Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is a role playing game supplement published by Wizards of the Coast for use with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. This is an adventure in which the characters end up looking for a vault of dragons; Waterdavian gold pieces.
The supplement is available as a 224-page hardback book from sites such as Amazon. Two pages are the front matter and Foreword and one the Contents.
First is a single page Pronunciation Guide that lists the names and pronunciations of the non-English names in the adventure.
The Introduction starts off with an overview of the story. This is followed by a section on choosing a villain. There are four possible villains for the adventure, each briefly outlined here. Which villain is chosen alters what season the adventure happens in. The villain could be changed mid-adventure though. Also briefly covered are the required supplements. Adventure Structure briefly details the different chapters of the book and what they cover. This is followed by Life in Waterdeep, which covers the law and arresting characters; with Waterdeep being a major city, it has laws and you can’t act like it’s a dungeon. Actions will have consequences. A page has a flowchart for the adventure, the background and villain lairs.
Character Creation covers creating 1st level characters for the adventure; not the mechanics of this but when to do it, what equipment is available, where the characters should meet and appropriate backgrounds. As well as the backgrounds in the Player’s Handbook, there are other appropriate ones in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. Several suitable Waterdavian noble families for characters to be members of are given, as well as details on guild membership and a list of guilds. Faction membership is covered for faction agents. Character Advancement has suggested points for characters to advance if experience isn’t being tracked.
Factions in Waterdeep covers these, and a sidebar covers renown within factions. The different factions available follow, along with their potential support. Bregan D’aerthe is a drow mercenary faction. The Emerald Enclave is for those who seek to protect the natural order. Force Grey members are drawn from the Gray Hands and swear to defend Waterdeep and its citizens. Harpers are those who work to keep power from evil tyrants. The Lords’ Alliance is available to Waterdavian citizens and is a confederation of Sword Coast cities. The Order of the Gauntlet seeks out and destroys evil. The Xanathar Guild is an evil criminal organisation. The Zhentarim is a fractured organisation that trades for profit without much concern about morality.
A two page spread pictures many different NPCs in the Yawning Portal; the key is later in the book. The Yawning Portal then has details on several NPCs who can be met there.
Chapter 1: A Friend in Need starts with a brief overview of the events. It assumes the characters are in the Yawning Portal when a tavern brawl breaks out, then monsters erupt from the well to Undermountain. Afterwards, they are approached by Volothamp Geddarm who asks the characters to locate a friend of his. The trail will lead the characters to a Xanathar Guild hideout, then one belonging to the Zhentarim. Once successful, Volo will reward them with a deed to a haunted manor.
Chapter 2: Trollskull Alley covers the manor and several shops and points of interest in the alley. This is followed by Joining Factions, which lists how characters can join each of the factions listed earlier and four missions for each faction. After this are details on what will happen if the characters decide to reopen the haunted manor as the tavern it used to be, including expenses, guild representatives and a business rival.
Chapter 3: Fireball explains that a fireball is detonated in Trollskull Alley, killing several people. The characters can try to figure out what happened, following the trail back to the creature that set off the fireball and finally to a noble villa.
Chapter 4: Dragon Season is the main part of the adventure itself, and this is a complicated chapter. It starts by covering how the Trollskull characters know where to proceed before moving onto the really complicated part, the Encounter Chains. There are four different encounter chains, one for each season, with each dependent on who the primary villain is. Each encounter chain is summarised and each is given a flowchart of the order in which the encounters happen. There are ten encounters, and the order depends on the season. The ten different locations are then described. Each location is given an overall description for every season, then details for what it is like in each different season; the locations are not even in the same parts of the city, depending on the season. The eleventh encounter is the Vault of Dragons, which starts with a list of keys needed to open the vault – three are needed and each one of the three can be determined randomly on a d6 table. They are things, rather than actual keys, and some are not physical. Finally, the adventure is wrapped up and a link to Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, is at the end.
Chapter 5: Spring Madness describes Xanathar’s lair. Where Xanathar is in the lair is variable. There are different ways characters can foil Xanathar’s operation and then the lair itself and how to get to it is described.
Chapter 6: Hell of a Summer describes the Cult of Asmodeus as run by the Cassalanters. They and their most important servants are described, along with facing them, how to disrupt their operation and the Cassalanter Villa.
Chapter 7: Maestro’s Fall covers Jarlaxle and how to disrupt his operation, his ship crews and the ships themselves.
Chapter 8: Winter Wizardry covers Manshoon and disrupting his operation, and his base of operations is described.
Chapter 9: Volo’s Waterdeep Enchiridion is a brief guide to Waterdeep. It describes what it’s like to enter the city and gives a brief overview of the history. The legal code, which characters may fall afoul of, is covered, along with those who enforce it, and taxes and fees. How the characters can get around the city is covered, along with the influence of nobles and guilds. Each of the wards of Waterdeep is covered, followed by various splendours of the city, including the walking statues. After this are various celebrations held throughout the year.
Appendix A: Magic Items has the new magic items encountered.
Appendix B: Monsters and NPCs has the stats for new monsters and various major to minor NPCs.
Appendix C: Handouts has friendly faces in the Yawning Portal, a copy of the Code Legal, a map of Trollskull Manor and Tavern and a key to the Yawning Portal picture in the Introduction.
Finally, there is a DM’s poster map of Waterdeep folded into the back of the book which needs tearing out to use.
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist in Review
The Contents covers the major sections and some minor ones but to no great level of depth. Navigation is adequate. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are black and white maps as well as various colour illustrations, the latter up to two pages in size. Presentation is decent.
This is a rather confusing adventure that, thanks to the four different options for a primary villain, also feels bloated; around three quarters of Chapter 4 will not be used in a game and only one of Chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8 will. The layout is also a bit confusing, in that the various villains’ lairs are described after the adventure is finished. Navigating Chapter 4 is confusing all on its own. Then there’s Chapter 2, which sets the characters up as innkeepers for no real reason; between adventures, the characters run a pub, which they will promptly then ignore later.
The Waterdeep Enchiridion gives an overview of Waterdeep. But, for an adventure set in a major city, it doesn’t come close to providing enough information on that city. For that, it will be necessary to trawl through supplements for previous editions of the game. The end result of all this is a muddled and difficult to run adventure with huge parts that are not used and a failure to cover other areas in sufficient detail. And it’s not a heist. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist can be found on Amazon.
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