D&D 5E (2014) Tyranny of Dragons Panel at PAX East Today

[GX.Sigma]

Pretty much all the new art is awesome (I haven't decided yet whether I love or hate the electric guitar in the "Harper" image).

 

[Jester David]

Let's look at the Forbes article:

The basic story line of Tyranny of Dragons: “ Tiamat, the queen of evil dragons, has languished in the nine hells for millenia. The Cult of the Dragon believes that the time for her return is at hand.” To accomplish its goal, the cult needs to round up five ancient dragon masks and rally the support of evil dragons everywhere.

This means it's going to be your standard "hunt for the MacGuffins" story. Which is problematic in D&D as the party just needs to get ONE of the five ancient dragon masks then turtle somewhere to win. Which also means the adventure likely has to be unfair and railroady to keep the masks from the PCs.
And how has Tiamat been imprisoned for a millennia when she was causing sh*t in Red Hand of Doom and Scales of War?

On one side of the war, the evil Cult of the Dragon and the Red Wizards of Thay; on the other side, heroic groups including the Harpers, the Company of the Gauntlet, the Emerald Enclave, the Lords Alliance and the Zhentarim have set aside their differences to put an end to the tyranny.

Joining forces with the Zhentarim is a neat touch.
The Red Wizards are seeing a lot of action lately, being involved with events since Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle. I wonder if WotC is retconning that and the most recent two adventures to tie into Tyranny more than the Sundering.

• The ToD story line will will unfold across the faee of Faerun, and include settings like Neverwinter, Baldur’s Gate and Waterdeep. Every city is under siege.

Every city on the Sword Coast?

• ”The Tyranny of Dragons story is the first story to launch with the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game. We though it should be tied to one of the most iconic villains and some of the most iconic monsters that the game has ever had.”

Just like the 4th Editon AP...
Tiamat is a little overdone. And I'm still unsold on forcing her into the Forgotten Realms, a setting already rife with gods.

• The ToD adventures will be separate from the core system rules coming out this summer, but will be closely tied into those rules, and the first major adventures.

It really does sound like this is replacing the Sundering as the loose theme for the series of adventures/ Encounter seasons. Just like how the last season or two has come with rules.

• Tyranny of Dragons “will be a transmedia experience.” We’ll see parts of the story not only in the tabletop RPG, but in the organized play program, in the Neverwinter MMO, and in other outlets Perkins can’t talk about yet. Fans will also get a peek at the experience during the live Acquisitions Incorporated game this Sunday at PAX East.

I wonder if working with the Neverwinter MMO is such a good idea? First off, the game is terrible. Second, it didn't work so well with the Neverwinter campaign book. Going multimedia with the Book of Vile Darkness TV Movie didn't work out so hot either.

• ”We’re thinking of Dungeons & Dragons as an entertainment experience across multiple platforms” that will move from story to story fluidly… so a plotline might start in the organized play games and finish in a published module.

Translation: no one gets to see all the story.

• ”The Forgotten Realms is our flagship setting for the new edition, however we are supporting, or will support, all of our key settings in the future.” That includes Ebberon, says Perkins, and “you are going to see more Ravenloft stuff very soon.”

They've published nothing but material for the Forgotten Realms for a year. At this point, they're not producing D&D products, but FR products. I'd hope they start branching out.
What a "key" setting is, is very vague.

And by "see more Ravenloft stuff very soon" I imagine the token adventure of e-magazine content in October.

• The new rules and new adventures play with the idea of in-game factions: Characters can align with certain local groups, receive awards from them, and increase in rank. These factions are specifically chosen to appeal to different kinds of characters and players.

Well... I guess that explains why they name dropped so many heroic groups. I imagine you pick between the Harpers, the Company of the Gauntlet, the Emerald Enclave, the Lords Alliance and the Zhentarim. Which might be the reason the Zhents are involved, to provide a less heroic option for players who want to be machiavellian.

 

[Blackwarder]

Is there a way for this thread to not be a lets-spend-fifteen-pages-on-countering-jester-nitpicks-and-derail-the-thread-in-the-process?

Going through all that crap in every-single-thread is mind numbing and exhausting, and I'm only reading...

Warder

 

[Derren]

Well... I guess that explains why they name dropped so many heroic groups. I imagine you pick between the Harpers, the Company of the Gauntlet, the Emerald Enclave, the Lords Alliance and the Zhentarim. Which might be the reason the Zhents are involved, to provide a less heroic option for players who want to be machiavellian.

I get the feeling that there will be additional classes for them which are really prestigious...

"Chosen to appeal to different kinds of characters and players." does sound like the factions will be pretty cliché.

 

[Blackwarder]

I get the feeling that there will be additional classes for them which are really prestigious...

"Chosen to appeal to different kinds of characters and players." does sound like the factions will be pretty cliché.

Cliché is good, means that it will appeal to more people IMO, also it will make it easier to grasp the essence of each group instinctively.

Warder

 

[Alphastream]

Tyranny of Dragons just seems meh. Another Realms shaking event before the last one has even finished and before anyone really know what shape the Realms will be in when it's done. It feels like comic book events (like Marvel especially) where they start building to the next status quo shattering event a couple months after the last one ended before anyone really gets a feel for the new status quo.

Some of that's valid, but let's be honest - that's what everyone's home campaign is like too! Die Hard movie series, anyone? It's a fantasy world, with every epic threat seeming like the most incredible nail-biter, until the next one.

But, for all of that, the Sundering adventures are really very good. They aren't always the best fit for the Encounters program, but they are really well written adventures that are a pleasure to both run and play.

I don't play in the Realms. Most D&D player's don't. I don't run WotC's pre-published adventures. Most player's don't.
This feels like a giant waste of time.

The Realms are their most reliably popular world. FR has the biggest sales across multiple media and across multiple editions. Each of us may like "world x" more, but on the whole, FR will please the most. It is a good choice for a core, with really only Greyhawk competing. Dragonlace was huge during FR's first cycle and Dark Sun was huge during 4E, but FR bests both easily across time.

For all that many DMs may not need pre-published adventures, a ton do. And, they can double as organized play material (as they have recently). It isn't talked about often, but published adventures can really drive how people play. 3E's late adventures really began the push towards 5 minis in a room, which continued for about roughly half of 4E's life until they began to change that.

It doesn't help that WotC's recent adventures have been subpar. I don't think I've seen any adventures done by them that really wowed me since... well Red Hand of Doom. Gadmore Abby looked okay. Really... WotC is staffed by game designers not writers. If I want to buy a board game or card game or rules they're who I turn to, but they're not an adventure company. But that's all they've been doing since August of last year.

I'll disagree pretty strongly. Gardmore Abbey is widely regarded as one of the finest 4E adventures (you have to look at OP or Dungeon to find a competitor). If you like Red Hand, you would likely greatly enjoy Gardmore. It has plenty of encounter-based play, but it also has a system of adjustable allies and foes, a variety of story-heavy goals, some really excellent themes, and a host of other well executed features that blow away many old adventures we consider classic. Similarly, the Sundering adventures feature some of the most open play and flexible and collaborative storytelling D&D has seen. That approach has begun to really help DMs and players embrace a more open approach towards D&D... a mighty fine thing.

It can be hard to see what the Sundering is exactly about without really getting into it. It was likely trying to do too much. On one hand, it is communicating a reset of sorts to the Realms - providing the story of how the changes born of the Spellplague have lessened and often reversed. (For many, that's great news, bringing classic elements of FR back into the fore while still retaining some of the benefits of the Spellplague years.) At the same time, the Sundering was trying to be an adventure series that helped players who participated feel the changes more immediately, as something they helped shape. Of course, that immediacy is often a menu of choices rather than true influence, but we can see how the choices made by most tables in one Sundering adventure are determining what the Neverwinter MMO's Icewind Dale expansion is like. That is fairly cool, even if it isn't everything it could be. But, come on, doing this stuff is hard for an RPG company and always has been. This is a solid effort and every indication is they are learning from each iteration. Oh, and of course, these sort of things are marketing. We can roll our eyes, but if we want our hobby to grow... we should hope that marketing works. KRE-O toys in my toy store, Neverwinter a successful MMO where players regularly talk about D&D, and Community covering D&D and ending with Dragonspear Castle? Yeah, I'll take more marketing!

I'm just tired. I'm tired of not knowing. I'm tired of wondering if I'm wasting all my money going to this year's GenCon. I'm tired of waiting on WotC to break their silence.

Then take a rest. You've been deep into D&D for a long time. It's okay to take a break. I've taken a five year break from D&D at one point and a 2.5 year break at another time. And I'm a huge fan of D&D today. The breaks were good, helping me to gain some perspective and rediscover my passion. When we become burned out we can't see the positive because our grognard selves prevent that. But, truly, we could have been just as critical. Or, turned the other way, we can be just as positive today as we were before. There are plenty of reasons to feel positive.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Heroes of the Bohemian Ear Spoon, or Complete Flouncy Pantaloons....

Modrons will return in the upcoming fifth edition rules!

Really? I love Planescape™, and aside from Rogue Modrons, I don't like these monsters at all. Shemeshka created much better Lawful Neutral monsters in Pathfinder's outer planes supplement, IMHO.

And how has Tiamat languished for millenia? She was the boss in a 4E WotC Adventure Path?

 

[Alphastream]

So each media gets to see/participate in a sliver? Gee I want that. No wait, no I don't.

It can be really cool. There are parts I like and don't like about the Neverwinter MMO, but they way they and Wizards have worked together on the visuals and story is really impressive. Any of the story/playlines in the MMO comes right out of the Neverwinter sourcebook and is steeped in FR Lore. The factions play the right roles in the right ways, such as Thay both working with and turning on the Cult of the Dragon, the role of the resistance within the Zulkirs of Thay, the separations of quests along arcane schools of study (a big part of how the Thay Zulkir's are organized), and the use of key aspects such as dracoliches (which brings Thay and the Cult of the Dragon together). Visually, the 5E team is clearly working to create a catalog of FR cultures. That creates a consistent experience. A Thayan looks the same in the MMO as they do in the art for the upcoming Dead in Thay adventure and Encounters season. The orcs available as KRE-O (LEGO) toys look like those in the MMO and in the game books. Doesn't seem like much, except my son has the toys and sees my books and gets excited to play. That's the point. If D&D can consistently draw in fans across a variety of forms, all of gaming (not just D&D and WotC) will benefit. Bring me my D&D cartoon, my action figures, my (good) movie!

 

[Echohawk]

Some of that's valid, but let's be honest - that's what everyone's home campaign is like too! Die Hard movie series, anyone? It's a fantasy world, with every epic threat seeming like the most incredible nail-biter, until the next one.

Indeed. Sure, it can be a little wearying for every new adventure or themed set of adventures to be hyped as a major threat to the world, but really, what's the alternative?

"Tyranny of Dragons -- not quite as epic as the Sundering series, and more than a little bit similar to Red Hand of Doom and Scales of War, but still a rather fun adventure to play."

Despite the odd appeal of such an honest tag-line, somehow I don't see that making it out of any company's marketing department.

 

[pukunui]

Translation: no one gets to see all the story.

Meh. Once someone sets up a Tyranny of Dragons wiki, you'll be able to keep up with the story in all its forms.