And one is the twisted mind of a high-ranking cultist who believes with all his or her being that the world will be better off under the chaotic evil rule of the queen of dragons. One of them is the mind of a dramatist and stage director who constantly guides the game toward maximum tension and excitement. As always, one of those is the mind of an impartial judge and referee who knows the rules of the game and how best to apply them. You need three minds to run Tyranny of Dragons. If you plan to play in a Tyranny of Dragons campaign and you’d rather not have any hints about what terrors await, now would be a good time to flip to a different article (such as The Story So Far… as presented on the Wizards of the Coast site).
We begin with a warning to potential players-this article makes direct mention of certain events from the adventure.
It asks a lot of players, too, because they are free to chart their own course through events to a greater extent than in most adventures.īecause of that, this week’s column is devoted to offering advice to Dungeon Masters on how to maximize everyone’s enjoyment of these adventures and to keep their game tables humming like well-oiled machines. The Rise of Tiamat asks a lot from DMs right from the beginning, with its immense background events, political component, and multitude of paths for characters to follow to their goal. Things start out straightforward enough in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, as you’d expect in a low-level adventure, but by halfway through, the Dungeon Master is making almost as many crucial decisions as the players are. Hoard of the Dragon Queen and The Rise of Tiamat allow (some might say demand) Dungeon Masters to really stretch their wings and put their creativity to the test. Tyranny of Dragons is an immense, sprawling adventure filled with epic encounters, plot twists, and numerous NPCs with their own agendas.