If Blizzard was to design a tabletop RPG setting for D&D’s 5e edition, it would probably be built by Chris Metzen. He’s the guy who did the worldbuilding for massive games like Diablo and Warcraft.
Except, that’s not going to happen. Chris Metzen left his position as vice-president and Blizzard last year to set up Warchief Gaming.
Now, Metzen and Warchief have announced their first project. It’s a D&D 5e setting called Auroborus: Coils of the Serpent.
Also in that future is Ryan Collins, who’s worked on Hearthstone before.
Auroborus: Coils of the Serpent is not a new project, not to the team. It’s the setting of Metzen’s homebrew game.
As you’d expect, there’s a Kickstarter coming, and you can join the 3,500 other people who’ve hit the Notify Me On Launch button.
There’s already a sourcebook announced, Worldbook: Lawbrand, so it looks like Warchief is planning to build out the world of Drastnia.
The Warchief team, which includes Mike Gilmartin, told Polygon;
Lawbrand is a confederation of urbanized trade cities. There’s eight or nine of these trade cities, and they’re all kind of moved by this big new commerce. It’s almost like an industrial revolution.”
That same article details what makes Auroboros and Drastnia different from traditional high fantasy settings that D&D players familiar with the Forgotten Realms. Metzen added;
All the races essentially live together in these big cities. The ogre neighborhood’s down here, the dwarves live over here, the humans are over here. We’re all working in the same factories, our kids go to the same schools, there’s an overarching church that kind of oversees everything and creates consistency and order in this new society.”
Power levels are also going to be different. Even early on in the game, Auroboros PCs will have access to impressive abilities. That can be a challenge to DMs, a problem that Warchief acknowledges.
In an interview for Dicebreaker, Warchief say the Kickstarter is due on April 20th.
Ryan Collins, who is the lead developer, tackled the question on cost;
This is intended to be as accessible as any D&D 5E sourcebook. So, we’ll have a digital version that will be cheaper. We’ll have a sourcebook at a regular price for what you would expect compared to the kind of products you get from D&D Beyond. And we will have a collector’s edition, which comes in a big fancy slipcase and with a novelisation of Chris’ original adventure. So we have three price points.
Quick Links
- Notify me when Kickstarter launches.
- Auroborus: Coils of the Serpent.
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