Hoard of the Dragon Queen
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By Wolfgang Baur and Steve Winter Not for resale. Permission granted to print and photocopy this document for personal use only. Credits D&D Encounters Kobold Press Welcome to a special introductory edition of the Hoard Wolfgang Baur, Steve Winter Designers: of the Dragon Queen™ adventure, designed specifically Editor: Miranda Horner for D&D Encounters™ (an official in-store play program) Interior Illustrators: Aaron Hübrich, Tyler Jacobson, and the D&D Adventurers League™ (the official D&D Guido Kuip, Marcel Mercado, Bryan Syme organized play system). Cartographer: Jared Blando Art Director: Marc Radle This edition of the adventure is designed for 1st- Producer: Wolfgang Baur through 3rd-level characters, and is divided up into three episodes of play. Characters who finish all three Wizards of the Coast episodes should reach 3rd or 4th level at the end. Char- D&D Encounters Edition: Scott Fitzgerald Gray, acters of 5th level and above cannot play in this D&D Chris Tulach Encounters edition of the adventure, though they can D&D Lead Designers: Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford pick up with episode 4 of the full adventure of Hoard Producer: Greg Bilsland of the Dragon Queen. Each episode should be played Adventure Contributors: Mike Mearls, Christopher Perkins, over multiple sessions of play. For D&D Encounters, Matthew Sernett, Chris Sims, Rodney Thompson the recommended session length is two hours. The full Art Directors: Kate Irwin, Shauna Narciso adventure contains additional play beyond this edition Cover Illustrator: Raymond Swanland (see “Additional Play” at the end of the adventure). Graphic Designers: Bree Heiss, Emi Tanji Playing this adventure in store as a part of D&D Project Management: Neil Shinkle, John Hay Encounters is fun and offers additional benefits to Production Services: Cynda Callaway, Jefferson Dunlap, enhance the experience. Folios connecting characters to David Gershman different factions in the world of the Forgotten Realms® Brand and Marketing: Nathan Stewart, Liz Schuh, are provided for players, containing information and Chris Lindsay, Shelly Mazzanoble, Hilary Ross, accessories, along with exclusive rewards. Dungeon Laura Tommervik, Kim Lundstrom, Trevor Kidd Masters (DMs) receive a folio as well, themed to the Organized Play: Helene Bergeot, Scott Larabee, Bern Menth, Chris Tulach, Joe Yochum storyline season (for this season, Tyranny of Dragons™). Check with your store for more details. If you received Playtesters: Melissa Bassett, André Bégin, Mik Calow, this adventure and aren’t currently associated with a Mélanie Côté, Manon Crevier, Ben Danderson, Dave store, you can find a nearby store by heading to our Eadie, Frank Foulis, Rodrigo Gorgulho, Pete Griffith, Store and Event Locator and selecting Dungeons & Liam Gulliver, Jon Harvill, Joseph Kauffmann, Yan Dragons® from the top menu. Lacharité, Renata Landim, Rodrigo Landim, Éric Leroux, Carlos Eduardo Lopes, Julia Lopes, David Muller, Claudio The D&D Adventurers Pozas, Paula Pozas, Count Response, Sara Servin, Robin Stacey, Jaime Thayer, Keoki Young League This adventure is official for D&D Adventurers League Disclaimer: The following adventure contains chromatic dragons. Wizards of the Coast cannot be held liable for characters who are incinerated, dissolved, frozen, poisoned, or play. The D&D Adventurers League is the official orga- electrocuted. nized play system for Dungeons & Dragons. Players can create characters and participate in any adventure allowed as a part of the D&D Adventurers League. As they adventure, players track their characters’ experi- ence, treasure, and other rewards, and can take those characters through other adventures that will continue their story. D&D Adventurers League play is broken up into story line seasons. When players create characters, they attach those characters to a storyline season, which determines what rules they’re allowed to use to create and advance their characters. Players can continue Season Length DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon The Tyranny of Dragons storyline season for D&D Encounters ampersand, Tyranny of Dragons, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, The Rise of Tiamat, runs from Wednesday, August 20, 2014, through Wednesday, Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, Dungeon Master’s Guide, all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the March 11, 2015. This D&D Encounters edition of the Coast in the USA and other countries. All characters and their distinctive likenesses are adventure contains enough play for 16 to 18 sessions. If property of Wizards of the Coast. This material is protected under the copyright laws you start the adventure the first week and play the sessions of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material in the recommended two-hour weekly increments, you will or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast. finish this edition well before the end of the D&D Encounters season. To fill out the rest of the season, see “Additional The Kobold Press logo is a trademark of Open Design and is used by permission. Play” at the end of this adventure. ©2014 Wizards of the Coast LLC, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, USA. D&D Encounters 2 Not for resale. Permission granted to print and photocopy this document for personal use only. to play their characters after the storyline season has finished, possibly participating in a second or third sto- Table of Contents ryline with those same characters. A character’s level is D&D Encounters 2 the only limitation for adventure play. A player cannot Introduction 7 use a character of a level higher or lower than the level Background 7 range of a D&D Adventurers League adventure. Overview 7 Map: The Sword Coast 8 For more information on playing, running games as Episode 1: Greenest in Flames 9 a Dungeon Master, and organizing games for the D&D Character Hooks 9 Adventurers League, please visit the D&D Adventurers The Approach 9 League home. General Features 10 Designing D&D Encounters Sessions 10 Preparing the Wandering Encounters 11 Missions 12 Adventure Map: Greenest 13 Rewards 16 You don’t need to prepare this entire adventure for the Developments 16 first session. Simply get to know each episode prior to Episode 2: Raiders’ Camp 17 beginning that episode. As you do so, spend some time Tracking the Raiders 18 familiarizing yourself with the adventure’s locations, Designing D&D Encounters Sessions 18 events, and characters. You’ll also want to review the The Camp 20 relevant statistics for any monsters or nonplayer charac- Map: Raider Camp 20 ters (NPCs). The Hoard of the Dragon Queen monster Rewards 24 supplement will be available for download on August 8, Developments 24 2014, at DungeonsandDragons.com. You’ll also want to Episode 3: Dragon Hatchery 25 General Features 26 have a copy of the basic rules for D&D, available for free Designing D&D Encounters Sessions 26 on our website. Wandering Monsters 27 Each episode of the adventure contains a “Designing Map: Dragon Hatchery 28 D&D Encounters Sessions” sidebar that talks about Rewards 33 how to divide the episode up into two-hour sessions Developments 33 for D&D Encounters play. This adventure features a Additional Play 34 wide-open play style that means you will most often be Appendix A: Backgrounds 35 creating sessions based on the characters’ goals and the Appendix B: Monsters 37 players’ choices during the game, rather than forcing the characters to adhere to a fixed roster of events and locations. to ensure that nothing appears out of order. If you see In order to DM the game as a part of the D&D Adven- magic items of very high rarity or strange arrays of turers League, you’ll need a DCI number. The DCI ability scores, you can ask a player to provide documen- number is your official Wizards of the Coast organized tation for the irregularities. If a player cannot, feel free play identifier. If you don’t have a number, you can to restrict item use or ask the player to use a standard obtain one at a store event. Check with your organizer ability score array. Point the player to the D&D Adven- for details. turers League Player’s Guide as a reference. Before Each Play Session Downtime and Lifestyle At the beginning of each play session, players must This adventure is designed for three to seven 1st- to declare whether or not they are spending any days of 3rd-level characters, and is optimized for four char- downtime. The player records the downtime spent acters. Players that have characters outside that level on the adventure logsheet. The following options are range cannot participate in the adventure with those available to players during downtime (see the D&D characters. Players with ineligible characters can make basic rules or the D&D Adventurers League Player’s a new 1st-level character or use a pregenerated char- Guide for more information): acter. Players can play an adventure they previously played or ran as a DM, but not with the same character • Crafting (exception: multiple characters cannot com- (if applicable). mit to crafting a single item) Ensure that all players have official Adventure Log- • Practicing a profession sheets for their characters. Each player will fill out the • Recuperating adventure name, session number, date, and your name • Training and DCI number. In addition, the player also fills in his Other downtime options might be available during or her character’s starting values for XP, gold, down- adventures or unlocked through play, including time, renown, and number of permanent magic items. faction-specific activities. Players will fill in the other values and write notes at the In addition, whenever a character spends downtime conclusion of the session.