Just as most adventurers don’t walk into a dragon’s lair without a plan, neither were D&D’s iconic monsters developed without considerable forethought. This gallery explores some of the behind-the-scenes development that went into creating Tyranny of Dragons, as well as defining a spectrum of monsters, allies, and enemies that would feature in Dungeons & Dragons offerings for years to come.
On the following pages, you’ll find a number of images designed to serve as story beats in the larger Tyranny of Dragons campaign. These images were created to define impactful moments in a hypothetical Tyranny of Dragons tale, one which then could be explored by multiple teams over the course of multiple projects—be they games, fiction, or otherwise. Some elements you’ll recognize from the events of the Tyranny of Dragons adventures, while others were meant to provide inspiration for events parallel stories could detail.
Beyond these, this gallery also includes a number of designs focused on threats integral to the Tyranny of Dragons campaign. This includes explorations of well-known Forgotten Realms villains, like the Cult of the Dragon and the Red Wizards of Thay. The images herein show just a few avenues explored in updating these foes to the most current edition of the game, along with notes taken from internal concept and story documents. Some present ideas never fully expressed in Tyranny of Dragons, while others reveal deeper depths to adventure elements hiding whole conceptual icebergs. Certain components central to the adventure also see extensive exploration, like the garb of the Red Wizards, the iconography of the Cult of the Dragon, and—of course—the multiple deadly aspects of one of the campaign’s central magic items, the
Several other locations and characters also feature prominently in this collection, many being aspects of the Forgotten Realms or underpinning the wider D&D multiverse that have seen artistic evolutions over the years. The thorough design sketches of chromatic dragons, for example, hint at the depth of ecological detail that’s gone into realizing D&D’s most iconic monsters—and foes central to the Tyranny of Dragons plot.
How you choose to use this concept gallery is up to you. Perhaps these details will inspire you, just as they did the original Tyranny of Dragons designers. Maybe a particular image will resound with you, leading you to make your own addition to the wider campaign. Added insights on the tools and techniques of the adventure’s villains can help you make them feel like more vital inhabitants of a wider world, while nuances of dragons and other can creatures aid in bringing these terrors to life. These pages might also be shared with players as you see fit, driving home the impact of the campaign’s most climatic moments. Whether this gallery serves as a game aide or inspires your own designs, use it as you please, further detailing the existing adventures or exploring Tyranny of Dragons stories yet to be told!
Invasion of Icewind Dale
Attack on Luskan
Siege of Neverwinter
Assassination in Waterdeep
Battle at Tiamat’s Temple
Coup at Dragonspear Castle
Factions
Red Wizards of Thay
Red Wizards
Red Wizards are the would-be magical overlords of Faerûn.
Feared by the general public as evil tyrants, Red Wizards trade their magical inventions for slaves, steel, silk, and gold.
As magical artificers of great skill, they command high prices, and are not afraid to extend credit—for there are few who could survive an unpaid debt to these wizards.
The Black Network
Agents of the Black Network have winged snake companions that serve as messengers. Members of the Zhentarim use these creatures to deliver messages on scrolls and stay in contact with one another. A winged snake is trained to serve a particular master. If its master dies, the snake has been known to remain nearby and starve to death.
Dread Warriors
Created from the freshly dead bodies of skilled warriors, dread warriors are especially formidable zombie-like creatures, retaining some of their intelligence and much of the fighting skill they possessed in life.
No race is immune from being transformed into a dread warrior. Once set upon a task, these undead will do nothing—will not pause or turn aside—until they’ve fulfilled their orders.
Cult of the Dragon
Dragon Masks
A dragon mask enhances a person’s ability to communicate with dragons of a particular color.
If the wearer is exceptionally well versed in the behavior and mannerisms of the appropriate color dragon, the mask allows the wearer to become a “dragon whisperer.”
Dragon masks allow the wearer to think like a dragon of the appropriate color, influence those dragons, and gain their favor. This ability is crucial to keeping dragons aligned with the cult.
The five dragon masks can be combined in a ritual to form the supreme Mask of the Dragon Queen.
The wearer of this mask can channel its power to beckon Tiamat from her infernal realm, although she does so willingly—not because the mask compels her.
Cult of the Dragon - Cultist Stronghold
Dragon Cultists
Areas of Faerûn
Temple of Tiamat
The Cult of the Dragon seeks to raise Tiamat’s temple from the Nine Hells, bringing it into being inside the caldera of an ancient volcano known as the Well of Dragons. From this bulwark, who knows what dire destruction the Queen of Evil Dragons might visit upon the realms?
Icewind Dale
The farthest north region along the Sword Coast, Icewind Dale is an unforgiving land where the rugged inhabitants of ten small towns dedicate themselves to carving a living from the ice and snow.
The drow elf Drizzt Do’Urden numbers among the land’s most legendary heroes.
Waterdeep
The City of Splendors is the greatest of the Sword Coast cities. Home to as many as two million residents, Waterdeep is a stable and generally peaceful city. Still, there are parts of Waterdeep that can be dangerous for the unwary, such as the rough-and-tumble Dock Ward.
People of the Sword Coast
Numerous people make their homes along the Sword Coast.
Whether commoners or nobles, trades folk or adventurers, all have much to lose at the hands of the Cult of the Dragon, but also the potential for great heroism.
Dragons
Red Dragons
Red dragons are vain, reflected in their proud, upright bearing and disdainful expression.
Their pupils fade as they age, until the oldest have eyes with the appearance of molten orbs.
An angry red may have flames licking up from eyes and nostrils—and an envelope of heat-shimmer around them.
Their frill and wings are an ashy blue or purple grey toward the edges, becoming darker with ages—nearly black on older specimens.
Reds smell like smoke and sulphur.
Blue Dragons
Blues are vain and territorial.
They are distinguished by their dramatic frilled ears and single, massive brow horn. They are also one of the best-adapted dragon breeds for digging into sand.
Their hides tend to hum and crackle faintly with built-up static electricity, and to emit small arcs of electricity. These effects intensify when the dragon is angry or about to attack.
They smell of ozone + sand.
Green Dragons
Black Dragons
Black dragons are evil-tempered, cunning, and, malevolent. Their crafty, sinister faces reflect this.
They are sometimes known as “skull dragons” for their deeply socketed eyes and distinctinve nasal opening. Adding to this impression is the gradual deterioration of the hide around the horn base/cheekbone. This does no harm to the dragon but increases with age.
White Dragons
Among the smallest and least intelligent of dragonkind, most white dragons are somply animalistic predators.
Their faces express a hunter’s single-mindedness and ferocity rather than the shrewdness and insight of the more powerful evil dragons.
Their beaked, crested heads are distinctive.
(A crisp, faintly chemical odor).
