reams of the Red Wizards

Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle chronicled the efforts of the Red Wizards to unlock
the power of elemental nodes located in an abandoned temple dedicated to the Pr
inces of Elemental Evil. A gate to the Nine Hells lay open for some time, spewin
g devils and smoke. The heroes who closed the gate could not know it then, but a
mid the chaos of battle, another threat emerged.
"Dreams of the Red Wizards: Scourge of the Sword Coast" (2014), by Tito Leati, M
att Sernett, and Chris Sims, is the adventure for Season 17 of D&D Encounters. I
t was released in February 2014 as a PDF-only book on DnDClassics.com
Continuing the Encounters. The D&D Encounters program saw major changes beginnin
g with Season 15's "Murder in Baldur's Gate" (2013). That was the first D&D Enco
unters book that was produced for broad sale and so could be played at home or i
n a store. The commercial production of the adventure allowed for a higher-quali
ty product, and also let the designers provide more detail on the setting. "Murd
er in Baldur's Gate" was also the first Encounters season to notably move away f
rom the trends of 4e play: though support was offered for 3.5e, 4e, and D&D Next
, tactical maps were no longer a part of the D&D Encounters adventure.
Season 16's "Legacy of the Crystal Shard" (2013) followed these trends and made
an even bigger change: the adventure was no longer separated into individual enc
ounters; instead each D&D Encounters group could play it at their own speed.
Season 17's "Scourge of the Sword Coast" continued the revamping of the D&D Enco
unters program. Where the previous two adventures were print releases, "Scourge
of the Sword Coast" was the first D&D Encounters adventure ever that was produce
d exclusively in PDF form; however, it continued to be sold commercially, now th
rough DnDClassics.com It was also the first D&D Encounters adventure to exclusiv
ely support D&D Next play.
Following a launch weekend on February 15-16, 2014, "Scourge of the Sword Coast"
ran from February 19, 2014 to May 7, 2014.
About the Homage. The revamped D&D Encounters adventures weren't homages to clas
sic D&D modules, as was the case during the early program. Nonetheless, "Scourge
of the Sword Coast" was somewhat reminiscent of B2: "The Keep on the Borderland
s" (1979): characters met many classic humanoids (including goblins, orcs, gnoll
s, and duergar) in individual encounter areas.
Continuing the Sundering. "Scourge of the Sword Coast" continues "The Sundering"
, a Forgotten Realms multimedia event meant to transition the setting to D&D Nex
t. The Sundering was intended to "reshape" the Realms by banishing the realm of
Abeir and ending the "Era of Upheaval" that began when Ao destroyed the Tablets
of Fate in the first-ever Realms crossover, the Avatar event (1989).
The Sundering was also a part of the two previous D&D Encounters seasons, "Murde
r in Baldur's Gate" and "Legacy of the Crystal Shard", and a series of six novel
s beginning with The Companions (2013), by R.A. Salvatore. As with most of the o
ther Sundering tie-ins, it's a minor part of "Scourge of the Sword Coast", mainl
y acting as a background.
Continuing the Story of Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle. Wizards of the Coast previ
ewed D&D Next at Gen Con Indy 2013, which saw the release of Ghosts of Dragonspe
ar Castle (2013), a book that combined the playtest D&D Next rules with a Forgot
ten Realms adventure set in and about the city of Daggerford. There, the Red Wiz
ards of Thay sought four keys to free the Princes of Elemental Evil.
Though the Red Wizards (hopefully!) failed in Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, thei
r story continues here as they bedevil Daggerford once more. To a certain extent
, "Scourge of the Sword Coast" is a direct sequel to Ghosts of Dragonspear Castl
e, continuing with some of the characters and the setting and exploring some of
the repercussions of the earlier adventure. However, it can't be run for the sam
e characters, as Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle was meant to advance characters fr
om level 1-10, while "Scourge of the Sword Coast" begins play at second level.
The Adventure Continues: The story of "Dreams of the Red Wizards" continues in "
Dead in Thay" (2014).
Expanding the Realms. Daggerford has been a classic area for introductory Forgot
ten Realms play ever since the release of N5: "Under Illefarn" (1987). More broa
dly, the Sword Coast has been one of the best-detailed areas in the Realms since
first-edition days. Thus it's appropriate that Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle and
"Scourge of the Sword Coast" return to this fertile land.
About the Creators. Sims and Sernett are both experienced Encounters designers,
with Sims writing three of the classic Encounters seasons and Sernett contributi
ng to "Murder in Baldur's Gate". Leati was previously better known as a Pathfind
er author.
About the Product Historian
The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, th
e editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of
the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail c
orrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.