This weekend, D&D is bringing a ton of Twitch streamers, actors, comedians and D&D luminaries to the Stream of Many Eyes. Many people also have their eye on this event because it was announced that the D&D team would be unveiling the new fall storyline at on Friday June 1 at 5pm PDT. After an introduction and tour of their Waterdeep set, Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Kate Welch, and Chris Perkins revealed D&D’s new storyline during a roundtable conversation hosted by Anna Prosser Robinson.
The new storyline for Fall 2018 is Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, which will take players from levels 1 to 5 in the Forgotten Realms’ City of Splendors. In addition, we also found out that Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage will be coming out in November as part two of this storyline, taking players from levels 6 to 20
Here’s what we know so far about Waterdeep: Dragon Heist…
From the official product page
Welcome to Waterdeep!
A fantastic treasure trove is yours for the taking in this adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.
Famed explorer Volothamp Geddarm needs you to complete a simple quest. Thus begins a mad romp through the wards of Waterdeep as you uncover a villainous plot involving some of the city’s most influential figures.
A grand urban caper awaits you. Pit your skill and bravado against villains the likes of which you’ve never faced before, and let the dragon hunt begin!
Item details
Price: $49.95
Release Date: 18 September, 2018
Format: Hardcover
“Waterdeep Dragon Heist takes D&D back to civilization in an environment which encourages a lot of roleplaying,” according to Chris Perkins. “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.”
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist will be an urban treasure hunt requiring players to “use diplomacy, intrigue, stealth, and their wits to follow clues and solve puzzles.”
The “dragon” in the title refers to the name of gold coins used in Waterdeep, that also happen to serve as the target of heist in the adventure.
We learned that a number of mechanics specific to the adventure will be used:
- Downtime Rules including owning a property such as a tavern and the adventure includes a prolonged break
- Chase Rules
- Curse of Straad/I6: Ravenloft like replay-ability including with choice of four different secret villains determined at the outset that determines how the adventure will be run and details such as what time of year it takes place.
Also, the book is intended to work just as a standalone Waterdeep source filled with locations and new and familiar NPCs (such as Jaraxle), with the last chapter offering a tour of the city by Volo himself.
Videos have been released profiling NPCs from Watedeep.
Meet the Cassalanters in ‘Waterdeep: Dragon Heist’
Jarlaxle in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Xanathar in ‘Waterdeep: Dragon Heist’
Manshoon in ‘Waterdeep: Dragon Heist’
Make sure to check out the rest of the event this weekend and let us know in the comments below what you think of the new storyline announcement.
Updated: There is also a book codenamed “Catacomb” part 2 of this storyline named Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage scheduled for November 2018 that we might see details about this weekend.
