Apart from the starter sets and core rulebooks, Wizards of the Coast are also holding a new storyline of adventures and related products. It’s called Tyranny of Dragons and is set in the Forgotten Realms, which looks very much like being the best-supported setting of the new edition (as it basically has been since 2nd edition).
It may not have escaped readers of this blog that I am particularly interested in D&D adventures. I don’t have the time or money to collect everything that has been put out by third party writers (alas!), but I’ve tried very hard to complete a set of AD&D adventures, as well as having most of the modern adventures from 3E onwards. So, the Tyranny of Dragons series is of great interest to me.
It also looks like I’ll be experiencing it through the D&D Encounters program, although as of yet there’s been no ability to sanction the next season. There’s a hint that Encounters will be using a portion of the adventures, though not all of it. “Fans of the Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game can get a sample of what this product has in store for them through the D&D Encounters™ in-store play program” reads the information on the amazon pages for the products.
Tyranny of Dragons is a two-adventure story arc, consisting of Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat. Here’s their covers and descriptions:
For years, the evil Cult of the Dragon has devoted itself to creating undead dragons in a vain attempt to fulfill an ancient prophecy. However, the cultists were misguided. They misunderstood. But now, under new leadership, the cult believes that the prophecy does not speak of undead dragons, but of a dragon empire that’s been extinct for 25,000 years. Tiamat, the queen of evil dragons, has languished in the Nine Hells for millennia. The cult believes that the time of her return is at hand.
The cult has a new face and a new mission. It seeks to free Tiamat from the Nine Hells and bring her into the Forgotten Realms. To accomplish its goal, the cult needs five ancient dragon masks and the support of evil dragons everywhere. The cult leaders—each one a “dragon whisperer”—have reached out to the evil dragons of the Sword Coast and earned their allegiance.
Meanwhile, evil dragons in cahoots with the cult seek to amass a treasure hoard worthy of their dark queen, not by plundering their own hoards (of course) but by stealing money from cities, caravans, good-aligned dragons, merchant ships, and other sources. Their ravenous hunt for treasure throws the Sword Coast into upheaval. Neverwinter, Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate—no city is safe from their depredations.
The situation is dire. However, the Sword Coast is far from defenseless. Powerful factions are ready to rise up and put an end to the tyranny of dragons. Adventurers throughout the Realms must join forces to face Tiamat, destroy the Cult of the Dragon, and prevent the rise of a new dragon empire. In their hands, the future lies.
August 19th, 2014 – Hoard of the Dragon Queen
In an audacious bid for power the Cult of the Dragon, along with its dragon allies and the Red Wizards of Thay, seek to bring Tiamat from her prison in the Nine Hells to Faerun. To this end, they are sweeping from town to town, laying waste to all those who oppose them and gathering a hoard of riches for their dread queen. The threat of annihilation has become so dire that groups as disparate as the Harpers and Zhentarim are banding together in the fight against the cult. Never before has the need for heroes been so desperate.
• The first of two adventures in the Tyranny of Dragons™ story arc, Hoard of the Dragon Queen provides everything a Dungeon Master needs to create an exciting and memorable adventure experience.
• Fans of the Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game can get a sample of what this product has in store for them through the D&D Encounters™ in-store play program.
• Adventure design and development by Kobold Press.
96 pages, US $29.95
October 21st, 2014: The Rise of Tiamat
The Cult of the Dragon leads the charge in an unholy crusade to bring Tiamat back to the Realms, and the situation grows more perilous for good people with each passing moment. The battle becomes increasingly political as opportunities to gather allies and gain advantage present themselves. From Waterdeep to the Sea of Moving Ice to Thay, it is a race against Evil. Succeed or succumb to the oppression of draconic tyranny. Win or lose, things will never be the same again.
• The second of two adventures in the Tyranny of Dragons™ story arc, The Rise of Tiamat provides everything a Dungeon Master needs to create an exciting and memorable adventure experience.
• Fans of the Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game can get a sample of what this product has in store for them through the D&D Encounters™ in-store play program.
• Adventure design and development by Kobold Press.
96 pages, US $29.95
It’s somewhat hard to say exactly how the adventures will be constructed. 96 pages is fairly meaty for an adventure, but there are indications that the books may have rules in them as well. Or possibly not – Mike Mearls tweeted that
“You will not need the MM or DMG to run a campaign. Or the PH or Starter Set to make a character.” – twitter
So, does this mean that all the rules will be online (perhaps needing a DDi subscription to access) and we’ll use those instead? Or there’ll be a SRD? More details will surely follow.
Of particular note is that Wizards have outsourced the writing of these adventures to Kobold Press, and, in particular, to Wolfgang Baur and Steve Winter, both onetime employees of TSR (and Wizards of the Coast), and no strangers to writing really good adventures. In fact, many of Wizards’ adventures over the past few years have been written by freelancers, often overseen by one Wizards staff member, but this is the first time that they’ve openly used “studio” design. Kobold Press have an announcement about the collaboration here.
We’re honored that Wizards invited us to be such an integral part of a new era in D&D history, and we can’t wait to share what we’re doing. From now until Hoard of the Dragon Queen is released to coincide with Gen Con, we’ll post more info about the adventures—plus artwork and designer notes—on the Kobold Press blog as a new series we call Tiamat Tuesdays. We look forward to telling you more about this amazing project.
Do you know what license the next edition of D&D will be released under?
We don’t know, and under our agreement with Wizards, we don’t really need to know in order to design Tyranny of Dragons. Wizards of the Coast is the publisher; Kobold Press is a design studio. It’s a bit similar to the way that a video game studio might create a video game that another, larger firm brings to market.
So, a pair of episodic adventures for D&D? I expect that Encounters will crib some of those episodes for the seasons, whilst leaving the greater portion for home groups to run. But that’s not all when it comes to Tyranny of Dragons. There are also miniatures! I’ve already posted about the starter set of miniatures, but there’s also a line of 44 random figures coming from WizKids Games. They haven’t posted much about it yet, although I expect them to do so soonish.
July 14th, 2014 – Icons of the Realms: Booster
Collect all 44 miniatures found in the D&D Icons of the Realms: Tyranny of Dragons boosters. Found in 4 figure blind booster packs, and inspired by the Tyranny of Dragons storyline, you’ll find dragons, kobold fighters, bugbears, wraiths, mind flayers, and many more iconic D&D characters guaranteed to level up your tabletop roleplaying game experience.
$15.99
The format of these boosters is very close to that of the Pathfinder Battles line, which really isn’t that surprising, as both Paizo and Wizards are licensing the line out to WizKids. As a comparison, the first set from Pathfinder Battles had 40 miniatures in it, Legends of Golarion had 55 figures, Rise of the Runelords had 64 minis (albeit with huge minis as well), and Shattered Star had 54 miniatures.
At $4 per miniature, these aren’t really that cheap, but then I’m remembering the good old days of a decade ago! Reaper Bones – plastic unpainted minis – go for $2.50 for mediums up to $7 or $8 for large minis! As these boosters likely are 1 large + 3 medium miniatures, you’re already looking at about $15 for unpainted minis. It makes the deal look a lot better. Metal medium figures? About $6 each from Reaper!
Other Stuff
The Deluxe Dungeon Master’s Screen is due on January 20th, 2015, so we’re a while off on that one, and there’s no further information at this time on what it’s going to look like.
The Neverwinter MMO is getting the Tyranny of Dragons expansion on August 14th, 2014. I don’t play the MMO, so I have no idea about this.
And yes, I’m almost 100% sure there will be novels as well!
Board games? Other computer games? Films? Those we don’t know about!