S. & B. ask:
In the Dragon Heist Remix, what should I do if the PCs head to the Brandath Crypts and find the secret door leading to the vault doors early? My players found the references to the Cassalanters being interested in the Brandath Crypts at the converted windmill, went to check it out, and found the secret door. If they find the Vault this way, couldn’t they figure out how to open it without ever getting the Stone of Golorr and skip straight to the end of the campaign?
Converted Windmill → Crypt isn’t even the speed run of Dragon Heist. My players jumped directly from “the Zhentarim are interested in his mom’s necklace” → “we should check out his mom’s crypt” before they’d even gone to Trollskull Manor. They actually missed the check to find the secret passage in Lady Alethea’s Crypt by one point.
This created a huge payoff when they came back to the crypt at the end of the campaign: “Wait… we were standing right on top of it?!”
One thing you may notice is that the Brandath Crypts in the Alexandrian Remix of Dragon Heist are much more elaborate than those in the original adventure.
Here’s the original map:
And the revised map:
This is partly for lore reasons (demonstrating the long history of the Brandaths), but also because it places the Vault under ablative shielding. The PCs will
- Need to figure out the Crypt is involved.
- Need to find the secret door.
- Once through the secret door, find the opened secret compartment from which the Cassalanters took the Eye. (This is a red herring that can cause groups to stop looking, particularly if they come from the converted windmill: “Oh. This is where they found what they came here for.”)
- Need to find the second hidden passage behind the illusion.
- Need to figure out how to open the Vault. (Without direct access to a legend lore spell through the Stone of Golorr, so they’ll either need to call in a favor or get clever.)
You know how you use the Three Clue Rule to create robust connections? This is basically the exact opposite of that: We’re deliberately designing a chain of fragile connections, with the high expectation that at least one of these chains will break, turning the PCs away (but also rewarding them later with the cool, “We were so close!” reveal).
Okay, but what if the chain doesn’t break, the PCs do all of those things, and they get into the Vault “early”?
100% let it happen. And then play to find out.
First, your players are going to think this is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to them at the gaming table. I guarantee it. Plus, they’re going to trust you implicitly as a GM for the rest of eternity. On top of that, just think about the story they’re going to have to tell other D&D players?
In my opinion, even if you had to throw out the rest of the campaign, it would still be worth it.
It’ll be like my players telling the story of how they beat the Tomb of Horrors by casting locate object on their stolen stuff, drilling a hole through the wall, and using gaseous form to loot the treasury. Except on steroids.
If you’ve ever wanted to run a campaign that your player will remember forever, this is how you do it. My wife still talks about another campaign where she convinced the rest of her group to unexpectedly double back, confront the secret villainess, and completely derailed the Epic Quest™ the PCs were supposed to be embarking on.
But also, if you’re running the Dragon Heist Remix, you won’t have to throw out the rest of the campaign, because, second, the rest of the campaign is still in motion.
One of the great things about prepping situations instead of plots and then actively playing those situations is that, even when those situations go in a completely unexpected direction… you can just keep playing.
You’ve found the money. What do you do with it? How do you get it out of the Vault? These questions are often trivialized at the end of a Dragon Heist campaign because the PCs have taken some factions off the board and made alliances with others. But if they breach the vault early, all of these factions will still be fully active and likely mysterious to the PCs.
To take an easy example, the Cassalanters still need this money to save their kids. Just because the money isn’t in the Vault any more doesn’t mean that the Cassalanters aren’t still going to be trying to get their hands on it.
The Stone of Golorr is still in play. Even if the Stone is no longer required to find Neverember’s stolen money, it’s still a pretty big deal in its own right. It’s a powerful artifact filled with secrets and capable of incredible things. Most or all of the people who were looking for it will still be looking for it!
In other words, the Grand Game is still very much in play. And there can be some absolutely fascinating stuff that comes out of the PCs suddenly being flush with a small fortune while still pursuing the Stone of Golorr:
- How does their wealth change their relationship with the various factions?
- What resources can they purchase to further their goals?
- If they use the money for unrelated purchases, what are the consequences?
Flow with what’s happening and keep actively playing the situation. The Remix gives you the tools you need to keep reacting and keep playing.
In “How the Remix Works,” for example, there’s a simple checklist for the GM to follow as a default option:
1. Are the PCs looking for a lead to one of the Eyes? If yes, pick a Faction Outpost and point them at it.
2. Did the PCs just piss off one of the Factions? If yes, pick a Faction Response Team and have them target the PCs.
3. Are the PCs floundering and don’t know what to do next? If yes, pick a Faction Response Team and have them targe the PCs. (If you’re not sure how they might target the PCs, just have them show up and try to kill them.)
Repeat until the campaign is done.
What’s notable is that even with a huge curveball like “they opened the Vault at the beginning of the campaign,” this checklist still just… works.
Here’s a few key questions to think about, though:
- Who knows that the PCs have the money / know the location of the Vault? (This includes both “friendly” and villainous factions.)
- What do they do about that? (Try to steal it? Ask for a donation? Recommend that they return it to the city government?)
- As the PCs spend the money, what happens as a result of their purchases?
The other thing to think about is how the instigating action / scenario hook for the Grand Game might shift as a result of the PCs’ altered trajectory.
In the campaign as written, the assumption is that the PCs are known for rescuing Renaer and are also known to operate out of Trollskull Manor. Therefore, Dalakhar goes looking for them at Trollskull Manor and gets blown up in the fireball.
If the PCs are instead known to have somehow gotten access to the Vault, then maybe Dalakhar is actually coming to Trollskull Manor with a message from Neverember about the money. The message could actually be found on his body after the explosion. (This could result in Neverember being more directly active in the Grand Game, an option we’ve previously discussed.)
You might also have one or more factions (e.g., the Gralhunds) assume that if the PCs got access to the Vault, it must mean that they have the Stone of Golorr! Maybe the PCs find themselves under nimblewright surveillance! Maybe Emmek Frewn and his wererats get recruited to help keep tabs on them.
If you were running a prepped plot, then the PCs skipping to the end would break all your prep. But the Dragon Heist Remix reorganized the plot into a toybox. The Vault and the treasure inside it are positioned as a natural goal for the campaign, but they’re ultimately still positioned as toys: If the PCs pull them out and starting playing with them a little “early,” it doesn’t stop you – or them! – from continuing to play with all of the other toys!
