D&D 5E Tyranny of Dragons is Coming! - the next storyline

[TerraDave]

I wonder if it said "longships" and somebody changed it to viking to make it cooler.

 

[TerraDave]

I enjoyed Keep on the Shadowfell. I really enjoyed the way it was laid out so that each encounter introduced a new rules concept, which made it great for teaching the new system.

Shadowfell and Thunderspire were alright. Not the best done for D&D, but far, far from the worst.

 

[Scorpio616]

The Red, White and Black dragon heads look passable/alright to me, but the Green and Blue seem tacked on, making for a less than cohesive Multiheaded Dragon.. Seems to me like a little more work should be done there.

Unfortunately the tacked on heads issue has been a problem for a long time

Also, I note that this Tiamat has the 3e-style dragon heads. I dunno if the art is a reprint or not, but I'm not too sad to see 4e's green dragon nose-horn go the way of the dodo.

Yeah, that is a point for wotc's new marketing dep.

"Starting this summer, fans will be immersed in the Tyranny of Dragons, coming face-to-face with hordes of evil dragons and, for the first time ever, will take on Tiamat, the evil 5-headed queen of dragons from the Nine Hells".

Okay, I'm being overly critical of the phrasing,

No, you are not being too critical. People tolerate far too many falsehoods and half truths out of marketing. They know exactly what they are doing. Like how D&D Tiamat now has the red body off the D&D cartoon since that is probably what the marketing department believes had the highest media exposure.

 

[I'm A Banana]

*sigh* Sounds cool enough, but I am getting slightly tired of the "evil dragons" theme. What about rescuing the good dragons for a change, from the evil princesses for example?

I would play the baator out of that.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Unfortunately the tacked on heads issue has been a problem for a long time

Yeah, that is a point for wotc's new marketing dep.

No, you are not being too critical. People tolerate far too many falsehoods and half truths out of marketing. They know exactly what they are doing. Like how D&D Tiamat now has the red body off the D&D cartoon since that is probably what the marketing department believes had the highest media exposure.

...

You mean she wasn't supposed to have a red body? Welp, the media exposure worked on little boy me apparently.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

People tolerate far too many falsehoods and half truths out of marketing. They know exactly what they are doing. Like how D&D Tiamat now has the red body off the D&D cartoon since that is probably what the marketing department believes had the highest media exposure.

If the color of Tiamat's body counts as a "falsehood" or "half truth," there's the remote possibility that you're taking this all a bit too personally.

 

[Remathilis]

This whole thing got me thinking...

Tiamat is a good "intro" character to D&D. While the name has some mythological gravitas, the concept of a five-headed dragon is iconic and very D&Dish. It goes back to the 1e Monster Manual and the D&D cartoon and allows for an ultimate baddie that isn't either a deity, undead or fiend. PLUS, she is served by the most iconic monsters in D&D (the ones that are part of the name) and THEY, in turn, come from a variety of locals and can have a variety of minions serving them. You could have kobolds and goblins serving a green dragon, frozen beserker orcs serving a white, gnolls worshiping a blue in a lost pyramid, a black served by lizardfolk and undead, and a red surrounded by giants and drow. A five module series, one per environment, would be good for introducing newbies to the world of D&D (along with their iconic settings and monsters) all with one unified goal of stopping Tiamat.

Why the Realms? Well, Toril has some game memory thanks to Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter, so the idea that setting the adventure there would resonate with CRPGers is a good idea. It has all the iconic D&D stuff (without the oddities of Eberron), is familiar to many players and gamers, and has a lot of rich history. If I was going for a "generic yet defined setting with some name recognition" I'd much rather use the Realms than Oerth, Krynn, or Eberron. (Not to knock any of them, I love them all, but they either lack generic or name recognition).

What I wonder about is Transmedia. Here's what I think...
* A module series for D&D P&P. 5-6 modules dealing with the different dragon hordes, each ending with some dragon fight (or twist on it).
* A Cell-phone or Facebook game/app (akin to Tiny Adventures or Arena).
* An Encounter's Series (perhaps tied to the above modules)
* Some Herobrick sets? Perhaps some other form of toy/collectable (figures, minis, etc)
* Maybe something like a CD Soundtrack (akin to Midnight Syndicate's D&D soundtrack) or a branded board game (either D&D Clue or more like the Ravenloft/Asharadon games)
* Here's the big one: Some cross-promotional effort. The Herobrick sets come with codes that unlock features in the App game. The App game unlocks a printout that you can use at encounters for a free healing potion or some jazz.

Really, to warrant the kinda punch the USA Today article implied, they need to go big so that D&D's 40th is its "return to form" year. A new edition, a multimedia blitz, some cross promotion, and so on will return the game back to the forefront and attempt to grab lapsed player (I played it when I was in college, haven't touched it since. Wonder what's up with it) and new blood (along with those willing to upgrade from out staked out camps in Battlefield of Editions).

 

[TarionzCousin]

*searches for the smiley face with the eye that twitches*

I wonder if it said "longships" and somebody changed it to viking to make it cooler.

... because "searaider bloodthirster ships" was already used in 4E.

 

[Scorpio616]

If the color of Tiamat's body counts as a "falsehood" or "half truth," there's the remote possibility that you're taking this all a bit too personally.

Oh no, the rant sentence about marketing was a general one, though "for the first time ever, will take on Tiamat, the evil 5-headed queen of dragons from the Nine Hells." is one of the things I had in mind. Second sentence was that they generally know full well what they are doing,, like intentionally typo-ing monsters to monster to sound more impressive. 3d sentence was meant as an example for the second sentence.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This whole thing got me thinking...

Tiamat is a good "intro" character to D&D. While the name has some mythological gravitas, the concept of a five-headed dragon is iconic and very D&Dish. It goes back to the 1e Monster Manual and the D&D cartoon and allows for an ultimate baddie that isn't either a deity, undead or fiend. PLUS, she is served by the most iconic monsters in D&D (the ones that are part of the name) and THEY, in turn, come from a variety of locals and can have a variety of minions serving them. You could have kobolds and goblins serving a green dragon, frozen beserker orcs serving a white, gnolls worshiping a blue in a lost pyramid, a black served by lizardfolk and undead, and a red surrounded by giants and drow. A five module series, one per environment, would be good for introducing newbies to the world of D&D (along with their iconic settings and monsters) all with one unified goal of stopping Tiamat.

Why the Realms? Well, Toril has some game memory thanks to Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter, so the idea that setting the adventure there would resonate with CRPGers is a good idea. It has all the iconic D&D stuff (without the oddities of Eberron), is familiar to many players and gamers, and has a lot of rich history. If I was going for a "generic yet defined setting with some name recognition" I'd much rather use the Realms than Oerth, Krynn, or Eberron. (Not to knock any of them, I love them all, but they either lack generic or name recognition).

What I wonder about is Transmedia. Here's what I think...
* A module series for D&D P&P. 5-6 modules dealing with the different dragon hordes, each ending with some dragon fight (or twist on it).
* A Cell-phone or Facebook game/app (akin to Tiny Adventures or Arena).
* An Encounter's Series (perhaps tied to the above modules)
* Some Herobrick sets? Perhaps some other form of toy/collectable (figures, minis, etc)
* Maybe something like a CD Soundtrack (akin to Midnight Syndicate's D&D soundtrack) or a branded board game (either D&D Clue or more like the Ravenloft/Asharadon games)
* Here's the big one: Some cross-promotional effort. The Herobrick sets come with codes that unlock features in the App game. The App game unlocks a printout that you can use at encounters for a free healing potion or some jazz.

Really, to warrant the kinda punch the USA Today article implied, they need to go big so that D&D's 40th is its "return to form" year. A new edition, a multimedia blitz, some cross promotion, and so on will return the game back to the forefront and attempt to grab lapsed player (I played it when I was in college, haven't touched it since. Wonder what's up with it) and new blood (along with those willing to upgrade from out staked out camps in Battlefield of Editions).

Where do I send my money?