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Trollskull Alley - a Waterdeep: Dragon Heist DM's Resource

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Trollskull Alley - a Waterdeep: Dragon Heist DM's Resource

Chapter 2: Trollskull Alley is the sandbox of the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist campaign. It's where you and the players get to set your own pace, create unique stories and forge a lasting relationship with Waterdeep and its residents. But, as is often the case, freedom can become overwhelming. What should you use from the chapter? How do you use it? When? For who?

The goal of this document is to help you find the answer to those questions and provide the tools to create a fun and manageable sandbox for your players. You'll find advice and embellishments on nearly everything that's described in the chapter, which will hopefully help you DM the chapter.

  • Meeting the Neighbors - Advice on how to handle Lif the Poltergeist, as well as two small sidequests that'll help you introduce and flesh out the other residents of Trollskull Alley.
  • Open for Business? - Ideas on how to make the tavern renovation more affordable - and some options for securing a loan - as well as variant rules for running and profiting off the tavern in Trollskull Manor.
  • Joining Factions - Reviews of each of the player-available factions to help you choose the right factions for your party.
  • Downtime Options - Discussion of the downtime options presented in the Xanathar's Guide to Everything, as well as ideas on how they can be altered and flavored to fit with Waterdeep and the campaign.
  • Making a Plan - Lastly, everything is brought together and you'll be given general advice on how to plan and organize chapter 2, so that it's manageable to run and entertaining for your players.
  • A Trollskull Manor Map - a map showing an unfurnished Trollskull Manor, in case your players want to do their own interior decoration. 
NOTE: If you're looking for help with the factions and faction missions described in Chapter 2: Trollskull Alley – including full-fledged sidequests, VTT-ready battlemaps and DM's Resources – check out our products for the Gray Hands and the Zhentarim.

Waterdeep Dragon Heist Complete DM's Bundle

Purchase this product together with all our other content for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist in a complete bundle and save more than 33%!

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist Complete DM's Bundle 

Eventyr Games

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Reviews (12)
Discussions (14)
Customer avatar
Brian J March 23, 2020 11:57 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I have a question on your proposed running a business rule changes listed in the "A Risky Promotion" section of your Chapter 2: Trollskull Alley guide.

You've proposed that money (gp) spent on promotion turns into a multiplier for potential profits. Does this mean that money spent on promotion does NOT also get added as a bonus to the d100 roll?

For example, say I spend 10gp on promotion, and have now earned a x2 multiplier to the result listed in the "Running a Business" table. When I roll the d100 to determine my result, do I add a bonus to the roll due to promotion (like stated in the published campaign)?

I'm inclined to think that you don't add a bonus, since the next section you've described how to earn bonuses to the roll; by working in the tavern.

Am I understanding correctly?

Btw, your other suggestions have gone over extremely well with the group. They loved gambling with Solomil in chapter 1, and your Trollskull...See more
Customer avatar
Alec Q March 02, 2020 6:31 pm UTC
The rest of the maps for your products all have sizes listed, but neither of the Trollskull Manor maps do. Do you know what size they would have to be printed at for the squares to print at the right size? Was hoping to get it printed out so my group could use it.
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G March 02, 2020 6:57 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi Alec

That's an oversight on our part. The maps are 22 x 30 inches – I hope it's not too late to print them! :)

Best regards
J. A. Valeur
Reply
Customer avatar
Alec Q March 02, 2020 7:12 pm UTC
Plenty of time to spare thanks to that incredibly fast response! Thanks so much :)
Customer avatar
Nick F October 11, 2019 4:34 am UTC
Love the bundle so far. I see a few people had issues with the assumed homophobia in the Steel and Wood side quest.

I have a gay couple in my group and while I didn't think they would have an issue with it as written, I didn't want to bring real world problems they have faced into the game. Instead of just taking it out, I thought I'd make a slight change to make it a fantasy world problem.

Emberic was sure that Tally didn't approve of their Inter-Elemental relationship, despite Avi's assurances that "humans don't care about elemental relationships in that way, they are much more tolerant."

We aren't very far past this, but so far, "Inter-Elemental relationships" has been the campaign moment most talked about.
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G October 11, 2019 6:05 am UTC
CREATOR
That's a really fun and clever spin on it! Great thinking - and happy to hear your group had fun :D
Customer avatar
sno4wy _ July 28, 2019 3:29 am UTC
I purchased the entire bundle and thus far have been impressed with how true to canon the lore in the documents have been. One thing though, in this chapter, while I appreciate addressing the topic of homophobia, it isn't an issue in the Realms (and this, in fact, is part of what made me fall so hard for the setting). As stipulated by Ed Greenwood, the concept of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity doesn't exist in the Realms like it does in our world. Especially living in a city like Waterdeep, it's highly unlikely that the genasi couple would've experienced this sort of discrimination/ignorance.
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G July 28, 2019 12:19 pm UTC
CREATOR
Thanks for your support and your comment!

I wasn't personally aware of Ed Greenwoods comments on the subject, so I appreciate you pointing it out. The way the subject of homophobia is handled in the adventure is meant to be positive and respectful. I generally tend to feel that its better to acknowledge the unwanted elements of society, so that we can better understand and move forward, but I can totally understand if you'd rather not have that be a part of your Forgotten Realms. In that case, I'd suggest striking the part where the genasi mention previous experiences with bigotry, and instead have them be clueless about the carpenter's ill will.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment and I hope you enjoy the rest of the content :)
Customer avatar
William T March 21, 2019 2:22 am UTC
I bought the entire bundle, without having purchased any other products from the authors before for two specific reasons.

1) The previews allowed me to see clean formatting and page design. ( It was like finding a unicorn...washing your car.)
2) The well written copy describing exactly what resources were contained within the product. I took this as an indicator of the quality of writing within the product. While the maps are well executed, I didn't even care when I made the purchase. I have not been disappointed.

My primary interest was in this Trollskull Alley resource, and it provides substance on the areas the descriptions tells you it is going to cover.

The advice about handling downtime, and the structure to fill the gap left by the module as written, are both worthwhile. The guidance on the players acquiring capital and from whom, are what many people running WDH are looking for. While I may have considered some of the same strategies, they are so well developed...See more
Customer avatar
ethan W February 04, 2019 9:47 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I literally cannot open the non-printer friendly version of this. It pops an error on any and all pdf reader.
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G February 05, 2019 9:06 am UTC
CREATOR
I haven't heard of any issues from anyone else, but just for good measure I've made a reformatted version for you. It works fine on my machines, but let me know if you're still having problems, then I'll try to share it with you directly or find another solution :)
Customer avatar
Kyle G October 28, 2018 4:57 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Great products, i have purchased all of them and they are truly helping me with my first time Dm-ing, my players are all spread out across the factions, do you have plans to release modules for the rest of the factions as well?
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G October 29, 2018 7:01 am UTC
CREATOR
Thanks! That really means a lot to us :).

We have plans for it, and we'll probably release them in smaller products, so we can get some out quicker. We're hoping to have something out for the Zhentarim before too long. Which factions are your players in?
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Customer avatar
Kyle G October 30, 2018 3:39 am UTC
PURCHASER
thank you your guides have really helped!

My players are currently in, the harpers, the emerald enclave, order of the gauntlet and the grey hands, (6 person party)
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G November 01, 2018 9:06 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hi Kyle

I assume you've already seen the product we've made for the Gray Hands? I'm sorry to say, I don't know if we'll get around to the other factions you mention here right away. But since you mention the Emerald Enclave, you might want to take a look at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/257277/. It's not by us, but it might be what you're looking for :)

I'll make sure to update you if we drop something along the lines of what you're looking for.

Best regards!
Customer avatar
Meredith S October 20, 2018 1:38 am UTC
PURCHASER
Purchased all three so far, Looking forward to Chapter 4! Great work <3
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G October 20, 2018 8:52 am UTC
CREATOR
Thanks a bunch! Really appreciate it :)
Customer avatar
Joshua L October 16, 2018 9:55 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Are there any plans to release a Schley style map of Trollskull Manor on your website like you have done with other DH maps?
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G October 17, 2018 5:39 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi Joshua

I wish I could say yes, since that's actually a great idea. But right now, we're hard at work publishing supplements for the faction missions and chapter 4. But, I think we might get around to it in a few weeks time - without making any promises.

Thanks for your support :)
Customer avatar
Jane R October 14, 2018 10:13 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks! printer friendly version working well.
Customer avatar
Skip S October 14, 2018 4:18 am UTC
PURCHASER
After buying the first chapter helper (I loved it!) As soon as I saw this one I bought it.
It's nearly as comprehensive as the first one but (to me) feels slightly rushed at the end. I would've liked to have seen a little greater expansion on the information on the guild interactions. That said, it's definitely not a deal breaker for me and i look forward to further releases for the next chapters in the book. These helpers are incredible resources for DMs to give enhanced and expanded ideas for areas where you might not think of something to flesh out the story lines so I'm extremely appreciative of them.
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G October 14, 2018 7:05 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi Skip

Thanks!

Do you mean the interactions with the various merchant guilds of Waterdeep, or do you mean with each of the factions, the characters can join? We wouldn't say we've rushed anything, but we did have to make some choices about what to elaborate on, if we wanted to get the product out in time for people to purchase it before running chapter 2. But, if there's anything we should've covered, we'll make sure to get it covered in an update ASAP.

Thanks again for the kind words :)
Reply
Customer avatar
Skip S October 16, 2018 4:45 am UTC
PURCHASER
Most welcome!
Don't take my response as negative, more like a personal critique as to how I read it.
I meant more along the lines of the merchant guilds, the factions seemed to be pretty clear (to me).
Understandable about the time table, it just feels like the factions were well expanded on and then when it came to the merchant interaction it was like "and then there's this stuff to do too".
As I said, totally not a deal breaker.
Your releases bring what would be a mundane encounter or description and bring it to life, and give me ideas I honestly never would have thought of.
Regardless of my critiquing opinions, you have excellent products and I'll be there to purchase every chapter release you have for Dragon Heist.
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G October 16, 2018 5:34 am UTC
CREATOR
I appreciate the critique - and I don't think you're wrong either. For me personally (one half of the team), I felt the campaign book did a decent job explaining the guilds, describing guild personalities and the business rival. But I think you're definitely right, if there's a part of the chapter that could have been played more with (guild sidequests, complications, etc.), it would certainly be the merchant guilds.

We'll try and see if we can get back to it with an update - I can't say for sure when, since we're pushing to get as much material out before Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage drops. But we really do appreciate your opinion - without honest input, we wouldn't be able to improve our material, and that's what most important in the end :).

Thank you for your support!
Customer avatar
Jane R October 14, 2018 4:15 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hi, just bought this PDF (it's Great!) but can't find a printer friendly version.
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G October 14, 2018 7:01 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi Jane! Thank you!

And thanks for letting us know, that the printer friendly version was missing. We updated the product recently, and somehow the printer friendly version didn't get uploaded. It should be fixed now.

Have a great one! :)
Customer avatar
Nickolas L October 11, 2018 3:18 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The first side quest deals with possible homophobia and handles it well. But in the next quest, Paper Problems, the text continually refers to Fala as a 'she' when w:dh explicitly states that the correct pronoun is 'they'. I hope that you update your pdf's to reflect this and foster the inclusivity that WoTC took care to foster while creating the module.
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G October 11, 2018 5:25 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hey Nickolas.

We thought we'd made sure to make mentions of Fala gender-neutral, but you're absolutely right, that we missed it twice. We're sorry about that and we've updated both PDF's with the correct pronouns.

Thanks for pointing it out and we hope that you're otherwise satisfied with the product. Have a good one! :)
Reply
Customer avatar
Nickolas L October 15, 2018 1:18 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks Valeur. This product has been very helpful and I see you just released one for Chapter 3 as well! I'm sure I will be picking that up as my players progress.
Customer avatar
Myles D October 06, 2018 12:29 am UTC
PURCHASER
Great resource for a new DM, but you may want to think about including a printer friendly version (just remove the "background" layer when converting to pdf). It's a bit of a waste of ink/toner to print out all the background noise, and it doesn't look as nice in black and white.
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G October 06, 2018 5:47 am UTC
CREATOR
Hi Myles.

Thank you - and thanks for buying!

You know what, you're absolutely right. We'll get a printer friendly version up ASAP :)
Reply
Customer avatar
Eventyr G October 06, 2018 6:24 am UTC
CREATOR
We've added a printer friendly version to the download now. Thanks again for the heads up - and let us know if there's anything else we could do better! :)
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This title was added to our catalog on October 03, 2018.