Over Your Head in Waterdeep

About the adventure

WELCOME TO WATERDEEP, The City of Splendors, The Crown of the North. Amid the thriving and cosmopolitan city, a gang war seethes just under the surface of a city known for its high class and high crimes. The rumors over the location of a vast hoard of gold that would make a dwarf blush at the ostentation may just be rumors…. Then again, they could buy and sell an army to conquer an empire. Cavort, cohort, cajole, coerce, or charm your way across the social strata to reveal the clues to uncover one of the greatest treasure hoards not amassed by a dragon, or at least keep it from falling into the wrong hands…. Set against an urban backdrop, the players will wend their way through a web of wyrds intertwined by the location of a colossal cache of cash, between lethal factions and unlikely allies. Integrity will be tested as the players are forced into unscrupulous alliances, and isn’t the real treasure the friends we make along the way? Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is a DUNGEONS & DRAGONS adventure designed for characters starting at 1st level. By the end of the story, the characters will be at least 5th level. The game will be run as something of a drop-in-drop-out series of heists, centered around gathering the pieces to the puzzle of what happened to the vast hoard of gold squirreled away by the deposed and dishonored Open Lord of Waterdeep, Dagult Neverember.

Additional Details

How to prepare

## How to prepare It would be nice if players knew what a skill check was and how to roll it, and have a basic understanding of their class and abilities. Players will also need to have a Discord account and microphone, as well as a DnD Beyond account to fill out a character sheet. Ideally, this game will be run mostly through DnD Beyond dice-rolling and combat tracking, and use of discord for text and voice chat. Players should plan to devise creative solutions to overwhelming problems; very rarely will players be able to stab their way through all of the challenges in the game.

What I provide

I will bring the sourcebooks, campaign, and low cunning.

Gameplay details

#### Setting - The game is set in the Forgotten Realms in the city of Waterdeep - This adventure is a mostly depicted as a mystery. How well I pull this off depends entirely on what you find mysterious. #### Cursing - I tend to swear more than I should. I try to keep it professional, but sometimes I get swept up and blue words come pouring out of my mouth. - If you are uncomfortable with language, please let me and everyone else know so that we can all try to reel it in and not curse so dang much. #### Combat Ratio - A female player I knew loved D&D and always loved the idea of playing a hopeless romantic/emo rockstar Bard with a specialization in performance, sleight of hand, and persuasion... but was often frustrated as those skills rarely (if ever) proved useful in a game where the SOP was "shoot first... questions later." - I, personally, love the idea of out-thinking or coming up with a more creative solution to problems than "I hit it as hard as I can" and I have found this adventure to be a good mix of combat and creative problem solving. #### Humor - Like most humans, I tend to get nervous and self conscious when I'm talking in front of a group of people, and my coping mechanism has always been humor. - I enjoy a lot of humor at the game, and a lot of the enjoyment I derive from the game is the humor the game situations lend themselves to. - I try not to be inappropriate or do jokes that people would find offensive, but in the right settings, I love dark humor. - That said, I do not tolerate roasting/mean spirited humor, and making fun of another person is not ok. #### Immersion - I love being drawn into a story and the sense of breathlessness I get imagining characters performing heroic feats or braving danger or suffering grief at loss. - However, touching on the point about humor above, I also occasionally appreciate absurd references that tend to shatter immersion and make me laugh. #### Role Playing - I get pretty self conscious when I am trying to role play, unless I am doing it for comedic effect. - As a DM, I don't have trouble with role-playing NPCs or the like because I can step into the scene and don't really have to worry about the consequences, but when its a character I care about, I tend to try to play them straight. - Do whatever you are comfortable with, and have fun with it. It can be intimidating and make you feel self conscious, but I would say that the only way to get better and to lessen those feelings is by practicing. I don't want anyone to feel self conscious or uncomfortable, but I don't expect everyone to adopt a voice or accent or way of talking. - The Pirate's favorite letter - I love when people play in character but try not to be irritating. - Please don't try to incorporate things like mumbling, antisocial bleeding edge-lord tendencies, unintelligible accents, intractable shyness, or screaming into your character. - If you treat every day as "talk like a pirate day", that's going to get tedious, - if you are unable to be understood in a game that is literally based on verbal communication, that is disruptive. - If you are doing toxic things like only honking as a form of communication using a bike horn, I will ask you to find another group to annoy. - And the answer is "He enjoys the R (Arrr) but he prefers the C (sea)" #### Adjudication - Fun > Story > Rules - Creativity and Laughter will be preferred to what is going on for the story which will beat out mechanics. - I like to play "rules as intended" but if something is funny or fun to do, it will probably fly #### “Unfair” rules - Sometimes people don't understand a rule or get frustrated that a rule is consistently applied against them but never applied in their favor. If there's anything about the game that you don't like, then we can talk about how to compromise. - Ex: Attack of Opportunity - “if you are within 5ft of an attacker, and you attempt to move out of range, that will provoke an "attack of opportunity" from that attacker UNLESS you take the "disengage action" on your turn.” - The rule is designed to mitigate the turn-by-turn nature of the game and prevent "kiting" (moving away to stay out of melee range and attack using a ranged weapon) - But the way it ends up in practice is that ranged players keep getting attacked for doing that, so it seems like the rule is only ever a disadvantage to them. - If there are any rules like that or things that you don't like or think are unfair, bring them up and we can talk about how to make that less frustrating. It may be that rule is really unfair and discourages the way that you want to play. - It may be that there is a misunderstanding of the rule, what it is designed to do, and once explained how to work around it or use it to your advantage, it is ok. #### Meta/Power Gaming - I would prefer to pick form over function - if something may not be optimal, but you do it for flavor and because it is in character, I will try to reward that as best I can. - I like to win, and if that’s the way you play, I understand that. #### Play your character - and by that I mean, play YOUR character - We are all new-ish and we are all always learning. So if someone asks for help, feel free to assist them. - However, if you chew someone out for not being "tactical" or "optimizing the efficiency of the onslaught", I will pull you aside and let you know that is not ok. - Play your character and let everyone else play theirs. # RULES ## racism / sexism / classism / fascism / sexual harassment - Racism, classism, sexism, or any other -ism you can think of is strictly forbidden. This is your one and only warning. - Actual or in-game sexual harassment is strictly forbidden. This is your one and only warning. - If anything you say makes me feel uncomfortable, you are way over the line for polite society and you will immediately be expelled from the group. ## in-game racism / sexism - We've all seen Lord of the Rings, how Gimli and Legolas start off trading barbs and wind up being best friends. - If your character is racist as a character trait, the one and only character arc you are going to have is "I learned that racism is wrong and that women and men should be treated fairly and then I studied law and became the champion of the National Association for the Advancement of Little / Pointy-eared People (NAALP). The End." - It comes too close to the line, and I have found it makes a poor story arc. - The one and only exception to this is the Ranger's "Favored Foe" trait. ## Do not be disruptive - I will try to keep the game moving as best I can, but if you are constantly not paying attention, talking over other people, interrupting anyone, or generally being inconsiderate, you will be asked to leave. - feel free to use your phone/computer while not taking your turn, but if we are having to constantly reorient you as to what is happening, that is disruptive. ## Do not ruin other people's fun - If the party encounters an NPC and one party member says "I attempt to communicate that we are friendly using gestures" and another player says "while he's distracted, I sneak attack him from behind and stab him in the butt", unless everyone is on the same page with that plan, you are ruining other people's fun. and you are going to feel the swift retribution of the long arm of the law, and at the very least, have to roll a new character, but more likely have to find a different group - it's a game... if you aren't enjoying it, what is the point? If you are ruining other people's fun, they will stop playing with you. - If you are explaining why everyone else's fun is wrong, then this isn't the group for you. ## Do not act like a murder hobo / psychopath - Acting psychotic is frowned upon, unless it explicitly makes sense in the context of the scenario, which will be decided on a case-by-case basis. if the party encounters an NPC who says "Please brave adventurers! Our village is constantly threatened by bandits!" and anyone's response is "I draw my sword and slash his throat", that is not ok. See above "being disruptive" and "ruining [my] fun" - *Torture is strictly forbidden. Feel free to intimidate any NPC you want in any way you wish, but if you stray into what I would consider "torture", you will be asked to leave the group. We are not here to hash out serial killer fantasies. * ## We are all people - act accordingly. - Try to be considerate - if you ever say "...but my character would do it." after doing something mean, you're going to have a bad time.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

(none)

How will character creation work

We will be using a "Traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws" system, but if you are interested, these are suggestions for questions to answer about your character to guide you on how they would act in different situations. . For more examples, see youtube “6 Questions You Should Always Ask When Creating a New Dungeons and Dragons Character” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgVPxDgukTA 1. Is this character a hero? Why or why not? 2. Who is this character’s parents? 3. Why is this character an adventurer? 4. What are this character's immediate goals? 5. is this character religious? 6. Is this character merciful?

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.