Random Guilds of Waterdeep

 After the characters opened up the Trollskull, I wanted a way to randomly select a Waterdhavian guild for off-the-cuff scene building. So I went to the Guilds of Waterdeep fandom wiki page and copied their list. I wanted to get a standard "Roll d100" table in my notion.so Waterdeep project. So I turned to AI to see if they could save me the manual effort of building the table. I'll go ahead and provide the table, then some color on the AI results I got after.

Table

d100	Guild
1-2	Baker's Guild
3-4	Carpenters', Roofers', & Plaisterers' Guild
5-6	Cellarers' & Plumbers' Guild
7-8	Coopers' Guild
9-10	Council of Farmer-Grocers
11-12	Council of Musicians, Instrument-Makers, & Choristers
13-14	Dungsweepers' Guild
15-16	Fellowship of Bowers and Fletchers
17-18	Fellowship of Carters and Coachmen
19-20	Fellowship of Innkeepers
21-22	Fellowship of Salters, Packers, and Joiners
23-24	Fishmongers' Fellowship
25-26	Guild of Apothecaries and Physicians
27-28	Guild of Butchers
29-30	Guild of Chandlers and Lamplighters
31-32	Guild of Fine Carvers
33-34	Guild of Glassblowers, Glaziers, and Spectacle-makers
35-36	Guild of Stonecutters, Masons, Potters, and Tile-makers
37-38	Guild of Trusted Pewterers and Casters
39-40	Guild of Watermen
41-42	Jesters' Guild
43-44	Jewelers' Guild
45-46	Launderers' Guild
47-48	League of Basket-makers and Wickerworkers
49-50	League of Skinners and Tanners
51-52	Loyal Order of Street Laborers
53-54	Master Mariners' Guild
55-56	Most Careful Order of Skilled Smiths and Metalforgers
57-58	Most Diligent League of Sail-makers and Cordwainers
59-60	Most Excellent Order of Weavers and Dyers
61-62	Order of Cobblers and Corvisers
63-64	Order of Master Shipwrights
65-66	Order of Master Tailors, Glovers, and Mercers
67-68	Saddlers' and Harness-makers' Guild
69-70	Scriveners', Scribes', and Clerks' Guild
71-72	Solemn Order of Recognized Furriers and Woolmen
73-74	Splendid Order of Armorers, Locksmiths, and Finesmiths
75-76	Stablemasters' and Farriers' Guild
77-78	Stationers' Guild
79-80	Surveyors', Map-makers', and Chart-makers' Guild
81-82	Vintners', Distillers', & Brewers' Guild
83-84	Wagon-makers' and Coach Builders' Guild
85-86	Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors
87-88	Wheelwrights' Guild
89-100	Roll twice and combine the results

Using LLMs to Make the Table

I'm going to assume you are familiar with the basics of LLM chatbots if you are continuing to read. I asked Chatgpt-01, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Gemini Advanced 1.5 Pro the following question (note the erroneous text from the row copy/paste from the wiki):

Can you make this list of guilds into a d100 table that I can copy and paste into notion? Also get rid of the extraneous numbers.
Baker's Guild[14]
Carpenters', Roofers', & Plaisterers' Guild[14]
Cellarers' & Plumbers' Guild[14]
Coopers' Guild[14]
Council of Farmer-Grocers[14]
Council of Musicians, Instrument-Makers, & Choristers[14]
Dungsweepers' Guild[14]
Fellowship of Bowers and Fletchers[14]
Fellowship of Carters and Coachmen[14]
Fellowship of Innkeepers[14]
Fellowship of Salters, Packers, and Joiners[14]
Fishmongers' Fellowship[14]
Guild of Apothecaries and Physicians[14]
Guild of Butchers[14]
Guild of Chandlers and Lamplighters[14]
Guild of Fine Carvers[14]
Guild of Glassblowers, Glaziers, and Spectacle-makers[14]
Guild of Stonecutters, Masons, Potters, and Tile-makers[14]
Guild of Trusted Pewterers and Casters[14]
Guild of Watermen[14]
Jesters' Guild[14]
Jewelers' Guild[14]
Launderers' Guild[14]
League of Basket-makers and Wickerworkers[14]
League of Skinners and Tanners[14]
Loyal Order of Street Laborers[14]
Master Mariners' Guild[14]
Most Careful Order of Skilled Smiths and Metalforgers[14]
Most Diligent League of Sail-makers and Cordwainers[14]
Most Excellent Order of Weavers and Dyers[14]
Order of Cobblers and Corvisers[14]
Order of Master Shipwrights[14]
Order of Master Tailors, Glovers, and Mercers[14]
Saddlers' and Harness-makers' Guild[14]
Scriveners', Scribes', and Clerks' Guild[14]
Solemn Order of Recognized Furriers and Woolmen[14]
Splendid Order of Armorers, Locksmiths, and Finesmiths[14]
Stablemasters' and Farriers' Guild[14]
Stationers' Guild[14]
Surveyors', Map-makers', and Chart-makers' Guild[14]
Vintners', Distillers', & Brewers' Guild[14]
Wagon-makers' and Coach Builders' Guild[14]
Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors[14]
Wheelwrights' Guild[14]

Note I just used the default models to see what they would come up with. Chatgpt completely failed, generating a numbers list from 1 to 44 of each guild. Gemini did better in that it created an inline table I could export easily to sheets, but it didn't export well to Notion. And it was still numbered 1 to 44. But Claude nailed it. It was smart enough to assign out ranged die rolls to each guild, and formatted it in markdown that easily exported to Notion. And the cherry on top - 89-90 means roll twice more and combine the results! That was a delightful idea I had not even thought of!

I'm not going to speculate why Claude blew the other two out of the water - though Claude has been my default, especially for coding-related tasks, for the last 6 months, so its not surprising to me it was the clear winner. 

5E Adventure Database

 As I near Dragon Heist's end, I want to throw random published adventures at my group to continue the campaign.  I want to do some pre-planning so I can foreshadow future adventures, but there are so many anthologies and parts of adventures to use. So I decided to start building an adventure database for everything published in 5E so I can look over everything at a glance. I assume if it's useful for me, it will be useful for others. Since I have read, played, or run a significant number of the published 5E content, I can also provide some context on how I feel about each adventure.

I've created a table in Notion because it's my favorite tool for documenting D&D things. I've published it on the web here. This is a work in progress! I've only added three books worth of adventures so far, but they are big ones: Storm King's Thunder, Dungeon of the Mad Mage, and Tales from the Yawning Portal. I chose the first two because I have ran significant portions of them and have some informed opinions. As for Tales, it was the anthology I have read most recently. 

For each adventure, I have the straightforward book, chapter and title.  But here is some background on the other fields:

• Tags: What kind of adventure is it? These aren't hard and fast, but I try to capture the way I think most groups would approach the adventure. There can be multiple types of tags for each adventure. 
• Dungeon Crawl: A traditional dungeon crawl where you mostly hack and slash your way through a dungeon. 
• Exploration: The adventure has a lot of exploration that isn't just crawling a dungeon. Wandering the North in "The Savage Frontier" section of Storm King's Thunder is the best example of this type of play.
• Role Playing: This means there is a significant amount of NPC interaction and role-playing in the adventure. 
• Site-Based: This is different from a dungeon crawl in that it's either one set piece encounter, or using all three pillars of play in a single location like a city.
• Levels: The expected levels of the characters. Most adventures give an exact number, but some are a little less clear so I have played around with using Tier and/or specifying the levels. I might change this later, but I am leaving it inconsistent for now as I add data. 
• Summary: I try to do a one-sentence summary of the adventure. They often have major spoilers. For example, from chapter 11 of Storm King's Thunder:  "The characters must find the location of a ship with an imprisoned King Hekaton before the Kraken Society drags him to a watery grave."
• Primary Monsters: What kinds of foes will the characters face? I err heavily on the side of leaving out monsters rather than trying to list every monster in the adventure. 
• Portability: How easy is it to incorporate this adventure into a different campaign than the one it was written for? In general, I am going to mark any adventure from an anthology like Tales from the Yawning Portal as High. 
• Low: It won’t be easy to drop this adventure/chapter into your campaign, usually because it is thematically very tied to its own adventure. I wouldn’t try to reuse this adventure outside of the sourcebook it is in. 
• Medium: It will take some work, but you can definitely reuse this adventure/chapter. 
• High: This is really easy to fit into an existing campaign. For example, in Storm King’s Thunder, each of the giant steadings has the characters looking for a conch of teleportation from the ruling giant. You can easily replace that with any mcguffin for your campaign. 
• Rating: My subjective rating of how good the adventure is based on running, playing or reading it. If I don't have a strong opinion either because its been too long since I read or played the adventure, or if I just haven't read it, I'll leave this blank. I want to have most adventures in the 2-4 star range and somewhat force a normal distribution with my ratings so there is some real discernment at the top and bottom. 
• ⭐: I wouldn’t run this adventure even as part of its larger campaign. 
• ⭐⭐: I don’t think it's an especially good adventure, and probably not worth shoehorning into a campaign. 
• ⭐⭐⭐: If it matches the criteria you are looking for, it's worth skimming the adventure to see if you like it. 
• ⭐⭐⭐⭐: This is a pretty good adventure/chapter, if it's close to what you are looking for, seriously consider it. 
• ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: This is an awesome adventure/chapter, it's worth a lot of effort to shoehorn it into your campaign. 

I did try to populate these quickly, and my memory may be spotty in places, but I would rather have the database exist and be 80% right than dive deep into each adventure. This will be a living page - I'll drop a quick post each time I make significant updates. I'll probably be adding Quests from the Infinite Staircase (I'm reading it right now) and Keys from the Golden Vault (I'm interested in doing heists for my current campaign) next.  I'd love to hear any feedback on the structure, usefulness, and ratings!

The Mystery of Maerlon's Tower: Tools for Running a Hybrid Adventure

I ran The Mystery of Maerlon's Tower as a hybrid game. My home group used to run hybrid pre-pandemic using only Zoom, a webcam, and a normal tabletop with terrain and minis so I had some experience. But for this session, I wanted to try out some new tools. Two players and I were in a room around a table together and three players joined virtually. 

Vorpal Board

First, I started a trial for VorpalBoard, a service designed for streaming and hybrid play of board games and RPGs. It has a Zoom-like streaming service that can use an iOS device (via the VorpalBoard app) as an additional camera for terrain. It has basic functionality allowing players to zoom in when needed, and the quality of the video was good. After some quick testing before play, I was able to get it set up on game night with no issues beyond mic feedback issues from one (in-person) player. I think that was more of a local setup issue, and it feels like someone always has some kind of mic or audio issue every time we play online. Regardless, VorpalBoard was easy to use and accomplished what I was looking for. I went ahead and purchased an annual subscription for $60 (you can pay $10/month) as well. I hope to play more hybrid games this year, and the functionality you get is worth the $60 from my perspective.  But if you are cost-conscious, you could probably get a similar experience with a webcam and a little bit more setup. 

I used my iPad to stream as I did not want to dedicate my phone to the stream while we were playing. I mounted the iPad on this tripod. It worked fine to view the terrain and minis. I used a Jabra speakerphone to handle everyone communicating. I had used them in the past for work calls, but this was a big upgrade compared to prior hybrid experiences of just using external mics and speakers from another player's laptop. If you are going to play hybrid regularly, I think a Jabra is a great investment to make. 

Terrain and Minis

I sat down a basic Pathfinder flip-mat to be my base layer of terrain. I bought one at Winter Fantasy last year because I needed a generic grid, and it's also been a great purchase. I used to use the Neoprene mats, but this one is just so much more portable. I'd definitely recommend it as the best base battle mat. 

The centerpiece was the Dwarven Forge Watchtower Set. It is a nice set because towers come up a lot in DnD! If I have a critique of it for RPG play it's that the interior is pretty small, but it still worked well for multilevel combat. I purchased the Watchtower unpainted, and if you paint much at all, I would recommend that version over the painted one as it's quick and easy to paint. I think it took me less than four total hours to match the painted scheme, and I felt like that was worth saving $85 and I enjoyed the painting. To be clear, this isn't always the case with DF -  the lava pieces in particular are a pain to paint and worth buying painted in my opinion. 

I also added the dungeon bridge from Dwarven Forge as a fun piece to give the party a place for cover from the animated ballista as they approach. It's also an easy paint, though I believe I originally got mine painted.  I put a texture mat from DF beneath to serve as a river. 

The rest of the minis mostly came from my DDM collection - I'll just list them out with links to their minisgallery.com pages:

• Arcane Ballista - animated ballista
• Flaming Sphere - living burning hands
• Animated Statue - stone cursed
• Iron Cobra - clockwork iron cobra
• Mockingbeast - mimic (this one comes from Reaper Mini)

And that's it! Hopefully, someone else can find all the prep I did for this session helpful for their own game!

Building The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower with ChatGPT

Adventure Seeding

In my last post in this series, I said I wanted to do a hybrid game using a cool set piece from my terrain collection. That was the seed for the adventure. It didn't take long for me to decide I wanted to use Dwarven Forge's Watchtower because it was a cool piece I had never used before (and it gave me motivation to get it painted). 

Since I knew I wanted to use the Watchtower, I used that as a building block. I decided to make it a wizard tower in the Field Ward, and that led to involving the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors since it was a wizard's tower. That also meant I could use Barnabus Blastwind as the quest giver and have it feel like a big faction quest. I decided I would use the Arcane Ballista atop the tower as the threat to passersby that required prompt action from the adventurers. Then I went through and picked out some monsters (preferably constructs) to populate the tower. I summarized all that in this outline:

• Call to Action
  • Barnabis Blastwind tells the party the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors have an emergency: a wizard tower in the Field Ward is attacking passersby.
  • He wants the party to enter the tower and disable the arcane ballista on top, find out what happened to the wizard that lived there.
  • He has already notified the wizard’s next of kin, who is studying with the Harpells in Longsaddle, so won’t be here for a few days.
  • If the party can deal with the threat, he will give them 500 gp.
• Approaching the Tower
  • The animated Ballista atop the tower fires at the party as they approach. It is encased in a prismatic sphere it can fire out of but hard for party to fire into. The party has to evade fire and get to the front door, which is locked. DC 14 sleight of hand with thieves' tools to unlock.
  • Anywhere within 50 feet of the tower is a wild magic zone. Anytime someone casts a spell a wild magic surge occurs.
• Inside the tower
  • On level 1, a Living burning hands attacks the party.
  • On level 2, 3 Stone Cursed attack the party.
  • On level 3, the party finds the dead body of the wizard with a Clockwork Iron Cobra looming over it. There is also a bed and a bookshelf n the room, and a chest that turns out to be a mimic.
  • On the top of the tower is the Animated Ballista and an orb on a pedestal. Taking the Study action to make a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana) will turn off the pedestal, which ends the prismatic sphere, wild magic zone, and disables any remaining enemies except the mimic.
• Rewards
  • Barnabis Blastwind gives the party 500 gp and they gain 3 renown with the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors.
  • Eventually, the son shows up, and if the characters looted nothing from the tower, he gives them each a potion of healing, a wizard spell scroll of up to third level with the supplies to scribe it, and a +1 weapon.

Getting Help from ChatGPT

Next, I have a custom GPT on chatgpt.com I have created called Volo. GPTs let you set additional specific context (via uploaded PDFs) for the LLM to use and prioritize when giving answers. I've found this works very well with Dungeons and Dragons as it focuses the LLM and leads to fewer hallucinations and more relevant responses overall. This LLM has access to all of the published Waterdeep source books plus a few supplements I purchased on DM's Guild. 

So I took the outline above and fed it into my GPT with this prompt: "Can you take this adventure outline and add details to it? Things like what are on the levels of the wizards tower, who the wizard and his son are, some details about the magic weapon, etc?" Below is the unedited initial result provided by ChatGPT. I'll provide an assessment of how what it did well and what it did poorly beyond the adventure. For reference, here is a link to my prior post with my finalized version of the adventure. 

The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower, ChatGPT version

Adventure Title: The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower

Call to Action

Barnabus Blastwind of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors approaches the party with an urgent request. The Watchful Order has lost contact with Maeralon Silvercord, a reclusive yet respected wizard living in the Field Ward. His tower has activated defenses and launched attacks on passerby, and no one has been able to approach safely. Barnabus offers the party 500 gp to investigate, disable the defensive magic, and determine what happened to Maeralon.

Background: Maeralon Silvercord was a known enchanter and artificer, especially interested in defensive magics. His last known project involved binding an otherworldly sentience to a magical item. His son Arastin Silvercord is a budding wizard studying with the Harpells in Longsaddle and won’t arrive in Waterdeep for several days.

Approaching the Tower

• The Arcane Ballista: This enchanted ballista at the top of the tower fires bolts that contain explosive magical energy. Encased in a Prismatic Sphere, it can shoot bolts out but is difficult to damage in return.
• Wild Magic Zone: A 50-foot radius around the tower is suffused with unstable magic. Spellcasting here triggers Wild Magic effects, with a variety of outcomes inspired by the Magical Chaos Table from FRE3​. Effects could range from harmless illusions to unexpected surges of elemental energy. This chaos may hint that Maeralon’s last project has broken free from control.
• Entry Challenge: The tower’s door is reinforced with an arcane lock, requiring a DC 14 sleight-of-hand check to unlock. Failure by 5 or more results in a small shock, dealing 1d4 lightning damage.

---

Inside the Tower

The tower has four floors, each serving a unique purpose in Maeralon’s studies.

Level 1: Entrance and Reception

Upon entering, the party is greeted by a Living Burning Hands spell—a defensive conjuration designed to dissuade intruders. The room appears to be a study, scattered with papers and books on enchantments and defensive magics.

• Clues: Among the papers are notes about "binding sentient power" and a half-finished rune sketch that suggests a project to animate or empower an object with a fragment of consciousness.

Level 2: Library and Workshop

This level contains shelves of books on magical theory, elemental magic, and lore from various realms. At the center of the room, three Stone Cursed statues stand, which will animate and attack when the party arrives. These statues were crafted from Maeralon's own failed attempts to animate his tower’s defenses.

• Workshop Details: The workshop has an alchemist’s lab and a magic circle etched into the floor, surrounded by candle stubs and scorched runes. Here, Maeralon had been testing containment spells, hinting that he might have bound an entity to one of his creations.

Level 3: Maeralon’s Quarters

The party finds Maeralon’s body on the floor, his face frozen in shock. A Clockwork Iron Cobra, his guardian construct, stands menacingly nearby, and a Mimic disguised as a chest lurks in the corner.

• Character Insight: Maeralon was experimenting with soul fragments, attempting to infuse one into a weapon. Among his belongings are letters from Arastin, suggesting his son was concerned about his father’s deepening obsession with “infinite defense.”

• Clues and Lore: On his desk is a half-finished manuscript on binding spirits. His final notes reveal he was trying to enchant a weapon with sentient awareness, referencing an artifact called The Watcher’s Edge.

Level 4: Roof and Control Room

The top of the tower houses the Animated Ballista and an orb on a pedestal. The orb functions as the control core, projecting a Prismatic Sphere around the ballista and maintaining the wild magic zone around the tower. If the party makes a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana) check and succeeds, they can disable the control orb, deactivating the sphere, the wild magic, and neutralizing remaining constructs (except for the mimic).

• Orb's Background: It contains a piece of Maeralon's own will, stored as a last defense mechanism.

---

Key NPCs

• Maeralon Silvercord: A once-reclusive wizard known for his defensive enchantments, Maeralon was driven by the idea of a perfect defense. His experiment with sentience, meant to infuse his creations with awareness, ultimately led to his demise when his magic went awry.

• Arastin Silvercord: Maeralon’s son, a young wizard studying under the Harpells in Longsaddle. Unlike his father, Arastin is more practical, with an interest in protective wards. If the party treats his father’s possessions with respect, Arastin rewards them generously.

---

Rewards

• Barnabus’s Payment: The 500 gp reward and 3 renown with the Watchful Order.

• Arastin’s Gratitude: If the party leaves the tower’s items untouched, Arastin provides each member with a Potion of Healing, a Wizard’s Spell Scroll of up to third level, and a +1 Weapon with a unique enchantment.

• The Watcher’s Edge (Optional Magic Weapon): This sentient weapon was Maeralon’s final project. The Watcher’s Edge is a longsword (or other weapon of choice) that grants +1 to attack and damage rolls. As a sentient weapon, it provides its wielder with advantage on Perception checks and has a limited form of communication, capable of sending warnings to its bearer about nearby dangers. However, it also has an overly cautious personality, sometimes alerting the wielder to harmless things.

So How Is It?

The Good

• I was able to run a fun session using the adventure it generated. This is huge for any DM trying to quickly cook something up on short notice. Thirty minutes of prep to put together the main inspirations, and then ChatGPT can do the leg work of filling out the details. 
• Annnnnnnd I am struggling for a second bullet. But that first one, in my opinion, is huge for everyday DMs just trying to make it through the next session. 
• Speaking of, there are lots of avenues to help the AI do better. Giving it the full text log of the campaign recaps and a WotC style guide alone would probably be a big help (and I think I will do so next time I use ChatGPT to prep). 

The Bad

• The most glaring issue is the power it gives the magic item - advantage on all Wisdom (perception) checks. If a new DM just blindly followed the output it could mildly break their game if there is a high perception character - the party will spot every ambush, secret door, etc. Never (or rarely) failing takes a lot of the joy out of the game in my opinion. I changed that to advantage on one initiative check per Long Rest. That's useful and generates an interesting player choice (is this the encounter to use it?).
• Some of the turns of phrase are just awkward. "Perfect Defense" is a good example. It's not believable that a real person would talk like that. That said, it leads down a path of a relatable stereotype (a person growing more paranoid as they age) that's useful and relatable if maybe a bit cringe. 
• ChatGPT has no clue about the WotC style guide. I will try to give it the style guide ahead of time next time to see if it does better - I think it will. 
• While it is a great tool to flesh out an adventure, if your goal is publishing, I'd call it a minor improvement. It came up with some proper names for me and spurred some ideas about how to flesh out the adventure, but I would guess I rewrote 70% of the adventure to make it something I would publish on my niche blog. I'd say it saved me 1-2 hours of work. Not that much in the grand scheme of things for publishing something, but quite a bit if you are prepping a weekly game and it will never go beyond your home group. 

The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower, A Waterdeep: Dragon Heist Faction Quest

I am running Waterdeep: Dragon Heist for my regular Sunday group. This group is all online and dispersed around the country. However, I organized an in-person Dungeons and Dragons weekend in early November, and a couple folks from the online-only campaign were able to attend in person. So I wanted to run a hybrid game for them...and use my miniatures and terrain!

I'm planning three blog posts about this:

1. The adventure I wrote (with the help of ChatGPT).
2. A blog about running the adventure hybrid, and the tools, technologies, and toys I used to do it. 
3. How to use ChatGPT to create adventures quickly, and what generative AI does well and does poorly when it comes to adventure design.

First, here is the adventure, The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower.

The Mystery of Maeralon's Tower

Call to Action

Barnabus Blastwind of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors approaches the party with an urgent request. The Watchful Order has lost contact with Maeralon Silvercord, a reclusive yet respected wizard living in the Field Ward. His tower has activated unmanned defenses and launched attacks on passersby. No one has been able to approach the tower safely. The Watchful Order has attempted to set up a quarantine around the tower but fears it is too loose and innocents may unknowingly walk to their deaths if the tower isn’t shut down swiftly. Barnabus offers the party 500 gp to investigate, disable the defensive magic, and determine what happened to Maeralon.

Barnabus can provide the following background about Maeralon Silvercord: 

• He is known as an enchanter and artificer, especially interested in defensive magics. 
• Much of his work in recent years involved imbuing items with low-grade sentience that will never cross purposes with the item's wielder. 
• Maeralon has always been considered a good person, but Barnabis notes he has become increasingly paranoid about external threats as he ages. 
• His son Arastin Silvercord is a budding wizard studying with the Harpells in Longsaddle. He has been sent a message via sending stone but won’t arrive in Waterdeep for several days.

Alternatively, you could have several different factions give this quest:

• The Lord’s Alliance or Gray Hands would view it as a threat to the peace in Warterdeep.
• The Order of the Gauntlet might have contracted Maeralon to create a defensive item for them.
• The Emerald Enclave is active in the Field Ward and could be working with the Watch to secure the tower.

Approaching the Tower

• The Animated Ballista: The animated ballista at the top of the tower fires bolts that contain explosive magical energy. The entire top of the tower is encased in a prismatic sphere that the ballista can fire through. It can shoot bolts out to its range of 120 ft but is difficult to damage in return due to the sphere. The ballista always has a readied action when the characters first approach. Characters can identify the prismatic sphere with a DC 15 Intelligence (arcana) check.

• Wild Magic Zone: A 50-foot radius around the tower is suffused with unstable magic. Casting a spell of level 1 or higher potentially triggers a Wild Magic effect. Roll a d20 each time a spell of first level or higher is cast within the zone (including inside the tower).

  
  
  

• Tower Door: The tower’s door is reinforced with an arcane lock. It cannot be picked, but a knock spell will open it. Alternatively, the characters can look for a password hidden under a rock nearby with a DC 14 Intelligence (investigation) check. The password is “sentry”. Lastly, they could chop the door down (50 hp, damage threshold 5), but that will attract the living burning hands in area 1 who will be able to attack the characters through the holes in the door with no penalty while receiving three-quarters cover (+5 to AC) while the door has greater than 25 hit points, and half cover while it has less than 25 hit points (+2 to AC).

• Running the Encounter: Have characters roll initiative once they enter within range of the tower (120 feet). The first character who moves into range triggers a readied attack from the ballista. At that point, the characters need to get within 10 feet of the tower to get out of the ballista’s range. The small river is 60 feet wide, and 6 feet deep and serves as difficult terrain to cross. Characters can avoid the ballista’s fire by hiding under the bridge. If there is no target available to the ballista, it readies an attack.

Inside the Tower

T1: Entrance and Reception

• Summary: Upon entering, the party is greeted by a Living Burning Hands spell—a defensive conjuration designed to dissuade intruders. The room appears to be a study, scattered with papers and books on enchantments and defensive magics. A small reading desk and chair sit in the middle of the room. The living burning hands has scorched many of the papers and books.
• Threats: A Living Burning Hands.
• Secrets: Among the papers are notes about "binding limited sentience" and a half-finished rune sketch that suggests a project to animate or empower an object with a fragment of consciousness. A DC 17 Intelligence (investigation) check turns up a small, burned piece of paper with the letters “ord: Aras” with both the front and back of the note burned away. This is a clue that Maeralon’s son’s name, Arastin, is a password that will let the characters get past the stone cursed in T2.

T2: Library and Workshop

• Summary: This level contains shelves of books on magical theory, elemental magic, and lore from various realms. At the center of the room, two Stone Cursed stand still. The constructs will animate and attack anyone who moves within 5 feet of a statue who does not first say the password, “Arastin”. These statues were crafted by Maeralon as a tower defense mechanism. The workshop has an alchemist’s lab and a magic circle etched into the floor, surrounded by candle stubs and scorched runes. Here, Maeralon had been testing containment spells, hinting that he might have bound an entity to one of his creations.
• Threats: Two Stone Cursed. Add another stone cured if the APL (average party level) is 4 or above.

T3: Maeralon’s Quarters

• The party finds Maeralon’s body on the floor, his face frozen in shock. A Clockwork Iron Cobra, his guardian construct, hides under his body, and a Mimic disguised as a chest lurks in the corner.
• Threats: The Clockwork Iron Cobra is a new creation of Maeralon’s that went rogue when he activated it and attacked him. Its poison bite killed the wizard. The Iron Cobra hides under Maeralon’s body (stealth +7) and attacks the first creature to move adjacent to the body. The mimic is a pet Maeralon keeps as further protection. He feeds it regularly to keep it content. It will attack the first creature to move adjacent with its pseudopod until they are grappled, then use its bite, attacking with advantage since the target is grappled. Both creatures fight to the death.
• Secrets: Maeralon was experimenting with soul fragments, attempting to infuse one into a weapon. Among his belongings are letters from Arastin, suggesting his son was concerned about his father’s deepening obsession with protecting himself. On his desk is a half-finished manuscript on binding spirits. His final notes reveal he was trying to enchant a weapon with limited sentient awareness, referencing an item called The Watcher’s Edge.
• Rewards: The mimic conceals a small locked chest built into the floor. It can be opened with a DC 14 Dexterity check using Thieve’s tools. Inside is an ornate, edged weapon (Watcher’s Edge), 3 spell scrolls of the DM’s choice, and five 100 gp gold trade bars. There is also a note from Maeralon to Arastin in the box indicating he wished his son to have these things should something befall Maearlon.

T4: Roof and Power Orb

• Summary: The top of the tower houses the Animated Ballista and an orb on a pedestal. The orb functions as the control core, projecting a prismatic sphere around the ballista and maintaining the wild magic zone around the tower.
• Threats: The animated ballista will execute a readied attack when someone exits onto the roof.
• Secrets: A character adjacent to the orb can make a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana) check to disable the control orb. This will deactivate the sphere, the wild magic, and neutralize any remaining constructs (except for the mimic). Failing the check causes the orb to fire a magic missile (1d4+1 force) at each creature on top of the tower, excluding the ballista. Failing the check by 5 or more leads to each creature being targeted by 3 magic missiles each (3d4+3 force damage). The check can be repeated until it is successful.

Wrap-Up

• Barnabus’s Payment: Barnabus gives the party the 500 gp reward and any member of the Watchful Order gains 3 renown.

• Arastin’s Gratitude: If the party leaves the tower’s items untouched, Arastin provides the party with a Potion of Healing, a Wizard’s Spell Scroll of up to third level, and a +1 Weapon with a unique enchantment:

  The Watcher’s Edge

  Weapon (any edged melee), uncommon (requires attunement)

  This sentient weapon was Maeralon’s final project. The Watcher’s Edge is a longsword (or other edged weapon of the DM’s choice) that grants +1 to attack and damage rolls. As a sentient weapon, it provides its wielder advantage on initiative rolls once per long rest and has a limited form of telepathy, capable of sending warnings to its bearer about nearby dangers. However, it also has an overly cautious personality, sometimes alerting the wielder to harmless things.

Preparing a Waterdeep: Dragon Heist Campaign

Introduction

I'm ten sessions into a Waterdeep: Dragon Heist campaign. So far, it's been great fun. Here is my Session 0 for the campaign. If I were to amend that based on what I have learned so far, I would add the following bullet points:

• Waterdeep is the campaign's central character. A goal of play is to learn about the city and its unique characteristics, especially its rulership, guilds, and factions. 
• Each character will join a faction, and completing quests for factions will provide renown and perks for the characters.
• You will quickly reach third level, and then spend many sessions advancing from third to fourth, and fourth to fifth level. The goal is to spend time getting to know the city and give each character time to gain renown in their respective faction. 
• You will have an opportunity to run your own business in Waterdeep. At early levels, gold will be scarce and important for operating that business. 
• The Guilds of Waterdeep have immense power - you might be able to negotiate with them, but it will be very hard to open your business without paying for their services. 
• Someone should play a wizard. The class is very ingrained into the culture of the city via the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors, and playing a wizard will be fun, especially if you want to collecting spells. 

Notes on Running the Adventure

• Give much more gold early than the adventure calls for. It is nearly 1500 gp for the characters to be able to open Trollskull Manor as a tavern - that takes a while at low levels. I'll note using the 2014 DMG treasure rules made it much more slow doing than the 2024 DMG treasure rules that I switched to once it came out. The 2024 DMG suggests a lot more gold per encounter.
• Don't forget about the holidays - they really give the city flavor, and the players a chance to explore their characters. Track the date meticulously. 
• I let the characters choose their season, and told them it had an impact on the story, but no more than that. They chose winter, so I am going to use Manshoon as the villain...but I like the Cassalanter arc enough I am going to pull it in as well. To that end, I am having a lot of early side treks and encounters with generic cultists who summon fiends, with the intent to tie it back into the Cassalanters later. Regardless, the players are well aware of the conflict between the Zhents and the Xanathar Guild.
• I am leaving everything with Jarlaxle out of the adventure. I probably would have pulled him in if there was a drow NPC, but without that its just not worth the additional complexity given how much I am including. 
• I'm using a 1:1 mapping of characters to factions, except the Grey Hands that the entire party joined. I've added the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors as a faction for the wizard in the group to join, and left out Bregan D'aerthe. This adds a lot of fairly low stakes adventuring content to the adventure, but so far my players have greatly enjoyed it. It very intentionally moves the spotlight from character to character each session, and makes dealing with missing players a little easier. 
• I'm still not sure how I am going to handle the amount of gold the characters can get from the end of the campaign. I have some ideas, but they all feel like cheating the players. I'm sure there will be a post on that down the road, but I am just running the game and trying to set the stage for debts or opportunities to manage that problem when I get to it. 

Resources

• Durnan's Guide to Tavernkeeping is the best resource I have found for expanded rules around running Trollskull Manor. It also has useful details for random taverns in general. 
• Waterdeep: City Encounters is a fantastic resource for quick encounters in Waterdeep. 
• Waterdeep: City of Splendors by Eric L Boyd is a book I read cover to cover and often refer to as I put my campaign together.
• SlyFlourish's notion.so template. I've used it for a while, but its really useful for a campaign with a lot of recurring locations and NPCs. Contact me directly if you would like access to it - there is a lot of character specific information, but I would guess 75% of what I have populated is reusable across Dragon Heist campaigns. 
• I am not publishing it since it uses proprietary files, but I made a custom GPT at chatgpt.com and provided it some of the resources above. I can then chat with it while DMing to get encounters, NPCs, and other random bits of information on demand.  Its incredibly helpful and a big time saver. A future post will be a side trek adventure I created an outline for and then let my GPT flesh out. While I don't think the writing is all that great, it definitely saved me time and made the skeleton of what I put together better. 

Inspirations

Here are several inspirations for this campaign:

• Sam Sorenson's In Praise of Legwork is the inspiration for what I wanted my Waterdeep campaign to be. I never expected it to be as detailed as City State of the Invincible Overlord, but I did want that to be an aspiration to strive towards knowing the closer I could get to it, the better the campaign would be. Shout out to Graham Ward for pointing me to this blog post. 
• Sly Flourish's posts about preparing Dragon Heist. 
• MerricB's musings about Dragon Heist.
• All the folks in the Mastering Dungeons discord. Its a great community for learning and inspiration, 

What's Next?

• Detailed locations in Trollskull Alley
• A side trek adventure using the Dwarven Forge Watchtower
• Posting play summaries from the campaign.
• Let me know in the comments if there is anything else you would like to see!

Dungeons and Dragons Settings 101: The Forgotten Realms (Part 1)

This is the next part in my series of 101 introductions for the most common Dungeons and Dragons settings. If it made sense to cover Greyhawk first, it only makes sense for part two to be the most prolific campaign setting for Dungeons and Dragons: The Forgotten Realms. I've been running campaigns set in the Realms for two decades, so I'm excited to dive into one of my favorite settings. 

The Forgotten Realms was created by Ed Greenwood. It was first published via articles in Dragon magazine in 1979, and Ed sold the rights to TSR around 1985. The first Realms novel, Darkwalker on Moonshae by Douglas Niles, and the original Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting were released in 1987. From that point forward TSR (and later WotC) published a plethora of content for the campaign across every subsequent edition. It is daunting to figure out what makes the cut for a "101" of the Realms, as there is so much well-known and influential content. But let's give it a go! I will focus on people and locations that play a prominent role in published 5e material. I also am going to make this a two-part post because there is a lot to cover!

History of the Realms

I didn't do a history for Greyhawk, but the Forgotten Realms has much more history, as it often had "Realms Shaking Events", especially during the transition to each new edition. I'm just going to hit the highlights - there is an excellent product called The Grand History of the Realms you should go check out if you really want to get into the lore. Also, read Kevin Kulp's history on DM's Guild - the Grand History has a really cool backstory of its own!

• The Fall of Karsus and Netheril (-339 DR) - The archmage Karsus cast a powerful spell in an attempt to wrest control from Mystryl, the goddess of magic at the time. The spell failed and sent many Netherese floating cities falling to their doom. This marked the end of the Netherese Empire and the first great humanoid empire of Faerun. 
• The Establishment of the Standing Stone and the Beginning of Dale Reckoning (0 DR) - A stone plinth is erected to commemorate the Dales Compact, an agreement between the elves of Cormanthyr and the humans of the Dalelands. 
• The Fall of Myth Drannor (714 DR) - The demonic Army of Darkness, led by the Trio Nefarious, sacked Myth Drannor, the capital of the elven kingdom of Cormanthyr. This began The Retreat, where elves fled the mainland of Faerun for the elven isle of Evermeet. 
• The Time of Troubles (1358 DR) - This event took place during the transition from 1e to 2e, as a way to explain rules changes happening in the game. Evil gods stole the Tablets of Fate from the overgod Ao who cast all of the gods into the mortal realm. Many gods died and new gods were raised. The events are detailed in the Avatars book trilogy and a series of adventures based on them.  
• The Return of the City of Shade (1372 DR) - With the advent of 3e, Thultanthar, the City of Shade, returned to the Realms. Thultanthar was a Netherse city that escaped Karsus' Folly by shifting to the plane of shadow (or the Shadowfell in 4e terms). This introduced a new and powerful set of adversaries. 
• The Spellplague (1385 DR) - Also known as the Blue Breath of Change, Mystra is murdered by Cyric and the weave collapses. This causes magic to stop working, and Toril's twin world, Abier, rejoins it. These were all changes to explain the transition to 4e, and advanced the timeline to 1485 DR. 
• The Second Sundering (1485 DR) - The Second Sundering pulled Abier out of Toril and basically reversed the changes of 4e. It also led to the fall of Thultanthar, and mostly set the Realms back to the equilibrium of 3e, restoring several famous characters from the novels to the setting.  

Heroes of the Realms

• Elminster, the Sage of Shadowdale - The Gandalf of the Realms. This is reductive, but still a good shorthand. Elminster has lived for hundreds of years to serve the goddess of magic, Mystra. He's tired and a little crazy from the centuries of responsibility. 
• Drizz't Do'Urden - The subject of many best-selling novels by R.A. Salvatore. Drizz't is a drow ranger who escaped from the evil, Lolth-worshipping city of Menzobarrenzan. He has mostly lived in the North, specifically the frigid Ten Towns. He's had many adventures with his companions, Bruenor Battlehammer, Catti-Brie, Wulfgar, and Regis. More details on his companions are 102-level material. 
• Jarlaxle - Another notable character from the Driz'zt books. Jarlaxle is the leader of a drow mercenary company called Bregan D'aerthe and is secretly a descendant of the ruling Baenre family of Menzobarrenzon. He has many magic items and tricks and is always prepared. 
• The Seven Sisters - Seven immortal women who are daughters of Mystra. 
• Alustriel Silverhand, the leader of the Silver Marches and Silverymoon.
• The Simbul, Witch Queen of the nation of Algrarond.
• Laeral Silverhand Arunson, Open Lord of Waterdeep and the widow of the former Blackstaff, Khelbun Arunsun. 
• Sylune Silverhand, the Witch of Shadowdale. Her mortal form is deceased, and she lives on as a weaveghost.
• Dove Falconhand, a skilled fighter and member of the Knights of Myth Drannor. She is deceased but lives on as a weaveghost. 
• Storm Silverhand, Harper, and the Bard of Shadowdale. 
• Qilue Veladron, the youngest and least widely known sister. She was a drow and a powerful priestess of both Mystra and the drow goddess Eilistraee. She has also been slain and lives on as a weaveghost. 
• Mirt the [Merciless, Moneylender] - Mirt is one of the first characters of the Realms conceived by Sir Greenwood. He's been an adventurer, a Harper, a masked Lord of Waterdeep, the head of Spelljammer Academy, and more. He is old, wheezing, and occasionally competent, but serves as an excellent patron for adventurers. 
• Durnan - the owner of the Yawning Portal, the entrance to Undermountain. Also a masked Lord of Waterdeep and a seasoned adventurer. 
• Volothamp Geddarm - a (in)famous bard and author of the various Volo's Guides. He isn't very dependable but does have a good heart. He's also never let the truth stand in the way of a good story. He's the primary hook for the adventure Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.
• Havilar and Farideh, the Brimstone Angels - Twin sisters, Havilar is a tiefling fighter, and Farideh is a Warlock and has a pact with a cambion named Lorcan. They were adopted by a dragonborn father, Mehen. They star in the Brimstone Angels series of books and The Adversary from the Sundering series. 
• Artus Cimber - an adventurer and former Harper, Artus is the keeper of the Ring of Winter. He is an expert Chultan archeologist. He and Dragonbait, a saurial warrior, appear in the adventure Tomb of Annihilation. 
• Minsc and Boo - Minsc is a Rashemani Ranger introduced in the video game Baldur's Gate circa 2e. Minsc has an eccentric personality and is joined in battle by his faithful companion Boo, a miniature giant space hamster. 

Villians of the Realms

• Szazz Tam and the Red Wizards of Thay - the garden variety villains of the Realms. Thay is an oppressed country ruled by the Red Wizards and their master, the Lich Necromancer Szazz Tam. He is constantly plotting to invade his neighboring countries (especially Algarond and Rasheman) and always faceplants. The Red Wizards make for great mustache-twirling villains and are featured in a line of 5e Adventurer's League adventures, Dreams of the Red Wizards. They are also the villains in the Dungeons and Dragons movie!
• Manshoon and the Zhentarim - The Zhentarim are a fractious trading coaster that dabbles in several illicit trades. They often operate in a gray zone between good and evil and are a faction adventurers can join in 5e adventures. They are often led by some version of Manshoon, an evil wizard who has created countless simulacrums of himself. When the original Manshoon died, several clones awakened at once, and all fought for control of the Zhentarim. It is believed the Manshoon that rules Zhentil Keep today is the original wizard. 
• Sammaster and the Cult of the Dragon - Sammaster was a former Magister of Mystra who misinterpreted a prophecy to believe that undead dragons were destined to rule the Realms. He founded the Cult of the Dragon to make this happen and has been thwarted twice and is now believed dead. Recently, in Rise of Tiamat, the Cult of the Dragon executed a pivot and decided they needed to summon Tiamat, the Demon Queen of Dragons into the Realms. 
• Artemis Entreri - Driz'zt Do'Urden's sometime arch nemesis, sometime ally. Artemis is an assassin who hails from Calimport and is first encountered by Driz'zt when he kidnaps Regis, Driz'zt's halfling companion, for Pasha Pook of Calimport.  Drizz'zt and Entreri crossed blades and fought side by side many times. Artemis and Jarlaxle have also vacillated between friends and foes over time. 
• Lord Dagult Neverember - Hereditary heir to the city of Neverwinter, Lord Dagult also spent some time as open lord of Waterdeep before being ousted for self-dealing. He returned to Neverwinter, but still covets the lordship of Waterdeep. He is the definition of Lawful Evil - using government and the laws to serve his own ends and enrich himself. His son, Ranaer, is a key NPC in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and is a much more good-natured sort who often opposes his father. He has connections to the Lord's Alliance.
• House Baenre of Menzobarrenzon - The ruling drow house of Menzobarrenzon, the Baenres are for the most part true believers of the evil teachings of Lolth. They are regular foils for Driz'zt Do'Urden and have long controlled the ruling hierarchy in Menzobarrenzon. 
• The Xanathar - A long line of beholders who have ran the Xanathar's Guild in Skullport, under Waterdeep and Undermountain. Skullport and the Xanathar's Guild have been tolerated by the Lords as they keep unseemly activity out of the city proper. In Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, the conflict between the Xanathar's Guild and the Zhentarim takes center stage. The Xanathar is obsessed with his pet goldfish, Sylgar. 
• Halaster, the Mad Mage of Undermountain - Halaster moved into the dungeon of Undermountain before the founding of Waterdeep, claimed it as his own, took in many apprentices, and killed many adventurers in his dungeon. His aims are often inscrutable and capricious, as are many of his apprentices. It is believed he stocks Undermountain primarily as an amusement for himself. Halaster and Undermountain are the focus of the 5e adventure Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.
• Iymrith, the Doom of the Desert - An ancient blue dragon known for constant scheming and manipulation. She has a lair in the desert of Anauroch.
• Klauth, Old Snarl - An ancient red dragon some say is the most powerful dragon on Faerun. He's infamous for cunning and cruelty, and manipulating adventurers to do his work for him. He may have one of the greatest hoards of treasure in all the Realms. 
• Daugothoth, The Creeping Doom - A black dracolich who dwells in the Mere of Dead Men, Daugothoth is also a master necromancer. He is one of the most feared undead dragons in the Realms and is known to hoard magical artifacts.

Ok, I am calling this "Part 1" and I will be back later with Regions, Deities, and Adventures of the Forgotten Realms.  

Sources

• A lot of this came off the top of my head, with occasional references to the wiki at https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/.
• A few references to the 3E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, the best Dungeons and Dragons book ever published in my opinion.