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.

 

[Remathilis]

Consider this pre-ordered.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

You can choose your villain? It’s like a dark reflection of lords of Waterdeep. Halastar or bust, I say

 

[kenmarable]

I’ve been hoping for an immersive urban adventure, and this hits that nicely. Also being inspired by heists is a definite bonus. I’m sold!

Still disappointed that it’s not a new setting, if they are going to do FR, then this really embraces FR rather just using FR as a generic setting to port Greyhawk stuff to.

 

[Jester David]

Freelancers working on the project include Matt Mercer, podcaster extraordinary James Introcaso, and former EN5ider editor James Haeck!
Nice! I love all those people. That just pushed my excitement levels from "eh, maybe" to "okay, must buy".

 

[kenmarable]

You can choose your villain? It’s like a dark reflection of lords of Waterdeep. Halastar or bust, I say

Yep, 4 villains each tied to a different season. So you can replay it and experience a different part of Waterdeep’s holidays/other annual events/etc.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I'm a huge fan of urban D&D/fantasy settings. (As opposed to the "urban fantasy" genre, which is a different thing, though I also like that.) Cityscape might've been a clue to that.

I'll be getting this for urban rules, story seeds, and NPCs/monsters, far more than for the adventure itself. (Though I'm sure I'll mine it for ideas.)

 

[werecorpse]

Someone in chat said it was for levels 1-20. Did one of the presenters say that?

 

[pukunui]

New Storyline = Waterdeep

And the new storyline is: Waterdeep!

Part One:

The adventure takes place in Waterdeep. The book is equal parts adventure and "city-based adventure guide". It's *not* a "save the world" adventure.

The DM chooses one of four villains for the PCs to go up against during the adventure, and this choice affects even what season the adventure takes place in. The goal is for the PCs to stop the villain from finding and claiming a hidden treasure hoard.

I imagine there will be more info forthcoming as the Stream of Many Eyes continues.


Also, that would appear to be Jarlaxe on the cover ... and the Xanathar behind him.

Waterdeep Dragon Heist takes D&D back to civilization in an environment which encourages a lot of roleplaying ... A lot of the inspiration was from things like Ocean’s Eleven and The Italian Job in a city environment. Where the goal of the adventure is to try and find a trove of treasure and keep it out of the hands of villains.

I love this story because it’s not a world-shattering event. It feels very much grounded and you can get the sense that you can lose yourself in this city. Waterdeep is a character. It’s got a personality of its own. And one of the great things about it is it’s a very adventurer-friendly city. The people of the city know what adventurers are like, and they’ve got this kind of New York City blase attitude about them.

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, for levels 1-5, will be released on September 20th.


Part Two:

Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, for levels 6-20, will be released on November 20th.

 

[Prakriti]

This is the most promising adventure premise to date. It has the potential to be a classic.

 

[Patrick McGill]

AH I wish they had the player levels on the cover.