D&D: Stream of Many Eyes Recap – Waterdeep Adventures Abound, Dragon Heist and Undermountain
In case you missed it: this weekend, Wizards of the Coast announced the next big storyline for Dungeons and Dragons. As well as showcasing some of the luminaries of the D&D community, we got a glimpse of this fall’s big books, which will take us to Waterdeep, the City of Splendor.
The Stream of Many Eyes was quite the event. If you didn’t watch it (hey maybe watching D&D isn’t your thing, or you had other things to do on the weekend, like…playing D&D), it brought together some of the more renowned streamers in the community, including a couple of special guests, to play through adventures in Waterdeep.
And while the adventures were set in Waterdeep, so were the games themselves, as you can see above. With costumes and special guests like Travis McElroy (featured above) regular streams like Dice, Camera, Action and Sirens of the Realm really got to take the idea of an Urban Adventure out for a trial run. Besides just being a fun thing for the community, it’s something WotC hasn’t really showcased in a while.
Urban Adventures are interesting because they lend themselves a little more towards roleplaying. And this one in particular, Dragon Heist, seems particularly suited both for showing off on a stream or a podcast, but also for really digging into around the tabletop with your friends. There are a lot of big personalities at play.
As was mentioned in the Official Announcement Dragon Heist will feature several powerful villains, including options like Manshoon or the Xanathar. These villains aren’t scaled down or somehow tweaked to be suitable for a party of levels 1-5. They’re the full on villains you’d expect–but, the whole idea is that the players are racing to try and stop them from getting their hands on a cache of treasure. Not defeat them in combat.
I love this approach. The idea that you’re not meant to take down the boss, but simply trying to stop them… it lets you feel free to play with the big personalities of the villains. Xanathar’s monologuing, Manshoon’s paranoid rantings–all of it can take the center stage a little more since the players aren’t going to be interrupting every few minutes to try and shoot an arrow. Or if they do, it won’t necessarily matter to them.
But it sort of cements this idea of why wait to throw your players headlong into your villains. Why start with the goblin chief or the bugbear when you can have them cross paths with the Xanathar time and again, having to rely on their wits to try and survive.
And if madcap treasure races and adventures aren’t your cup of tea, well then turn your attention beneath Waterdeep to the legendary Dungeon of the Mad Mage. The second book this fall will take your characters to Undermountain, where they’ll face the fury and ego of Halaster Blackcloak, the titular Mad Mage. This one spans levels 6-20, promising an entirely different setting on each of the Dungeon’s 23 levels (24 counting the mezzanine).
And while that was the big announcement the real fun of the Stream of Many Eyes was watching the community come together to play SoME D&D. The Witch of Briarcleft and the All-Tank Party were particular favorites, showcasing folks from D&D streams around the web doing what they do best.
A ton of fun to be had. If you’re not a regular viewer, then maybe the stream isn’t for you–but I find it’s a great way to take a snapshot of where the larger community is. A reminder that there are a ton of people out there looking to come together around this hobby we all share. Either way get ready for more news about the next storyline as it develops.
Until then, Happy Adventuring!
