D&D: Rage of Demons

What’s the biggest, baddest dungeon in Dungeons & Dragons? I’d have to go with the Underdark, the cavernous maze that spans an entire game world. This world under the world is the setting for Wizards of the Coast’s next storyline, Rage of Demons.

And yes, there’s a Drizzt.

Rage of Demons cover

(See?)

The main concept behind the new storyline involves a demonic invasion of the Underdark with adventurers traveling “with the iconic hero Drizzt Do’Urden”. Like the previous storylines, Rage of Demons will be told through the tabletop roleplaying game and electronic (PC and Xbox One) games. The Neverwinter: Underdark expansion for the Neverwinter MMO will be released in 2015 (with the Xbox version coming after the PC version) while the Out of the Abyss adventure for D&D 5th Edition is scheduled for the fall. Partner companies WizKids, who have developed games for the D&D line; Gale Force Nine, who did the DM Screens for the earlier storyline adventures; and Smiteworks, who have developed Fantasy Grounds, a virtual tabletop product supporting D&D, are all on board for Rage of Demons.

Earlier storylines had their tabletop campaigns developed by third-party companies: Tyranny of Dragons’ Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat were developed by Wolfgang Bauer’s Kobold Press while Elemental Evil’s Princes of the Apocalypse was developed by Rich Baker’s Sasquatch Game Studio. Out of Abyss will be developed by Green Ronin, who have previously done the Dragon Age RPG, A Song of Ice and Fire RPG, the Freeport setting for D&D 3.5 (and Paizo’s Pathfinder game), among others. Out of the Abyss will be a single volume book, like Princes of the Apocalypse.

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D&D Elemental EvilWizards of the Coast announced the latest Dungeons & Dragons storyline, Elemental Evil, which includes offerings across multiple project lines. The Elemental Evil storyline begins in March with a free download for the tabletop roleplaying game that includes new races and the player content for Princes of the Apocalypse, an epic adventure for characters levels 1-15. The storyline continues in a season of play with the D&D Adventurers League, WotC’s organized play program.

In addition to the tabletop RPG, Wizards of the Coast and WizKids Games will also release a Temple of Elemental Evil boardgame on April 30th (MSRP $64.99), compatable with the Adventure System boardgames The Legend of Drizzt and Castle Ravenloft. WizKids will also produce pre-painted collectable miniatures for the Icons of the Realms line. Miniatures that tie into the Princes of the Apocalypse product and an Elemental Evil-themed Dungeon Master’s screen will be coming from Gale Force Nine in March.

Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment’s D&D MMORPG, Neverwinter, will also have a new module added that adds a Paladin class and increases the level cap from 60 to 70 with an Elemental Evil storyline that will “compliment the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons tabletop adventure, Princes of the Apocalypse.”

Elemental Evil is loosely based upon TSR’s 1979 and 1985 adventure modules The Village of Hommlet and The Temple of Elemental Evil. While the TSR products featured a single temple for heroic adventurers to cleanse and destroy, the Princes of the Apocalypse adventure features “four corrupt prophets …[calling] a cadre of cultists and creatures to serve them in the construction of four elemental temples of lethal design.” The Princes of the Apocalypse adventure has an MSRP of $49.95 and will be released on April 7th.

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