Waterdeep books: high level and no meta plot. Thanks Mike Mearls et. al.

[BMaC]

Finally we have it: an official adventure that does not (based on what I've seen) rope players into a meta-plot ('omg death curse, quick teleport level 1 scrubs to Chult because obviously all the level 20 Paladins who would have responded failed') and supports play to level 20. I'm not sure if my group will do 23 levels as straight Undermountain but I can say that we sure as hell will go as far as Skullport, and having distinct, flavored dungeon levels means that we can pick them up and plop them down as stand alone dungeons somewhere else. For example, use the forest/sylvan flavored dungeon as a stand alone dungeon in the high forest or something.

 

[gyor]

Finally we have it: an official adventure that does not (based on what I've seen) rope players into a meta-plot ('omg death curse, quick teleport level 1 scrubs to Chult because obviously all the level 20 Paladins who would have responded failed') and supports play to level 20. I'm not sure if my group will do 23 levels as straight Undermountain but I can say that we sure as hell will go as far as Skullport, and having distinct, flavored dungeon levels means that we can pick them up and plop them down as stand alone dungeons somewhere else. For example, use the forest/sylvan flavored dungeon as a stand alone dungeon in the high forest or something.

It does sound interesting. I honestly think you could even mix the new Undermountain book with Tales of the Yawning Portal as the portals to all of TOYP are in Undermountain.

 

[aco175]

I must say that I am more interested in this than the others that have come before. I'm just not sure the first one more in Waterdeep will be worth the $50.00. It looks like it will take the PCs from level 1-5 and the other $50.00 book takes them from 5-20 level. I will have to see how much of the city is detailed and can be used for other adventures and add-on gaming.

 

[abirdcall]

I must say that I am more interested in this than the others that have come before. I'm just not sure the first one more in Waterdeep will be worth the $50.00. It looks like it will take the PCs from level 1-5 and the other $50.00 book takes them from 5-20 level. I will have to see how much of the city is detailed and can be used for other adventures and add-on gaming.

That's disappointing.

I'd be on board with a book just for 5-10.

Not interested in 11-20 at all.

 

[aco175]

That's disappointing.

I'd be on board with a book just for 5-10.

Not interested in 11-20 at all.

My group does not play much past 10th level either. That whole argument about the 'sweet spot' and such. I would pay $20 all day for more LMoP adventures. I can also see that it takes 3x more adventuring to advance from 5-10 than it did to go from 1-5, so I could see 2 other 'box sets' to bring the 5-10 into what I would pay.

I see that I am now paying $60 for 3 box sets instead of $50 for the hardcover, which makes me terrible at math and need to reconsider what I would pay for.

 

[Staffan]

That's disappointing.

I'd be on board with a book just for 5-10.

Not interested in 11-20 at all.

There's quite a lot of stuff already for 5e that ends somewhere between level 10 and 15. One of the main complaints I've heard about the product offerings is the lack of high-level stuff. So, it's nice that they're scratching that itch somewhat.

Now, you might argue that a dungeon is perhaps not the best setting for epic-level stuff (the old BECMI version went dungeon -> wilderness -> settle down -> planes, with each stage including the previous ones as well), but it's definitely something.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I love the premise of the new content, but agree that I'd rather do 1-10.

In fact I'd rather do 1-10 and just have it take 5x as long. I miss the days when you felt really invested in a character because leveling up took forever.

 

[AmerginLiath]

With a classic-style megadungeon and urban adventure that can be rerun with multiple villains and additional sequences, my suggestion is to go old school and have players set up multiple characters around the home base of the inn the party apparently gets to manage. That way, different combinations of characters can go out into Waterdeep or Undermountain while not all linearly jumping up in level. Especially with the lack of a major metaplot, you can add a connecting structure to such an adventuring company that works with the campaign.

It’s also a structure that makes it easier for a given player to miss a night of playing or for a new player to join up without the complications of dealing with character levels, especially if you take it as accepted that a given evening will have a range of levels (albeit only within a 2-3 total range in all but extreme cases). In my experience — and in classic D&D megadungeon experience — such a campaign can go on quite a while as high-level characters retire on their spoils and new characters are brought in (with mid-level characters become the new “leaders” of the company as others retire).

 

[gyor]

There's quite a lot of stuff already for 5e that ends somewhere between level 10 and 15. One of the main complaints I've heard about the product offerings is the lack of high-level stuff. So, it's nice that they're scratching that itch somewhat.

Now, you might argue that a dungeon is perhaps not the best setting for epic-level stuff (the old BECMI version went dungeon -> wilderness -> settle down -> planes, with each stage including the previous ones as well), but it's definitely something.

Undermountain is NOT your usual megadungeon and it has a city on top of it, and city inside of it (Skullport), portal to other places including planes, so its so much more then a Dungeon.

 

[jgsugden]

I love the premise of the new content, but agree that I'd rather do 1-10.

In fact I'd rather do 1-10 and just have it take 5x as long. I miss the days when you felt really invested in a character because leveling up took forever.

You can have it take as long as you want. I play in a game where PCs advance at the end of a chapter, which is essentially once per adventure. We get 30 to 40 hours of play per level (except level 1 which is always pretty quick).