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#2340: Showcase + Interview: IDEAS Dungeons & Dragons

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To celebrate 50 years of D&D, LEGO and Wizards of the Coast are releasing, 1 set, 1 Gift With Purchase, and more! LEGO designers Jordan, Mark, and Johanna tell us about this exciting collaboration!

SPOILER WARNING - The set is also a D&D adventure! To show it to you, this post features spoilers!


Tips and Bricks Logo. #2340: Showcase and Interview: IDEAS Dungeons and Dragons. To celebrate 50 years of D&D, LEGO and Wizards of the Coast are releasing: 1 set… Image of the box of the Red Dragon’s Tale set, a fortress with an inn and meadow in front of it and a large red dragon. 1 Gift With Purchase… Image of a brick-built treasure chest with large teeth, a creepy tongue, and a set of D and D dice stored inside. and more? LEGO designers Jordan, Mark, and Johanna tell us about this exciting collaboration! Images of the 3 designers. Make sure to also check out our review of the set, Post #2336, out now! SPOILER WARNING. The Red Dragon’s Tale set is also a D&D adventure! To show you the details, this post features spoilers!

A huge thank you to the designers and the LEGO Ambassador Network for making this possible!


For more on Set 21348, check out our review, out now! 


Every D&D game needs players, and this set is no different! We’re excited to see a real focus on diversity and inclusion from Wizards of the Coast and LEGO! Quote: Johanna-”We tried to include as many skin tones as possible.” Images of the different coloured heads in the set, with colours of medium tan, nougat, light bluish grey, medium brown, and light nougat. Image of figure with short legs, silver armour, a longsword, medium nougat skin, and blonde slicked back hair with pointy ears. GNOME FIGHTER Image of figure with medium legs, medium tan skin, and wearing teal robes with golden layered shoulder pads, wielding a gold artefact and holding a grey hammer. DWARF CLERIC Image of figure with blue robes and shoulder pads, holding a book and small stave with a jewel. Skin tone is medium brown and hair is dark brown, with coiled texture, tied back. ELF WIZARD Quote: Jordan-”I’m very happy we made the new Elf wig with more Afro-centric hair.” Wizards of the Coast made a point to challenge in-universe species stereotypes, too! Image of figure wearing dull, sleek, attire, with a dark blue hooded cloak. Weapons held are a small grey knife and a crossbow. Skin is light bluish gray. Figure has a pleasant smile. ORC ROGUE Quote: Jordan-”We were told it can’t look aggressive… Orcs are quite intelligent and civilised people.” The prints have no distinct skin or body shape shown so they can fit with any character. Quote: Jordan-”We’re hoping people will start creating their own characters with this and tell their own story.” Example Image of figure with parts from all different figures from throughout this set. It still looks somewhat coherent.

Inn Plain Sight. Quote: Jordan-”The tavern’s name had to be a pun, we worked with Wizards of the Coast and settled on Inn Plain Sight.” Image of the inn, timber-framed, with a stone chimney and a bright blue and purple roof. It has a round sign with an eye in the centre of it, saying “Inn Plain Sight”. The wooden door, new for the Medieval Town Square, was actually designed for the D&D set! Image of the box of the Medieval Town Square. Image of the new wooden door piece that fits into a 1 x 4 x 6 door frame. This set has 7 of these doors! In development, the campaign was codenamed “Project Hot Wings”, so the designers referenced it in the set. Arrow points to a box next to the inn, showing a close-up with the lid open and lime green tooth pieces inside, as chilli peppers. Image of the interior of the inn. On the bar is a chicken leg piece next to a red bottle of “hot sauce”. Also inside is a weapon rack, a barrel with drinks on its lid, bottles on a shelf, a small fireplace, and a large barrel sideways behind the bar. Close-up image of inside the upper floor of the inn. A bed and treasure chest with eyes are inside, next to a small fireplace. The end wall is made with a 1 x 4 x 3 stickered panel piece. Close-up of the sticker shows it has on the wall a round harp symbol, a portrait of a LEGO knight minifigure, and a landscape painting of a mountain range. The harp symbol is the logo of the Harpers, a faction in D and D. The portrait is based on Lucas, also known as @bolt.builds, the fan designer of this set! The landscape painting is there because Lucas designs videogame environments as his job.

The Meadow. Image shows the section on the right of the model. There is a hill at the back with an arched stone bridge on top of it leading to a low turret to the right. In front of the hill is a large tree with black bark and a wide grassy area. On the turret is a pole with gold and dark blue flags. The colours of these are a reference to 2007 Castle. Image shows a box of a 2007 Castle set, that set also having gold and dark blue flags. Under the bridge are mushrooms. Image shows a close-up of them being little mushroom people. Quote:Jordan-”We wanted to make the Myconids creepy-cute.” This set is very busy. This is because it is not only a LEGO set, but a D&D adventure! Mark-”One of my things designing this was: Everything has to be an encounter. Every few studs there has to be something for the roleplay game.” Image of a book titled Dungeons and Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale, a LEGO Adventure. The cover has the figures of the set in front of the fortress tower and the dragon. Adventure guides will be available for download for free or paperback for 2700 Insider points. Getting all the creatures right was a real team effort! Image of brick-built owl-bear hybrid creature. Quote: Mark-”All the players from our D&D groups were getting involved, at one point I had 18 or 20 people giving me various creature designs!”

The Dungeon. Quote: Jordan-”This is a pretty brutal dungeon for a level 5 party!” Image of the back of the Meadow section, revealing that inside the hill there is a cave. On the floor there are scattered bones, weapons and oozing monsters, including a pair of trans-light blue cube monsters. The designers creatively addressed how hard it can be to reach inside. Image of the back wall of the cave, removed cleanly. Quote: Mark-”The removable wall is there for if you get anything jammed in there at the back.” Quote: Jordan-”We really wanted the characters to feel like they levelled up, each having their moment with the magic items.” Images of the items: A bow and arrow, a shiny flail, a shield with a purple monster on it, a crystal staff, a black book with a creepy design on the cover, a curved sword, and a round silver shield. Arrow points to the smaller of the trans-light blue cubes. It is the Minecraft Head piece in trans-light blue that is used as the Tesseract in Marvel sets. Image shows LEGO Captain America figure holding the Tesseract. Quote: Jordan-”Mark found while making the Avengers Tower that the Tesseract is a perfect baby Gelatinous Cube!” The dangerous dungeon continues in The Basement…

The Basement. Surprise! It’s an axe trap! Image shows a tall square room with a spiral staircase in the middle, and rocks around the edges. One wall is solid, the rest are openly accessible. There is a door to the back that leads back to the inn, and a door to the left, leading from the dungeon, with a swinging axe in front of it. The set designers worked with Wizards of the Coast to integrate the roleplay experience. Quote: Mark-”The skeletons have armour and things so you can loot them afterwards.” Images of accessories the skeletons had- a shiny cape, a curved green blade, and a silver and dark pearl grey sword. Close-up image of under the stairs to one side, showing bright pink eerie plants with a book hidden next to them. The book opens to have a 1x2 tile printed with a shield inside. Images of 3 skeletons, a black cat with tentacles and 6 legs, and a purple monster with a large mouth and eye and 10 tentacles with smaller eyes on them. Quote: Jordan-”We wanted to put in as many monsters as physically possible.”

The Tower. Image of ruined stone tower, half of it crumbled away to show and give access to the interior. On the lower floor there are 2 tables, one with spell scrolls, an ink well, a goblet, and a red candle. On the other are more scrolls and a purple crystal. On the upper floor is a bright light green egg surrounded by green candles. A ladder leads up to a tiny platform at the top of the tower. The set is modular, but still in large sections like this tower. Quote: Mark-”Early on I tried to make it all more modular, but that introduced a lot of structural weaknesses.” The egg in the tower is pointed out as a dragon egg. Image of the lower section of the tower, below the other floors in the other image, as seen from a different side, with steps leading up and around to the front of the floor with the tables. There is a golden potion hidden under the stairs. Quote: Mark-”I had every shade of potion ready to go in this set.” Inside this area is a shrine with 5 golden dragon heads and 2 candles. It is a shrine to Tiamat, the evil dragon goddess. The floor here may not be safe… Image of the doorway at the front of the tower at the top of the steps, with angled stonework and stained glass. We love this doorway design!

The Dragon. One of the few big changes from @bolt.builds’ design to the final IDEAS set is the dragon. Image of the original submission, with a long green dragon curled around the tower. Image of the final official set, with a more static, red dragon. Quote: Jordan-”A Red Dragon is the most iconic dragon in all of D&D- it is the logo. Wizards of the Coast really wanted us to do a Red Dragon.” Making the dragon look like the official D&D Red Dragons means it can’t really curl around the tower. Would you have preferred a curlier dragon? Let us know! Image of a side view of the red dragon. Its base torso is almost a similar shape to a dog, but with a long spiked tail, huge bony wings pointing upwards from just behind the front legs, and a long neck with a large head breathing fire. Its front legs have small thumb claws. Quote: Jordan-”Wizards of the Coast made sure we gave it thumbs. D&D dragons have thumbs.” Close-up image of the dragon’s spikey head. Large horns go over its small eyes. The eyes are printed on wedge plates. Quote: Mark-”We printed so many eyes for this set.” Quote: Jordan-”The plan was never to do a moulded head. It’s an 18+ set so it has 18+ building techniques.”

Mimic Gift With Purchase: 168 pieces. Image of brick built treasure chest with 4 eyes, a large set of teeth, and a big blue tongue. Comes with The Red Dragon’s Tale st for those with a free Insiders Account from the first to the seventh of April. NEW PRINT: 1 x 1 round tile with round highlight printed, orange, x4. INTERESTING PARTS: Bar 3L, blue, x1. 1 x 1 tile with lock print, light bluish grey, x1. 1 x 3 curved slope, inverted, blue, x2. 1 x 2 curved slope with wedge cutout, right and left, reddish brown, x2. 1 x 1 round corner tile, dark purple, x12. Quote: Jordan- “I thought it would be great to do a Mimic chest that can fit a set of dice inside.” Techniques: View of the chest without its lid and no teeth or tongue yet. This shows the teeth are attached with SNoT bricks. 1 x 2 plates with bars are used to attach the lid. A bar sits between 2 1 x 1 bricks with studs on 2 perpendicular sides, so one of their studs holds the bar between them, and the other stud faces out to attach detail to the outside of the model. The tongue is curved using the blue inverted curved slopes. The tongue has modified 1 x 1 tiles with vertical clips on one end. It is then turned upside down so the clips can go on to the bar between the SNOT bricks. Thus, the tongue is nestled behind the teeth within the front wall of the chest. Image of the lid without the tiling off on the top and with the front not attached. A line of 1 x 3 x 3 arched slopes in reddish brown form the back, undetailed side of the curved lid. Locking hinges angle the front of the lid. The angled front has studs ready for the printed eyes to attach, and modified tooth plates on it with dark purple 1 x 1 corner tiles as ragged lips.

The set is large and detailed, but that comes at a price (£314.99, $359.99, €359.99). Quote: Mark-”If this is the only D&D set ever made, we wanted it to be the most LEGO D&D it could possibly be... I’d love to do some others at more accessible price points.” For more on set 21348, check out our review, out now! Image shows the cover slide of our review of the Red Dragon’s Tale set, post #2336. Image of Lucas, the fan designer. Lucas, the IDEAS design winner, worked closely with LEGO to refine this set. Quote: Lucas-”Seeing what the team at LEGO did with [this project] is beyond every expectation I had. I’m so happy with it, I hope the fans are happy.” A huge thank you to Lucas, designers Jordan, Mark, and Johanna, and the LEGO Ambassador Network, for making this possible! Image of the Mimic treasure chest with a set of dice stored inside it. Remember, for the Mimic Dice Box, it comes free with Insiders purchases of the Red Dragon’s Tale from 1st-7th April! Will you be exploring the Red Dragon’s Tale on 1 April? Would you like to see more D&D LEGO, maybe at lower price points? Comment below!

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