Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is an adventure published by Wizards of the Coast set in the great city of Waterdeep in the Forgotten Realms. It presents an urban scenario where the characters get to own a tavern, become involved with the various factions in the city, and go on a hunt for dragons – the gold coins of Waterdeep – that are stashed in a hidden vault. Characters begin as level 1 and should reach level 5 by the end of the adventure.

I’ve now run it twice, and my overall impression is that, while there’s a lot to like in the adventure, there are a significant number of problems with its structure and play. The story does work; it’s playable and enjoyable, but it’s clear that some material could have been further developed.

Some problems derive from the idea that there isn’t a set villain. Instead, the DM has the choice of four. The selection of villains is good: three well-known personages of the Realms and one new foe. My favourite is Manshoon of the Zhentarim, because of how prominent he was in the early Forgotten Realms novels, but the Xanathar (a beholder crime boss), Jarlaxle (a drow mercenary) and the Cassalanters (fiend-worshippers) are all interesting choices. Unfortunately, some hardly appear in the adventure. The chief conflict that’s playing out in the background is a set of skirmishes between the Xanathar’s Guild and the Zhentarim, so both of those factions are quite prominent. The Cassalantars and Jarlaxle suffer in comparison, and it’s very likely that it’s not until the penultimate chapter of the adventure that the players first meet their agents.

My hope was that would play out like Storm King’s Thunder, where a substantial amount of play differs from campaign to campaign: of the seven main chapters, four change significantly each time. Dragon Heist has only one (of four chapters) that changes significantly. I think it’s fascinating how the designers created that chapter: the characters visit eight of ten locations, but in a different order and with different contents depending on the villain. The presentation is occasionally clunky, with the basic description of the site followed by the specific notes for each villain, which may require a bunch of page-turning (it’s even less accessible if you use the D&D Beyond version!), but the result is surprisingly effective: Chapter 4 plays out very differently for each season! However, with the remaining three chapters running substantially the same each time, Dragon Heist doesn’t feel that replayable by the same group.

But what about Chapter 2? In that chapter, the characters have the option of joining one or more factions, who then assign them special missions throughout the rest of the adventure. If the players choose a different set of factions each time, then it makes the plays different each time. Unfortunately, these faction missions aren’t well integrated into the adventure. The idea is that the characters gain a mission each time they reach a new level, for a total of four missions (levels 2-5) for each faction. Unfortunately, once play reaches the final two chapters, there’s no time to pursue these missions, leaving them incomplete.

The faction missions are also very briefly described: often no more than three or four sentences for each! To do them justice, the DM needs to flesh them out. Some link into the larger adventure, most don’t.

(It’s also unfortunate that the D&D Adventurers League made the factions very difficult to join – just at the time this adventure was released. Their timing was not ideal for those using Dragon Heist in DDAL play.)

I found the first chapter the most effective: the party stop a bar brawl at the Yawning Portal, meet Volo, agree to rescue his kidnapped friend, discover the feud between the Xanathar’s Guild and the Zhentarim, explore the sewers, and finally rescue the friend. It’s a great start to the adventure; it introduces several memorable characters and situations and makes the players feel like heroes. Great stuff!

I’m not as fond of the second chapter, which features the tavern that the players get as their reward. A lot of people were very excited about hearing the players would get to own a tavern. It was one of the main selling points of Dragon Heist. Unfortunately, most of the operating a tavern material boils down to “pay upkeep and roll 1d100 on the Running a Business table in the DMG”. There are some ideas for a rival business owner trying to put the tavern out of business, as well as guild representatives to deal with, but they’re very sketchily described. Chapter 2 works best with DMs who are happy with improvising and expanding the material here; it’s difficult to run “as is”. As noted, the faction missions are described here.

The third chapter gets the plot back on track, as a fireball explosion outside the tavern draws the characters into an investigation as to who was responsible. Some of my fellow reviewers have noted that there’s no real reason for the characters to change from being tavern-owners to investigators: the hook that draws the characters in isn’t particularly strong. In my play of the adventures, this didn’t prove a problem as the players were happy to get into the action. I very much like this section: there are several leads the characters can investigate, and things can go down different paths before the players find the culprits. The confrontation at a noble’s manor also brings the conflict between the Xanathar’s Guild and the Zhentarim to the fore once more, while lightly introducing forces of the main villain of the piece.

The fourth chapter is, as previously noted, where the story depends on which villain was chosen. This is a problematic chapter to DM, as the action is very linear in form; it’s one encounter after another, with no branching paths – and little opportunity for the characters to rest. The one exception is if the characters recover the magical stone that they’re seeking early, which brings the chase to a premature end. Then everything concludes as the heroes find the hidden Vault of Dragons, overcome the hazards preventing entry, and have one last confrontation with the overall villain of the piece. Dealing with the villain may be made easier by faction contacts from Chapter 2, although it’s rather anticlimactic if Jarlaxle turns up and then just decides to leave because Lady Laeral is also there! The Vault also seems underwhelming – some cool things, but it’s a long way from the “Heist” that you’d expect from reading the title.

The next four chapters describe the lairs of each villain, which may never come into play in the adventure. Some are more engaging than others. I had good fun with Manshoon’s lair, mainly because the players had lost the MacGuffin during the chase, and they had to enter his lair to retrieve it. However, that needed a lot of work from me to ensure I didn’t kill the heroes, as such was very likely.

The final chapter is an introduction to Waterdeep. To my mind, this is one of the most disappointing parts of the product, as it’s very player-facing. Yes, it’ll tell the players a few important things about Waterdeep, but there’s not much there to help DMs run Waterdeep adventures: that’s what I really wanted in this book.

There’s much to like in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, but it feels unfocused at times. Good ideas are introduced, but not developed properly. Meanwhile, I don’t think it provides a good toolbox for a DM running Waterdeep sessions. Trying to work out additional adventure ideas involving the various villains? That’s surprisingly hard, as there isn’t much information on them. We know why they’re chasing the gold, but we know little about what they do otherwise. In the Xanathar’s Guild, the most senior member is the Major Domo, Ahmaergo. He likes minotaurs – and that’s about as much you learn about his personality and what he does in the guild.

At times, the adventure feels like it could have been handled well as a 32-page adventure module. That’s not a good place to be! The villain lairs seem like missed opportunities; the space could have been better used making Waterdeep more interesting to run.

Overall, I did enjoy running Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, but the experience was less than I hoped it would be. You can turn this into something special by doing a lot of work expanding material, and it also suits players who enjoy role-playing and interacting with the world around them (until the linear section in Chapter 4 kicks in), but you do need to do the work to make it sing.