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There's one new lesson in each chapter of D&D's Dragon Delves, the first of which is to ignore how fast they think you can get to level 12

by: Randy - posted: 7/6/2025 11:53:00 PM
More On: Dungeons & Dragons

Each adventure in the new D&D Dragon Delves anthology brings at least one new lesson to the table for Dungeon Masters. Without spoilers, here's what each quest can teach (or re-teach) a DM.

  • Chapter 1: "Death at Sunset." An adventure for level 1 characters. Features a Green Dragon Wyrmling.
    • Learn how to use random tables
      • In this adventure, you're to familiarize yourself with a rumors table. The characters should learn a new rumor with every new villager they interact with.
      • When players meet a new villager, roll one six-sided die (1d6). Look up the result on the table. Then work the rumor into a conversation. If you've already rolled the same result, roll again. After half a dozen conversations, the players should have learned all the rumors on the table. (Some of which are false, some are true, and some are only half-true.)

And here are the others, in less detail:

  • Chapter 2: "Baker's Doesn't." An adventure for level 3 characters. Features a Gold Dragon Wyrmling.
    • Learn how to run a game for one character, if necessary.
  • Chapter 3: "The Will of Orcus." An adventure for level 4 characters. Features a Silver Dragon Wyrmling.
    • Learn how to distribute map handouts for the players.
  • Chapter 4: "For Whom the Void Calls." An adventure for level 5 characters. Features a Young Brass Dragon.
    • Learn how to cut content that's potentially too complicated for your needs as a Dungeon Master.
  • Chapter 5: "The Dragon of Najkir." An adventure for level 7 characters. Features a Young Bronze Dragon
    • Learn surface-to-air combat onboard a sailing vessel.
  • *Chapter 6: "The Forbidden Vale." An adventure for level 9 characters. Features a Young Red Dragon.
    • Learn to present binary choices in a conclusion with real consequences for your players either way.
  • Chapter 7: "Before the Storm." An adventure for level 10 characters. Features an Adult Black Dragon.
    • Learn how to incorporate extraplanar elements (e.g. the Elemental Plane of Air) into the normal D&D world (e.g. the Prime Material Plane).
  • Chapter 8: "Shivering Death." An adventure for level 11 characters. Features an Adult White Dragon.
    • Learn about extreme environmental effects (e.g. extreme cold) and how they alter gameplay.
  • Chapter 9: "A Copper for a Song." An adventure for level 12 characters. Features an Adult Copper Dragon.
    • Learn how to solve a puzzle. Even if that puzzle involves speaking with people in order to gather clues about the quest's final destination.
  • Chapter 10: "Dragons of the Sandstone City." An adventure for level 12 characters. Features an Ancient Blue Dragon. 
    • Learn, I guess, how to cope with your players' reactions to a laughably low payout. Either that, or to deal with massive, world-changing consequences that you, the DM, are only given a few sentences' worth of information about.

So, not every possible lesson to be found in D&D is being thrown at players and Dungeon Masters in this book. But it's a reasonable start. Especially when considering that almost all of these adventures estimate it'll only take "one or two sessions" to complete.

*The one exception is "The Forbidden Vale," for level 9 characters, which publisher Wizards of the Coast doubles its estimate to three or four sessions.

I did a spit-take when I'd read that at the beginning of each adventure. "This adventure is designed to fill one or two sessions of play." Hahaha, that's cute. Wizards of the Coast thinks you can take players from level 1 to level 12 in about 10 to 20 sessions. 

What's a session? Three to five hours? Every week, barring interruptions and scheduling conflicts? Wizards of the Coast means to tell me that this book can take players up to level 12 in five months? Maybe in as few as two-and-a-half months? That pace is a death march. 

Again, that gross underestimation made me spit-take. So, don't sweat that suggestion. Take as much time as you need. I'm planning on inserting "The Dragon of Najkir" into my current Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign. And trust me: It'll take more than one or two sessions to plow through even one of these adventures.