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My Dragon Heist Kit

This post is a bit of a departure from the normal fare one finds here at DnD 4 The kids... This is more of an artsy-craftsy, "How did he do that?" kind of post. I posted a photo of my table in the Dungeons & Dads group on Facebook two weeks ago, and I had a lot of folks asking where I got my stuff. So, here it is, my best attempt at a how-to post for design artifacts for my Waterdeep Dragon Heist game. Basically, I'm just a guy trying to live the Beadle & Grimm's lifestyle on a Dollar Tree budget.  

Stuff I bought

So, I do buy stuff. I am on a pretty tight budget, so I can't afford the Beadle & Grimm stuff. If I ever managed to save enough for one of those sets, it would be sold out by the time I had the money. Ultimately, if you have more money than time, Beadle & Grimm is the way to go. There is a lot you can buy from from Amazon or your friendly local game shop for any hardback campaign, though, that doesn't break the bank. 

The first item that I recommend is the Gale Force Nine Dragon Heist DM Screen. This screen is not a rules reference, like your typical screen but rather includes a lot of handy stuff to help you improvise on the fly within the vast city of Waterdeep. Improvisational tools are a must-have, when running for kids, for whom most ideas and questions are secured firmly from left field... 

It includes the Code Legal; a D100 table of city scenes; Inns, Boarding Houses, Taverns, and Festhalls organized by ward and by wealth/quality; Prices for food, drink, and everyday sundries; a d100 Pickpocket table; and a List of Broadsheets with descriptions. The art on the front is pretty good too, and helps set the tone for the adventure. 

The next item that you see pictured here, is the contents of the Laeral Silverhand's Explorer's Kit. I've seen some bad reviews of this product, and I almost didn't get it because of the negative reviews I read on Amazon. I'm glad I ultimately decided to go for it. This set comes with a nice set of dice. No, they're not metal or anything, but they’re high-quality nonetheless. They have great weight to them. I love the bigger d20s. It comes with two d20s and four d6s. The box functions as two dice trays. I know that it's cardboard, but it's really nice. It feels really nice. It's beautifully designed, and the dice roll great in it. 

It also has a little foldout double-sided map of the Sword Coast and the city of Waterdeep. If you bought the adventure, you have a bigger map of the city, but this Sword Coast map is a nice addition. Finally there are the cards, which you see on the table around the map in my picture. Twenty illustrated, double-sided cards detailing Laeral's expert insights on key characters, locations, and lore from across the Forgotten Realms. I DM for kids and adults who, for the most part, haven't grown up steeped in the lore of D&D. Most of them have no idea what Waterdeep is or who Drizzt is. They didn't grow up playing the Baldur's Gate games, forging virtual camaraderie with the characters of the realms. I love being able to have them make a check and handing them this beautifully illustrated concise card. My only disappointment is that there aren't more of them.

Dragon Heist: Forgotten Tales is a supplement for sale on The DM's Guild that expands the "replayability" (I think they made that word up) of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist by providing new content for the adventure. The idea behind it is that the multiple villains and seasons in Dragon Heist make it an adventure that must be played multiple times to experience all the content, but some elements stay the same and become predictable, such as the vault of dragons. Dragon Heist: Forgotten Tales provides new challenges and story to go along with the variable elements of the original adventure to allow players and Dungeon Masters who have experienced Waterdeep: Dragon Heist to enjoy a fresh tale on a second play-through. I got this supplement mainly for the new monsters and handouts at the back, as well as the new vault location. One of the handouts that I reference below, was taken largely from this supplement, which is why it is not re-printed here. It's only about $6.00 on the guild, and has a lot of content to flesh out your adventure. 


If you play with Maps & Minis, I cannot recommend enough that you purchase "Towns and Taverns" by Loke Battlemats. If you like to lay out combat encounters on a battle mat, this set of books has everything from markets to city streets to sewers. It is a great improvisational tool to deal with just about any quick scene that may come up. I have this set, but I no longer use it in my Dragon Heist game with eight kids and one adult player. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make for this big group of kids is giving up being a Maps and Minis guy and going full theater of the mind. Otherwise, combats take like four hours!!

Stuff I made / remixed

Understand right up front, I am a master re-mixer. In other words, while I say that "I made these things", in most cases I really stole them, revised them, and committed them to paper. The internet is filled with myriad awesomeness to steal and make your own, so to begin, I'm going to attempt to cite my sources. The following sites contain the base elements I used to create the handouts etc. that you see on my table above. 

Letters, contracts, deeds, and more

So, I understand that I need to be very careful here. Remember, this is all examples of what you can do with what's available. I claim none of this as my intellectual property. I'm just a guy who loves running D&D for kids, and I try to make it as immersive as possible with what's available. If I've missed giving someone credit here, please don't sue me. I'm already poor thanks to my vindictive ex-wife. That said, on to glory: 

3d Artifacts

I can only lay claim to one of these, the Badge of the Watch, which I created in Tinkercad. The rest are Thingiverse links to the work of others. 
I have to say that if one is inclined to 3d Printing, there is a lot you can grab just by searching "Waterdeep" on Thingiverse. I'm pretty sure that I even saw a signet ring if you're into making wax seals!

Parting Shots & Final Thoughts

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist has taken a lot of criticism for being a bad module. I think this adventure is one of the very best Wizards has done for 5E, especially for children. I run this with a group of eight kids! Yes, you read that correctly! There are so many opportunities for engaging roleplaying; Fights, when getting cumbersome or boring, can quickly be ended by intervention from The Watch or the Griffin Cavalry; The rule of law in the city can help prevent training up young murder hobos; and you get to meet a lot of the who's who of the Forgotten Realms! If you're planning to run some D&D for kids, you could do a lot worse than Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.

Finally, as a bit of a parting shot, here is a bonus item. It's a bit of an Easter Egg, a Britcom pop-culture reference for the old heads. I made this autographed engraving of one of the NPC's in our campaign using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I should note for anyone who may be concerned, I did make Lord Flasheart a PG version of himself for our 11-15-year-old group. 



PROMOTED: Opinion: We need D&D in our classrooms! - WotC needs
to enter the educational gamification space with an alternative / competitor
to Classcraft.





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