@@orestesbastos No, it is a case, when money cannot solve anything. I mean, she is a daughter of Mystra, god of magic, and her husband was chosen of said god. If he can be resurrected, Laeral then ressurrected him long ago before his staff gone through a long list of new Blackstaffs, including their own son (current Blackstaff is his former lover, so from Laeral perspective, Vajra kinda steals her family from her).
"History is just different Kids fighting over different Toys." - Logan the Runesmith After you're done with The Stand read Swan Song, it has a cool take on the effects of Nuclear Radiation.
Excellent video. I've run DH 3 times now (2 still in progress 20 and 40 sessions in) it's my forever module. I add plenty and tweak the setting, but it's these villains and the power plays they attempt, which make the world absolutely hum, that keep me coming back.
"History is just different kids fighting over different toys" never before has the thing I want to study for a living been summed up in such a brief and accurate way. that I've seen at least. also this video makes me want to run something similar to Dragon Heist but in Gloomwrought. Good 4e supplement definitely recommend.
@Lúzia A Morta well, a lot of history revolves around war and conflict, usually caused by the desire or need for resources. Now, that doesn't encompass all of history, there are plenty of events or periods you can point to where there isn't a conflict going on. But, there are many events or periods in history that can be described as such, and the periods of peace are often surrounded by periods of conflict. So while it is a generalization, I would not say it is 'gross' or that it has no basis in truth.
I still love the extra version of the adventure that WotC put out on the DMs guild...multi-villain pile up. Only thing that annoyed me is that the Dragon Heist AL season was ruined by their insistence on excising the majority of the treasure rules, which made it very odd to be trying a heist when you know, from the beginning, there wouldn't be anything from it.
I have a big problem as a DM that is about to start the campaign - I really want to use Castelanters as main villains, but I can't! 4 of 5 players were in my previous campaign, and one of their personal enemies was noble family of van Tassels, that tried to sacrifice one of the PCs as a child, in similar manner to Castelanters, to Grazz't.
I accidentally went down the rabbit hole with the Cassalanters in one of the sandbox campaigns I DM. Took a quest from a list I found of 100 ideas which was that there was a costume party where everyone became what they were dressed up as. Picked a noble villa randomly and it happened to be the Cassalanter's, so I did some research on them and decided to stage it as their younger children being kidnapped by devils sent by a different archdevil (don't remember which), a few weeks before their 9th birthday (when they were scheduled to be taken by Asmodeus). I've got a few crazy stories from that one, which ended up taking around 5 sessions to finish the mission since they couldn't figure out who the real devils were. Would have been a LOT shorter if the paladin realized she could use divine sense to locate them. 🤣
ah yes good ol' reliable Jarlaxle. my primary dps in idle champions. anyhoo, nice vid as usual. doubt that ill ever get to play a game of dnd but i appreciate these lore videos of yours and other creators as it helps me enjoy idle champions more
Oh shit, ideas for next video.. uh.. could do more basically videos? I used the Genie and Lycanthrope videos you did recently, but it'd be interesting to learn about things like the Deities. It's really daunting to have to go researvh every single deity when you're looking for one for a specific aspect, and your videos make them into easily understandable, bite size tidbits of information rather than 30 sources and walls of text.
So, our game of Dragon Heist went well of the rails, to the point that the only villain not involved was Manshoon, because aside from some stuff he was doing in the background he was too intimidated by the fluster cluck of the situation that he more or less decided to sit out and try and steal the gold from the victor. One highlight of the game was that the party ended up in a legal battle with a pit fiend regarding the Cassalnter contract, and after a fight we convinced them to let us kill them since their contract ensured them a "long life". We also cut a deal with Jarlaxel to take credit for finding the gold to strengthen relationships between Waterdeep and Luscan, since in out game's timeline it was becoming a hub for Drow refugees on the surface (and to get the heat off of out back, since now he has to deal with Manshoon). So we saved the kids and got their brother's soul freed, but now they're orphans and their family is broke, so we're going to have to deal with the fallout of that at some point. Another highlight was our DM had Jarlaxel babysitting Drizzt and Cattie-Brie's kid after they stowed away on his ship, with them blowing his cover during our initial meeting with him. That was adorable
Honestly Jarlaxle isn't even a villain, and the book knows this, they list him as chaotic neutral. Literally what he wants for the money is more noble than the players, cuz he wants to just give it back to the city to curry goodwill, and chances are the players are gonna try and make off with some of it themselves.
I always thought it would be a lot more fun to run Jarlaxle as a possible ally rather than an out and out antagonist. It always seemed like the book wants you to present that as an option anyway, since it allows for PCs to join his faction and take jobs from him and can't do that with any of the other main villain options (fun fact: Jarlaxle's chaotic neutral alignment is actually new to 5E. In older editions he's considered neutral evil, but thanks to Character Development that didn't make sense for him anymore)
That's interesting because I see it totally opposite. I guess what I am saying the characters might be fine but they severely lack a backstory. Why is Samantha paranoid? Oh well be just is. Why is Manshoon some evil guy that just wants everything? Oh he just is. Why is Jarlaxe so obsessed with making his city grand again? Aren't there other ways? I mean he is risking pudding off a beholder and manshoon. Oh well be just is. I like the ideas but I desperately need more backstory for these villians.
Born Mycroft became Liecroft end up Diecroft....... He MUST RETURNNNN in the name of Britannia. Love ya videos mate. Its like DM school for a kindergarten student except this time I want to grow up not fail my exams and I like the teacher even though they don't have boobs, and come out my Dnd closet before the age of 26, P. s when are Spencer and Jacob getting married? Idk if it's been announced? I'm watching Tesseract atm :))
Waterdeep is just the best city. Baulders Gate? Who cares. Luskan? Its just bandit town. Neverwinter? Trash city. Warlocks crypt? Too smelly. Waterdeep? The best location for every type of campaign.
Im mad because im literally about to get my first waterdeep campaign soon so I shouldn't watch this and just seeing it is only getting me hyper and more impatient
I wanted to suggest "Basically Gnolls" since theres just no love for my angery hyenena bois. But in lieu of that, maybe a video on Underrated D&D monsters?
A video on underrated monsters will require a hour of video time and a month of research. Ever heard of neh-thalggu? Kopru? Psurlons? Nightmare beasts? Immoths? Parai? Wemics? Diaboli (and not for a second mistake them for devils or tieflings!)? Spyder fiends? Yeah, a real shame. Would be amazing to hear about all of the interesting ones! As for gnolls, heh. Overtly-demonic nature is a 5e innovation, and looking at how fast its content progresses, we won't have enough for a while. One could instead regale the original gnoll creation myth, in which gnolls were made by a lazy god and subsequently abandoned him for lacking attention, though. Or that gnolls are a hybrid of trolls and gnomes, if you are willing to take that seriously.
I honestly don't see Silverhand as a villain (because, well, she is actually not a villain in the book). While she may be worried bout Blackstaff, she is trying to keep her city together while dealing with the shit storm Neverwinter left her.
@@mjr8888 I wouldn’t really agree. She’s exactly who you want to give the money to if you want to keep it out of the wrong hands, and I’d say we can safely assume that’s what most parties will want. Still, she could technically be an antagonist if you wanna keep the whole cache for yourself...
Having read a few books starring him, yes he is absolutely a champ. I also like how he's basically the only major drow on Toril that's not Drizzt Do'Urden or a member of Eilistraee's church who ISN'T necessarily out there for the glory of Lolth. He's also a potential ally in _Out of the Abyss_ - assuming your party doesn't try to have a certain ritual play out in Menzoberranzan...
Stands in JoJo are actually created by a virus that is found within the meteorite that the arrows were made from. That's why some people die when they are hit by it and others don't
Just wanted to click to help with algorythm. Am currently 3/4ths (ish) the way through this as a player (according to my dm) and while im not good at mystery and such ..i am having an enjoyable time. A lot of it is being tweaked and added onto by my awesome dm. Has been a great journey so far.
Just wanted to give you some sage advice, feel free to try any edition you want, but seriously 4th edition isn't worth it, its all weird and doesn't mesh well and a bunch was completely changed for no reason (like the cannon was screwed with needlessly)
@@koala5390 id definitely say those are my suggested ones but nothing is as junky as 4 Oh I also might suggest eberon which is kinda half in half out of it all
"History is just different kids fighting over different toys." I can almost hear every history and literature professor I ever had scream in the distance.
I love how in depth each villain is. I like how they have Jaraxle from the Drizzit books as one of the big players of this city of crime. The villains is what makes dragon heist shines and I'm glad Runesmith made a great video that these characters deserve
With Tasha's Cauldron of Everything coming out, a video on the characters that spells are named after would be cool. Tasha, Bigby, Aganazzar, Snilloc, Otto, Mordenkainen, Tenser, Melf, Nystul, Otiluke, Leomund, Evard, Rary, Drawmij, Maximillian, and Abi-Dalzim. Could do Agathys and Hadar too even though they aren't people.
Waterdeep is great! if you do manage to run it at some point. I would recommend looking at the Alexadrian waterdeep as well as Blue alley. It allows for allot more intrigue and blue alley is a great little dungeon to get away from the big city for 1 or 2 sessions.
Before this gets any bigger. Currently running tyranny of dragons with a co-Dm (If you dont know its Horde of the Dragon Queen + Tiamat.) I might switch to Dragon Heist or Frostmaiden after the campaige finishes. For as long as I've played 5e....It has been Curse of Strahd campaigns everywhere I look. I don't hate CoS, just sick of playing it. Its a great book to start a group with. Just sick of it being the default for 5e. I want to play Dragon Heist, Descent into Avernus (2/3 finished before covid-19 ruined the game), Frostmaiden, Lost Mines, Icespire Peak. But, always Strahd
I just want a Heist about a group of Kobolds who got their Baby Dragon egg stolen. And now they need to venture across the known realms to find their Bebe boi.
Great video but one question. How do they show these personally traits to the players in game? I understand creating well rounded characters but how they represent it is just as important.
Well, most of them such as the Cassalanters, Silverhand and Jarlaxle (and perhaps Xanathar if the party tries to ally with him as the video points out is possible but perhaps not wise) will directly meet the party several times over the course of the adventure, either as a figure necessary in an investigation or to provide the players with various threats or offers. It then falls on the DM to get the roleplay right with the notes provided in the book. They're all very different too, Silverhand will assert her authority if she feels she's being undermined, Jarlaxle will use numerous disguises so the party don't always know they're even speaking to him, and the Cassalanters might straight up admit to the party they need the gold to save their children so they'll agree to work with them but sneakily omit telling them about the part where they need to kill a bunch of people too. I'd say Xanathar and Manshoon's personalities come through via their reputations whispered about all throughout Waterdeep and their many minions who the party will encounter throughout the game. Because what the minions are, what they're like, how they act, and how they feel about their boss can really inform players about those two before they even meet them. Their lairs are also really tell the players a lot about the anxious, greedy and/or paranoid personalities they're dealing with. Additionally, the adventure as-written is meant for players levelled 1-5 which means all these antagonists would wipe the floor with the heroes if they tried to start something directly, it's clear these antagonists aren't necessarily meant to be killed and a lower level party need to roleplay, outrun and outwit their enemies rather than just being able to kill the villain in their first encounter with them.
Jarlaxle is very well expressed in my opinion especially since any drow characters may have a chance to join Bregan D’aerthe during the campaign and meet him face to face
One interesting way to run this campaign would be to use three of the four villains. Start with the Cassalanters, but have them approach the party and spin a sob story about their children to form an alliance. Obviously, they won't mention the part about the mass human sacrifice, that's a fun surprise for later. Once the party forms an alliance, to secure the gold, they'll have to skirmish with either Xanathar or Manshoon. After the Cassalanters have the gold and the party thinks they've saved the day, Jarlaxle shows up at the tavern to tell them the truth about what is going to happen at the party. Cue a team up with Jarlaxle.
I can relate to Jarlaxl in a way, and I guess that's part of why I was willing to work for him when my first A.L. group played the module. I feel that you could literally change the surrounding area, and some names, making it one of the best campaigns to help establish a world you made!
The book has Jarlaxle as one of the main players that automatically makes it best. Check mate, Curse of Strahd. Strahd WISHES he had that level of style.
You made Jarlaxle sound so simple. Boi went through more character development than the main character of the series he appears in. Personally biased opinion though.
Wait Xanathar has a pet goldfish And hes after gold So his goal(d) is to go(ld) and get words with gold in their name. Then he'll be golden (that's slang for good incase you didn't know)
The city of Waterdeep is one of my absolute favorite D&D locations, and stuff like these characters is exactly why. It feels a lot like D&D Mos Eisley, really.
The hardest part of this campaign was getting my players to really understand why their characters wanted the money beyond blind greed. Also my players loved the tavern management part more than actual combat.
Reading the Drizzt books and immediately recognizing Jarlaxl from dragon heist instantly made me very happy because that means I’ve officially sold my soul to gygax
That's probably the most aptly accurate description of Jarlaxle Baenre I've ever seen. Thank you. As much as I'm a sucker for Drizzt, I've always had a relatability to Jarlaxle. It's created this juxtaposition duality. And I suppose that was what Bob eventually tried to do with the new direction he has steered his characters. One abides by morality to guide his evergrowing experiences, while the other lets his experiences shape his morality. And somehow, they work very well together.
I’ve ran it twice and love it. Both times continued on after the books content for months because there is so much to lean off of. If you can get a hold of ADnD forgotten realms City of Slendor, there is over 100 pages of lore to glean off. My brother was a player for both runs and he enjoyed the second run through because it can be sooo different based on villian and pc choice. By far my favorite book
I have never played or even read waterdeep dragon heist, but I love all it's villains So, the question must be asked: Is there a way to play waterdeep with all of the villains at the same time? Please no spoilers
I just finished a year long campaign of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, but my personal favorite part about my campaign was how directly its events can be traced back to the Ruining of Neverwinter among other awesome events of R.A. Salvatore's Gauntlgrym. (which you can read for free with Runesmith's audible plug haha) It really made the events of the campaign feel like they belonged in the world, and the fact that the events of the campaign were so historically precedented really made me, at least as a dungeon master, feel like I was really running a campaign in the very same Faerûn I've read so much about. The campaign was great, the only one I've finished as well, and although we started it in-game Summer, Xanathar ended up being the big bad of the campaign, and Jarlaxle ended up being the party's on again off again frenemy. It was especially good because the rouge of the party was actually a Xanathar guild member, that really upped the ante and provided me with a way of introducing Xanathar himself to the group before the time actually came to try and kill him, he's truly one of, if not the best villain of all Faerûn.
"Like America used to be a Patriarchy." "It probably still is. I hate it here." I can't get away from fucking politics and self-flagellating hot takes anywhere, can I?
@@GURGLEGUY12345 I'm very familiar with that but almost every campaign has a basis in real life as well. This helps us get a reference point to the campaign and get invested even if its a fantasy world. I mean you wouldn't shit on campaigns that include other real world elements like idk, gravity, oceans, friendship, music, competitions, armies and navies, countries, towns, or any other real world element would you? But yet "politics" (whatever that means) is just too much for us dnd players to handle huh.
I mean if I was i would have I dont have time for a full vid before my sleeping pills kick in so yeah instead I'm hitting up like 4 min of comment section time
„It probably still is...I hate it here“ No worries buddy, you can come to Europe, where you can draw a ton of inspiration from batshit crazy folktales.
I love this module! My friends and I played through it a year ago. We played through the winter season (manshoon). I've talked with others who have played through this module and it's very interesting to see the different dilemmas that come from the different BBEGs. The chase was fun and interesting and I was kept engaged the whole time. My DM was amazing!
These villains aren't all evil, they have nice compelling motives Jarlaxle: *I'm not even evil, I'm selfish and my goals conflict with the party, but I only do what's necessary* Cassalanters: *We are power-hungry and made pacts with Devils, but have since come to realize our mistake. We lost one child and now we must do whatever we have to to save our completely innocent twins* Xanathar: *I am an unknowable cosmic being in a world that only wants to kill me. The theft of my gold is proof of that. All I want is to rule happily with my fish* Manshoon: *THEY TOOK MY FUCKING HAND EVERYONE WILL BOW DOWN*
I'm glad you enjoyed the campaign we are enjoying it too right now. I do think you missed the mark on a lot of your points. The stone of Galore isn't a powerful wizard in a soul stone. Who is Sparrow Jack and why did you call Jarlaxel a rare female pirate? Lateral silverhand doesn't really fear vajra safaa but I do like that you listed her as a villain because I suppose she has the potential to be against less scrupulous players. Also your comment about America in danger of becoming a patriarchy....whatever...
So my campaign is all over the place. let me give you some context, we are currently a lv7 party consisting of lv6 tempest domain cleric of Valkur lv1 druid part of the emerald enclave (me), a champion fighter with a super-powerful demon sealed inside of them (*CR 24*) part of force grey, his brother which is a hexblade warlock who previously had half of the super-powerful demon sealed inside of him and has most likely made a deal with Manshoon, the noble prince dragonborn sorcerer part of the lord's alliance, the super old ratfolk monk part of Order of the Gauntlet. we are allied with the castle lanterns and lady Vajra. The stone of Golorr was taken by Manshoon and that is where we are now.
Bit of a mischaracterization on Laeral. She's not afraid of Vajra, she thinks she's an inexperience person (the literal words are "insecure child", which from her perspective as a god-queen wizard, is not entirely unfounded) to be in what is a significant position of power. If anything, Vajra is intimidated by Laeral, Vajra herself holds doubts about her position and having one of the few people above your seat in the city know about your job intimately (having been married to the former blackstaff) sets clear expectations. It's noted that Laeral doesn't want to confront Vajra on her use of force grey without authorization, but the other perspective is that Vajra is hiding her actions from Laeral out of fear of being denied. Laeral herself most likely chooses not to confront Vajra because it would be undermining her dead husband who chose Vajra personally. She's one of the most approachable allies you can have... unless you plan on being the villain, running off with the embezzled city funds. The only way you can maintain a life as a law abiding citizen after playing this campaign is to get the money back to the city where you receive a substantial cut. She doesn't have to offer you *anything* as she has every legal right to reclaim what is actually her money to oversee for the city. The upsides is that you make *fewer* lasting enemies. If you choose to attempt absconding with the money for yourselves (which is in itself a tall order) you make enemies of *ever faction* and the city of waterdeep. It's especially beneficial for you to actually turn the money over if your DM is planning on running straight into Dungeon of the Mad Mage, as being actual recognized heroes can draw you a lot of favor with how much dying you might be doing later. So you could characterize her as an "antagonist", but if you're either a lawful or good person, it's unlikely that she will be.
I just wrapped up the Dragon Heist campaign with my group. Xanathar was the enemy. We had a Drow player that teamed up with Jarlaxle to steal the money, give that money to Silverhand. Because the money was given, she gave Jarlaxle a position as a Hidden Lord of Waterdeep and made the PC a top officer in his Bregan D'aerthe. But because Jarlaxle now needs to remain in Waterdeep he gave the party a mission to quash the unrest in Luskin, thus keeping his power in that region too. That's where we left off. Oh yea, the party opened the dungeon, investigated it and then convinced the Dragon to give up the treasure to Renaer Neverember, the now rightful owner of the treasure, after his father died (a convincing lie).
My group played through this book and we didn't care for it. It felt like more of a campaign setting than a pre-written adventure and I wasn't prepared to improvise as much as the book wanted me to. I decided to watch this video to see if I missed something, and I was awe struck to see how much depth there was in characters, wondering what chapter of my book must be missing. Then I got to your part about Jarlaxle and realized you literally made shit up to make the antagonists seem cooler. Jarlaxle is a prominent character in the Drizzt books(of which I have read all of them), and what you described is not even close to his character or motivations. Yeah, he's a male Drow, which makes him "less" than the matriarchs of Menzoberranzan, but he's probably the most respected male in Drow society, aside from his brother Archmage Gromph. Jarlaxle likely wants money because he wants to expand the influence of Bregan Darthe, his band of mercenaries, which is more often used to help facilitate trade between the surface world and the Underdark. He does not care about acceptance. He has the charisma to sway most people and the magic items to deal with the rest. What Jarlaxle wants most is to spread chaos, so that people turn to him for answers, granting him more power, so that he can spread more chaos. He's the guy that doesn't like to watch things happen, he wants to make things happen, and have a finger in everything that does happen. Quite honestly, Jarlaxle probably only cares about the gold because it's a big deal to those in Waterdeep. Honestly, I got the impression that Jarlaxle was thrown in the book because people would recognize him and want to buy the book. He really doesn't fit in too well. Nothing wrong with making shit up, but I feel like a pre-written adventure should do that for you.
@Runesmith Can you please make a video about how to deal with spellcasters. I'm kind of new to D&D and I made a little sailing side quest (a party of 3 players all level 8) and in it on their way to their destination I had them fight an adult white dragon. The Bard casted a bunch of curses that made it roll wisdom saves for certain moves. Soon the dragon couldn't do anything and they just beat it up until it died. I'm kind of scared that this might happen again. Please Help.
I’m not gonna watch this video (yet) or read through the comments because I’m currently in this campaign right now. I hear good things about it all the time but holy shit does it feel like a drag. I feel like I’m playing the most boring Fallout missions where I search for a clue, talk with a person, who sends me to another person. Who then sends me to another person. And anytime I want to try and talk with someone who’s not part of this never ending investigation, my DM has no idea what to say and I’m back to investigating this case I couldn’t care less about. I’m pretty sure my DM is just terrible, and I’ll probably run this campaign for my group sometime after we finally finish. I want to like the setting but big city, lots of guards, numerous factions, all this makes me feel like there’s a million people more qualified to do these tasks we’re being given than we are.
Xanathathar: *they want my stuff*
Laurel: *I want my Husband back*
Castelanters: *we want our kids back*
Jarlaxel: *I want my kingdom free*
Manshoon: Why are you all touching *MY STUFF*
Xanathathar
Shell knight Karen took the damn kids
Laeral can use the money to get her husband back?
@@orestesbastos No, it is a case, when money cannot solve anything. I mean, she is a daughter of Mystra, god of magic, and her husband was chosen of said god. If he can be resurrected, Laeral then ressurrected him long ago before his staff gone through a long list of new Blackstaffs, including their own son (current Blackstaff is his former lover, so from Laeral perspective, Vajra kinda steals her family from her).
fake Xanathathar btw
I'm amazed how nobody ever points out how Xanithar is the only recorded Beholder to ever show genuine love for any being other than itself.
laughing luigi would like a word
@@theodorehoag2524 I do believe you mean LARGE Luigi
He really really loves His fish. and if you do anything to his fish he will have you disintegrated and turned into a pile of dust
@@thebaron2277 But what if the fish dies of natural causes?
Which it will.
@@MasterZebulin it did! multiple too time if i not mistaken but the worker keep secertly replenish a new one everytime
"History is just different Kids fighting over different Toys." - Logan the Runesmith
After you're done with The Stand
read Swan Song, it has a cool take on the effects of Nuclear Radiation.
*Everyone minding their own Business*
Manshoon: *Bippity Boppity your stuffs my Property*
Excellent video.
I've run DH 3 times now (2 still in progress 20 and 40 sessions in) it's my forever module. I add plenty and tweak the setting, but it's these villains and the power plays they attempt, which make the world absolutely hum, that keep me coming back.
"History is just different kids fighting over different toys"
never before has the thing I want to study for a living been summed up in such a brief and accurate way. that I've seen at least.
also this video makes me want to run something similar to Dragon Heist but in Gloomwrought. Good 4e supplement definitely recommend.
@Lúzia A Morta well, a lot of history revolves around war and conflict, usually caused by the desire or need for resources. Now, that doesn't encompass all of history, there are plenty of events or periods you can point to where there isn't a conflict going on. But, there are many events or periods in history that can be described as such, and the periods of peace are often surrounded by periods of conflict. So while it is a generalization, I would not say it is 'gross' or that it has no basis in truth.
I still love the extra version of the adventure that WotC put out on the DMs guild...multi-villain pile up.
Only thing that annoyed me is that the Dragon Heist AL season was ruined by their insistence on excising the majority of the treasure rules, which made it very odd to be trying a heist when you know, from the beginning, there wouldn't be anything from it.
What, we aren’t talking about that dude who’s life you ruined because he tried to sabotage your bar?
What?
@@readthebones4147 ruclips.net/video/JWnRM1qNKmE/видео.html
Xanathar never acts out of malice... except when he released a bunch of trolls on the streets, because he thought it's funny.
Logan you always present things in such a great manner which inspires me to write characters in my own stories, thank you man.
I have a big problem as a DM that is about to start the campaign - I really want to use Castelanters as main villains, but I can't! 4 of 5 players were in my previous campaign, and one of their personal enemies was noble family of van Tassels, that tried to sacrifice one of the PCs as a child, in similar manner to Castelanters, to Grazz't.
I accidentally went down the rabbit hole with the Cassalanters in one of the sandbox campaigns I DM. Took a quest from a list I found of 100 ideas which was that there was a costume party where everyone became what they were dressed up as. Picked a noble villa randomly and it happened to be the Cassalanter's, so I did some research on them and decided to stage it as their younger children being kidnapped by devils sent by a different archdevil (don't remember which), a few weeks before their 9th birthday (when they were scheduled to be taken by Asmodeus). I've got a few crazy stories from that one, which ended up taking around 5 sessions to finish the mission since they couldn't figure out who the real devils were. Would have been a LOT shorter if the paladin realized she could use divine sense to locate them. 🤣
I highly suggest reading Mechanical Failure on Audible
ah yes good ol' reliable Jarlaxle. my primary dps in idle champions. anyhoo, nice vid as usual. doubt that ill ever get to play a game of dnd but i appreciate these lore videos of yours and other creators as it helps me enjoy idle champions more
The Alexandrian Remix is a must for this module.
Oh shit, ideas for next video.. uh.. could do more basically videos? I used the Genie and Lycanthrope videos you did recently, but it'd be interesting to learn about things like the Deities.
It's really daunting to have to go researvh every single deity when you're looking for one for a specific aspect, and your videos make them into easily understandable, bite size tidbits of information rather than 30 sources and walls of text.
Convince Xanathar and Jarlaxel to both work together with the party and you win
So, our game of Dragon Heist went well of the rails, to the point that the only villain not involved was Manshoon, because aside from some stuff he was doing in the background he was too intimidated by the fluster cluck of the situation that he more or less decided to sit out and try and steal the gold from the victor.
One highlight of the game was that the party ended up in a legal battle with a pit fiend regarding the Cassalnter contract, and after a fight we convinced them to let us kill them since their contract ensured them a "long life". We also cut a deal with Jarlaxel to take credit for finding the gold to strengthen relationships between Waterdeep and Luscan, since in out game's timeline it was becoming a hub for Drow refugees on the surface (and to get the heat off of out back, since now he has to deal with Manshoon). So we saved the kids and got their brother's soul freed, but now they're orphans and their family is broke, so we're going to have to deal with the fallout of that at some point.
Another highlight was our DM had Jarlaxel babysitting Drizzt and Cattie-Brie's kid after they stowed away on his ship, with them blowing his cover during our initial meeting with him. That was adorable
Dragon Heist, the campaign where my players fight over the ownership of a tavern.
Have you done a video on griffins?
Last time I was this early, Bioware was still making Baldur's Gate games
How about a video on the different arch Devils of the nine hells and their motives
Yay for our British way of speeding and saying things! 😂🙌🏻
Does the book have any fun or unique magic items?
The longer you look at Manshoon, the more you realize his robes are made out of his hair 0.0
I guess you could say that they’re... deep.
So it IS about stands, Green Day specifically.
Honestly Jarlaxle isn't even a villain, and the book knows this, they list him as chaotic neutral. Literally what he wants for the money is more noble than the players, cuz he wants to just give it back to the city to curry goodwill, and chances are the players are gonna try and make off with some of it themselves.
I always thought it would be a lot more fun to run Jarlaxle as a possible ally rather than an out and out antagonist. It always seemed like the book wants you to present that as an option anyway, since it allows for PCs to join his faction and take jobs from him and can't do that with any of the other main villain options
(fun fact: Jarlaxle's chaotic neutral alignment is actually new to 5E. In older editions he's considered neutral evil, but thanks to Character Development that didn't make sense for him anymore)
Currently running a campaign for my players, I think I’m just gonna steal basically all of WDH and stuff in into the plot.
Okay but why does the guy on the cover look exactly like Thanos
I love Waterdeep. I own it but I've yet to play it
So I'm guessing Chosen are no longer a thing? Because Kelban Blackstaff and Lareal Silverhand are some of the heaviest hitters in the setting.
Lareal is still a chosen, although Kelban died a while ago, but she's weaker due to the big event that transitioned the setting to 5e.
That's interesting because I see it totally opposite.
I guess what I am saying the characters might be fine but they severely lack a backstory.
Why is Samantha paranoid? Oh well be just is.
Why is Manshoon some evil guy that just wants everything? Oh he just is.
Why is Jarlaxe so obsessed with making his city grand again? Aren't there other ways? I mean he is risking pudding off a beholder and manshoon. Oh well be just is.
I like the ideas but I desperately need more backstory for these villians.
Born Mycroft became Liecroft end up Diecroft....... He MUST RETURNNNN in the name of Britannia.
Love ya videos mate. Its like DM school for a kindergarten student except this time I want to grow up not fail my exams and I like the teacher even though they don't have boobs, and come out my Dnd closet before the age of 26,
P. s when are Spencer and Jacob getting married? Idk if it's been announced? I'm watching Tesseract atm :))
... Is Manshoon's robe made from his own braided beard? Because the front of his robe just looks like a very, very, very long beard.
Intercommunication
Reading The Stand in the middle of the pandemic
Waterdeep is just the best city.
Baulders Gate? Who cares.
Luskan? Its just bandit town.
Neverwinter? Trash city.
Warlocks crypt? Too smelly.
Waterdeep? The best location for every type of campaign.
Im mad because im literally about to get my first waterdeep campaign soon so I shouldn't watch this and just seeing it is only getting me hyper and more impatient
I wanted to suggest "Basically Gnolls" since theres just no love for my angery hyenena bois.
But in lieu of that, maybe a video on Underrated D&D monsters?
I'd watch a whole series by Runesmith on underrated/unused monsters
I love gnolls. I often model them after real life hyenas when I have them in my games, for flavor.
I was literally just thinking about that too (the gnolls not the other thing)
I love gnolls and they’re very under used for how cool they are
I totally agree! I know it’s totally dumb but I actually use the basically videos to guide some of my campaigns
A video on underrated monsters will require a hour of video time and a month of research. Ever heard of neh-thalggu? Kopru? Psurlons? Nightmare beasts? Immoths? Parai? Wemics? Diaboli (and not for a second mistake them for devils or tieflings!)? Spyder fiends? Yeah, a real shame. Would be amazing to hear about all of the interesting ones!
As for gnolls, heh. Overtly-demonic nature is a 5e innovation, and looking at how fast its content progresses, we won't have enough for a while. One could instead regale the original gnoll creation myth, in which gnolls were made by a lazy god and subsequently abandoned him for lacking attention, though. Or that gnolls are a hybrid of trolls and gnomes, if you are willing to take that seriously.
I honestly don't see Silverhand as a villain (because, well, she is actually not a villain in the book). While she may be worried bout Blackstaff, she is trying to keep her city together while dealing with the shit storm Neverwinter left her.
He said antagonist, not villain.
@@TheMightyBattleSquid yet when moving on, he counted her as part of the list. Still, I can kind of agree on antagonist.
@@mjr8888 I wouldn’t really agree. She’s exactly who you want to give the money to if you want to keep it out of the wrong hands, and I’d say we can safely assume that’s what most parties will want. Still, she could technically be an antagonist if you wanna keep the whole cache for yourself...
I *know* my players would keep the money for themselves!
Plus she didn't really want to be the Open Lord.
Jarlaxle, is the a legend. In the books he is a champ
Yeah he's probably my favourite character, even when he talks to the glazbru and other powerful enemies
Having read a few books starring him, yes he is absolutely a champ. I also like how he's basically the only major drow on Toril that's not Drizzt Do'Urden or a member of Eilistraee's church who ISN'T necessarily out there for the glory of Lolth. He's also a potential ally in _Out of the Abyss_ - assuming your party doesn't try to have a certain ritual play out in Menzoberranzan...
He and Artemis Entreri are my OTP.
The Stand is actually just a story about Purple Haze going rogue
So it is about stands
does steven king also write the villain out of the plot, like with fugo
Stands in JoJo are actually created by a virus that is found within the meteorite that the arrows were made from. That's why some people die when they are hit by it and others don't
Purple Haze Requiem
I thought of the same thing
Damn... tru
Just wanted to click to help with algorythm. Am currently 3/4ths (ish) the way through this as a player (according to my dm) and while im not good at mystery and such ..i am having an enjoyable time. A lot of it is being tweaked and added onto by my awesome dm. Has been a great journey so far.
Just wanted to give you some sage advice, feel free to try any edition you want, but seriously 4th edition isn't worth it, its all weird and doesn't mesh well and a bunch was completely changed for no reason (like the cannon was screwed with needlessly)
@@ConstantChaos1 the only editions id reccomend for a good (fantasy) experience are 5e, 3.5e, and pathfinder, but thats just me personally
@@koala5390 id definitely say those are my suggested ones but nothing is as junky as 4
Oh I also might suggest eberon which is kinda half in half out of it all
"History is just different kids fighting over different toys."
I can almost hear every history and literature professor I ever had scream in the distance.
Ya they know that's just war the is much more like trading toys for other ones
I love how in depth each villain is. I like how they have Jaraxle from the Drizzit books as one of the big players of this city of crime. The villains is what makes dragon heist shines and I'm glad Runesmith made a great video that these characters deserve
With Tasha's Cauldron of Everything coming out, a video on the characters that spells are named after would be cool. Tasha, Bigby, Aganazzar, Snilloc, Otto, Mordenkainen, Tenser, Melf, Nystul, Otiluke, Leomund, Evard, Rary, Drawmij, Maximillian, and Abi-Dalzim. Could do Agathys and Hadar too even though they aren't people.
Waterdeep is such a good game
If players stop playing CoS >_>
I really want to play and run this
The board game is pretty good too.
Waterdeep is great! if you do manage to run it at some point. I would recommend looking at the Alexadrian waterdeep as well as Blue alley. It allows for allot more intrigue and blue alley is a great little dungeon to get away from the big city for 1 or 2 sessions.
I took the advice from XP to level 3 and am running Dragon Heist and CoS back to back
Before this gets any bigger. Currently running tyranny of dragons with a co-Dm (If you dont know its Horde of the Dragon Queen + Tiamat.)
I might switch to Dragon Heist or Frostmaiden after the campaige finishes.
For as long as I've played 5e....It has been Curse of Strahd campaigns everywhere I look. I don't hate CoS, just sick of playing it. Its a great book to start a group with. Just sick of it being the default for 5e.
I want to play Dragon Heist, Descent into Avernus (2/3 finished before covid-19 ruined the game), Frostmaiden, Lost Mines, Icespire Peak.
But, always Strahd
@Nicholas Brown literally doing this right now
I just want a Heist about a group of Kobolds who got their Baby Dragon egg stolen. And now they need to venture across the known realms to find their Bebe boi.
I’d love to see another Basically Subclass video
Great video but one question. How do they show these personally traits to the players in game? I understand creating well rounded characters but how they represent it is just as important.
Well, most of them such as the Cassalanters, Silverhand and Jarlaxle (and perhaps Xanathar if the party tries to ally with him as the video points out is possible but perhaps not wise) will directly meet the party several times over the course of the adventure, either as a figure necessary in an investigation or to provide the players with various threats or offers. It then falls on the DM to get the roleplay right with the notes provided in the book. They're all very different too, Silverhand will assert her authority if she feels she's being undermined, Jarlaxle will use numerous disguises so the party don't always know they're even speaking to him, and the Cassalanters might straight up admit to the party they need the gold to save their children so they'll agree to work with them but sneakily omit telling them about the part where they need to kill a bunch of people too.
I'd say Xanathar and Manshoon's personalities come through via their reputations whispered about all throughout Waterdeep and their many minions who the party will encounter throughout the game. Because what the minions are, what they're like, how they act, and how they feel about their boss can really inform players about those two before they even meet them. Their lairs are also really tell the players a lot about the anxious, greedy and/or paranoid personalities they're dealing with.
Additionally, the adventure as-written is meant for players levelled 1-5 which means all these antagonists would wipe the floor with the heroes if they tried to start something directly, it's clear these antagonists aren't necessarily meant to be killed and a lower level party need to roleplay, outrun and outwit their enemies rather than just being able to kill the villain in their first encounter with them.
Jarlaxle is very well expressed in my opinion especially since any drow characters may have a chance to join Bregan D’aerthe during the campaign and meet him face to face
+15 to initiative for gettin here this early haha
Why does this have upvotes?
-15 for giving away your position.
@@Dehalove aw man how’s it bother you buddy
Yeah, this man convinced me to buy this book.
Yeah, same ^^
One interesting way to run this campaign would be to use three of the four villains. Start with the Cassalanters, but have them approach the party and spin a sob story about their children to form an alliance. Obviously, they won't mention the part about the mass human sacrifice, that's a fun surprise for later. Once the party forms an alliance, to secure the gold, they'll have to skirmish with either Xanathar or Manshoon. After the Cassalanters have the gold and the party thinks they've saved the day, Jarlaxle shows up at the tavern to tell them the truth about what is going to happen at the party. Cue a team up with Jarlaxle.
I can relate to Jarlaxl in a way, and I guess that's part of why I was willing to work for him when my first A.L. group played the module. I feel that you could literally change the surrounding area, and some names, making it one of the best campaigns to help establish a world you made!
The book has Jarlaxle as one of the main players that automatically makes it best.
Check mate, Curse of Strahd. Strahd WISHES he had that level of style.
guess you could say your in deep with these villains
You made Jarlaxle sound so simple. Boi went through more character development than the main character of the series he appears in. Personally biased opinion though.
I'd enjoy seeing a segment about the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon and how it can be used as inspiration.
Wait
Xanathar has a pet goldfish
And hes after gold
So his goal(d) is to go(ld) and get words with gold in their name.
Then he'll be golden (that's slang for good incase you didn't know)
Waterdeep sounds like watersheep but the question is, is it like a father to you?
I want to crucify you for this comment
The city of Waterdeep is one of my absolute favorite D&D locations, and stuff like these characters is exactly why. It feels a lot like D&D Mos Eisley, really.
I just started setting this up and I’m hyped. It looks awesome.
The hardest part of this campaign was getting my players to really understand why their characters wanted the money beyond blind greed. Also my players loved the tavern management part more than actual combat.
I feel you there
Maybe dedicate a video to that awful D&D show from the 80's
I know that's not what you do on this channel, but it was just a thought
Hey Runesmith could you go back to doing some D and d universe videos I thought those were really awesome thank you if you do
I'd love to see your opinions on Homebrew races in standard modules
Hold up, Jarlaxle ? The Jarlaxle from the Legend of Drizz't ??
Reading the Drizzt books and immediately recognizing Jarlaxl from dragon heist instantly made me very happy because that means I’ve officially sold my soul to gygax
as someone who knew nothing about waterdeep before this video i was really hoping the fish was xanathar
"It's the British and therefore correct spelling of grey and I will fight anyone who disagrees"
Runesmith is the Chosen One.
honestly i didn't even realize there was villains i was just trying to run a tavern and get cash
ok ok, lets take a moment to look at Manshoon's name
_what a fucking great name, its a good villain name, i want it_
That's probably the most aptly accurate description of Jarlaxle Baenre I've ever seen.
Thank you.
As much as I'm a sucker for Drizzt, I've always had a relatability to Jarlaxle.
It's created this juxtaposition duality. And I suppose that was what Bob eventually tried to do with the new direction he has steered his characters.
One abides by morality to guide his evergrowing experiences, while the other lets his experiences shape his morality. And somehow, they work very well together.
I’ve ran it twice and love it. Both times continued on after the books content for months because there is so much to lean off of.
If you can get a hold of ADnD forgotten realms City of Slendor, there is over 100 pages of lore to glean off.
My brother was a player for both runs and he enjoyed the second run through because it can be sooo different based on villian and pc choice. By far my favorite book
I have never played or even read waterdeep dragon heist, but I love all it's villains
So, the question must be asked:
Is there a way to play waterdeep with all of the villains at the same time?
Please no spoilers
I’ve done it for my players. It’s not out of the box though. Need a dm with narrative adaptability. Rare.
just casually doesn't mention manshoon leads the zhents 🤣🤣
Who are the 5 most powerful things in the known universe?
I just finished a year long campaign of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, but my personal favorite part about my campaign was how directly its events can be traced back to the Ruining of Neverwinter among other awesome events of R.A. Salvatore's Gauntlgrym. (which you can read for free with Runesmith's audible plug haha) It really made the events of the campaign feel like they belonged in the world, and the fact that the events of the campaign were so historically precedented really made me, at least as a dungeon master, feel like I was really running a campaign in the very same Faerûn I've read so much about.
The campaign was great, the only one I've finished as well, and although we started it in-game Summer, Xanathar ended up being the big bad of the campaign, and Jarlaxle ended up being the party's on again off again frenemy. It was especially good because the rouge of the party was actually a Xanathar guild member, that really upped the ante and provided me with a way of introducing Xanathar himself to the group before the time actually came to try and kill him, he's truly one of, if not the best villain of all Faerûn.
Or maybe another basically subclass video, like with one of the new Tasha's cauldron of everything subclasses
"Like America used to be a Patriarchy."
"It probably still is. I hate it here."
I can't get away from fucking politics and self-flagellating hot takes anywhere, can I?
Wahhhhh I'm a big baby and anything that doesn't confirm my beliefs and coddle me at all times is "political"
@@nvizible That's political, though.
@@GURGLEGUY12345 welcome to the real world snowflake
@@nvizible You realize the point of D&D is to _get away_ from the real world for a bit, right?
@@GURGLEGUY12345 I'm very familiar with that but almost every campaign has a basis in real life as well. This helps us get a reference point to the campaign and get invested even if its a fantasy world. I mean you wouldn't shit on campaigns that include other real world elements like idk, gravity, oceans, friendship, music, competitions, armies and navies, countries, towns, or any other real world element would you? But yet "politics" (whatever that means) is just too much for us dnd players to handle huh.
Imagine just commenting first instead of watching the video
I mean if I was i would have I dont have time for a full vid before my sleeping pills kick in so yeah instead I'm hitting up like 4 min of comment section time
First!
Running it in a few weeks. Hyped and nervous.
i friend finished playing this and he played manshoon as "medieval dr doom"
„It probably still is...I hate it here“
No worries buddy, you can come to Europe, where you can draw a ton of inspiration from batshit crazy folktales.
Please take him, America doesn't need anymore feminist soy-boys.
@@mgtowmister“MGTOW mister“😂😂😂😂😂😂
6:36 If that was true RBG would have been replaced by a man.
Fem-boys like this guy aren't really tuned into reality.
I love this module! My friends and I played through it a year ago. We played through the winter season (manshoon). I've talked with others who have played through this module and it's very interesting to see the different dilemmas that come from the different BBEGs.
The chase was fun and interesting and I was kept engaged the whole time. My DM was amazing!
Jarlaxle was one of my favorite characters in the Drizz't Do'Urden series. Such a deep character with many layers
These villains aren't all evil, they have nice compelling motives
Jarlaxle: *I'm not even evil, I'm selfish and my goals conflict with the party, but I only do what's necessary*
Cassalanters: *We are power-hungry and made pacts with Devils, but have since come to realize our mistake. We lost one child and now we must do whatever we have to to save our completely innocent twins*
Xanathar: *I am an unknowable cosmic being in a world that only wants to kill me. The theft of my gold is proof of that. All I want is to rule happily with my fish*
Manshoon: *THEY TOOK MY FUCKING HAND EVERYONE WILL BOW DOWN*
I'm glad you enjoyed the campaign we are enjoying it too right now. I do think you missed the mark on a lot of your points. The stone of Galore isn't a powerful wizard in a soul stone. Who is Sparrow Jack and why did you call Jarlaxel a rare female pirate? Lateral silverhand doesn't really fear vajra safaa but I do like that you listed her as a villain because I suppose she has the potential to be against less scrupulous players. Also your comment about America in danger of becoming a patriarchy....whatever...
Waterdeep more like baa baa black sheep
Laeral Silverhand is like a lvl 20 Wizard - Chosen of Mystra. She is as powerful as it gets, being an immortal demigod and all...
ok, wait... Is Manshoon just made out of a beard? cause otherwise that picture is just super misleading... BEARD CLONE GOD FOREVER!
So my campaign is all over the place. let me give you some context, we are currently a lv7 party consisting of lv6 tempest domain cleric of Valkur lv1 druid part of the emerald enclave (me), a champion fighter with a super-powerful demon sealed inside of them (*CR 24*) part of force grey, his brother which is a hexblade warlock who previously had half of the super-powerful demon sealed inside of him and has most likely made a deal with Manshoon, the noble prince dragonborn sorcerer part of the lord's alliance, the super old ratfolk monk part of Order of the Gauntlet. we are allied with the castle lanterns and lady Vajra. The stone of Golorr was taken by Manshoon and that is where we are now.
Bit of a mischaracterization on Laeral. She's not afraid of Vajra, she thinks she's an inexperience person (the literal words are "insecure child", which from her perspective as a god-queen wizard, is not entirely unfounded) to be in what is a significant position of power. If anything, Vajra is intimidated by Laeral, Vajra herself holds doubts about her position and having one of the few people above your seat in the city know about your job intimately (having been married to the former blackstaff) sets clear expectations. It's noted that Laeral doesn't want to confront Vajra on her use of force grey without authorization, but the other perspective is that Vajra is hiding her actions from Laeral out of fear of being denied. Laeral herself most likely chooses not to confront Vajra because it would be undermining her dead husband who chose Vajra personally.
She's one of the most approachable allies you can have... unless you plan on being the villain, running off with the embezzled city funds. The only way you can maintain a life as a law abiding citizen after playing this campaign is to get the money back to the city where you receive a substantial cut. She doesn't have to offer you *anything* as she has every legal right to reclaim what is actually her money to oversee for the city.
The upsides is that you make *fewer* lasting enemies. If you choose to attempt absconding with the money for yourselves (which is in itself a tall order) you make enemies of *ever faction* and the city of waterdeep. It's especially beneficial for you to actually turn the money over if your DM is planning on running straight into Dungeon of the Mad Mage, as being actual recognized heroes can draw you a lot of favor with how much dying you might be doing later.
So you could characterize her as an "antagonist", but if you're either a lawful or good person, it's unlikely that she will be.
I just wrapped up the Dragon Heist campaign with my group. Xanathar was the enemy. We had a Drow player that teamed up with Jarlaxle to steal the money, give that money to Silverhand. Because the money was given, she gave Jarlaxle a position as a Hidden Lord of Waterdeep and made the PC a top officer in his Bregan D'aerthe. But because Jarlaxle now needs to remain in Waterdeep he gave the party a mission to quash the unrest in Luskin, thus keeping his power in that region too. That's where we left off. Oh yea, the party opened the dungeon, investigated it and then convinced the Dragon to give up the treasure to Renaer Neverember, the now rightful owner of the treasure, after his father died (a convincing lie).
My group played through this book and we didn't care for it. It felt like more of a campaign setting than a pre-written adventure and I wasn't prepared to improvise as much as the book wanted me to. I decided to watch this video to see if I missed something, and I was awe struck to see how much depth there was in characters, wondering what chapter of my book must be missing.
Then I got to your part about Jarlaxle and realized you literally made shit up to make the antagonists seem cooler.
Jarlaxle is a prominent character in the Drizzt books(of which I have read all of them), and what you described is not even close to his character or motivations. Yeah, he's a male Drow, which makes him "less" than the matriarchs of Menzoberranzan, but he's probably the most respected male in Drow society, aside from his brother Archmage Gromph.
Jarlaxle likely wants money because he wants to expand the influence of Bregan Darthe, his band of mercenaries, which is more often used to help facilitate trade between the surface world and the Underdark. He does not care about acceptance. He has the charisma to sway most people and the magic items to deal with the rest.
What Jarlaxle wants most is to spread chaos, so that people turn to him for answers, granting him more power, so that he can spread more chaos. He's the guy that doesn't like to watch things happen, he wants to make things happen, and have a finger in everything that does happen.
Quite honestly, Jarlaxle probably only cares about the gold because it's a big deal to those in Waterdeep.
Honestly, I got the impression that Jarlaxle was thrown in the book because people would recognize him and want to buy the book. He really doesn't fit in too well.
Nothing wrong with making shit up, but I feel like a pre-written adventure should do that for you.
@Runesmith Can you please make a video about how to deal with spellcasters. I'm kind of new to D&D and I made a little sailing side quest (a party of 3 players all level 8) and in it on their way to their destination I had them fight an adult white dragon. The Bard casted a bunch of curses that made it roll wisdom saves for certain moves. Soon the dragon couldn't do anything and they just beat it up until it died. I'm kind of scared that this might happen again. Please Help.
Love this story too. Did anyone else pick up on the similarities to JIM BUTCHER’s DRESDEN FILES Series?
I’m not gonna watch this video (yet) or read through the comments because I’m currently in this campaign right now. I hear good things about it all the time but holy shit does it feel like a drag. I feel like I’m playing the most boring Fallout missions where I search for a clue, talk with a person, who sends me to another person. Who then sends me to another person. And anytime I want to try and talk with someone who’s not part of this never ending investigation, my DM has no idea what to say and I’m back to investigating this case I couldn’t care less about. I’m pretty sure my DM is just terrible, and I’ll probably run this campaign for my group sometime after we finally finish.
I want to like the setting but big city, lots of guards, numerous factions, all this makes me feel like there’s a million people more qualified to do these tasks we’re being given than we are.