What are /r/WaterdeepDragonHeist's favorite Products & Services?

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For this I used https://rasterbator.net set to 2 pages high with us letter. I left the default margins and cut them off with a exacto knife. It came out as 8 pages total.

I'm going to try using Excel for the next one and compare how it goes.

I had been considering buying those table images for a while but had never seen one really used in action. Being able to bring in the Waterdeep map over the 'battlemap' space is great.

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https://gumroad.com/limonium in case anyone was interested in where this (or something substantially similar) is from.

It's all photoshop and it's fairly easy to do, I just took the simple black and white maps and added the color. https://www.photopea.com/ is what I use when I don't want to boot up my photoshop machine.

This is the one you want: https://www.ebay.com/itm/363809885601?hash=item54b4c24da1:g:NwMAAOSw4QliYLaj

Although honestly you could just get this whole pack and be covered for all the villains (who IMO you should definitely all use): https://www.amazon.com/Icons-Realms-Waterdeep-Dragon-Heist/dp/B09SKL56K2/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=waterdeep%2Bdragon%2Bheist%2Bminiatures&qid=1671532175&sr=8-2&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc&th=1

Note that there are some heavy hitters at the highest levels of Waterdeep politics (Laeral and Vajra, but also a few others). You don't want your PCs to be sidelined and watch a high level NPC wizard duel they can't participate in (otherwise, you would run FRE3 Waterdeep).

So if you do go the Game of Thrones route, you'll have to think of how to sideline or deal with archmage characters that are movers and shakers in the city.
Regardless, I highly recommend reading the novel "Death Masks" by Ed Greenwood for some inspiration.

You could run that as an overlay (or maybe a sequel) with WDH, but flip the script so you don't give the Mary Sues (Laeral, Elminster, Mirt) any Deus Ex Machina saves.

The sequence of events from the novel could allow the PCs to be in the middle of some high-level intrigue and scheming. Depending on the PCs' actions, the entire government of Waterdeep could have a major shake-up.

imho, if you just want to use battle maps and you are planing to spend money, you should get a gridded dry erase board. Something like this. You can then draw the relevant part of the map or add to it when they get to the area.

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Interlocking-Role-Playing-Miniature-Tabletop/dp/B016H1B0RW/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=DIJ33JGKKXWS&keywords=dry+erase+tiles+dnd&qid=1655655607&sprefix=dry+erase+tiles+dnd%2Caps%2C206&sr=8-3

Love it. Loads of emotion in that book.

If you didnt pick up the book called 'collected stories' then thats a great read. Notably the short story called 'To Legend He Goes' and also the Iruladoon (spelling) story. Certainly not rush to read it in a particular place but u are around the right area.

https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Stories-Legend-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786957387

And it had an audio book with a bunch of odd celebrities like Weird Al and Ice T (dont ask lol).

Simple moon touched weapons (common magic items) should suffice, should they not? Although the idea of Hyustus cracking open crates of ordnance sounds pretty cool.

Mace of Disruption is a pretty good weapon against undead. Personally I don't like weapons that do extra 2d8 of damage per hit because it allows the melee types to outpace casters in damage, so you might consider this OP.

I'll be starting this chapter this weekend too, and it'll also be my first sandbox-y session. To prep I've made quick notes about what is in the manor adding a couple things I found in the resources megathread, including the evil doll and the itemized list of repairs.

Then I made notes on the neighbors I expect them to encounter, and expanded on the first quest for the three factions I'm going to offer them (they're evil/neutral so I'm using Bregan D'aerthe, the Zhentarim, and the Grey Hands for contrast).

This will probably be enough to get through a session, and I'll write more based on what they do this weekend. I've also found it extremely helpful to have resources up showing roughly how much things like beer and food cost in a city, and an NPC generator for when they want to get a shopkeep's life story.

Also definitely be sure to read up on the guide to Waterdeep, and make some rough notes of what each ward is like.

And good luck!

https://anchor.fm/dndnerds/episodes/Waterdeep-Dragon-Heist-The-Yawning-Portal-and-the-hunt-for-Floon-Blagmaar-e42pjb

Like this map? It's included in our pre-release module on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/stevesscenes for testing and feedback. We've also included Hither random encounter maps from Wild Beyond the Witchlight.

Also worth checking out our free module at https://foundryvtt.com/packages/steves-scenes which includes many Waterdeep and Wild Beyond the Witchlight maps, as well as a few other D&D module maps

All feedback is welcome!

Of course!

I used the Trigger Happy module for Foundry VTT. Over each of the interactive parts of the map is a rectangle drawn onto the map, which is invisible to players. Each has a text label and I set it up so that when the rectangle is clicked, it triggers the journal entry/scene/item/etc that matches the text label.

I'm realizing typing this out it sounds kind of weird, but it's a lot easier than I thought it would be! There are some fantastic tutorials available on the FoundryVTT subreddit over building interactive landing pages.

I used the Trigger Happy module! I'm not the most savvy when it comes to setting up modules, but it was quite easy to set the prompts.

I've also started using it to trigger things like trap effects/damage if my players get a little too hasty with exploring maps before checking for traps.

Hey, thanks! :D Yes, all boards are included without writing.

I think all of the fonts I used you can find here if you sort by "Handwriting" here: https://fonts.google.com/

Or under "handwritten" here: https://www.1001fonts.com/

Thank you! I definitely like the updated look too - fits the feel of the campaign a lot better, especially as the location for a first session. To answer your questions:

1) I haven't planned that far ahead yet; it's a possibility though. I'm trying to pick popular campaigns that don't have a lot of high quality maps for them yet (for example I looked at LMoP but there's been lots of remakes of those maps so I wanted to provide other options to DMs). Also though....I just took a peek at DotMM source book...OMG. I had forgotten that they are insane sprawling dungeons. I do like a challenge though....

2) Yes! Patrons get access to Universal VTT files which can be imported into foundry, which includes lighting and walls. I don't yet use FVTT for my own game but I bought the software to test my exported files and to start to poke around in there as I'd like to switch soon. Using that importer, here's what I'm seeing in FVTT (as I'm still learning, but those look as I'd expect them to without actually having played a game with the software).

Quick note with this first map - The Yawning Portal requires the inside wall of the well to be DELETED so your players can actually see down the well (the Dungeondraft asset I used draws the wall in, and I couldn't figure out how to export the modified file from Foundry). It took me < 1 minute to delete it off all 3 levels once I figured out where on the toolbar it was.

I don't know if these fit your 'song' request, but I recommend browsing this site with the Fantasy or Horror filter applied:

https://tabletopaudio.com/

I know some premade files there that would create an ominous mood. There are some that are musical too like 'Barovian Castle'

I heard you say "Boards you see in the movies where they keep track of leads and clues" which immediately made me think of Miro its basically just like the detective boards with the string and you can link stuff together on a whiteboard. That seems like the closest thing (better than roll20 for doing so too)

If you are playing live I really recommend this Waterdeep DM screen. It’s cheap but has a lot of good info on it. Gale Force Nine Waterdeep Dragon... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GTB2X7W?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Has an encounter table on it that I’ve used a few times with fun success in the city. Doesn’t always even have to be a combat encounter. It had things like a little girl is flying a kite. I added to it and had the wind pick up and the kite come and crash into our friendly Goliath.

Girl was super apologetic, and tried to run. Goliath asked “is it broke?” And I replied “partially, it will still fly but it’s fragile” he ended up giving her a gold piece and she was so excited she said she was gonna buy all her friends and other kids kites too. So know I get to explained how the party starts seeing a-lot of kids running around with kites.

There are quite a few FR novels set in Waterdeep Including a series “Ed Greenwood presents Waterdeep...“ and a series called “The Cities” which included a WD novel by Ed and Elaine Cunningham that was very readable. Most are available as E-books fairly cheaply.
https://www.amazon.com/City-Splendors-Waterdeep-Novel-ebook/dp/B005899TDW/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=

Uh, yeah, I do it every week in my games.

I take my map and I print it out, full size, on regular 8.5x11 paper. If it's a 2 level dungeon I'll put one on both sides (or 2 separate sheets; I put these in plastic sheet protectors so I can put them in a binder for easy transport.) If it's really large and if our table could really support it I'd use 11x17 sheets.

Then, I use these: https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Gaming-Paper-Erase-Tiles/dp/B073V3W83Z

(Apparebtly they're out of stock on Amazon which is weird but there are many similar products.)

I lay the map down in front of my players. I don't do any fog of war, covering up parts of the dungeon with post it's, or anything like that. I just show them the damn map. About 50% of my maps these days are hand drawn anyway to look like a Dyson Logos map, so dammit the players are gonna see it.

I have never had an issue with metagaming. If your dungeon can be defeated by knowing the layout of the place, it is a shit dungeon.

When there is an encounter, I put the tiles down and roughly sketch the area the players are fighting in. The map should already have a grid so you know what you're working with. I have never had anyone have a problem with this approach. You don't need a hyper detailed background on your battle map--you need a grid and some things to represent the players and monsters.

I encourage you to try doing it like this, if you think for some reason your game NEEDS detailed printed battlemaps. Do it for a session or two. See how much anyone complains about it. Hint: The answer is zero, because they don't care. They're worried about getting their intellect devoured by an intellect devourer. Not about if the background under their mini is plain white with dry erase markers or fully printed terrain.

This kit from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IEBV68M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1

It was super easy and only took me a couple tries to get it perfect.

This is basically the premise of Blackstaff Tower. If you don't want to purchase the novel, you can get a sample for free from Amazon.

It does take some cutting and then glueing.

From personal experience I recommend starting in the center of the map and cutting/gluing outward.

I would also recommend the restick glue sticks. There is a bit of extra freedom in being able to adjust as you go. https://www.amazon.com/Elmers-Re-Stick-School-Sticks-0-28-Ounces/dp/B01MU4TC7M