Prepping For The Long Game: Tyranny of Dragons

Who knows when we’ll be back in person playing D&D together? It seems like we’re still a long way off, but for the last few months, my wheels have been turning.

I ran Tyranny of Dragons, back when I was working at the FLGS, when it was split into two different books: Horde of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat. I ran it for 12 players, and it was DIFFICULT to pull off. But we did! We made lasting memories, we had a great time, and most of those players then followed me over to the Out of the Abyss game following.

With the rerelease of the whole campaign in one book, the wheels began turning, and now has exploded into a full-blown plan.

Here’s the idea: 12 total players including DMs. Yes, plural.

I plan to recruit 10 non-DMs and one other DM. The campaign is large and sprawling enough that this would be run as a unified campaign over two different tables.

At the beginning of the campaign, when (spoilers for a years-old campaign) the players have to save the village of Greenest, they will split up into two groups to handle all the encounters. Later, during the long journey, the DMs would work together to travel in two different groups along the large bustling caravan. The players could hop back and forth between DMs as they need to.

So here’s all my specific ideas, and the resources I’ll be using:

1. Two DMs: I’ll use  one other DM. We’ll meet a half hour before each session kicks off to discuss what our plans are for the session. We’ll be playing once a month, on a Sunday so we have the most time.
2. Binders: We’ll be utilizing both character and DM binders. The Player binders will include the information they’ve learned over the last session, as well as the resources we’ll be listing below. For the DMs, we’ll have our own shared notes, including all ten characters’ Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws.
3. Other Books: The players will be traveling through Elturel, Baldur’s Gate, Waterdeep, and Icewind Dale. What luck! Those are all covered in other adventures! While they get a passing mention in ToD (besides extensive use of the council of Waterdeep), there’s no reason to make them a much more central plot pieces. Have the heroes stop in each one, spend time, uncover some plots, and realize how terrible things would be for these cities if Tiamat reawakens.
4. Beyond Damage Dice: I’ll be using Beyond Damage Dice by James Haeck and Kobold Press. Essentially, it gives weapons special abilities they can use instead of causing damage. It’ll make combats more dynamic, and if a player wants to ignore them and just cause damage, they can do so.
5. Darker Dungeons: We’ll be using Darker Dungeons by Giffyglyph. Not all of it, but many of the rules. Wear and tear, more conditions, a better method for inventory capacity… All of these should make the heroes really feel like they’re out there traveling the open road.
6. Other Supplements: I’ll be using the DM’s Kit: On the Trail of Tyranny, A Guide to Tyranny of Dragons, Adventure Sidekicks, and so many more, including all the DM’s Guild guides to Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate.

I’ve already got great ideas for the opening session. As the city of Greenest is burning, the players must run around saving different parts of town. With my house, I can set up terrain and battle maps around the house: Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen Island, a couple of places upstairs. Basically, there will be all the different locations in different places around the house. The players will have to physically travel from one location to the other to handle all the encounters.

Tyranny of Dragons also suggests that the players level up halfway through Greenest in Flames, so players will need to bring both 1st and 2nd level character sheets.

Later in the adventure, as the heroes are required to travel all over the sword coast and beyond on different missions, the players can split into two teams to accomplish them, before gathering back together to compare notes and maybe swap what team they’re on.

I’ll also be working on utilizing the Orbs of Dragonkind in the adventure. Perhaps the cult is trying to gather these as well.

Two more additions will be made to the adventure as well. The main boss (besides Tiamat herself) will actually by Arkhan the Cruel, a fierce red Dragonborn Paladin who appears in Descent in to Avernus. He’s a much more intimidating foe, and has good motivation for raising Tiamat. In addition, what’s one good source of red dragons? The ones found on Selune! That’s right, the moon of Faerun has dragons on it, flown by Githyanki warriors. Perhaps the cult is taking the red orb of dragonkind to it to steal those dragons away? Either way, the players will have to go to the moon to stop it.

Those are all my ideas so far. I’ll definitely be updating you all with more info as I flesh this out more.