… and Heroes Rise is no different. We know that this announcement may come as a surprise to a lot of you. With OneD&D on the horizon, and more releases in the coming quarter than we’ve had all year, why would we end the adventure here? We wish we could give you a simple and satisfying answer to this, but like any good D&D campaign, it’s a culmination of many moving parts that have lead to this decision. This upcoming season aside, product releases have been fewer and farther between. The amount of communication from Wizards of the Coast has plummeted since the pandemic. Further, the OGL debacle at the beginning of the year saw huge numbers of players leaving D&D for other game systems, and several third-party publishers stop developing for 5th Edition all together. And that’s not to mention how after six years, we’ve covered virtually every tool out there, done deep-dives into the history of every monster, and covered every homebrew rule imaginable.
Behind the scenes, we’ve had many conversations about the future of the show, our hopes and goals for Heroes Rise, as well as the future of D&D. In the end, we came to the conclusion that now was the best time to hang up our robe and wizard hats, and enjoy our retirement on the Sword Coast, running a tavern where a fresh band of adventurers may meet and start quests of their own. But the adventure isn’t done quite yet, and so we present to you the conclusion to our six-year campaign, and an idea of the content:
Show Releases
- Episode 245 (recorded12 Aug / released 16 Aug) – Bigby Presents Glory of the Giants
- Episode 246 (recorded 26 Aug / released 30 Aug) – Planescape Teasers
- Episode 247 (recorded 9 Sep / released 13 Sep) – General D&D News
- Episode 248 (recorded 23 Sep / released 27 Sep) – Phandelver and Below
- Episode 249 (recorded 7 Oct / released 11 Oct) – One D&D Playtest
- Episode 250 (recorded 21 Oct / released 25 Oct) – Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse
- Episode 251 (recorded 4 Nov / released 8 Nov) – Dissonant Whispers
- Episode 252 (recorded 18 Nov / released 22 Nov) – Book of Many Things Release
The penultimate episode featuring a Dissonant Whispers will be open to everyone, and we hope you’ll join us. The topic will be anything your heart desires.
What Will Happen to the Content
With over 250 episodes and almost as many Adventurer’s Pack picks and Rests both Short and Long, we know that we’ve created a wealth of information that’s not only applicable to D&D 5e, but to TTRPGs as a whole, and we don’t want to lose it either. To that end, we will be reshuffling the website to place a focus on the written content, with the audio files being placed on a Google Drive/OneDrive archive for public access. We will keep the website online for as long as we’re able, but no new content will be added. Also, Lennon and Mikey will have copies of everything, so if you’re ever after something in particular you can always drop us a messaage, and we’ll be happy to help!
What Will Happen to the Discord
The Heroes Rise Discord server won’t be going anywhere! We love the community we’ve built here, and although the show will be gone, this band of brave adventurers will march on! Though, naturally, there will be a couple of changes. Firstly, everyone who was a Patron will get given an exclusive Moneylender role, as a small way of saying thanks for your support over the years. The Super Secret Patron Lounge will become read-only, and it’ll still only be accessible to those who were Moneylenders, because we recognise the Eldritch Pacts we’ve made. Secondly, the staff will be given the role of Moderator, because someone’s gotta stop the Pungeon from leaking.
Patreon
We know we do this every week, but we do want to take a moment to recognise and thank our Patrons who have helped us throughout the last 6 years. Whether you’re a long-time subscriber or you just joined for a month or two where you could, your donations have meant that we were able to produce the show to the high quality that we did. We seriously could not have done this without your help, and so we mean it from the bottom of our hearts when we say thank you, to each and everyone one of you, for your contributions no matter how big or small. The good news is that we have enough in the vault to keep the show running til the end, so we’re going to be placing the Patreon into zero-charge mode. This means that each week you’ll still be able to get raw recordings of the shows, as well as the bonus show scripts, but you shouldn’t see a charge hit your cards. Once the show has wrapped and the final expenses paid, we’ll be donating any excess to the Dungeons and Dragons Extra Life campaign, supporting the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals
Special Thanks
Over the last 6 years we’ve had a remarkable group of people volunteering their time and talents to us. Heroes Rise was brought to you by a global team of amazingly talented people, whether it be our website and social platforms, the copy written for our weekly shows, to the weekly undertaking of editing our ramblings – no single person is responsible for this production; and without their incredible dedication over the years, this show would not have been made possible. So, to my cohosts Ostron and Ryu; our audio team, Mikey, Branwen, Tomasthanes and Stryphe; our social media mage, RaeRae; as well as Bloodlake, Indigo Specter, Gath Memvar, Pix Vectri and Baxter; words cannot describe your countless contributions to this show. Luckily, numbers can, and you all rolled nat 20s. But, most importantly, a big thanks to you. Our listeners — our friends — our chosen adventuring party. Over these six years, you have been our driving force for producing this show. The team and I are forever grateful for your dedicated and loyal support. For joining us and welcoming us into your weekly (and eventually bi-weekly) routine. It has been an tremendous honour to produce this show for you all, and I am so, so, so grateful to each and every one of you.
And so, until our paths shall cross again, fare thee well, brave adventurers!
