Waterdeep: Dragon Heist – DM Notes 1

So we’ve finally gotten around to starting a new campaign. Everyone was intrigued by the megadungeon of Dungeon of the Mad Mage, so we’ll begin with Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, an adventure book I was initially uninterested in. Reading through it, however, I’m pretty impressed with the toolkit for an adventure in Waterdeep that it presents.

There are some issues with it of course, the primary being small continuity errors, and that there are sections where the PCs really aren’t given much direction, except for “a friendly NPC gives them the information they need” (this is all covered quite thoroughly over on The Alexandrian, and while I don’t necessarily agree with some of the directions it takes, I will likely steal from the remix quite liberally).

This post series is going to primarily focus on my own ideas and DM notes, with no particular order or organization.

NPCs – Vincent Trench

I love Vincent. I’m a big fan of fiction genre, and noir films. I’m also a fan of devils/ outsiders in D&D lore, so Vincent Trench is a perfect combination.  Vincent, for those who haven’t looked through the book, is a resident of Trollskull Alley, a small area where the PCs will, early in the adventure, be awarded a house for their own personal use, with the intended purpose of fixing it up as a functioning tavern, the Trollskull Tavern.

Vincent’s home in Trollskull Alley is known as “Tiger’s Eye”, out of which he operates a private detective agency.  According to the book, he can uncover just about any secret the PCs hire him to investigate, with his usual fee being around 50gp, with more complex or plot-relevant secrets requiring a favor or quest on his behalf.

Vinent is also a Rakshasa in disguise.

Normally, this would be bad news for any PCs that encounter him. Rakshasas are evil, somewhat-powerful spellcasters, with immunity to non-magical weapons and spells of 6th level and lower.

In this case, however, Vincent is largely harmless to the PCs, as long as his cover isn’t blown. Somehow, despite a Rakshasa’s tendency to see themselves as superior to nearly everything they encounter, Vincent has become quite fond of Waterdeep, and the people who live there (and perhaps he still feels himself above them, but we’ll be downplaying that). So long as his disguise is solid, he’ll be helpful. And Vincent does really love his job, to an intelligent creature such as him, there’s nothing like a good mystery to set the mind alight.

I’ll be portraying him as a real caricature of noir detectives; that is, always seen with his suit and trench coat, brimmed hat, and a pack of cigarettes, and hardboiled slang. He’s going to be an unusual character, by outward appearance. Vincent should be monologue-ing constantly. A third-person monologue, with commentary on the weather, his alchoholism, and his gun, peppered between his actual dialogue with the characters. For example, when the characters first enter his office (preferably on a rainy night), he’ll say something like:

“Waterdeep. City of splendors. But only for those who could afford the finer things in life. A rigged system, that leaves good, honest people in the gutters. I could feel trouble when they walked in. Fresh meat, maybe dusting out from their problems. But problems, like the lure of the bottle, always came back when you least expected it. Two geese and a dame, seen their fair share of scuffles. I didn’t want trouble, but I needed the money. Booze didn’t buy itself. Same sad story every week. I wanted a vacation, I wanted a decent’s night sleep, I wanted a quiet house somewhere nobody knew me. What I had was a hat, a coat, and a gun. ‘The name’s Trench. Vincent Trench. I’m a private detective.'”

Of course, Vincent doesn’t just rely on his gumshoe investigation skills. In his basement, accessed only through a hidden button underneath his desk (DC 18 wisdom perception), he keeps a selection of magical items, including a crystal ball of scrying of his own creation, through which he divines solutions to the toughest cases, and keeps track of those who would reveal him as the devil he is.

Related NPCs

Vincent will need someone to put the heat on him. Not necessarily an enemy, as that would imply equal knowledge of each other’s existence, but the person that Vincent feels is the greatest threat to him (and this is where I combine my somewhat more in-depth knowledge of 3.xe with 5e, as there isn’t any updated information, near as I can tell), High Moonknight Xale of the Starry Glen.

Xale of the Starry Glen is High Moonknight of the House of the Moon in Waterdeep (recently elevated to this position, making him the head of the Order of the Blue Moon). The Order of the Blue Moon is an organization of Paladins in the Church of Selune (and Mystra), dedicated to the destruction of the agents of Shar, goddess of the shadow weave. Xale is somewhat unusual within the Blue Moons, as he is a faithful of Mystra over Selune. As an Aasimar, he is diametrically opposed to creatures like the Rakshasa, though as of yet he does not know of Vincent’s existence.

If one of the PCs is a follower of Selune or Mystra, he won’t treat them any differently, however he may try to subtly pump them for information on the goings-on around the churches, to try and figure out if his cover is blown.

Hanging out with Vincent

Should the PCs re-open the Trollskull Tavern for business, Vincent will stop by two or three times a week, as long as he isn’t working on a case. He’ll sit alone at the end of the bar, back to the wall, watching everyone who comes in. He has a surprisingly close connection with Fala, chatting with them whenever they visit the tavern, as well as doddering old Rishaal, whom he consults with on magical mysteries (while Vincent is a more powerful spellcaster, he has in the past taken his innate abilities for granted, and so consults one who studies magic academically for unique insight).