Players be warned! This review contains spoilers and is intended for Dungeon Masters considering running this adventure. Please include spoiler warnings in any comments!

Anyone who has seen the disclaimer in volos guide to monster will not accept a quest form him

"It's a bit longer than LMoP, should take 8-12 sessions to play" Meanwhile my current party in LMoP has played 6(i think) sessions and juuuuust got into the bandit hideout in the second chapter lol.

@RylanStorm

3 жыл бұрын

We finished Lost Mine of Phandelver after about 18 sessions.

@1therocker

2 жыл бұрын

Dude i feel you, we were playing for like 7 sessions (3h) now and my player just spent a whole session going shopping and playing their trollskull tavern. They are really enyoing the litte faction side mission. Playing detective for the zenths is hella fun ;)

@pierrejosten4467

Жыл бұрын

Try homebrewing into LMoP and having them enter the redbrands after 14 sessions. Very fun dont get me wrong...but damn

@Garlly34

Жыл бұрын

My party took 24 sessions to finish LMOP…..

@conmacmara2743

10 күн бұрын

right

While the Cassalanters aren't very exotic, their motivations are the most evil. I chose them immediately, as a player of (non-disruptive, usually) evil characters myself. They are the baddest of the bad guys, and potentially the best villains for a traditionally good party.

@ianiles1722

5 жыл бұрын

I'd say that if you were into true crime and traditionally human evil, the Cassalanters offer a lot. I'm going to try to work it as a delve into evil, selfishness, and guilt, rather than the other more fantastical motivations the other villains have, other than Jarlaxle.

SPOILER WARNING! When running the Yawning Portal (more exciting than I initially thought since it's a kind of moon door to the underground) campaigns, I have "Three Strings Mattrim the Bard" playing the classic "Low" by Flo-rida: kzread.info/dash/bejne/q4hh3KmdZc2tk7w.html Of course, the lyrics had to be improvised: "Halfling had leather pantaloons, boots with the fur The Yawning Portal was looking at her She paid her toll, gave Durnan gold Then she got low, low, low, low..." (I had to give up my Sir Robin tune from the Holy Grail sadly)

This looks great. I bought it yesterday to run with my group, but I'm in the military and have just been told I am being deployed for 3 months, with 5 days notice :'D SO I will have 3 months to learn it through and through so there's that at least. Great review guys, looking forward to Dungeon of the Mad Mage in a coupe of months and your review of that.

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

In a few months there will be lots more helpful advice and resources around as well. Best wishes and have a safe return from your deployment!

@thenovicedm7966

5 жыл бұрын

I know the problems of deployment and running DND. Find a room (FWD/AFT IC0 or perhaps 04 level FC spaces. They always have space and privacy is assured there. Just invite your boss. LOL !

@shawnkuhns2187

5 жыл бұрын

Stay safe

@Elienguitar

2 жыл бұрын

I know this is 3 years old, there are a lotta servicemembers which play d&d on deployment

So, if the Cassalanters aren't your villains, and you needed the help of either the Lord's Alliance or Force Grey, meaning you don't get to keep the full amount, the Cassalanters can ask for a loan from the city. The Harpers, Force Grey, who any other faction, might ask your characters to sneak into their mansion to figure out what the gold is to be used for. Alternately, the Cassalanters might have legitimately gotten the 999,999 dragons they need for the ritual only for the money to be stolen by one of the other villains, forcing the players to skulk through the other lairs to find out who-done-it. This could culminate in the players being present at the ritual and being blackmailed by the Cassalanters.

For me this book has a lot of good info on how city watch and laws function. I had no idea how a DM rules those sorts of things before.

This campaign was my first real foray into D&D, we just finished it in December and it took a total of 13 sessions (about 52 hours). As my first campaign, it was really fun, though I did feel the ending was a tad anticlimactic, I think because the final dungeon was rather boring and not too engaging puzzle wise, there wasn't much mystery to solve in the last dungeon. For the BBEG, we had Jarlaxle who I think was an excellent villain, we never actually caught onto his many disguises until the very end. My player character was actually the one who was almost executed mid-campaign with the event you guys were talking about. I think as a player I had more of a vested interest in the villain simply because my character was a Drow himself. My PC couldn't understand why Jarlaxle was so ruthless and wanted to break through to him more than to fight him, feeling a sense of kindred nature with him due to both my PC and Jarlaxle being rare Drow who had come to the surface from the Underdark. So my PC hesitated a little bit each time we had to confront Jarlaxle or his Drow lackeys, and Jarlaxle did try to convince him to join his gang in the final battle which was partially tempting, but unlike Jarlaxle, my PC valued loyalty and trust - something most Drow don't. But even though he was dismayed with Jarlaxle's treacherous behaviour, when we defeated Jarlaxle in the end (thanks to the help of the Gold Dragon), my PC made sure to stabilize him and made sure he wouldn't get executed (even coming up with a plan to jailbreak him via using Gaseous Form and carrying him in a bottle out to safety if need be). Surface Drow gotta stick together, even if one happens to be your enemy and you want to steer him on a better path. Since then, we've ended the campaign and moved on into Dungeon of the Mad Mage, and since then I've also retired my Drow druid, but I like to imagine he meets with Jarlaxle in prison and continues to try and reach out to him as a brother Drow - despite all his wrongdoings, my PC admires Jarlaxle's passion and dedication to his goals. This campaign was great, especially if you have a Drow PC, because the Autumn setting with Jarlaxle really brought out a lot of battle but also a lot of roleplay because his setting has the most mystery and character interaction.

"what okay wouldn't wanna meet DND celebrities?" I as well as my friends didn't know Volothamp Geddarm until the adventure came out.

I’m a DM that plans on using Dragon Heist as the forerunner to Dungeon of Mad Mage to show my party the value of social encounters over simple hack and slash. However there are 3 key things I wish you had dived more into for your review: 1) Character creation in DH mentions an aspect of your character backgrounds that isn’t always standard in regular game play which is membership in factions and guilds. This plays more heavily into the first half of the module and is explained in the front of the book and gives access to various things and a relationship akin to criminal contacts which is an aspect of the criminal background... 2) Contacts in DH are more than just NPCs. They have backstories like the familiar faces on p. 20 of the module. Each guild or faction will try to recruit the party members early on in the campaign and these contacts play an interesting role as much as the guilds will themselves when it comes to running your tavern. They even present missions that you can run alongside the main plot that relate to whoever the party aligns themselves with on p. 34-42. This is SUPER important (but optional) to show how the players can find strength through the alliances they forge to go up against the villains. 3) If the party gets to the vault before the villains they will need three keys p. 90-94 as revealed by the stone of golorr. Those keys are scattered throughout the main storyline, interactions with a NPC or even in the lairs of the villains. Obviously history checks help at this point from a mechanical point of view but as a DM, it’s VERY important to know these keys ahead of time so you can help the characters recall the session when they were first shown or revealed. So again, backgrounds, NPC interactions, additional missions to build renown through contacts or guild memberships and lastly as a DM, exposure to the vault keys make this adventure very interesting. I personally am not so in love with the seasons and picking one villain. This is why I use the manual as a GUIDELINE for my sessions. I pick a flow path that I find most interesting when it comes to the order for the physical locations and then for the villains - they see the party as weak but useful. They may try to recruit them early on once they get their tavern before the fireball experience. Cassalanters present themselves as good citizens offering helpful information to the party because they want to help sponsor or act as patrons to their new tavern. They see value in it and were sad to see Volo allow it to become rundown so want to be business partners - venture capitalists if you will. They come back into play later on. Xanathar sees them as play things due to his mental instability and the issues they caused him so far in recovering the stone. Jaraxyle and Monshoon want to recruit them so they invite them to their lairs to proposition their help in obtaining the gold for their own gain. Maybe they full on disclose their honest plan or maybe they pose as working together to bring down Xanathar only to want to backstab each other once the beholder is out of the way and the gold is in play. Once the gold is retrieved maybe the Cassalanters swoop in at the last second to steal it in order to complete their ritual. No matter how you play things out - you get more contact with all the villains and the lairs are exposed but not fully. There are hidden aspects to the Cassalanters villa and to the fleet that Jaraxyle runs in the harbor. Nothing is straightforward so it keeps things interesting. Plus, the biggest complaint is the wasted value in the module and this allows you as a DM to expose the characters to more of Waterdeep than what they would get if you kept to one antagonist. Plus it’s simply more fun and I love the “fun factor.” This is my feedback on both the review and the campaign and I look forward to running it with my party of players.

Played my first session tonight. It is a great adventure!

My thought for that first crime scene you need to either have a player from Waterdeep or with religious ties (cleric or paladin) and after interviewing the witnesses ask for either a history or religion check respectively to tell them about the church of Gond. Then replace the detector with a tracker so the party can follow it, kind of like radio tracking where you just go to wherever the signal is strongest.

@misterthegeoff9767

4 жыл бұрын

I'm getting ready to run this and luckily one of my players has already come to me saying "can I be a wizard with the waterdeep noble background?". I could have hugged her, I can drop so many hints on someone with a high int and a legit reason to have local knowledge.

Please do a follow up with each starting enemy/season for specifics. Another great one, thanks again dudes!

Just read through and excited to run Dragon Heist. Watched this video before and after my read through. great watching both times!

Hey guys, love your videos. could you do more of these adventure reviews? All the other channels that make reviews don't do as good of a job as you two and I am looking for morein depth reviews.

Awesome! I still dmning tomb and dragon queen, can't wait to put my hands on this.

really great breakdown, thanks. looking forward to running this soon. Haven't decided on a villain other than I know i'm not doing Jaraxle (one of the players knows a decent amount about that path)

One of the best reviews so far. Great job. Why? Because it's not a flip through, it's an analysis, opinion sharing, tips and recommendations

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you! That’s exactly what we were trying to do.

I'm running a home brew of dragon heist for a group of 8 to 10 year olds, as an Evil Campaign. They found the heart of the mostly dead god Myrkul, (gathered from the astral plane accidentally) and put it into the fountain of heroes in the City of the Dead to defile the symbol against their god. This created a shock wave cracking apart and draining the fountain as well as breaking apart sections of the walls separating the City of the Dead from Waterdeep. Hundreds of dead awoke from their graves climbing out to attack the city while it slept that night. Myrkul would be happy.

For Digital Edition (at least for Fantasy Grounds) there is a free bonus addon that you get with the copy with fully colored maps. - Unfortunately, they are not linked like the base maps, but they are available at least.

@ddesouz6

5 жыл бұрын

Forgotten Realms History you have a great channel. Keep on putting out content

I think you guys talked me into to buying this!

love the new book, I down loaded an Adventures League update for a 5th enemy and this one is very cool as well! Been running it at my adventures league table. At my home brew table been using the Xanathar! both fun and while there is a lot of similarity they are different enough that I feel it would still be fun to run through the adventure once with of or the 4 (or 5) enemy.

As a relatively new player (only within the last 2 years), and my first DM experience being Tomb of Annihilation, I might have to pass on this one. I am definitely not steeped in lore history, and I would certainly struggle as either a player or DM in his setting/story. Good to know in order to prepare (or simply avoid) potential frustrations in playing or running this campaign.

I just started this. The entry for Old Xoblob’s Shop suggests that it’s curiosities can be based on the trinkets in the Player’s Handbook. One of the trinkets was a playing card that bears your image. I decided that there was one for each player, and then that there was a whole deck of cards with images on them. Next thing you know, my players have a Deck of Many Things. Because why not? You can find anything in Waterdeep!

Thanks for the review, not sure this is my parties cup of tea but it sounds interesting. They are much more kick the door in, burn the building down and use explosives just to make sure nothing is left standing. Might have to find a different group to play this.

I found this to be the most fun and easy to run module so far since Lost Mines of Phandelver and Hoard of the Dragon Queen.

I KNEW you guys were Canadian!

Thank you for the in-depth review! I considered running it for my group, but they might be a little too hack and slash for a detailed investigation campaign.

We ended up having major problems because none of our party could read dwarvish. The DM created a dwarf NPC for us to work with.

@domaniac9119

3 жыл бұрын

Same here. Since some of us were at least familiar with Dwarvish script, we were able to figure the most important inscription out through some Intelligence and Insight checks.

We ran this, and it was great. *spoilers* I solved the problems where the players are expected to hunt things down by having them grind up their faction reputation, then the factions provided enough guidance to keep the party moving. They ended up earning the respect of jarlaxl even though he was my main villain through their spywork, and ended up running xanathar's lair as part of a side-quest. They ended up double-crossing jarlaxl and helping the dragon drive him out, then brought mirt in to negotiate with the dragon. Now they're loaded down with magic gear, and have the clubhouse all tricked out. Halaster is not worried about some OP level 6's though. Not at all...

My players knew this was an investigation adventure but just to prove me wrong (i said they cant do hack n slash) theyre hacking and slashing through everything.

I do like the tips given

I would be interested to watch a video where you guys rank all the 5e adventures from worst to best.

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

Hmm yeah it might be easier for us to get out a high level overview of all the modules as they are then get through them all! We do want to cover them all like this eventually though. Some of the modules are better written than others, but we do think they all have something to offer. Our “rankings” might be things like how easy they run “by the book” , how easy they are to adapt with homebrew, strength of the story, etc.

Jarlaxle is easily my favourite character in all of fantasy fiction. so I guess if I get a group to play this my dream of someday being him for a while might finally come true.

My group just did LMoP but really want to do this with their current characters, any suggestions to play it starting off at 4 or 5?

First? You dudes are awesome btw. Second favorite D&D channel under WebDM ;)

Been looking to run this adventure for my group to work on my DM skills. But thinking I'll reframe it to be in the new MTG set New Capenna. Thought after having heard y'all say it's hard to swap settings I'm worried hahah.

The perfect module for those used to COC playstyle xp

Would love a video on what character classes and builds you recommend for this adventure ... also videos like that for old adventures would be great too! Maybe like a "top 10 characters for waterdeep dragonheist"

@tonyhunt7967

5 жыл бұрын

Being that it is a heist scenario, you could probably look at the tropes of any heist movie and determine what classes would work. You need someone who is muscle so most likely a fighter, a rogue is likely a sensual for all of your subterfuge, lock picking, and traps. Bards and wizards likely have the most utility and versatility for supporting the rest of the group . Being that it's a heist, I would suggest omitting Clerics, paladins, and barbarians for either alignment or their lack of Subtlety.

@ticozayas6430

5 жыл бұрын

I love sensual rogues... lol just poking fun good advice tho

@tonyhunt7967

5 жыл бұрын

@@ticozayas6430 that's what i get for using voice to text. Essential folks...just like spell check.

@blazinlatino89

5 жыл бұрын

Oh yea those characters are awesome choices for sure .. i actually thought a knowledge domain cleric and a conquest paladin that could intimidate and interrogate information out of people woulda have worked aswell? I also meant that i like your guys channel and content alot and was throwing an idea for a video out there because i havent seen anyone else make one! Keep up the great work tho .. you have a fan.

@ticozayas6430

5 жыл бұрын

Moon druid would also be a good infiltrator depending on thier beast shapes

Going way back!

One thing I like about 5E, 20th level means something again. Laurel Silverhand? 17th level.

We just completed Waterdeep. I liked it. We still have a few loose ends to tie up, so we’re still in Waterdeep doing things. And yes, transporting this city to other locations is difficult, but it can be done. We translated it to Tal’Dorei and called it Emon.

This is totally different than anything I have ever run before. Ever. I'm not sure it will fit my playgroup, but heck, I'm going to give it a try anyway. Besides... there is plenty of Waterdeep lore and information in here that will be useful even without running the module. Great job on the review.

I need something similiar for Exandria....looks like I'd basically rewrite the whole adventure trying to transfer the setting. Oh well.

Not gonna watch this one as I don't plan on running it as DM but I might play in it, but wow, you guys got this one up quick! For those of us who can't watch: how would you rate it in comparison to other published WotC adventures?

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

Overall, it's a very strong module, and certainly one I would reach for when considering starting a new campaign. It would be very easy to run this module and then branch off into Tomb of Annihilation, Curse of Strahd, or Storm King's Thunder. The biggest weakness of the module is that the specific characters and locations in Waterdeep and the Forgotten Realms are tightly woven into to the fabric of the module, making it difficult to adapt to a homebrew setting.

What I'm doing is having the players be allied with the Cassalanters because the Cassalanters never tell them about the whole murder thing, only that a curse was put upon the kids by Asmodean cultists (not mentioning that they were, in fact, the cultists). The "main villain" is Jarlaxle because I love him and I am somehow going to include the Xanathar (having the gang steal the stone from Jarlaxle maybe? I want a goldfish cameo). In the end, the players somehow find out about the whole murdering ninety-nine people thing and have to come up with a way to thwart the Cassalanters. I couldn't care less about Manshoon, he's kind of boring in my opinion. He might also make a cameo though, who knows? We're still on chapter one.

I was a bit disappointed that there was not really a heist for the party in a module called "Dragon Hiest"

Would you recommend this for a group that is only starting to play the game? Including a not exprienced dm?

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

This is a very difficult module for a first-time DM, and for players it involves many obstacles and encounters that can’t be defeated via combat. I would strongly recommend Lost Mines of Phandelver instead for a new group with a new DM.

Just don't go after the fish and you'll be fine.

I want to run this so bad but both of my groups are level 5 and dont want to make them roll new characters at 1. Is there anyway to make this work for 2nd tier play or any modules that would be good for their level? We've been doing homebrew but with classes its hard to prep homebrew content between sessions. Plz halp

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

The only issue with running it in tier 2 is that your PCs become strong enough to kill the villains in a direct confrontation, so you'll need to play them smarter. If I was running this adventure in Tier 2, I'd probably try the idea we discussed in the video where all the villains are active at the same time so the players have a LOT more foes to manage. That way if one of them gets taken out early, the others still pose a threat.

What I really want to know is if you can run this multiple times with the same group/different DM each time. I know each villain is tied to a season and was hoping each was different enough to run without knowing what to expect. Does anyone know?

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

It requires making significant changes to the module and coordination between the DMs. It's not impossible, but it's not something you can do "out of the box". Although it's an open ended section, the first half of the module is the same regardless of which villain/ season. The change of the villain does make events play out differently, but players are definitely going to know what to expect the second time around.

Will you guys be doing a review of Dungeon of the Mad Mage?

@TheBierp

4 жыл бұрын

I'm wondering the same thing. My group recently finished Dragon Heist and we're thinking about Mad Mage. I'd love to see the Dudes review on it.

@rhysiare

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheBierp Thing is, DoMM is super long. If your DM has looked at it, ask him/her how large the dungeon is. Then, watch his/her eyes go wide, because the dungeon is a mega-mega-mega-mega dungeon. My party went from finishing WDH and into DoMM. We finished WDH in December, began DoMM in January and we still haven't explored all of the 1st level of the dungeon, the 1st level...out of 22 levels. So if they review DoMM, it would probably take a long time to put together a video for it, and it might even take two or more videos to cover all the possible things in there.

I think it would be solid for new players, but not fresh DMs. LMoP is great for a first time DM, but this one has so much more to unpack

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

I agree. New players would have a blast with this module. But it is tough for a new dm.

@robertbeach71

5 жыл бұрын

We had experience similar to that.

I have a question about the campaign is Floon an important npc later in the story

@rhysiare

4 жыл бұрын

Not really, after we rescued him, we never saw him again. But, you can always make him more a party of the story by seeking him out. A lot of NPCs we didn't interact with much more than once, except for Renaer. Since the party starts off the campaign with getting to choose a personal contact in the Yawning Portal, I wanted to make my contact (Jalester) be a worthwhile part of the story. Little did I know how big a part he would end up playing due to my desire to include him more! Even though my PC and Jalester barely had any interaction and barely knew each other for the first half of the campaign, due to my PC asking the party to fetch Jalester as a last resort for help, Jalester ended up coming to my PC's rescue after he was arrested and facing execution concerning the Gralhund Manor incident, and to my PC's surprise, Jalester broke him out of jail. I decided to use that event and Jalester's unexpected appearance and rescue of my PC to build a really nice subplot which resulted in my PC developing romantic feelings for Jalester in the end, and it was a nice way to end the campaign - my PC got to foil the heist, become a citywide hero, get some of the heist money, and score a committed romantic relationship. My PC really lucked out :p

Hmm, I dismissed this because it was so low level, but you make it sound cool so I might just pick this up. You mentioned that there is a dungeon delve that comes out that's part of this what is the name of that? Is that the dungeon of the Mad Mage or something? Also you mentioned that one of the villains is a tune to Five magic items. How is your tune to five minutes ago items I thought you could only a tune to 3 or is it just because he's a villain he can break the rules?

@rhysiare

4 жыл бұрын

So we just finished this module back in December. To answer your questions... 1 - Yes, this module leads nicely into Dungeon of the Mad Mage. This is what my campaign ended up doing, we foiled the heist, were claimed heroes of Waterdeep, then were sought out to explore some things in the Undermountain (leading straight into the DoMM campaign). 2 - An NPC doesn't follow the same rules as a PC, they can, but the sky's the limit with NPCs and what power they have. So Jarlaxle being attuned to 5 magic items (which my party looted off him when we beat him haha) is totally just due to him having NPC status. I think he actually might be attuned to more than 5 though. We only recovered 5 when looting him, but I know he has more than 5 magic items, I'm just not sure if all of them require attunement. Jarlaxle has magic items out the wazoo.

I know the module is designed for levels 1-5, but if you had higher level players who wanted to hack and slash, do you think it would be possible? Or just a huge headache for the DM?

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

I would wait for Waterdeep: Dungeon of The Mad Mage in that case. The module does have combat, but not enough to sustain high level hack and slash play given how much interaction and investigation goes on.

I was curious have you guys considered doing a video on curse of strahd? I'm about to prep my players to end up in raven loft & was wondering your opinions on it

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

We love Curse of Strahd and think it's one of the best modules for 5e. We're playing catchup on the module reviews but we do eventually want to cover it. Just can't say when.

@quintinsteevessenior5568

5 жыл бұрын

Please explore then just Curse of Strahd. Ravenloft is filled with much more potential then just Borovia. Check out the "Fraternity of Shadows" website for more lore

Is it possible to run it with a group, which is already in the 4th level?

@bmpproducer9334

3 жыл бұрын

I know it is a bit late but you can just add monsters or change out monsters to get to the good cr point to balance out the combats

Do the players run an actual heist, or are they doing detective work to stop someone else doing a heist? Or, I guess, both?

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

In my view, it's more on the investigation side than the heist side. However, there are opportunities for certain parts of the module to be embellished and presented as a heist due to the risk of the city watch getting involved (anything involving the noble mansions detailed in the adventure).

I'd concentrate on making a crapload of money by providing magical services and pickpocketing. Then I'd hire detectives to do all of the mystery solving stuff.

First experience with d&d and also dm cause my whole group is new players. Just got this cause it seemed interesting. Now i feel like i may be over my head. 😬😬😬 Doing a few one offs before we start.

@KdogPrime

4 жыл бұрын

It's not a campaign for newbies. In fact, I recommend that new DMs avoid this one.

@evelynda5235

4 жыл бұрын

@@KdogPrime Eh, its going pretty well so far. Seems like its more about willing to put in the work upfront.

How’s jarlaxle attuned to five magic items?

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

He has a special rule which allows it. His gear is a factor in his challenge rating. Perks of being an NPC I suppose!

@quintinsteevessenior5568

5 жыл бұрын

He has the infinity gauntlet.... 😀

Hey dudes thanks for the vids. However please don't assume that I know anything about these characters. I haven't read the books or played other campaigns. I am attempting to get into d and d with my kids ages 10-15. So I don't know the characters you are talking about nor do my kids. Just wanted to give you a heads up as to who is watching.

I wish I would have seen this video before starting the adventure as a new DM. Kind of scares me to even try now

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

Just go for it! Ultimately, a module is only part of the picture. It’s like the script for a movie: it’s a plan, that you as the “director” have to bring to life with your “actors” (the players). A great cast will put on a fantastic show no matter what the script says and there is always going to be ad lib and changes. Don’t be afraid to change things you don’t like or don’t make sense to you. This is a great campaign and your players will love it!

Just got done running the first chapter of Dragon Heist. It's been almost 20 years since I played, playing mostly 2nd AD&D with THAC0 before migrating to the new d20 system that I played for about a year. Jumping back into it, though it had been quite a while was a cinch. Yeah, small rule changes here and there, but when you have a repository of the past, the changes are simple to grasp. What I found to be the most discouraging, even though primarily having been a player all my DnD life and with the large gap in playing, was the plethora of information given to the DM and the lack of information and set-up given to the player. I've been in many games where people run it off the cuff, and it rarely goes well and leaves players confused as to what to do next. So I did what any good player, who was actually trying to make a first time, concerted effort into DMing(not b.s. dming) would do. Make shit make sense. All the players I played with were brand spanking new new. Never having visited any world within the forgotten realms, Faerun seemed as good a place as any. I put together an introduction, spelling out their sub-continental location, the city in which they were located, the time of the year, local authorities, fighting amongst the black network and other criminal organizations, and pinned the player side of the map on the wall, because even though they were familiar with the layout of the town, being locals for the most part, they wouldn't be able to see the street names or the location of anything too important without asking me to check(which cost them a dc check). They were able to acclimate quite well and I was able to give a good, 5 minute introduction to Waterdeep. What killed me as a DM trying to take his job seriously was the fact that hardly any relevant information is given to the players. Not a description of the yawning portal, nothing. They went out of their way to build a story, but not a world, nothing to actually capture the imagination of the players, and left it bare minimum with text dialogues. To work out the first chapter into something that was playable and keep the new players interested on the path laid out took almost as much time as it did for the players to progress through the chapter. The development time for the entire chapter 1 took a total of 6 hours, including printing out NCP's, additional maps, extra code law sheets, ect to make it work. Thankfully, I was able to get about 7 hours of gameplay out of it. Though it was a great experience, I feel someone new to the game in general will not be able to run a game that leaves any impact on the players, or leave them coming back for more.

Spoilers!!!! I made the adventure a Rat Race and It's A Mad Mad World styled adventure XD!!!!

Its not that the villains "cant kill the characters" that is completely wrong It is: "The villains aren't mean to be killed nor are they out to kill the player characters" It is a completely different assessment of the idea. The villains are not objectively after the players.

You rip off one of the major factions of the city... and you are given a tavern in the city... You can expect word to get out that you were the ones who did it and none of the factions are really happy about it. Now you get approached by one faction's representative who acts amused and congratulatory that you managed to pull it off, while 2 other factions are tolerant to mildly hostile and the faction you actually ripped off is starting to plan for your funerals. That "module" (mini-campaign) doesn't really end until you clean up the city or you get the F out of there.

Yeah it's a shame they are using Dyson maps. I don't hate them but feel they are very much more appropriate to being used as a photocopy on gaming tables. Using them on a Virtual tabletop feels a bit rubbish after using the wonderful colour maps from other artists. I guess this was a cost saving measure but it does make the book look a bit cheap compared to other WotC books (for me at least).

Okay, first off, what the fuck? How is Waterdeep the most famous city in DnD when we have fucking Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale and goddamn Neverwinter?!

Probably not first Edit: First? Edit ×2: Damnit, I'm playing in this- I can't watch this.... See ya in a few months 😕

@DungeonDudes

5 жыл бұрын

Once you've played it, let us know what you thought!

@realmofdoors9605

5 жыл бұрын

@@DungeonDudes Definitely will!

"Specific to Waterdeep"? What a pity. In my version of the Realms (a campaign still "in potentia"), Waterdeep is replaced by Stormwind, ruled by King Varian Wrynn. [Minor Spoiler below?] Neither am I plugged into FR lore. My understanding of the setting is 90% based in the original Grey Box set. I don't know why Manshoon is a clone and had never heard of Jalaxyl until this module. I like the ideas in the module though. "And now for something completely different" was overdue.

@illoney5663

5 жыл бұрын

Upvote for the Monty Python reference.

@ianiles1722

5 жыл бұрын

Before this book was known to me, I had already been planning a heist adventure/campaign in Waterdeep using all my old 1st and 2nd edition resources, but setting the campaign about 150 years past the 1490's fifth edition setting. It was much darker and more 'Cyberpunk,' but less well planned as I am only one DM without a writing team at my disposal. That being said, I'm enjoying running it. It's a well written adventure with lots of leeway for introducing one's own characters and scenes.

Jar-lax Ban-ray

don't like mods..

Wtf! So many spoilers! I hope my players don't see this!