed sets with props and handouts for published adventures released so far as well as for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.

This article will be updated with more information as the Wizards of the Coast live stream continues.

 

[Jester David]

And here: https://venturebeat.com/2018/06/01/...next-storyline/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

 

[Jester David]

The sets are amazing and production values fun.
But I liked how they announced the product right away in the Stream or Annihilation rather than delay for an hour and change.

 

[Erdric Dragin]

One day we'll go back to the days of 2E where we got more and more setting lore. I miss those days. Now it's just adventures.....those things are a penny a dozen, if not by WotC then by tons of other companies.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

After 3rd editions forgotten realms fluff I’m honestly happy to see adventures over lore. I know it’s not post spell plague lore specifically but I prefer post times of troubles FR. Also how sweet is it that we get a true urban adventure?

 

[Melkor]

Yawn.

 

[Abstruse]

One day we'll go back to the days of 2E where we got more and more setting lore. I miss those days. Now it's just adventures.....those things are a penny a dozen, if not by WotC then by tons of other companies.

Honestly? Fluff doesn't sell. For any company or system. Lore, settings, etc. sell about 10% to 20% what splatbooks and adventures do. The only ones that tend to do well are ones that either also have a lot of new gear/powers/classes/etc. or are also adventures - specifically legal for whatever organized play there is for the system.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

I am for some reason thoroughly convinced this will lead to the return of halastar blackbloak and therefor a revised undermountain game.

 

[Jester David]

One day we'll go back to the days of 2E where we got more and more setting lore. I miss those days. Now it's just adventures.....those things are a penny a dozen, if not by WotC then by tons of other companies.

It's still there. Lore doesn't expire with edition changes. There's 649 WotC products on dmsguild.com associated with the Forgotten Realms.

 

[Abstruse]

It's still there. Lore doesn't expire with edition changes. There's 649 WotC products on dmsguild.com associated with the Forgotten Realms.

This is another reason why WotC doesn't do much fluff. With them finally doing a digital back-catalogue, there's no longer a reason to publish a new "Guide to Insert City/Country/Megadungeon Here" for each new edition. Just make sure the rules can cover those and move on. It's also something people have used as clues for what locations will get big 5e expansions: If they haven't reprinted the "big book" for that setting, there's a chance that's something they're holding back for 5e. At least that's the logic behind the rumors and speculation...

 

[dave2008]

Yawn.

It it your bedtime?