Waterdeep: Dragon Heist

D&D's most famous urban campaign. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist throws the players into the streets of waterdeep and tasks them with solving the mystery around a fabled cache of dragons (that's the currency in Waterdeep) that's said to be hidden somewhere under the city. Naturally they're not the only ones - said cache is also being sought by several criminal organizations, all the while several official groups are also interested in it. As part of a small but important group of adventurers, it's your task - and that of your friends - to decide who to ally with, who to antagonize, and how to traverse Waterdeep's own seedy underground in order to find the truth about this hidden cache and get to it before anyone else does. Heavily recommended for players interested in character development and roleplay, all the while wanting combat and dungeons - as this adventure has healthy amounts of all.

A solid module that has plenty of intrigue and social interaction as well as plenty of combat, particularly with the Alexandrian Remix my DM used to mix things up. It made a great level 1-5 (hit 6 upon completion) campaign that we've now used to launch into an open-world sandbox around the Sword Coast and the North, based out of Waterdeep.

Finally, a D&D adventure that isn’t about crawling through dungeons but instead throws your party into Waterdeep’s high-stakes criminal underworld, where they can scheme, betray, and backstab their way to fortune—or die trying. Despite the title, this is NOT a traditional heist adventure. There’s no “gather your crew, break into the vault” moment. Instead, the campaign is more of a city-based treasure hunt, where different factions, villains, and shady nobles are all vying for a massive hoard of stolen gold (aka the “Dragons,” which are Waterdeep’s gold coins). The adventure heavily depends on which villain the DM chooses—each one changes the season, motivations, and key events. Your players will likely get caught up in crime syndicates, noble feuds, and the occasional fireball explosion in a crowded street. Pros: ✔ Fantastic setting—Waterdeep feels alive, full of intrigue, politics, and crime waiting to unfold. ✔ A more social and roleplay-heavy adventure—you can go entire sessions without rolling for initiative (unless you annoy the wrong people). ✔ Multiple villain options keep it fresh—each villain changes the entire campaign’s tone and conflicts. ✔ Your party gets their own tavern—which always leads to ridiculous business ventures and side quests. Cons: ✘ The heist is misleading—there’s no single elaborate vault-breaking moment, just a city-wide scavenger hunt for gold. ✘ Which villain you pick changes a LOT—so if the DM doesn’t prepare, some plot points can feel disconnected. ✘ Combat is light—great for social players, but murderhobos will be confused and frustrated. ✘ The finale can feel rushed—without DM tweaks, the ending can feel more like a footrace than a true showdown. Final Verdict: If your party loves intrigue, roleplay, and urban adventures where every choice has consequences, Dragon Heist is an incredible city-based campaign. If they just want to bash monsters and loot dungeons, they’re going to hate it. 7.5/10 – The Real Heist is the Friends You Betray Along the Way.

An urban campaign done right. Waterdeep is alive, brimming with factions and intrigue. Navigate villains in the city underworld. Keep your eyes on the prize. The vault chase feels like an Ocean’s Eleven heist in a fantasy setting. Perfect for groups who love roleplay and city politics. Best run as an urban sandbox. Build a bastion along the way!

This adventure set in Waterdeep has some of the best replay ability for a DnD module. With hooks for different villains, events, and interactions, Dragon Heist makes for a great introduction to the setting while helping players find their footing in a massive city. The adventure gives good guide rails for players to help them find the story and stay invested in it. The situations they find themselves in require special thought as the Laws of Waterdeep, and the people that enforce them tend to be pretty powerful compared to the group. I do think that this adventure is made better if the Game Master is able to combine some of the plotlines rather than only focusing on one. The villains introduced are all interesting and favorites of those familiar with the setting, and giving players a chance to interact with them all as friends or foes can lead to some great roleplay. The ‘heist’ of this adventure feels a bit misleading as it ends up being more of a dungeon delve than anything else, but I think adding the tavern and its operation to the players gives them immediate investment into the story. There are a number of resources available to expand this campaign and the city itself which I would encourage anyone planning to run this game to look into. This is a good campaign if you want something short and exciting to introduce a group to the setting. It was written with an expectation that Dungeons of the Mad Mage would be run afterward which if you ended up doing, you likely could do even more to expand the city and the people within. If you are running it to the planned level 5, however, I think it has enough of all aspects of play to keep players coming back to the table for more.

This is one of my favorite DnD modules! So good that is the only module that I have run twice to completion and each time has been very different! It does an extraordinary job at involving politics into a TTRPG setting without making it boring, and the vast and detailed information about Waterdeep makes it a very interesting module to play and run.