Each time a campaign ends, I try to learn from it. This will be about my Waterdeep: Dragon Heist campaign.
About the Group and Selection of the Campaign
This group of players contains the core players from my college days. We've been gaming together for over 20 years, starting with 2E, through 3.x/PF, and now into 5e. They were the original playtest group for my first published adventure. We've been the best men at each others' weddings, cried on each others' shoulders as our friends have passed away, bought each other rounds of drinks to commiserate job losses and divorces. We even tried 4E together. Can our friendship withstand the Dragon Heist? Read on to see.
The group consists of an OSR-apologist/mad scientist/contrarian, a casual player who rolls emotion dice to sprinkle interesting dynamics into the game, a guy who went so all-in with Pathfinder that he's only just now trying 5e, and another player who loves being the party leader/face - and sometimes gets a little bossy with how others play his characters.
Somehow I'd gotten the reputation in the group for being good at running city adventures. The group had been wanting to play in Waterdeep since 2e, so several requested Dragon Heist. I had my reservations because I knew that it had gotten mixed reviews. But I was sure I could make something good (enough) out of it.
Preparation
I did my homework. I read the Alexandrian's blog about the adventure and picked the Cassalanters as the enemy faction, knowing my group of players would like to deal with corrupt nobles. I also got out my old copy of Volo's Guide to Waterdeep, scanned in the full Waterdeep map and loaded it into Roll20 (where we were going to be playing the game). I was ready to make a rich, vibrant world, ready to sandbox in the city. I put in a map of the Yawning Portal Inn and created a bunch of tokens and NPCs where the party could come and draft different followers to help them on their excursions.
A Pretty Good Start Leads to Little Involvement
We had several solid sessions at the beginning as the party investigated a warehouse and a thieves guild. However, it started to fall apart when the party got possession of the haunted tavern to set up as a base of operations. Wanting to keep a low profile, the party decided to not get involved in this business venture.
Don't Go Chasing Railroads
Where the adventure really starts to unravel is the chase scene where the Macguffin is stolen and the PARTY ABSOLUTELY CAN'T GET IT EARLY - NO MATTER WHAT. But the characters made excellent skill checks, followed very logical patterns, came up with very creative solutions. I let them get the Macguffin midway through the chase scene. I found no sense in artificially prolonging the chapter.
The Anti-Climax
After utilizing the Macguffin, the party was able to find the hiding spot of the treasure. Navigating a few easy traps, the party came to a non-combat encounter with a good-aligned dragon and were able to talk it out of the gold. No big fight, and they couldn't even keep the treasure. The group, so bored with the last few sessions, were more than happy to let the campaign fade out.
Lessons Learned
Sometimes, reading reviews tells you all you need to know about an adventure. Dragon Heist was truly a half-baked idea. Yes, I could've reworked it and made it decent, if I put in as much (if not more) work than I would typically spend in designing my own adventure. But I'm left wondering, who is this adventure for? It's very "advanced" for a DM to try to run. Why would you want to play it four different ways? Are you going to run it for the same group that many times? Why not just view it like an Escape Room or a "legacy" board game - your group plays through the mystery once, and you get your money's worth. What could they have done had they focused on only one group - like the Xanathar's Guild - created an in-depth multi-faceted mystery with eyes everywhere
.
What Came Next?
After this campaign, one of the players offered to run a dungeon crawl in Old School Essentials. That game deserves another thread.
About the Group and Selection of the Campaign
This group of players contains the core players from my college days. We've been gaming together for over 20 years, starting with 2E, through 3.x/PF, and now into 5e. They were the original playtest group for my first published adventure. We've been the best men at each others' weddings, cried on each others' shoulders as our friends have passed away, bought each other rounds of drinks to commiserate job losses and divorces. We even tried 4E together. Can our friendship withstand the Dragon Heist? Read on to see.
The group consists of an OSR-apologist/mad scientist/contrarian, a casual player who rolls emotion dice to sprinkle interesting dynamics into the game, a guy who went so all-in with Pathfinder that he's only just now trying 5e, and another player who loves being the party leader/face - and sometimes gets a little bossy with how others play his characters.
Somehow I'd gotten the reputation in the group for being good at running city adventures. The group had been wanting to play in Waterdeep since 2e, so several requested Dragon Heist. I had my reservations because I knew that it had gotten mixed reviews. But I was sure I could make something good (enough) out of it.
Preparation
I did my homework. I read the Alexandrian's blog about the adventure and picked the Cassalanters as the enemy faction, knowing my group of players would like to deal with corrupt nobles. I also got out my old copy of Volo's Guide to Waterdeep, scanned in the full Waterdeep map and loaded it into Roll20 (where we were going to be playing the game). I was ready to make a rich, vibrant world, ready to sandbox in the city. I put in a map of the Yawning Portal Inn and created a bunch of tokens and NPCs where the party could come and draft different followers to help them on their excursions.
A Pretty Good Start Leads to Little Involvement
We had several solid sessions at the beginning as the party investigated a warehouse and a thieves guild. However, it started to fall apart when the party got possession of the haunted tavern to set up as a base of operations. Wanting to keep a low profile, the party decided to not get involved in this business venture.
Don't Go Chasing Railroads
Where the adventure really starts to unravel is the chase scene where the Macguffin is stolen and the PARTY ABSOLUTELY CAN'T GET IT EARLY - NO MATTER WHAT. But the characters made excellent skill checks, followed very logical patterns, came up with very creative solutions. I let them get the Macguffin midway through the chase scene. I found no sense in artificially prolonging the chapter.
The Anti-Climax
After utilizing the Macguffin, the party was able to find the hiding spot of the treasure. Navigating a few easy traps, the party came to a non-combat encounter with a good-aligned dragon and were able to talk it out of the gold. No big fight, and they couldn't even keep the treasure. The group, so bored with the last few sessions, were more than happy to let the campaign fade out.
Lessons Learned
Sometimes, reading reviews tells you all you need to know about an adventure. Dragon Heist was truly a half-baked idea. Yes, I could've reworked it and made it decent, if I put in as much (if not more) work than I would typically spend in designing my own adventure. But I'm left wondering, who is this adventure for? It's very "advanced" for a DM to try to run. Why would you want to play it four different ways? Are you going to run it for the same group that many times? Why not just view it like an Escape Room or a "legacy" board game - your group plays through the mystery once, and you get your money's worth. What could they have done had they focused on only one group - like the Xanathar's Guild - created an in-depth multi-faceted mystery with eyes everywhere
. What Came Next?
After this campaign, one of the players offered to run a dungeon crawl in Old School Essentials. That game deserves another thread.
