Using Lords of Waterdeep to Generate Adventure

I’m really excited for the new D&D adventure, mainly because I’ve had an idea I’ve been kicking around for running a campaign set entirely within Waterdeep.

I love Lords of Waterdeep. You can see my review of the game here, and I’ve gotten the chance to get thoroughly destroyed by Bryan’s wife Chastity in my latest play of the game.

I’ve had an idea for a new campaign, which is to run a whole campaign set inside the city. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, every one of my games is a travel game, likely due to my early fantasy influences of The Belgariad, Dragonlance Chronicles and Lord of the Rings, so to challenge myself, I want a campaign set in one place. The second reason is that my not planning out anything in advance, it will challenge me to be more improvisational.

So, how do you implement Lords of Waterdeep into the mix? Through the Quest cards. The game includes a deck of Quests, which a player must fulfill the requirements listed in order to claim the reward. So why not use these Quest cards to tell you what’s going to happen each session?

At the end of each adventure, draw a new card from the Quest deck. You then will plan an adventure based around the Quest card, and only have a week to plan it out. And all adventures take place within the city of Waterdeep.

An issue you may run into is how vague some of the Quests are. “Bolster Griffon Cavalry,” “Deliver an Ultimatum.” What do these mean? Are you going to go hire some Griffon cavalry members, or are you bolstering the cavalry by capturing a flock (or is it pride?) of griffons? Who exactly are you delivering an ultimatum to?

Now, with the new adventure, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, I can squeeze adventures from Lords of Waterdeep in between parts of the story.

What are your thoughts? I think it would be pretty cool, and I’ll be implementing it once Dragon Heist is released.