[Fanzine Focus XXXI] Loviatar No. 2

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. However, not every fanzine has to be for the Old School Renaissance.

Loviatar No. 2 was published in September, 2011. Written and published by Christian Walker, it follows on from, and expands upon, Loviatar No. 1, which was written as a response to the Old School Renaissance, but rather as a means to focus the author’s mind when it comes to running fantasy games. That initial issue was not written for any of the then available retroclones, such as Labyrinth Lord or Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay. Instead it is a hybrid between Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder, First Edition. Not mechanically, but rather between rules and setting, the author’s campaign being set in the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Forgotten Realms using Pathfinder, First Edition. If that sounds like Loviatar No. 1 was a mongrel of a fanzine, there might be some truth in that, but that is the author’s choice, and anyway, the point of the early gaming fanzines of the nineteen eighties which the modern fanzine revival so heavily draws from, was to present content from the editor’s own campaign world. Which is what the author is doing in the pages of Loviatar No. 1. However, Loviatar No. 2 goes further than simply continuing support for author’s fantasy gaming by providing support for other roleplaying games in fashion not often seen in today’s fanzines, let alone those of 2011.

Loviatar No. 2 carries the tag, “a zine about tabletop role-playing games”, as did the first issue. It did not really apply to that first issue, focusing as it did upon the one roleplaying game, but it certainly apples more to Loviatar No. 2, although this second issue begins where the first left off—with a scenario set in the Forgotten Realms city of Baldur’s Gate, but written for use with Pathfinder, First Edition. ‘Number Three Pigeon Street’ describes another building in the fashion of ‘At the Corner of River Street and Craft Way’ and provides a number of reasons why the Player Characters would want to visit the rundown down dwelling which stinks of bat guano. The first reason is that neighbours of the occupant of the house, the wizard, Thaddeus Blythe, have complained about the bats and the Player Characters have been hired to rid the house and thus the neighbourhood of them. It is simple enough set-up, but the local thieves’ guild has an interest in Thaddeus Blyth and because he refuses to move, then in the house. So it will take an interest in what the Player Characters are doing. The house and its occupants have a seedy, run down feel to them that adds another slice of life to any city-based campaign. Perhaps a bit long, ‘Number Three Pigeon Street’ would work well with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set too. The location includes full stats and descriptions of the NPCs as well every room in the house.

The fanzine then makes a radical change of tone and game style with ‘A Lonely Dance on the Cold, Northern Shore, Part 1’. Inspired by Saint Fina, this is a setting article for the World of Darkness, so specifically designed for storytelling play. It describes the city of Santa Fina, a California town on the Pacific coast astride the mouth of the Russian River, combination of Victorian-era architecture and blue collar industrialisation in decline, it has been designated a sort of retreat for the Kindred of San Francisco. It is also used as a dumping ground for members of the other factions which do not fit with the coteries found in San Francisco or further south in Los Angeles. Often cold and drizzly, the town is only accorded an overview here, the reader having to wait for future issues to explore any of its secrets. Nevertheless, a good start and hopefully worth the wait for the revelations.

The third and final piece in Loviatar No. 2 is ‘Eclipse, Lord of the Mountain’ and it is written for Steve Jackson Games’ GURPS! It describes the giant-like creature called Eclipse whose masters grew him in a vat and assigned him to watch over the small village of Silent Vale and its human inhabitants in the mountains and ensure that they do not explain why. He has no idea why and neither does the article really explain. Nor does it explain who the Masters are. Complete with full stats and details as you would expect for GURPS, Eclipse is and is not a monster. The task he has been set curtails the activities of the humans, but he only follows the rules as he has been programmed to do, so he is not necessarily a monster—though if the rules are broken he does do monstrous things. Eclispe is a really nicely designed NPC and should make for an interesting encounter for the Player Characters, their being none the wiser until the villagers explain how to live under the aegis of the giant so as to not antagonise him. Much like the earlier ‘Number Three Pigeon Street’, this situation is easily adapted to other settings, but the Game Master will need to supply the missing explanation as to who the Masters are.

Physically, Loviatar No. 2 is neat and tidy, and in general, well presented. Artwork is very light, but is fairly heavy in its style, as is the cartography. Photographs are used for the World of Darkness article. The oddity is that again, like Loviatar No. 1, the fanzine does carry a number of adverts for roleplaying games and things, many of them long out of print, even in 2011. These include the Dragonbone electronic dice device, Gen Con XI (from 1976!), and Car Wars. There are far fewer of them this time, so they do not give the fanzine a weird, out of time feel as they did with the first issue.

Loviatar No. 2 is better than Loviatar No. 1, reaching for a surprisingly broad audience. After all, there are few groups who would have played all three of the roleplaying games catered for the pages of the issue. ‘Number Three Pigeon Street’ is still the standout, a run down, slice of life in a seedy city that could still be run today and nobody would question it. The other entries are not as useful, but serviceable in themselves. Overall, Loviatar No. 2 is a good little read.

[Fanzine Focus XXX] Loviatar No. 1

On the tail of the Old School Renaissance has come another movement—the rise of the fanzine. Although the fanzine—a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon, got its start in Science Fiction fandom, in the gaming hobby it first started with Chess and Diplomacy fanzines before finding fertile ground in the roleplaying hobby in the 1970s. Here these amateurish publications allowed the hobby a public space for two things. First, they were somewhere that the hobby could voice opinions and ideas that lay outside those of a game’s publisher. Second, in the Golden Age of roleplaying when the Dungeon Masters were expected to create their own settings and adventures, they also provided a rough and ready source of support for the game of your choice. Many also served as vehicles for the fanzine editor’s house campaign and thus they showed another DM and group played said game. This would often change over time if a fanzine accepted submissions. Initially, fanzines were primarily dedicated to the big three RPGs of the 1970s—Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller—but fanzines have appeared dedicated to other RPGs since, some of which helped keep a game popular in the face of no official support.

Since 2008 with the publication of Fight On #1, the Old School Renaissance has had its own fanzines. The advantage of the Old School Renaissance is that the various Retroclones draw from the same source and thus one Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG is compatible with another. This means that the contents of one fanzine will be compatible with the Retroclone that you already run and play even if not specifically written for it. Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay have proved to be popular choices to base fanzines around, as has Swords & Wizardry. However, not every fanzine has to be for the Old School Renaissance.

Loviatar No. 1 was published in August, 2011. Written and published by Christian Walker, it was not written as a response to the Old School Renaissance, but rather as a means to focus the author’s mind when it comes to running fantasy games. Thus it is not written for any of the then available retroclones, such as Labyrinth Lord or Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplay. Instead it is hybrid between Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder, First Edition. Not mechanically, but rather between rules and setting, the author’s campaign being set in the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Forgotten Realms using Pathfinder, First Edition. If that sounds like Loviatar No. 1 is a mongrel of a fanzine, there might be some truth in that, but that is the author’s choice, and anyway, the point of the early gaming fanzines of the nineteen eighties which the modern fanzine revival so heavily draws from, was to present content from the editor’s own campaign world. Which is what the author is doing in the pages of Loviatar No. 1. 

If that sounds like the content of Loviatar No. 1 is not of use, that is not the case. Shorn of the Pathfinder, First Edition stats—which like nearly all Dungeons & Dragons derived content are easily adapted to the retroclone of your choice—the content in Loviatar No. 1 is enjoyably playable and is easily changed to fit any Game Master’s campaign, whether that is again, mechanically, or dramatically. Future issues of the fanzine would shift to being specifically aimed at the Old school Renaissance, although it could be argued that Loviatar No. 1 had a sensibility that leaned in that direction anyway.

Loviatar No. 1 carries the tag, “a zine about tabletop role-playing games”. This is not the case, although oddly the fanzine does carry a number of adverts for roleplaying games, many of them long out of print, even in 2011. They include adverts for The Traveller Adventure from Game Designer’s Workshop, Fantasy Games Unlimited’s Bushido and Aftermath, and Star Frontiers from TSR, Inc. Apart from these oddities, the fanzine focuses entirely on the publisher’s campaign setting and on providing a base of operations for the Player Characters in that campaign. To that end, there is only the one article in the fanzine. ‘At the Corner of River Street and Craft Way’. This details four possible dwellings for his Player Characters in the city of Baldur’s Gate. They include a ‘Small Home with Loft’, ‘Warehouse’, ‘Ground Level Flat’, and ‘Former Tavern with Apartment’. Each is mapped out, fully detailed, including rent, and more. They feel reminiscent of the homes that a player might buy in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which was released the same year as Loviatar No. 1 as well as possessing the sort of sales pitch that an estate agent or landlord might give the prospective purchaser or tenant. However, it is the ‘more’ of the dwelling descriptions where the fanzine comes into its own.

Each of the potential dwellings comes with both history and plot, both of which a Player Character can become involved when not adventuring. Not only that, they pull the Player Character into the community around them and they encourage the player to roleplay and they get the Player Character involved in story. For example, the ‘Small Home with Loft’ was previously home to a drug dealer named Shamus. No-one knows where he is now, but that does not stop the local gang from harassing the new tenant, the Player Character, to find out where he is, even Shamus himself, from turning up on the doorstep. The question is, what does he want, let alone where has he been and why did he leave? Some of the four possible dwellings get more plot than the others. For example, ‘Ground Level Flat’ was previously home to a cleric of Lathander, who used to provide healing to the injured and the sick. Not everyone is aware of this yet, so the local inhabitants will come knocking on the Player Character’s door at all hours with all sorts of illnesses and injuries. This in addition to the neighbours upstairs who are constantly arguing and always settle their biggest disagreements with bouts of lovemaking. How is the Player Character going to deal with his noisy neighbours, let alone the medical cases which come to his door?

In addition, stats are provided for each of the major NPCs associated with each of the four dwellings. These are clearly separate from the fanzine’s descriptive content and whilst written for use for with Pathfinder, First Edition, they are easily adapted or rewritten using the rules system of the Game Master’s choice. It does not even have to be retroclone. The contents of Loviatar No. 1 would work with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as much they would RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha or Symbaroum. It should be noted that the neighbourhood focus of ‘At the Corner of River Street and Craft Way’ feels similar to that of the ‘City League’ setting and series of articles for ‘Pelinore’, the fantasy setting developed by TSR UK in the pages of Imagine magazine.

Physically, Loviatar No. 1 is neat and tidy, and in general, well presented. Artwork is very light, but is fairly heavy in its style, as is the cartography, which reprints a map of Baldur’s Gate and shows the floor plans and neighbourhood of River Street and Craft Way. This does make the floor plans slightly difficult to read with any ease.

Despite containing just the one article, Loviatar No. 1 comes with plenty of plot and roleplaying opportunities, and despite it containing no new monsters, magical items, or spells, it is easy to add to the Game Master’s campaign. Refreshingly different, but still fantasy, suitable for one-on-one sessions with a player and downtime between adventures or urban focused campaigns, Loviatar No. 1 is simple, straightforward, and delightfully serviceable.

[Friday Fantasy] Down There

With Down There both author and publisher expand their range into a whole other genre, a whole other game system, and a whole other setting. Both Adam Gauntlett and Stygian Fox Publishing are best known for their ventures in Cosmic Horror and titles for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition and Trail of Cthulhu. Adam Gauntlett for titles such as The Man Downstairs and Stygian Fox Publishing for titles such as Things We leave Behind. With Down There, both author and publisher have released their first fantasy adventure, their first scenario for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and their first scenario set in the Forgotten Realms.

Down There—subtitled ‘A Fight Against the Shadows of a Sunken Temple from the Award-Winning Maker of Horror RPG Adventures’—is set in Curgir in the northern vales of the Evermoors in north-west Faerûn, a village famous for its apples and its cider, but also for its strange past. The village was once the site of a great temple which was built following the defeat of a cult devoted to the Horned Devil Caarcrinolaas and subsequently swallowed up by the ground, never to be seen again. Inhabited by a mix of Humans, Halflings, and Half-Orcs, the land on which the village sits is owned Greystone Abbey, which has established a Chapter House in the village. The monks of the Chapter House collect rent, settle disputes, and maintain common land. More recently, the monks at the Chapter House have decided to re-establish the temple with the aim of this one not sinking into the ground like the last one. To that end, the head of the Chapter House hired Marin Chain-Breaker, a Dragonborn Exorcist to determine a means of preventing that—and now he has. He plans to hold a holy wedding on the land where the new temple will be, the ceremony aiding in the reconsecration of the ground. Designed for Player Characters of First to Fourth Level, Down There will see them encounter strange creatures of shadow, dark secrets of the past, and Halfling Monks who are not what they seem!

The Player Characters are hired by Marin Chain-Breaker to escort him to Curgir and help him in his plans to re-establish the temple and prevent its disappearance. The story kicks into action when they come across signs of an abduction on the path and a note that should have been taken to Greystone Abbey. It appears that of late, the villagers are upset about the Chapter House’s leadership of Curgir, but do not give specifics as to why. Once the Player Characters reach Curgir, they find its inhabitants slightly subdued, but they can learn more with a bit of gossip. All clues point to the Chapter House, and there the Player Characters will have the first of the scenario’s two confrontations with darkness and evil. The second will likely follow after—though the scenario’s two big encounters can be played in any order—and take place in the remains of the temple that was lost… There the Player Characters will battle for the souls of the bride and groom to be, and more!

Down There involves a good mix of investigation and interaction, as well as the two combative confrontations. It comes very well appointed, as you would expect for a scenario from Stygian fox Publishing. The artwork is excellent and the maps very clear, whether for the players or the Dungeon Master. It does need an edit in places, though. Unfortunately, that is a minor problem when compared to the difficulty that the Dungeon master might have in running Down There. The issue that the contents of the scenario are not very organised. Once past the short introduction, the reader is quickly into a list of rumours and clues relating to the mystery of what is going on in Curgir, followed by an explanation of what Marin Chain-Breaker wants, and then into the scenario itself. Down There simply does not take the time to explain to the reader and potential Dungeon Master what exactly is going on in the village before diving into the plot itself. The result is that Dungeon Master has to learn it fully as she reads and thus everything is at first a surprise followed by a greater effort to pull its various elements into something that she can run.

Despite the issue with the organisation, Down There is a more than serviceable scenario. It is well presented with good maps and nicely done NPCs. It neatly subverts both the jolly image of both the Halfling Race and the reserved characters of the Monk Class, together a default combination in Dungeons & Dragons since Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, and turns them into something greedy and venal. There is a strong streak of horror too, with some creepy moments, primarily involving the shadows which permeate the village. Whilst it needs more preparation than it really should, Down There is a good combination of the horror genre with the fantasy and would add a darker, slightly twisted feel to any Dungeons & Dragons setting, not just the Forgotten Realms.

Friday Fantasy: The Plinth: A Waterdeep Location

 Waterdeep is a city of many faiths, yet there are many in the City of Splendours that lack wealth, influence, or congregation to build a temple of their own, let alone a cathedral. Each year though, on Plinth Day, the adherents of such faiths compete in displays of devotion in order to awarded one of the twenty shrines within the building known as the Plinth. This is a six-storey tower, slim, but with many balconies and home to the aforementioned shrines where those of the faiths that were successful on Plinth Day may come to worship without fear of condemnation or prosecution—whether be followers of Law or Chaos, or Good or Evil. Since the faiths with shrines in the Plinth must adhere to the rule of tolerance, civility, and respect, the multi-denominational, square tower is somewhere the agents of faiths and other organisations come to meet—though there is no knowing who might be watching, inside or out… The tallest building in Waterdeep, the Plinth is not only a well-known landmark, it is also home to a griffon cavalry guard station, a plum assignment for any member of the city’s griffon riders.

The Plinth: A Waterdeep Location is published by The Eldritch Press and as the title suggests, describes a location in the City of Splendours, perhaps the most important city in all of Faerûn. Thus it is a supplement for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, one that details the building itself, the occupants of the twenty shrines—from Auril, goddess of winter and Azuth, god of wizards to Talos, god of storms and Umberlee, goddess of the sea, descriptions of four NPCs and stats for a total of eleven, four quests, floorplans of all six levels of the Plinth, and a heresy. The NPC stats include generic characters and creatures such as the Flight Captain and Griffon Mount, but also entries tied to the quests, such as the Green Ghost which rises from the City of the Dead and everywhere it wanders, it withers the greenery and fresh flowers placed by the faithful of Eldath, goddess of peace, at the graves, and the Southern Assassins and Southern Rogues who will be instructed to deal with the Player Characters should they be taking too much of an interest in the fact that the masters of the Southern Assassins and Southern Rogues have been seen buying poison! Of course, The Emerald Enclave would like the Green Ghost laid to rest and The Lords’ Alliance would be very interested to learn about the purchase of certain poisons… The four quests range from Second Level up to Seventh Level, so the likelihood is that if the Dungeon Master uses all four, the Player Characters will be coming back to the Plinth more than once.

Perhaps the longest section in The Plinth: A Waterdeep Location—certainly the longest section of text—is dedicated to the Mother Source Heresy. Prior to its adoption as a multi-denominational establishment, the Plinth was a sacred monument to the goddess Selûne. Acolytes of the Seekers of Selûne are known to visit and wander the Plinth, communing with the building and chanting verses, sometimes even being struck by profound visions. Their activities are linked to holy fragments of a magical earthen vessel, known as the Mother Source Fragments, that suggest that there was an ultimate godhead and primeval Source-of-Realms to an unknown Goddess. Or it might be an aspect of an existing goddess, such as Selûne or Mystra and this interpretation has led to the rivals claiming that the interpretation is heretical.

The Plinth: A Waterdeep Location is very nicely presented. The artwork is excellent and the layout clean and tidy. Overall, this is a highly attractive supplement.

The obvious ties of The Plinth: A Waterdeep Location to Waterdeep make it difficult to use elsewhere and whilst it will be easy enough for the Dungeon Master to develop the four quests, it is pity that they do not tie into the Plinth as strongly as they should. Similarly, for all that the Mother Source Heresy is interesting, there are no quests actually using it or involving the Player Characters in it, so unlike the quests, it is not going to be all that easy to bring into a game or campaign. Perhaps in need of a little more development and support for the Dungeon Master, The Plinth: A Waterdeep Location does a decent job of presenting an interesting location and handful of NPCs—and presenting in a highly attractive fashion.

An Elemental Improvement

Since 2014, Wizards of the Coast has published just eight adventures for use with Dungeons & Dragons. This does not sound like much, but where in the past both Wizards of the Coast and TSR, Inc. before it published scenario after scenario, now Wizards of the Coast releases whole campaigns, all in one go, twice a year. The first campaign, ‘Lost Mines of Phandelver’, part of the most recent Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set, was really more of a scenario in the traditional sense, but what followed was Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat, which together formed the Tyranny of Dragons campaign. Sadly, the underwhelming nature of the campaign not only delayed the review of The Rise of Tiamat after Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but also delayed any return to review titles published by Wizards of the Coast for Dungeons & Dragons. Yet there lingered a curiosity that wondered if the subsequent campaigns were any good, but to answer that, it was necessary to turn to the next one published, Princes of the Apocalypse.

Published in 2015, Princes of the Apocalypse is a campaign for characters of First Level through Fifteenth Level, which returns to the Forgotten Realms after the Tyranny of Dragons campaign. Given that it concerns the return of Elemental Evil to the world, it should be no surprise that Princes of the Apocalypse is a sequel of sorts to T1 Temple of Elemental Evil, the classic Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign written by E. Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer and published in 1985. It is not a true sequel though, like Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, the campaign for Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition published in 2001, but rather a thematic sequel, in that Elemental Evil can work from one world to another and this time it is Forgotten Realms as opposed to Greyhawk.

Specifically, Princes of the Apocalypse takes place in and around the Sumber Hills at the heart of the Dessarin Valley many days’ travel to the East of Waterdeep. The hills are not only dotted with ruins and towers, but also hide the sundered ruins of a Dwarven city below their surface. Of late, these ruins have been occupied by four cults—the Cult of the Howling Hatred, the Cult of the Black Earth, the Cult of the Eternal Flame, and the Cult of the Crushing Wave—the members of which serve a prophet dedicated to one of the Princes of Elemental Evil. These princes are Imix, the Prince of Evil Fire, Ogremoch, the Prince of Evil Earth, Olhydra, the Prince of Evil Water, and Yan-C-Bin, the Prince of Evil Air. These four cults have staked out their part of the ruins and now compete to spread terror and their influence across the region. Initially, this will be through deception and subterfuge, banditry and theft, but as the campaign progresses, they will unleash air, earth, fire, and water elementals upon the region as well as lightning storms, firestorms, earthquakes, and floods. Besides the obvious chaos this causes, in some cases it actually drives the inhabitants of the Dessarin Valley into the arms of the cults, seeking answers and solace when their gods seem to fail them. In this way, each cult aims to prove itself greater than its three rivals in its devotion to Elemental Evil and so be worthy of serving the Elder Elemental Eye when it is brought into the world.

For the player characters, Princes of the Apocalypse begins with the search for a missing delegation from the city of Mirabar which was passing through the Dessarin Valley. Pleasingly, hooks aplenty—probably too aplenty—both personal and with both the major and the minor factions of the Sword Coast are given to pull the adventurers into the region and the campaign. Primarily of course, this includes the Harpers, the Order of the Gauntlet, the Emerald Enclave, the Lord’s Alliance, and the Zhentarim. As well as motivating the player characters, their inclusion also works to establish some competing objectives within the party. One of the several things that the adventure does well is make use of the player characters’ allegiances to provide them with information and further hooks into the campaign’s various side treks.

Once in the Dessarin Valley, clues as to the fate of the missing point towards a monastery, a river keep, a spire, and a tower and more. The party though, is free to explore and go where it will in its search for the missing delegation, following up this clue and that is because is where the Tyranny of Dragons campaign was linear and all about the dragons, Princes of the Apocalypse is a sandbox and all about the dungeons. All of these lie beneath the Sumber Hills, below each of the outposts established by the four cults and each seemingly a legitimate front organisation. Gaining access to these and their secrets present the players with plenty of roleplaying challenges. In fact, together with several of the sidetreks, they make up the bulk of the opportunities for roleplaying in the campaign, there being less involved in the dungeon delves to be found later on.

It should no surprise that the dungeons occupied by the cults are heavily themed around the Princes of Elemental Evil they worship. So the dungeon occupied by the  Cult of the Howling Hatred is air-themed, the dungeon of the Cult of the Eternal Flame is fire themed, and so on. Each of these dungeons is self-contained, roughly thirty or so locations, and this is for story reasons as much as it is design. The four dungeons are connected, but the rivalries between the four cults means that in effect, each remains isolated from the other. This does not mean that incursions by the party will go unnoticed and once the player characters have confronted and killed the first of the prophets, the cult will respond, as will the other prophets, the latter seeing the death of the first as a sign of weakness. Of course, the party will have to go after them, first down to the Temple of the Elder Elemental Eye and then on to the elemental nodes that are each prophet’s stronghold where the challenge is as much physical as it is combative. Each of the steps, the cult dungeons, the temple, the nodes, and so on, represents a major stage of campaign, each ending with a confrontation with one of the prophets, essentially an ‘end of level (or stage)’ boss.

Structurally, the flow of the campaign will see the party first investigating sites of interest above ground across the Dessarin Valley before delving into the first of the cults’ dungeons and then coming back to the surface. The player characters will repeat this process again and again, each time plumbing the depths to explore a more challenging dungeon. In between times, the Dungeon Master is given a slew of side treks and other adventures—all presented in the chapter pleasingly entitled ‘Alarums and Excursions’—with which to draw the party further into the campaign and show how the cults react to the party’s incursions below.

Besides presenting the campaign itself, Princes of the Apocalypse gives the background to each of the cults and a full description of the Dessarin Valley, its environs, and several of its settlements. Besides the chapter of extra and beginning adventures, ‘Alarums and Excursions’, there are chapters and appendices providing details and stats for all of the campaign’s monsters, enemies, and other NPCs, magical items, new elementally themed spells, and a new race, the Genasi. The latter are planetouched humanoids infused with, and have an affinity for, the power of their elemental parent. Their inclusion is interesting, but not intrinsic to playing or meeting the campaign. In addition, there are notes to adapt the campaign to other official settings for Dungeons & Dragons—Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Greyhawk, and Eberron—as well as a Dungeon Master’s own campaign, and so bring Elemental Evil to them.

So far, so good, but Princes of the Apocalypse is not perfect. The most obvious and immediate problem with the campaign is that the starting Level for player characters is not First Level as the book suggests. It really begins at Third Level, so players and characters leaping straight into the mystery and the action of the campaign will quickly find themselves outclassed, if not facing the possibility of a Total Party Kill. Princes of the Apocalypse provides a means to avoid this problem with a series of introductory adventures in the ‘Alarums & Excursions’ chapter that allow the characters to attain Third Level. Yet, there are two issues with this. One is that these mini-scenarios are dull and unengaging. The other is that because the campaign starts at Third Level, it is too high a Level for player characters who have completed the ‘The Lost Mine of Phandelver’ from the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set. If the players want to use their characters from ‘The Lost Mine of Phandelver’ in Princes of the Apocalypse, then the Dungeon Master will need to make some adjustments to the early parts of the campaign.

The second issue is the sheer amount of information that the Dungeon Master has to marshal in order to run Princes of the Apocalypse. The clues to be found throughout the campaign will lead the player characters hither and thither and the Dungeon Master will need to take notes to keep track of the clues the player characters have found and where they lead (likewise the players will probably need to keep notes too). This is exacerbated by the problem that although the campaign is designed as a sandbox, many of the various dungeons and side treks are designed to be played, if not in a set order, then at least, at certain Levels. Again, although this is described, it could have better presented and summarised for the Dungeon Master. 

Another issue might be the lack of magical items across the campaign and barring potions and scrolls, it does not feel as if the player characters are rewarded all that much. Lastly, some of the dungeons are not that interesting, in particular, the temples occupied by the cults. None of them are unplayable, but they look a little bland compared to some of the side trek adventures. In particular, an encounter between barbarians and a Halfling farmstead is very nicely done and presents some excellent opportunities for roleplaying by both the Dungeon Master and the players.

Physically, Princes of the Apocalypse is an attractive, full colour hardback. The writing is generally clear and the artwork is superb. The illustrations of the prophets—Aerisi Kalinoth, an Elf princess with a fascination for wings who leads the Cult of the Howling Hatred, Gar Shatterkeel, the mutilated sailor who leads the Cult of the Crushing Wave, Marlos Urnrayle, the male Medusa leader of the Cult of the Black Earth, and Vanifer, the Tielfling leader of the  Cult of the Eternal Flame—are excellent and it would have been fantastic if these and other illustrations had been better placed for the Dungeon Master to use them as illustrations as part of running the campaign.

The biggest omission though, is the index. The fact that book as dense and as information rich as Princes of the Apocalypse beggars belief.

Princes of the Apocalypse is a huge campaign and represents months and months of play. It really works hard to present the players with freedom of choice and their player characters with the freedom of movement and investigation. Likewise, and although the contents of the book could be better organised for ease of use, it presents the Dungeon Master with the means to nudge the player characters in the right direction and keep them away from encounters which will be too challenging for their Level as well reflect the reactions of the cults to the party’s actions. Above all, it is this combination of sandbox and cult reactions which ensures that the actions of the players and their adventurers matters in Princes of the Apocalypse.

Make a Home Your Own

The combination of a slick set of rules in the form of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and the generosity of Wizards of the Coast has led to the establishment of the Dungeon Masters Guild, a platform that allows creators to write and publish material of their to support the world’s pre-eminent roleplaying game. This is in addition to Wizards of the Coast making available Dungeons & Dragons supplements and scenarios of ages past in both PDF and print, providing access to some classic titles. In choosing new titles, like any marketplace, it pays to pick and choose what you purchase, to find the wheat from the chaff, the useful from the useless. So the question is, is Homeward Bound - simple rules for player-owned base worth a Dungeon Master’s time and worth a Dungeon Master adding it to his campaign?

Written and published by Jan Sielicki, the concept behind Homeward Bound - simple rules for player-owned base comes straight out of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and previous editions of the game, that eventually an adventurer will establish a base of some kind. So, a Cleric will establish a place of worship, a Fighter a freehold, a Magic-User a stronghold, a Thief a headquarters, and so on. Homeward Bound takes this idea and develops it even further so that once added to a campaign, such a base becomes a refuge, a home, a development property, and more, but there is the one expectation that this supplement never meets and expectations that this supplement more than exceed.

The first expectation that Homeward Bound is designed not to meet is that it is a supplement about the player characters setting up home late in their careers, the types of home they can set up and develop, their gaining a place in society and the effects that can come from that, their putting down roots and the effects that can come from that, and the effects that this can have on a campaign. Homeward Bound is not that supplement, but rather a supplement that details one single home that the player characters can call their own, how it comes to be in their possession, the income to be made from this home and its surrounding lands, possible upgrades that can be made to the home and their effects, how it works in a campaign, who lives nearby, and the threats nearby that can be used to construct a campaign framework. So what Homeward Bound is not, is a generic supplement that details how to provide the player characters with a base and use it as a means to further develop a Dungeon Master’s campaign. Which is slightly misleading because from the outset, Homeward Bound - simple rules for player-owned base gives every indication that this is exactly what it is. So if Homeward Bound is not a generic supplement—and arguably that supplement is still awaiting publication—then what is it?

Homeward Bound describes the one location, the Sleeping Manor, named for the unusual nature of its windows—they show the view outside, but how it was twelve hours earlier, not as it is now. Nominally located in the classic Dungeons & Dragons setting, the Forgotten Realms, the default look for the Sleeping Manor is that akin to a French chateau, but it could be a classic castle, a wizard’s tower, and so on. To support this flexibility, the supplement does not include floor plans, but given how specific the rest of the supplement is, it seems slightly odd to keep this so generic and not include them. Of course, this does allow room for the Dungeon Master and his players to imagine the Sleeping Manor how they want. Various rooms are detailed, from the entrance hall and solar to a sample bedroom and the trophy room, with options for utilitarian or lavish outfitting and description depending upon how the players see their characters living.

Of course, once the Sleeping Manor is in their possession—perhaps as a reward for heroic deeds, an inheritance, or through simple right of possession—the player characters can start earning money from the surrounding lands and spending it to upgrade their manor. For example, ‘Land Improvement’ increases the monthly income from the lands belonging to the Sleeping Manor, a ‘Laboratory’ enables potions to be mixed and stored in a vault, and a ‘Shrine’ allows a divine spellcaster to prepare an extra spell. None of the mechanical benefits granted by these upgrades are powerful enough to unbalance a campaign, but they are strong to encourage the players to have their characters build them. Further, they give somewhere for the player characters to invest their ill-gotten gains acquired whilst adventuring.

Whilst the player characters are away adventuring, life continues back at the Sleeping Manor and perhaps something interesting might happen that will be revealed when they return, for example, a competitor might undercut the trade deal they made with the local merchants or an annual folk festival takes place and each player character gains an inspiration point because everyone is so happy. A table gives roughly twenty each of these dangers and blessings that can the player characters can come home to. There is a good mix and they do help bring the Sleeping Manor and its environs to life. If there is an issue with the table, it should be that the table should be full of events rather than including the occasional ‘nothing happens’, which could have been better handled by a roll separate to the table to determine if anything occurs.

Homeward Bound also expands on the lands surrounding the Sleeping Manor, nearby towns and villages—it is here that the player characters will engage in negotiations with local merchants to sell the produce of the Sleeping Manor; a cantankerous clan that farms the lands adjacent to the Sleeping Manor; a a strange temple and a vast swamp; rival nobles and more. Numerous NPCs are described for these locations, often with varying options and questions that allow the Dungeon Master to tailor them to his campaign. Rounding out Homeward Bound is a campaign outline that details not only a threat to the Sleeping Manor and its surrounds, but also the lands beyond… The Dungeon Master will need to provide the stats for all of these NPCs and the villain at the heart of the campaign, but this allows them to be tailored to match the Level of the player characters.

So if Homeward Bound is not a generic supplement for building a campaign around the homes that the player characters establish, it is actually more than the means to build a campaign around a single home and its surrounds. It is a campaign framework, one that provides a structure into which the Dungeon Master can slot the player characters’ adventures, whether down a dungeon or not. At the end of these adventures the player characters will return to the Sleeping Manor to play out what would otherwise be their downtime and as they return again and again the significance of the Sleeping Manor will grow and grow—especially if the Dungeon Master runs the campaign outlined in Homeward Bound. Of course, the Dungeon Master need not do that, but with or without the campaign, the Homeward Bound framework provides opportunity aplenty for roleplaying and  gaming.

Homeward Bound is a twenty-four page, 6.02 MB PDF. It is cleanly and tidily presented in full colour with a good mix of clip art, though the map depicting the area around the Sleeping Manor is disappointing. As a supplement, Homeward Bound does need another edit, but this does not mean that it is poorly written. Rather that it needs to be localised to read more easily for a native English speaker, but it should be made clear that the author’s English is anything other than poor.

There are two fundamental issues with Homeward Bound. The first is that it needs an editor or edit. The second is that it needs to make clear what it is and is not—and do so upfront. From the outset it appears to be generic supplement, then in its initial pages, it appears to be just about adding a single specific dwelling and gaming around that, but read to the end and it turns out to be something else, a campaign framework. Ideally, the supplement should be obvious about what it really is and be obvious upfront.

Yet despite the slightly obtuse nature of how its purpose is presented, Homeward Bound is a good supplement. By keeping everything simple in mechanical terms, it very nicely expands and develops the Dungeon Master’s campaign in a relatively short number of pages whilst also packing in a lot of gaming potential. Homeward Bound - simple rules for player-owned base is great add-on to the later stages of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign that will add depth to both the campaign and its player characters.

The Demise of Tiamat

The fact that I have waited so long to review The Rise of Tiamat, the sequel to Hoard of the Dragon Queen cannot be seen as a good sign. Launched as the first part of Tyranny of Dragons, the inaugural signature campaign for the relaunched Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, Hoard of the Dragon Queen was disappointing for many reasons. It was repetitive, it felt flat, and it did not provide enough support for either the DM or the players, making it ill suited to play by those new to Dungeons & Dragons. Nor was it an interesting read and all together, it did not bode well for its sequel and concluding part.

The Rise of Tiamat follows on from the events of Hoard of the Dragon Queen and takes the players from eighth to fifteenth level. Their efforts in uncovering the activities of the Cult of the Dragon have brought them to the attention of the Council of Waterdeep. The Council wants to make use of both their skill and their expertise, asking not only their advice, but their aid in performing mission after mission. These include infiltrating a dragon’s lair, investigating the Cult of the Dragon’s attacks, seeking alliances with the great, the good, and the devilishly evil, and more, all before facing Tiamat herself as the Cult’s plans come to fruition. For the most part, the player characters will be interacting with the Council of Waterdeep before being sent out on these missions, so potentially with the politics and the negotiating there should be plenty of opportunity for both roleplaying and action in the campaign.

All of which sounds fantastic. This then is a campaign on an epic scale, presenting Dungeons & Dragons on a grand stage. Unfortunately, The Rise of Tiamat is never allowed to live up to this potential for it is handicapped by one problem after another.

The Rise of Tiamat is poorly organised. The campaign is undeniably linear with one mission presented after another. Yet two of the campaign’s episodes are ones that the player characters will return to again and again, the Council of Waterdeep and the Cult of the Dragon striking back at the heroes, both of which have problems of their own (see below). Yet parts of these episodes are interspersed throughout the campaign, so why have these parts actually placed between the other episodes when they occur during the campaign? This would make it easier to run, especially for the less experienced DM.

The Rise of Tiamat lacks grandeur. There is no lack of scope to this campaign. After all, it involves the heroes working directly with the Council of Waterdeep to save Faerûn, fighting dragons, parleying with dragons, negotiating with necromancers of Thay, and of course, fighting Tiamat. Yet many of these encounters, such as the parleying with dragons and the negotiating with an island of necromancers is dealt with in just three pages each. These are fantastic situations, but they never feel really fantastic, the writing never brings out the sense grandeur that these encounters should have. This applies to individual locations too, because no location or encounter is longer than twenty-five locations—and that includes each and every one of the campaign’s dungeons. Too many of these encounters and dungeons just feel small.

The Rise of Tiamat constantly undermines player agency. The player characters are working throughout the campaign to thwart the Cult of the Dragon’s plans to summon Tiamat. There is absolutely nothing that the player characters can do to stop the summoning from being set up or from making it more difficult for the Cult of the Dragon to set the summoning up. It does not matter if the player characters manage to kill any of the high ranking members of the Cult of the Dragon or their allies because the book’s advice is to simply replace them. In other words, it has no effect upon the end result. Further, the heroes are sent out twice on missions that would appear to attempting to stop the summoning—in both cases to try and get hold of constituent Dragon Masks that combine into the Mask of the Dragon Queen needed to summon Tiamat. In both cases, the heroes cannot obtain either Mask… (Although an editing error in the finale suggests that this might have been a possibility that has since been removed). Arguably, both scenarios are a waste of time.

The Rise of Tiamat is constantly undermining player agency even when the player characters have it. What the heroes are actually doing in the campaign is attempting increase the number of forces that can be arrayed against the Cult of the Dragon and its allies. This is done by performing the various missions presented in the episodes and if they are carried out to the satisfaction of one ally or another, then the player characters will have won their support towards the assault on the Cult of the Dragon’s summoning ritual. Yet when the heroes are sent out on a mission, they only know what their objectives are, rather than both their objectives and what any of the attendees at the Council of Waterdeep might want them to do. The result is that the campaign’s primary activity—influencing the forces that will be arrayed against the Cult of the Dragon—is a reactive activity when surely it should have been both proactive and reactive. Not for each and every mission, but certainly for some of them.

There is no price to failure throughout The Rise of Tiamat—except if the heroes actually fail at the end. At the climax of the campaign, if the player characters do not prevent the summoning of Tiamat, then she and her cohorts rampage across Faerûn  and essentially the campaign has become Fantasy Flight Games’ Midnight. Until then though, the only real price to failure is the possibility of player character death, but since  the Harpers or their allies can simply cast Raise Dead, that is moot anyway...

The treasure in The Rise of Tiamat is terrible. Part of the plot to Tyranny of Dragons is that the Cult of the Dragon has been collecting treasure from accross Faerûn in order to have enough tribute to Tiamat. So understandably treasure has been somewhat thin on the ground, but throughout the campaign the treasure rewards rarely amount to more than scrolls and potions and the occasional Arrow of Dragon Slaying. The one single item of colourful treasure in the book is a pair of goblets that grant a bonus for Saving Throws versus poison. Yet not once is there an opportunity for this to be used in the campaign. Except that there is and it is completely ignored.

The Rise of Tiamat lacks subtlety. For example, the Cult of the Dragon soon wearies of the heroes’ activities and strikes back at them. Not once, not twice, but three times, and each time, the cult sends forces to physically attack the player characters. Each time an attack fails, there are survivors or watchers who get away to inform their masters of their failure and when one band fails, the cult sends another band—only stronger, and then it does it again. Essentially the cult learns nothing from these failed attacks. Why does the cult  resort to the same method of attack again and again? Especially when the player characters attend the Council of Waterdeep, not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times! So why does the Cult of the Dragon not infiltrate the Council? After all, it would be a perfect opportunity to attempt to poison the heroes. Especially when it has the treasure to spend on such an attempt. Especially when there is one good magic item doing nothing…?

The Rise of Tiamat does not reward good roleplaying. The campaign uses the milestone system of advancement, where the heroes are rewarded with an advancement in level every few episodes when it is significant. The problem with this is that it does allow for rewards for good play. For example, the heroes may encounter and interact with a ghost. They may even find a way for the ghost to move on. Yet there is no reward for this and thus no incentive for the heroes to take such actions, and this despite there being a mechanism—that of Inspiration—present in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition that would be perfect for this.

The Rise of Tiamat does not show, it tells. Throughout the campaign, we are told again and again that the Cult of the Dragon and its dragon allies are laying waste to the Forgotten Realms, rounding up prisoners, and sweeping up treasure. Most of this becomes apparent to the player characters as they travel from the Council of Waterdeep to an encounter and back again, but whilst the heroes get to investigate the aftermath of such an attack, why not have the heroes involved in such a situation? That would reinforce the terrible effects of the events that the player characters are trying to stop and it make this second part of the Tyranny of Dragons campaign not feel as if it was removed from the everyday effects of the Cult of the Dragon’s campaign.

The Rise of Tiamat has poor descriptive text. Now no-one wants the dreaded ‘purple prose’, but The Rise of Tiamat never comes close to this. Indeed, it is often banal in its descriptions. For example, “Once your eyes adjust to the stunning chaos of Tiamat’s Temple, you see its interior is a single, cathedral-like space that towers far overhead.” What exactly does ‘stunning chaos’ look like? Nowhere is a description given. Yet this occurs at the climax of the adventure, it is a set-piece, and it should be memorable—and so it is. Yet for the wrong reasons, because it is so immemorable.

The Rise of Tiamat undermines player agency because it limits both their options and their involvement in the campaign’s climatic scene. As hard as the heroes have worked to bring a strong alliance of disparate forces to the summoning of Tiamat, these forces are really only used to distract the Cult of the Dragon’s forces away from the player characters’ efforts to fight Tiamat. Since their characters have the respect of the Council of Waterdeep, the players are free to assign the forces they have arrayed as they wish, but then all of the action that might involve such clashes is waved away without any player involvement. Instead the heroes are tasked with making their own way in and striking at the summoning directly. So riding in on the back of a dragon or leading forces into the field, just sneaking in as almost nothing else matters.

Now The Rise of Tiamat is not wholly without merit. Two of the early episodes—mini-dungeons both—are actually good, possessing flavour and feel. The first involves sneaking into a White Dragon’s lair within an iceberg where the great beast holds its minions in an icy grip. There is actually quite a lot going on in this adventure and by working with some the minions, the player characters may gain advantages that simply running in and hitting things would deny them. The environment and its difficulties are also reasonably detailed. The second is episode is more of a traditional dungeon, the tomb of an ancient diviner, which contains some nice little details. Some of its encounters are not as realised as they should be—arguably the encounters with a band of devils should be made more of than they are—but when the dungeon is good, it is really quite good.

Other dungeons are not as good. Notably, there is a tower that the player characters need to get to, but the only way is through a maze. The limits of the maze are actually quite constrained and what the player characters really have to do is work out how the puzzle that will get them through the maze works and then handle each of the subsequent encounters. There is actually some nice invention going on in some of these encounters—for example, a giant rock throwing competition with a pair of Cyclops—but the maze itself will be more than challenging because not every player likes mazes and this may end up as an exercise in frustration.

Physically, The Rise of Tiamat  is cleanly and neatly presented. Certainly the maps are much, much better than in Hoard of the Dragon, being detailed and easier to read. Whilst the illustrations are good, there could be more of them and they could be a bit easier for the DM to use in the game. The writing has its own issues, of course, many of which the DM will need to overcome in order to get a decent game out of the campaign.

The Rise of Tiamat really has one single problem. It is not campaign. It is a campaign outline, one that the DM will need to work up with further details to add depth and direction to. Arguably, it feels as if the designers wrote and developed a much longer, more detailed campaign and were forced to cut much of it to fit the ninety or so pages of the final book. Ultimately though, there is a one-hundred-and-ninety-two page campaign in The Rise of Tiamat, a ninety-six page book.

—oOo—

Finally, there is the matter of the Tyranny of Dragons campaign as a whole to consider. Beyond the core books of the Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide, this campaign was the intended to showcase Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. After all, it is set in the game’s primary campaign setting of the Forgotten Realms and it is does pitch the player characters against the game’s original signature villain—Tiamat. Yet as a showcase for anyone new to Dungeons & Dragons, this campaign can only be regarded as a failure, because fundamentally, there is not enough advice or help for the neophyte DM, let alone his players. In addition it does not explain enough and it does not present either the campaign or the setting of the Forgotten Realms in the colour or with the scope it demands. There is still a great campaign for Dungeons & Dragons to be had in the player characters preventing the summoning of Tiamat, but the Tyranny of Dragons is not that and the campaign is going to remembered more for its potential than its execution.

Board of the Dragon Queen

Hot on the heels of the Player’s Handbook comes the first adventure for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition. Written by Wolgang Baur and Steve Winter—the ‘Kobold-in-chief’ for Open Design LLC and TSR and Wizards of the Coast veteran designer respectively—Hoard of the Dragon Queen is the first part of the Tyranny of Dragons campaign that will be completed with the publication of The Rise of Tiamat. It comes as a slim ninety-six page hardback that in eight chapters takes the adventurers from First Level up through Seventh Level.

At the time of publication, with just the Player’s Handbook available, it might seem that it would be impossible to play or run Hoard of the Dragon Queen. This could not be further from the truth. To begin with, the rules presented in the Player’s Handbook are more than sufficient to run the campaign. After all, if the rules presented in the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set were enough to run ‘Lost Mine of Phandelver’, the scenario in box, then those given in the Player’s Handbook will more than suffice for Hoard of the Dragon Queen. One thing that the DM will need is the campaign’s online supplement—available here because whilst some are given in the book itself, the online supplement contains all of the magic items, monsters, and spells referenced in Hoard of the Dragon Queen. 

The setting for the Hoard of the Dragon Queen is the Forgotten Realms, specifically the Sword Coast, thus in keeping with recent releases from Wizards of the Coast, including the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set. The Cult of the Dragon, ever a pervasive and pernicious influence in the region, has decided that it has tired of skulking in the shadows and is in the process of bringing an audacious plan to fruition. Drawing on its alliances with its draconic brethren and the Red Wizards of Thay, it seeks to free Tiamat from her infernal prison in the Nine Hells and bring her to Faerûn. 

Which is fair to say, sounds awesome! After all, this looks like a campaign that throws the adventurers up against the signature bad guy (sic) of Dungeons & Dragons—Tiamat herself. She was after all, the villain of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series, and thus will be familiar to many players of the game. The other villains of Dungeons & Dragons are probably the devil Asmodeus, the demon Orcus, and of course, Count Strahd von Zarovich of Ravenloft fame, but going up against a villain like Tiamat should whet the appetite of any Dungeons & Dragons player. Of course, that will not happen in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but will no doubt be saved for The Rise of Tiamat, but investigating her cult should set everything up for a confrontation of memorable proportions. Unfortunately, as evidenced by Hoard of the Dragon Queen, getting to that confrontation may not be as memorable as it should be…

The campaign begins with a cliché as its solution to how to get the characters involved—the party is working as guards for a caravan that is travelling to the starting location for the campaign. Which is the same set up as that for ‘Lost Mine of Phandelver’, the scenario in Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set, but fortunately, this is countered somewhat by the first of the book’s appendices, which gives options to adjust any Background that a player chooses for his character to fit the setting. These can be rolled for, but it would make as much sense for the GM to assign these to the player characters according to suitability and their Class. Had much more this been done to involve the characters in the adventure in this way, it would have greatly strengthened the start of the campaign.

Once they get to the outskirts of Greenest, the characters discover that it is under attack. Fighting their way in, they are given refuge in the town’s keep, but being the town’s best hope, the governor asks the adventurers for help. This sets up a number of mini-missions that will see them help protect and rescue the townspeople and begin learn what the attackers want. These are nice way of getting them involved, sneaking out of the town’s keep again and again to help save the townsfolk, but it culminates in rather a disappointing encounter. The problem is not the encounter itself, but rather its effect—or lack thereof—upon the campaign. In this, one of the player characters has the opportunity to face the leader of the raiding party in duel, arguably a rousing climax to the chapter. It is a tough encounter, but if the player character is particularly successful, the campaign has the leader either ferreted away or simply replaced by with another NPC with exactly the same stats. Surely this undermines the players’ agency by making their efforts have no effect?

In the days to come, the adventurers will be asked to follow the raiders and scout out their nearby base, first to conduct a rescue mission and then return again to investigate what turns out to be the first dungeon in Hoard of the Dragon Queen. It is an unimpressive affair that feels flat and featureless, but whatever they find in the dungeon, the adventurers’ information will bring them to the attention of interested parties opposed to the Cult of the Dragon and they will be asked to undertake increasingly dangerous missions in the name of the safety of Faerûn.

In some ways, the first of these marks the highlight of Hoard of the Dragon Queen. Working for their patrons, the party is tasked with joining a caravan train that is travelling north along the Sword Coast and which is suspected of having been infiltrated by the Cult of the Dragon. The DM is presented with plenty of material to work with—numerous NPCs and encounters, both random and planned. There are opportunities aplenty for roleplaying and interaction throughout this section, but its primary purpose is to bring the adventurers to the attention of the cultists—and then earn their ire. One question not addressed is what would happen if the adventurers managed to stop this, another incidence of player agency being stymied. 

Whilst there are opportunities to roleplay later in this first part of the campaign, they grow fewer and fewer in number as Hoard of the Dragon Queen drives towards its climax. There is a marked shift in emphasis upon roleplaying and interaction towards infiltration and combat—typically with the adventurers disguising themselves in cult clothing—as the party follows the trail of the cult’s loot. The best of these opportunities is the potential for the adventurers to turn the various humanoid groups at the cult’s base in a swamp against each other. Which works in the one instance, but the campaign returns to it not once, but twice more, and once in mufti, the adventurers are expected to do no more than sneak in amongst the cultists, salute them, and then with a cry of “Surprise!”, draw their weapons and attack. It becomes all too one-note. Only the scenery changes…

In the last part of Hoard of the Dragon Queen, the party needs to board a Cloud Giant’s castle—before it flies away! The opportunity to do so is fleeting and the DM may well need to make some adjustments if the adventurers are in danger of missing their flight. Which is a distinct possibility given that it comes down to some difficult skill rolls involving the handling of wyverns… The consequences of failure are not really covered either. Once aboard the castle, the design never quite comes alive, again expecting the player characters to sneak in and divide the factions found therein. A  Cloud Giant’s castle should be amazing, a memorable experience, but again it just seems to fizzle out. 

Some players maybe disappointed at the dearth of treasure available in this campaign. Indeed, the adventurers may well rise through several levels before they acquire any magical items. The clue though lies in the title—Hoard of the Dragon Queen, for in truth, this is intentional. The point is that the villains of the campaign are hoarding the treasure—hence the title of this first part—rather than leaving it lying around for the player characters to find… What treasure there is though, is often generic and uninteresting. Indeed, the hoard itself is little more than a pile of coins.

Physically, Hoard of the Dragon Queen is unimpressive. The writing often feels flat and the tan colouring throughout does not help. In particular, all too many of the campaign’s minor NPCs are left for the DM to develop and bring to life, which although allows him to add his personal touch, does him more work to do and as written, hardly serves to make the campaign memorable. The illustrations are decent enough, but whilst pretty enough, the cartography thoroughly undermines the book. Too often the maps are murky and featureless, but worse, in they lack a key to their locations, whilst in others, they are too small, switch scales, and even orientation. Worse, in places, they do not have places marked upon them that are discussed in the text, leaving the DM to place them. Essentially, the book’s maps force the DM to do an awful lot of unnecessary work when they should be aiding him.

Although Hoard of the Dragon Queen is not the first scenario to be released for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition—that honour goes to ‘Lost Mine of Phandelver’ from the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set—it is the first to be released in the wake of, and to require the use of, the Player's Handbook. It is thus Wizards of the Coast's flagship campaign for the RPG, showcasing how the new edition of the game should be played, what a scenario looks like for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, and  of course, how much fun it offers.

Unfortunately Hoard of the Dragon Queen does none of that. The truth is that it is not a good scenario, it is not a well written scenario, and it is not a well presented scenario. The scenario is just not exciting, it lacks atmosphere—though not tone, which is grim; it fails to bring the NPCs to life or give the player characters enough options; and it just does not provide enough support for the DM despite the fact that he really, really needs it. Hoard of the Dragon Queen is not a scenario suited to first time DMs, whereas ‘Lost Mine of Phandelver’ from the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set is and it is also much, much more fun. There is no doubt plenty of material for the DM to work with in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but he will have to work unnecessarily hard to bring it out.

Wizards Go Euro

As the owners of the great Avalon Hill brand, it is no surprise that the board games published by Wizards of the Coast to date have fallen into the “Ameritrash” category. To label them as such is not denigrate them, for their emphasis has been highly developed themes, characters, heroes, or factions with individually defined abilities, combined with player-to-player conflict and a high level of luck. The publisher’s latest title has proved to be anything but an “Ameritrash” board game, but is instead a classic style “Eurogame,” which means relatively simple rules, a short playing time, a degree of abstraction rather than simulation, player interaction, player competition rather than player combat, and attractive physical components. What is more, this is a game based on Dungeons & Dragons, and specifically on the Forgotten Realms setting. Its title is Lords of Waterdeep.

Most Dungeons & Dragons deal with the themes inherent in those two words – “dungeons” and “dragons.” So they focus on delving into dungeons, facing dragons, and so on. Not so, Lords of Waterdeep. It is set in Waterdeep, the City of Splendors, the most resplendent jewel in the Forgotten Realms and a den of political intrigue and shady back-alley dealings where powerful, but masked lords vie for control of the city through of the region’s organisations that include the City Guard, the Harpers, the Knights of the Shield, the Red Sashes, and the Silverstars. They send out their Agents to acquire Buildings and access to better resources; gain Gold to make the many purchases necessary to ensure their rise to power; the means to Intrigue with their fellow Lords; and hire Adventurers whom they can send out on missions or Quests that once completed with spread their influence and gain them true power.

Designed for play by between two and five participants, aged twelve and over, once learned, Lords of Waterdeep can be played in an hour, no matter what the number of players. The box contains a game board, a rule book, five player mats, one hundred Adventurer cubes, one-hundred-and-twenty-one Intrigue, Quest, and Role cards, thirty-three wooden pieces that include the game’s various Agents and the score markers, and one-hundred-and-seventy card tokens that include the Building tiles and Building control markers, and plenty of Gold. All of which fits easily and neatly into the game’s insert tray that holds all of the game’s components almost perfectly.

Lords of Waterdeep’s game board measures 20” by 26” and depicts the city port of Waterdeep in Faerûn. Besides the Victory Point track around its edge and the spaces for the Intrigue and Quest cards, most of board has spaces for various Buildings that include Aurora’s Realms Shop, Castle Waterdeep, and Waterdeep Harbour as well as empty spaces where the players can put up Buildings of their own. Each of the Buildings provides a specific benefit. For example, the Aurora’s Realms Shop gives four Gold; the Builder’s Hall lets a player purchase an Advanced Building and bring it into play; Waterdeep Harbour allows a player to use an Intrigue card; the open-air stadium that is the Field of Triumph is where you can hire Fighters; new Quests are available to take at Cliffwatch Inn; and taking control of Castle Waterdeep lets you go first on the next round and draw an Intrigue card.

Besides the nine Basic Buildings marked on the board, Lords of Waterdeep includes twenty-four Advanced Buildings. These work in a similar fashion to the Basic Buildings, but the benefits provided by each are usually better. For example, when a player visits the Smuggler’s Dock, he can spend two Gold in order to hire four Adventurers, although only Clerics and Fighters; The Waymoot accumulates Victory Points that any player can visit and collect; and when at The Palace of Waterdeep, a player can direct the Ambassador at the beginning of the next round – and the Ambassador always acts before anyone else can take their turn. A side benefit to owning an Advanced Building is that when another player uses it, the owner gains a small benefit. For example, when another player uses the Smuggler’s Dock, its owner receives two Gold, and with The Waymoot or The Palace of Waterdeep, he receives two Victory Points. (This does not happen when a player uses his own building).

Like the game board, the twenty-four page rulebook is done in full colour. It is well written, with quite a lot of information that includes plenty of examples. There is also a reasonable amount of background information too; enough that fans of the Forgotten Realms will appreciate the references, but not enough to overwhelm the casual player who does not roleplay, or who does not play Dungeons & Dragons. Overall, the rule book requires a careful read, but the rules themselves are fairly easy to grasp.

There is a player mat colour coded to each of the game’s five organisations – the City Guard, the Harpers, the Knights of the Shield, the Red Sashes, and the Silverstars. Each mat has spaces for his Agent Pool and other resources, plus his Completed Quests, as well as indications around the side to place his Active Quests, Completed Plot Quests, and his Lord of Waterdeep card.

The game’s one-hundred Adventurer cubes are divided into four colours – white, orange, black, and purple – representing Clerics, Fighters, Rogues, and Wizards respectively. These are the game’s primary resources, which along with Gold, are what a player will need to complete Quests.

At the heart of Lords of Waterdeep, and what the players are trying to complete, are its Quests, represented by the Quest cards. There are sixty of these and they come in five types – Arcane, Commerce, Piety, Subterfuge, and Warfare. Each Quest card gives the requirements necessary to complete and the rewards it grants when completed. For example, the “Domesticate Owlbears” Arcana Quest card requires one white and two purple – or one Cleric and two Wizard cubes, and rewards the completing player with eight Victory Points, one Fighter or orange cube, and two Gold. A second type of Quest card is the Plot Quest card, which when completed gives an extra reward throughout the rest of the game. For example, the Skulduggery “Install a Spy in Castle Waterdeep Castle” Plot Quest card requires four Rogue or black cubes and four Gold to complete, and when done do so, not only rewards a player with eight Victory Points, but for every subsequent Skulduggery Quest completed, rewards him with another two Victory Points.

The cards that the players will use throughout the game are the Intrigue cards. These tend to grant a player extra Adventurers or extra Gold, or penalise rival players. For example, the “Spread the Wealth” Intrigue card gives both its player four Gold and another player of choice, two Gold; whilst the “Assassination” Intrigue card forces every other player to discard a Rogue or black cube from his tavern on his player mat. If a player cannot discard a Rogue, he must pay two Gold to the player who put the Intrigue card into play. Another type of Intrigue card is the Mandatory Quest which when given to another player forces him to complete that Quest before any of the others before him. For example, the “Stamp Out Cultists” Mandatory Quest Intrigue card forces a Lord to expend a Cleric, a Fighter, and a Rogue cube to complete it before moving onto his other Quests. Sadly, he only receives two Victory Points for completing it.

The first card though, that each player will receive is a Lord of Waterdeep card. Each one of these depicts one of the members of the secret council that governs the city, along with their name, some flavour text, and an effect that in providing a benefit at the end of the game will influence a player’s actions during the game.  For example, Nymara Scheiron gives a player an extra four Victory Points at the end of the game for each Commerce and Skulduggery Quest completed, whereas Larissa Neathal gives six Victory Points for each Advanced Building she controls at the end of the game.

At the start of the game, each player receives a player mat, the Building control markers, and Agents, all of the same colour. The number of Agents received varies according to the number of players. With fewer players, each player receives more Agents; with more players, they receive less. This is the game’s core balancing mechanic. However many Agents a player starts with, every player receives a further Agent at the start of the second half of the game. Each player receives two Quest cards, two Intrigue cards, and a single Lord of Waterdeep card. This last card is kept hidden until the end of the game when everyone works out their final score. Lastly each player receives some Gold, the amount varying according to play order. The player who goes receives just four Gold, the next five, then six, and so on until the fifth player – if there is one – receives eight Gold. This is the game’s second balancing mechanic.

The game is played over the course eight Rounds. In each Round, the players take it in turn to assign a single Agent and then if they can, complete a Quest. Each Agent is assigned to a space on the board in an available Building or Advanced Building space. When he does, the Agent gives the player the benefit from that Building. Most Buildings have a single space, so that once an Agent has been assigned there, no Agent can be sent there to make use of its benefit, though some Intrigue cards allow a player to assign an Agent to an already occupied building. Thus if a player wants to purchase and construct an Advanced Building, he must assign an Agent to the “Builder’s Hall” before anyone else, or wait until the next Round. In which case, he probably wants to assign an Agent to Castle Waterdeep gain the opportunity to go first at the start of the next Round. Otherwise, a player must assign an Agent to another Building.

Two Buildings – Cliffwatch Inn and Waterdeep Harbour – have multiple spaces, so that more than one Agent can be assigned there, even by the same player. The former is the source for new Quest cards, while the latter allows a player to use an Intrigue card. Once an Agent is assigned, if a player has sufficient Adventurers, and sometimes Gold, to complete the requirements given on a Quest card, he can complete it and score Victory Points for doing so.

Lastly, and after all of the Agents have been assigned, any player with an Agent assigned to Waterdeep Harbour can reassign that Agent to any remaining unoccupied Building. This rewards the player for his cunning in sending an Agent to Waterdeep Harbour and playing an Intrigue card. The Round is over, everyone receives their Agents back, and a new Round begins until all eight have been played. At game’s end everyone counts up the Victory Points gained form completed Quest cards, plus unassigned Adventurers and unspent Gold, and the person with the most is the winner.

Lords of Waterdeep plays at reasonable pace, once the rules have been grasped, and offers a decent amount of game play and replay given how simple the rules really are and how light the game is. This is helped by the variety available in the Quest and Intrigue cards, but mostly in the Advanced Building cards. With twenty-four available, it is unlikely that all of them will come into play. The game also scales well, playing as well with two players as with five.

In terms of game play, Lords of Waterdeep rewards careful planning. Each player needs to be looking at what he needs to complete the Quests that he has in front of him. Of course, he also needs to get to the Buildings that he wants, but with rivals competing for the same space, this is not possible, so a player should also try and get the best out the available Buildings that he can. This can be alleviated if a player goes first, but in general, the closer a player is to going first the better. There is also some advantage in purchasing and constructing the Advanced Buildings as they provide more spaces where an Agent can be assigned. Further, if another player uses one, then the owning player also gains a small, but sometimes important benefit.

All of the Buildings in Lords of Waterdeep can play an important role during the game, but three tend to be more favoured than the others. They are the Builder’s Hall, because it allows Advanced Buildings to be purchased and constructed; Waterdeep Harbour, not just because an Intrigue card can be played, but also because an Agent assigned there can be reassigned; and lastly, Castle Waterdeep as it grants a player an Intrigue card and means that he can go first in the next Round.

Agents though, are in short supply, even after the extra one is gained at the start of the game’s second half. This means that the players must assign them with care so as not to waste their action.

Physically, Lords of Waterdeep is very nicely put together. All of the playing pieces have been done in wood and the rest of the pieces in sturdy card, though the Intrigue, Quest, and Lord of Waterdeep cards have been done slightly too thin a cardstock. The rulebook itself is bright and attractive and easy to read. For an American game, the look and feel of Lords of Waterdeep is anything but that. It has the look and feel of a Eurogame.

In terms of theme, the grimy fantasy of the Waterdeep of the Forgotten Realms does not feel pasted on, a common complaint with this type of game. This is not to say that the mechanics behind the rules of Lords of Waterdeep could not be taken and have a new theme applied to them. It would take some effort, but in the meantime, the Dungeons & Dragons theme is applied with great care, and it is a theme that avoids many of Dungeons & Dragons’ clichés, primarily because it removes the concept of going on adventures and down dungeons. This is done by placing the players in the role of hiring the adventuring parties rather than being part of them – as in so many other games.

What is telling about Lords of Waterdeep is that Wizards of the Coast describe the format of this game as being “Non-traditional.” This is an odd claim for the publisher to make. Lords of Waterdeep is not a Non-traditional game. It is more or less, a traditional Eurogame, with worker placement and resource management mechanics similar to those found in well-known Eurogames such as Agricola, Caylus, and Puerto Rico, amongst many others. All games and mechanics that the designers at Wizards of the Coast and in particular, the designers of Lords of Waterdeep will be familiar with to some degree. The only way in which Lords of Waterdeep is Non-traditional is that it is not a classic American or Ameritrash design, and to describe it as “Non-traditional” is to belittle both this design and Eurogames in general. Certainly, it shows a wilfil ignorance upon the part of the publisher.

Although its various bits and pieces and possibly the business of the rulebook make Lords of Waterdeep look more intimidating than it really is, Lords is really a medium to light Eurogame that is just a step on or two up from introductory games such as Settlers of Catan or Ticket to Ride. Certainly, it is much lighter and less complex than similar games such as Caylus and Agricola. Similarly, the game’s Dungeons & Dragons theme might be off-putting, but it never imposes itself on the game or its players. What is pleasing about the game is that the designers have achieved a balance between the theme and the mechanics that will attract both Eurogame players and players of Dungeons & Dragons players, but whilst both will be attracted to the game, Lords of Waterdeep is still more Eurogame than a Dungeons & Dragons game. Above all, Lords of Waterdeep is an enjoyable, decently themed Eurogame that uses familiar – almost traditional – mechanics to good effect.