Waterdeep Dragon Heist Review (D&D 5E Adventure)

[@birdiemcchicken1471]

2:50 "Someone has hidden half a million dragons in the City of Splendors" Well... If that's not an adventure hook, I don't know what is.

[@omlo9093]

How about wyverns? Drakes? No? Dragons it is!

[@timoriihimaki9354]

"My wealth and treasure? If you want it, I'll let you have it. Look for it, I left it all at that place!"

[@MannyBrum]

I'm kind of glad that all the villains and their lairs don't get used in a major way in the adventure, since they can be used in later adventures. The true value of this book is a starting point for adventures in Waterdeep, not just the adventure in the book.

[@WASD20]

Great point!

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

Seriously, this seems to be the perfect book to expand off on. Add new NPCs, add new interested factions, throw in some side adventure and it holds great potential.

[@drell3884]

I freaked out when I saw Jarlaxle. Any RA Salvatore fans out there?

[@PriceTheAvocadoKing]

Same here haha

[@Mr.Monster1984]

Yes. And jarlaxle is my favorite character

[@ephemeraldgames]

Enchiridion is Ancient Greek, pronunciation is something like "En-kai-rid-eon," definitely didn't learn this from Adventure Time nope

[@iznax9]

It is not really ancient Greek (in terms that we still use it) and it is more like "en-he-RI-thion" and it basically means guide (or more like a small quick guide) ;)

[@TOAST-FACEKILLAH]

Same

[@forsakeneremith3770]

it is Greek. derived from the Greek word ἐγχειρίδιον (enchiridion) referring to a small manual or handbook.

[@taintedtaylor2586]

It's actually pronounced like: En-kee-ree-dyon

[@abacate4492]

Are you guys PhD in random stuff? :v

[@DysonLogos]

Thanks for the props on the maps. :)

[@WASD20]

Oh cool. Of course! I was incredibly happy to see they hired you for this. :)

[@omlo9093]

Why don't digital versions of this module include maps as separate image files?

[@AJGames1220]

@@omlo9093 it depends on what program you are using. If you are using dndbeyond you can right-click the image and click save the image, which will then save the image at a high quality, there is also a player version of the map below them in a hyperlink same process. If you are using roll20 go to the map layer click the map press ctrl and z, it should make a version pop up of the map and again right click save the image.

[@vonpepper3482]

Bro I love your maps

[@GiblixStudio]

Sounds like a module that can be used to flesh out Rise of Tiamat. Faction quests for the Harpers and Zhentarim etc. One of the evil bad guys could be the Cult of Dragons trying to get the dragon hoard as offering to Tiamat's ritual. Could be nice optional tie ins for my players. As well as the whole extra stuff regarding giants and demons/devils content.

[@carsick6817]

Me and my cat where watching this video together. Let me say she finds the movement of your hands entertaining.

[@jawshwillis4288]

I love the art showing story scenes with the kids: Nat, Jenks and Squiddly. Aka the EggoCrew. Now, I want to read/ write a story about them.

[@tomerschannel3248]

Man I just love that music at the start of the vids

[@NTRGamingMedia]

Honestly this was one of the best, descriptive guides ive seen amazing!

[@WASD20]

Cool. Thanks! :)

[@HEXEIV]

Love the reviews man, I wish you had more views.

[@Mr.Monster1984]

If you watch it over and over again they will

[@kingcambot8779]

My brother did this campaign at level 3, and ended at level 9, and killed Xanathar all by himself, soooo, all the other villains a re impossible to beat, but Xanathar should be easy enough to beat, you just have to be lucky on your rolls for when he shoots his laser beams.(BTW, he was a human fighter)

[@j0nhurry459]

I would just use this book to flesh out the cities in my home brew world. Keep up the good work Nate!

[@jessicavasquez4933]

Thanks so much! Your review helped me decide on my next campaign. My players were craving more roleplay, and I think Dragon Heist is the answer! Wish us luck and thank you again!

[@Newnodrogbob]

How did it go?

[@DragonCreature1]

I bought this on D&D Beyond. The book is an amazing read (something that e5 gets right: they make it fun for the DM to read). I love the concepts and the flavour of the adventure (while I have players who try to kill everything, this is more my style). I have yet to run it, though, but I am very excited! Only downside with the digital version is no fold-out map. Real bummer, but other than that, all good.

[@edgarpadilla6791]

I think the levels for the book are based on the new progresion system, as there are items you can only unlock at tier . There's even the option of slow progression (crazy, who would've thought)

[@theurbernerd2427]

Just got the book a few weeks ago and am super stoked about how the book is laid out. I personally love the flow of it. I think it's a great intro story book. Due to the liner flow of it. Thanks for making content keep up the great work

[@RuneChaosMarine]

in the dnd camp, my friends and i ran, jarlax was our quest giver. after we became so bad ass, he "hired" us to do works for him. we rode around on a magical flying sand/submarine/space/ship. how cool that the book says he does the same...

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

Now, THIS is a book in my taste.

[@darkagesvampire6926]

I`m already saying this for more than 2 years, but never change the final music!

[@WASD20]

:D

[@chruw]

I can't wait to run this campaign!

[@bagelgrenade8332]

I expected this book to be a pretty short low page count book and that kinda put me off of it for a full price 50 dollar book. After this I definitely plan to buy it as soon as possible

[@d-risky4994]

Do you think this book would make for a good “Urban Adventure” framework? Is there enough tips and mechanics for running the politics of the city and the different enemy factions and ally factions all in one city?

[@WASD20]

You know, I wish I had talked more about that. There's a lot here that would certainly help, but not as much as I'd hoped for when I first heard about this book. I think there's room for improvement from WotC in terms of giving tips for GMs who homebrew more. Might make their modules more appealing for a wider audience. Still, you get A LOT of info on Waterdeep in general here, so there's a fair bit of material for an urban sandbox.

[@d-risky4994]

WASD20 hey thanks that’s good to know!

[@ddsoco1]

Cashe is pronounced “cash”. Cashet, meaning the state of being respected or admired, is pronounced “cash-ay”. Great video, by the way. Keep up the good work.

[@WASD20]

Thanks!

[@jihanjoo]

@ddsoco1 The words you mentioned are spelled "cache" and "cachet," respectively, and not "cashe" and "cashet."

[@franksinatra2530]

Thanks, as a french person (these words are french) I was very confused.

[@ddsoco1]

jihanj Indeed! Darn autocorrect. Tried to get the accent in there, and forgot to fix it.

[@Steelbooking541]

frank sinatra Get ya Yellow vest on buddy!!!! Time to take back our planet

[@cartoon80s90s]

If a group wants to have a campaign that focuses more on diplomacy than combat, then doing it with lv 1heroes is great since at that point the heroes are quite weak and they don't have many options in combat anyway. For that reason alone, I like that it is a starting campaign. I am a huge fan of Matthew Mercer and Critical Role, so when I learned he was involved in the creation of this adventure I was hyped. Alas, right now I don't have anyone to play it with as my group's members drifted apart 1-2 years ago, but I would love to try it out at some point. Very interesting setting and ideas.

[@arsonistictarantula3036]

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.

[@khiathompson33]

This is very helpful! Thank you!

[@old_geeky_Michael]

Thanks Nate, another great review!

[@MastertheGamerpg]

I just picked up my copy today. Planning on reading some of it this weekend and possibly doing my own review. Enjoyed your review Nate.

[@jameshenderson4876]

Good video! I'm not a D&D player (just here out of curiosity!) , but the adventure looks well dome and lots of content. Regarding the multiple antagonists and replayability, I agree I doubt you could replay with the same group without it being a little samey, but perhaps it is intended for GMs in that they csn rerun with different groups? With the different branching structure, it would be more interesting for the GM than a straight rerun. Good review! Thank you.

[@WASD20]

That’s a great point.

[@nicktan9739]

I'm thinking of running this or curse of strahd for my group. A couple questions which is easier to run as a dm and approximately how long is each one?

[@ozanbolulu9971]

a pretty late answer, but strahd is a lot harder. I'd suggest you to run this, and try to learn strahd in your free time because dragon heist is a lot easier to understand and you only need to read certain chapters for certain sessions, while you'll need to pretty much know everything about barovia while strating CoS.

[@WallyDM]

I love the honesty in this review Nate. Extremely helpful and down-to-earth. Well done! I'm usually a DM for players that love combat, exploring, and dungeon crawling, so I was a bit disappointed to hear that it may not fit our current playstyle. However, "Dungeon of the Mad Mage" sounds like it will be right up our alley, so I bought Dragon Heist and we'll give it a go. Hopefully, it will tie-in nicely with the Mad Mage. Plus, I need to work on my DM role-playing ability anyway. :) Super stoked about the Map, the history of Waterdeep, and Volo's 30 page guide at the back of the book. I own the 2E "Volo's Guide to Waterdeep" so I can't wait to compare the two.

[@ColinPaddock]

If I were gming this, I’d probably play it as the backbone of a somewhat ongoing campaign. This becomes the homebase of plenty of out-of-town adventures which can be as murder hobo… ey as you like. Those adventures then help to finance some of the expensive things being done in town.

[@cloudsRniceC0M3]

The maps could atleast have some parchment'ish color shading, texture etc... Now its just black/white...

[@christinebainbridge8774]

Or even in a heist theme, as if you'd acquired the maps from spies, with their personal notes on them, etc. I expect the volume of maps they had to commission compared to other books made a difference in their choice. These are easier on a printer if you're going to copy them, but it sucks for people who stream or play online.

[@toprak3479]

Not only that but they don't look polished to me, but like something _I_ would draw. I guess it's authentic for some DMs but it just looks worse overall in my opinion.

[@peterclaymore2239]

Me at 17:43: ..... *cough* “Horde of the dragon queen.” *cough*

[@oOPPHOo]

This book is interesting to me because I've been planning my first proper campaign for YEARS and the thing that would often get me stuck is the nature of my campaign: you start in a city that you cannot yet leave because it's effectively under siege by a giant herd of goliaths. You're looking for a way out of the city which takes you through its criminal underbelly and where you must join one and navigate the other various factions residing there, winning favors until you're trusted enough to join one of the small, elite escorts through the goliath blockade. In other words, a 1st through 5th level urban campaign with an emphasis on criminal factions, each with their own unique leader, could be god sent for me in terms of fishing ideas. As such, I'm curious how you found the actual encounters in the book? Would I be able to use those for inspiration in my campaign or are they too tied to the dynamics of the adventure and Waterdeep? One of the encounters for my own own campaign that I had been struggling with are a bank heist a la Harry Potter breaks into Gringotts (because one of the crime syndicates also own the largest bank in the city), but I haven't been able to find much help in that regard. Is the dragon vault anything like a bank befitting a fantasy setting?

[@golfan88]

Part of my biased opinion is based on this being an urban setting and how hyped I was for that but I think this is a great adventure. If you can’t improvise then sure you will go down one path or another but this is your adventure as a DM group! Maybe the main villain is caught or your players expose him/her for breaking the law and the main villain changes during the adventure! Maybe Mashoon and the Zhents decide to work together with the drow to take over the city and destroy Xanathar and use your party as chess pieces to take out the opposing villain. There are ways to incorporate the lairs and the various parties to make the whole thing more complex. Since Xanathar likes the status quo but also wants to put a thorn in the side of Mashoon maybe he decides to create an uneasy truce with the Cassalanters. No one trusts anyone and they are all after power and wealth and the party is just trying to survive and keep the gold out of the hands of evil. There are ways to expand on this to go past while including everything in the book so you don’t have any “wasted content” so to speak. May favorite aspects of this are the incorporated of how well or much the world acts as a character through guilds and factions and how they affect the party and what they do. Alliances are a huge factor. Downtime plays into some of the early chapters. This is the kind of campaign that helps players - old or new - use their brains to role play more instead of becoming murder hobos due to the threat of arrest and other political moves that could hinder your party. You still kill things... in the first few moments your party is thrown into combat at the Yawning Portal and get your first gig because you helped kill a monster. This is still D&D. However it also asks you to your brain and reasoning to find alternative solutions to get what you are looking for and I love that. So if you are worried about wasted content then use your imagination and find a different way to include it. Later on in the story, the party has to find keys to access the dragon vault and maybe they haven’t obtained all of the necessary items so a NPC mentions seeing such item at one of the lairs. It’s a great purchase and the fact that it leads into Undermountain and you see the entrance to it from the get go had me hooked immediately. Purchased it and no regrets whatsoever.

[@josephmoreau9615]

Thanks for the review!

[@Aleksandr_Gor]

This is tbe best review I have ever seen! Thank you so much from Russia.

[@walterbledsaw4054]

Looks great. Thanks Nate!

[@WASD20]

Thanks for watching! :)

[@DrolthKar]

Any chance anyone with the book can give the measurements for the map of Waterdeep? Looking to get a frame for mine when I order the book.

[@DAVIL664]

Спасибо за обзор, я уверен что тебе придется использовать переводчик чтобы понять что я пишу , но я слушаю тебя чтобы улучшить свой английский , но писать ещё не научился ) книга действительно крутая )

[@alejandroac5600]

Great video!

[@LOCKEYJ]

I’ve been a player in this and found it frustrating. I kinda think our DM struggled running role play heavy stuff/ which is a shame as that’s how we like to play. More than a couple of times we found ourselves with no idea where to go next

[@urielbueno7179]

Saw this as a common mistake DMs make. When I DM this , will probably help guide the players a lot more.

[@revell9509]

I want to run this, is there a pdf copy out somewhere with it shorted down about what happens in each chapter

[@EaglebeakGaming]

Getting ready to run my first real campaign in a few weeks! I’ve been reading this module like crazy!

[@thepilot2727]

Good vid, very helpful

[@pappinr]

Another great video Nate and thanks for that! I have decided to steer away from published adventures for my students and now I am having them tell me what they want to see in an adventure. Werewolves seem to be a popular theme! We tried running ToYP last year but it took way too long as we only met during lunches once a week. If you have any suggestions for brief adventures it would be much appreciated. We have begun to meet (will meet tomorrow at lunch) and we are developing new characters using DND Beyond (and me setting up a campaign so they can access all the content for free...thank you DND Beyond!). Great video and keep them coming!

[@tmns0252]

I finished this campaign TODAY and I never went to xanathars lair. We basically just fought a fuck ton of gazers to make up for it.

[@wildatlanticplay7906]

would this be a good adventure for a beginner group and dungeon master

[@petercarlson2680]

I’m a new DM running it with 3-5 new players and one very experienced player and former DM. Things are going smooth so far.

[@wildatlanticplay7906]

@@petercarlson2680 thank you for this must try and get a group now and give it a go

[@DMachoMickey]

I wasn't going to buy this book, but your review might have changed my mind. Thanks a lot. ;)

[@ADSCoachSimonB2112]

I just got this today together with the Mad mage $15 2nd hand.

[@Nugatory23]

I got a party of 4 players who are excited about playing this. Three of the players have never played D&D before. How is the story for new players?

[@WASD20]

I think it would be a lot of fun! As long as they’re ok with a bit less combat and more rp and creative problem solving.

[@GGSigmar]

Great review, thanks Nate :)

[@WASD20]

Thanks. :)

[@hipsterbrigadier9428]

I'm currently wondering how easy it would be to move from from dragon heist into ghosts of saltmarsh, I've not read this book but maybe if you used jarlaxle as your villain it could be possible?

[@markusloving2473]

Love your review... I'm getting ready to run this campaign and have run into a snag. One of my Player characters is DragonBall. How do you handle Ahghairon's Dragonward? I'm guessing this would also ward off dragonborn as well. And you can't get a pass unless touched by the dragonstaff which is held by gold dragon outside the vault. Thanks in advance for your insights.

[@theDMLair]

I can't get over the maps... 😢 Black and white.... Plain... It seems like WotC was going for a vintage throwback to old-school maps or something. I don't know, they just don't do it for me.

[@adamakoy319]

I feel its too railroady. But I like alot of the mechanics and story.

[@kingdomh2lover]

I'm a 2nd time dm whose currently running Lost Mines of phandelver but my PCs made characters that really fit an urban environment more. I'm planning on skipping lmop final dungeon and some side quests and nudging them to waterdeep. For people new to the backgrounds of waterdeep and dn d are the villains still fun? memorable

[@quonomonna8126]

scared to rip the map out of the back, don't want to break binding, its stuck in there good

[@chercheurdor1944]

Good ! Congratulation.

[@rlh1984]

Do you think you could plug in some of the dungeons from Tales from the Yawning Portal as side quests?

[@WASD20]

Absolutely.

[@sammcgurran8142]

I’m considering bringing my plane walking party of level 11 lunatics to run through this, mostly because they need the cash and I have a plan for Xanathar as an multiversal villain. I’m tempted to leave a few of the encounters as trivially easy, to get them to use their brains rather than cut their way through. Or I could scale it up , but I’m not sure it would be believable.

[@KdogPrime]

You'd better think again. Unless you have at least one player character allied with the correct faction, they come away with nothing.

[@sammcgurran8142]

@@KdogPrime It went well!

[@KdogPrime]

@@sammcgurran8142 Well, I'm glad you had fun with it. The only part of it I enjoyed was the part where it was over.

[@markjenkins316]

A diffeerent approach but looks interesting even if I dont use the adventure a good looking resource for Waterdeep nonetheless.

[@AngelicEternity92]

This is mostly a summary... I say this after watching half the video. Thank you for the info early on, but, as I don't want to know to much going into a buddy's campaign, I will be stopping half way through lol.

[@WASD20]

Ah. Yep. I think it was pretty clear that the section after 2:30 was only for DMs. Even put big spoiler text across the screen.

[@AngelicEternity92]

And I get that, but doing a chapter by chapter summary is not a review... If the review is at the end, then... I guess? And, I personally am not a man that cares about spoilers, I just don't want to much in depth knowledge that would then possibly lead me to metagame. Literally the only reason I stopped watching. I personally know nothing about the Faerun world, and want to know a bit of the basics of the Waterdeep lore going into my buddy's campaign of Dragon Heist just so I can build a character that would actually belong. So I have been looking up reviews and lore videos to listen and watch in my spare time since I do not own the books. Don't have the money for it lol. Again, thank you for the info, and thanks for the summaries of the first few chapters that I did watch. But, if it is going to be a chapter by chapter summary and not a review of how this campaign will affect Waterdeep... Well, I will stop watching for now :) as stated above. Keep up the good work, you actually did a good job of summarizing the info to where even I could understand with my limited world and lore knowledge ^^

[@WASD20]

Oh yeah, I totally get that. That's my style of review for the new D&D books. Summary and flip through with evaluative comments sprinkled in and a couple minutes of only evaluation at the end. And I can see that that's not for everyone. Sidenote - Have you seen the channel Jorphdan? He's an internet friend of mine and has a great video on Waterdeep. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHPMgmR8qZqAgJo and his focus is primarily Forgotten Realms Lore. Really great stuff.

[@AngelicEternity92]

Just found a playlist from the Forgotten Realms Lore channel, but I will give that one a look in a little while. I mainly just need to know the basics of the world so I can do this character I am working on, but then it will come down to me sitting down with the DM and hammering out the rest of the fine details. Because, let's be real, a Changeling going with the Clan Crafter background can be done in so many interesting and potentially funny ways ;) (Changeling + Dwarves lol)

[@Mr.Monster1984]

Is it possible to have more than one of the villains? Maybe all of them at once?

[@WASD20]

Sure! Could be fun, but definitely makes things a bit more complex. :)

[@Dragonprincess21]

I know this video was posted some time ago, but I was hoping for some peoples’ opinions. I’m looking for suggestions on published, role play heavy adventures. I have one player who likes crime stuff and another who likes role play. anyone know of any books that might offer this combination? It doesn’t have to be about heist, but they’re not too excited about just killing monsters

[@WASD20]

I think this would be a better fit than most other adventures.

[@Atlaworks]

It seems pretty good so far, but no talk of the Plot Rock? It kind of sullied it for me in general.

[@selesnyaconclave1850]

Hi, would you suggest getting the specific dm screens for each adventure, or are they unnecessary and will the main dm screen work across board?

[@WASD20]

Personally, if I were running one of these campaigns I would probably get the screen. I have not run a full published campaign, and usually get these books for inspiration and collection. Therefore I don’t buy the screens.

[@andrewnguyen9361]

well i am getting that in my birthday soon it looks cool

[@beezer524]

Hey I really enjoy your reviews. I've seen your review of Curse of Strahd, and am aware you have done one for Tomb of Annihilation (but I am trying to avoid spoilers for that one just in case). Did you ever read the Rise of Tiamat books or Out of the Abyss? If so I was wondering if you might give your opinion on those. I feel like many have gotten into the hobby after those were released. As such they have kind of fell to the way side. I am just wondering if you have read them and like or dislike them.

[@WASD20]

I don't know anything about Rise of Tiamat, but I do own Out of the Abyss and like it. Here's a video I made with my impressions: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bau3qGtsr75roKs

[@eoincampbell1584]

How portable is this adventure to other settings? Like could this be ported over to Sharn in Eberron?

[@WASD20]

Somewhat. There are some well-known Waterdeep figures you may want to rename, and obviously find replacements for the various places. There are also some peculiarities of life in water deep here, but if your players don’t know Sharn all that well, you could probably get away with just the name changes.

[@eoincampbell1584]

@@WASD20 Whoah a helpful response. Thanks my dude.

[@lastationproductions]

Question could you per say use all the villains instead of choosing one ?

[@Straw-Hunter]

This sounds like it’d make an awesome Telltale style game.

[@ThatsJustLikeYourOpinionMan]

Sad that the company is gone now.

[@tomt4551]

Ok, I have a question. My group has just gotten tomb of annihilation, and it's hard to navigate for me as the dm. Should I look into this first? It seems easier to read through. Also, if I play tomb of annihilation (level 1-11) and THEN I go out and start playing this,(level 1-5) would it be too easy for my players?

[@WASD20]

Usually you'd start a new campaign with new characters. Play one adventure book, and then if you want to play another roll up some new characters. That's what works best imo. I can't say this is any easier to understand than Tomb of Annihilation. If you've never run DnD before and you are looking for a good starting point for a published adventure Lost Mine of Phandelver is quite good (And you can get the starter set for pretty cheap).

[@tomt4551]

@@WASD20 Ok. I've made a bunch of extra character sheets that I'm looking forward to having my players use (or make their own). Thanks. I'm excited for ToA

[@takeo575]

Hello, I'm a new DM and I'm looking for a good adventure for newbies to play after LMoP. Which one should I choose, please ?

[@benmccabe1976]

Can you choose more then one villain?

[@correpepor]

Pretty cool review. Thanks. I am really looking forward to my own copy of the book. I am one of those who do not like Dyson's Logos maps XD Regards!

[@danielbrooks7764]

Haven't gotten my copy yet, but I'm trying to find a way to transition to this from Curse of Strahd without level draining the whole party... I wonder if you could swap Strahd with Asmodeus for the child soul arc? Also, is the Volo's Guide chapter spoiler-free for players?

[@reygareverbloom7535]

The players can actually gain access to the volos chapter in book somehow, I forgot how but the "enchiridon " is player friendly

[@WASD20]

From what I can tell, it is.

[@TSTheReaper]

I'm going to be running and playing it. It's Going to be hard to not metagame. im making a tiefling fiend packed warlock, i hope its in summer, that should be fun!

[@WASD20]

Nice. Enjoy!

[@stefanschuller3032]

Hey there! Is it possible to run this with a group which already reached 4th level?

[@WASD20]

It would take some adjustment of combat encounters for sure, but once you're comfortable with that it wouldn't be too bad.

[@stefanschuller3032]

Thank you very much for the answer. BTW: You make great and helpful videos! Thank you for that, too!@@WASD20​

[@IMadeUpKear]

Manshoon feels like a bit of an afterthought. I also don't like that Xanathar's guild is prominent throughout, makes him feel like he's the intended main villain. Otherwise I love this adventure!

[@WASD20]

I can see why you would say that. I certainly framed Manshoon to a bit that way in my review, simply because I don’t know that much about him. I don’t think The book itself treats him that way. Anyway, Xanathar is very central to the story, but if someone wasn’t using him as the villain, I actually think he would make a great potential ally. Still, he’s probably the least avoidable villain for sure. Thanks for the comment!

[@Jaydog1992]

Hey nate, I've just began to start playing dnd and I know this has nothing to do with what you are talking about but how go about using tools? Particularly theives tools. edit example being 1 d 20 + skill mod + prof?

[@danieldurham5891]

Its 1d20 + dexterity mod + proficiency bonus (if applicable). one does not need proficiency in thieves tool according to Mike Mearls but DMs may say that ones does.

[@Jaydog1992]

@@danieldurham5891 awesome thanks man

[@TonyPizzaPie]

Huge thanks for a brilliant review, Nate. The book looks amazing and I can't wait to get my hands on it and run the adventure. Do you have any idea whether the old City of Splendors box set would make a fine expansion to the city materials in Dragon Heist?

[@WASD20]

Thanks so much, Anton. I don’t know anything about that boxed set, but I imagine any previous waterdeep material would make a great addition in terms of lore and fleshing out the city for possible sidequests and such.

[@lergof0202]

What is everyone's opinion on the best villain / season to run the game in? Starting in a month or so.

[@shadowkat678]

I love Jarlaxle, but the Cassalanters present a really big moral dilemma to the players, and knowing Jarlaxle, he would be the type of character who could find a way to insert himself regardless of what other villain you choose, so if you're up for editing stuff a bit, that could be interesting. But I love Jarlaxle and he's the kind of guy who would be very fun to play.

[@dubnation6689]

Christian Bonet jarlaxle and cassalanters hands down

[@denverty9486]

Reminds me of the Curse of the Azure Bonds.

[@chrisschinestuhl8115]

Has anyone found out the size of the map... I want to put it into my game room wall and need to k ow frame size.

[@WASD20]

The paper is 29.5 x 21 but the longer sides have a wider brown border that I'd probably trim to frame. The actual map portion without brown border is 28 7/8 inches x 19 3/4 inches.

[@chrisschinestuhl8115]

@@WASD20 now know what I am getting next paycheck :p Thank you!

[@RuneChaosMarine]

jarlaxx cant be a bad guy! otherwise known as jarlaxle

[@jerichotheclueless8682]

Well......you just spoiled the whole adventure for me. Now I have no choice but to GM it for others. :)

[@joeyasaperson]

Not really the best for total noobies but still a lot of fun. Having a hard time having my players "care" about anything NPCs, Laws, and Enemies alike. But I think that comes with time.

[@mikeg9516]

What if they alert the guards about the lairs location

[@WASD20]

Not sure what the book says about it, but I'd say two major options. 1) The guards won't do anything because they already know about the lair. The officials turn a blind eye because it's either in their benefit, or because they are scared of the power of the villain. Or some combo. 2) The guards won't believe the party. Their claim might be hard to prove or the guards just have other things on their plate and don't have time for your crazy conspiracy theories. This one seems like it would definitely work for the Cassalanters, and maybe for Manshoon or Jarlaxle. I'd use option 1 for Xanathar for sure.

[@ianfowler9505]

The Open Lord is a potential patron and ally and there's stuff in there about getting support from the various factions. It doesn't intend the players to get all 500k at 5th so the players will be working for someone who can help with the lair.

[@abacate4492]

That book should include an DM screen...

[@WASD20]

I disagree. You can buy these separately. amzn.to/2WtFlaa

[@KdogPrime]

I hated this campaign. It supposedly draws inspiration from heist movies, but I have to wonder if the writers of this mess have ever actually watched a single heist movie, or if they just think they know what a heist involves. Aside from attaining the three keys to access the vault, there is no planning, no intel gathering, no opportunity for infiltration, and no way to actually take any of the score without making one critical choice near the beginning. You are told you have the opportunity to take a fantastic amount of money, but that's not the object of the campaign. In reality, you are supposed to ensure the return of embezzled funds to the coffers of the city of Waterdeep and keep multiple evil factions from taking it for themselves. But you aren't told that, so every attempt you might make to take even a portion of the money for yourself fails. Either the dragon kills you, or the wizard kills you, or the drow leader kills you, or the city watch arrests and imprisons you. It didn't feel like we were planning a heist. It felt like were running around chasing our tails, looking for the next Macguffin. Then as a final kick in the balls, we didn't even get to keep the money when we found it. The only way you can keep even part of the money is if you ally yourselves with the right faction, and there is only one correct choice. And to make matters worse, you can actually ally yourselves with the same evil factions the campaign is directing the players to keep the money from. As a reminder, you are not told ANY OF THIS. In all but one outcome to this campaign, your characters come away empty-handed and there is no way for a fully evil and/or chaotic party to take anything. That is not a heist. Also, as a warning to anyone who tries to play this campaign as a chaotic character, you will probably die. I, for one, decided my character should attack the evil Lady Gralhund (who was wearing armor and carrying a weapon) during combat with her guards. She died instantly, despite not even being hit with a critical attack. My character was arrested and executed several days later despite the fact that the City Watch supposedly, "thoroughly investigated," Gralhund Villa, having arrived LITERALLY AT THE SAME POINT my party left the villa. Apparently, they missed the cult robes, the teleportation circle, the cage with the flying black Zhentarim snakes in it, the dead Zhentarim assassin (her former lover) and all the attackers who were also marked with Zhentarim tattoos, not to mention Lady Gralhund's cucked husband who ratted her out immediately upon questioning. My character's alliance with the Harpers did squat to save him. He attacked someone who sicced her big orc bodyguard on the party after they killed the thugs sent to kill her. Evidence of her involvement in a plot to steal a massive quantity of money from the city and give it to the DnD version of the mafia didn't matter, and her membership in a demon-worshipping cult be damned; my character was sentenced to death, having apparently been tried in absentia. This, regardless of the fact that there are multiple chaotic NPCs both good and bad, most of whom are also guilty of crimes they're never arrested for. What I have learned from this is that trying to take the initiative is the worst thing you can do in this campaign. If you just sit back and follow each plot point as it's fed to you, the campaign practically plays itself. You can get through it with minimal combat and as few interactions as possible. There are quite a few NPCs and encounters in this campaign that are, as far as I can tell, completely extraneous and totally avoidable, as they do nothing whatsoever to advance the plot (the crazed artist living in the windmill is one example, and running the tavern is another). It was the most boring, frustrating DnD experience I've ever had. It felt like I was being lead around on a leash, not that I was figuring out an interesting mystery or planning a clever way to take a vast sum of money without being caught. Hopefully Dungeon of the Mad Mage will be better.

[@redfeildre349]

WHAT! That manta ray ship! Is THAT what I think it is!?...WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!!! Some one please confirm.

[@WASD20]

It is a manta ray ship/submarine. And I think players have a chance to borrow it.

[@redfeildre349]

Into space? Spelljammer style? Because that looks like a particular type of ship from that setting. To bad if it isn't.

[@DysonLogos]

Nah, just a submarine. I wasn't a Spelljammer player (I basically skipped 2e completely) so wasn't aware that there were manta-shaped jammers when I drew this.

[@redfeildre349]

You just made me sad. :( Cool pic though. Looking forward to reading about it.

[@LeleJackMusic]

It'd be interesting to play the Cassalanters in a more empathetic light. They made a stupid mistake and they just want to save their family.

[@WASD20]

I like it.

[@okaygios]

só nerd nos comentários 😎👌

[@escapeartist205]

It seems like calling gold coins dragons in a world that dragons actually exist in would get confusing.

[@petercarlson2680]

Especially in a world where GOLD dragons specifically exist!

[@ianw.5047]

Would this be good for a new players or would MOP be better. Some of the players already played half of MOP that’s why I’m asking bc they might ruin it for the new ones

[@Nexusofgeek]

I own this book and it is great fun, how cheesy though is it that Matt Mercer, listed as a story consultant in the credits, inserts himself in the Yawning Portal illustration? Very cheesy I guess, it's WOTC's blatant attempt to grab the Critical Role crowd. I like the rest of the book though

[@defenstrator4660]

I liked the villains, but not as part of the adventure. More as a campaign setting. Which is my issue with the book. As a campaign setting to adventuring in Waterdeep it’s a decent start. The actual adventure is actually pretty bad, with a lot of stuff the players cannot possibly handle if they do end up at a lair, and terrible timing problems and railroading in the adventure itself.