In 2024, tabletop roleplaying juggernaut Dungeons & Dragons celebrated its 50th anniversary. As part of the celebration, LEGO released its first-ever Dungeons & Dragons set in April of that year. As a longtime D&D player, I of course was interested in the set, but it wasn’t until recently that LEGO sent me out a review copy. Better late than never, they say…let’s see if the 2+ year wait to build it was worth it.
What Is the LEGO Ideas Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale?
Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale, set #21348, is a 3,754-piece LEGO set that includes 6 Minifigures, along with several buildable D&D monsters. When completed, it measures 19″high x 15″wide x 12″ deep. Wizards of the Coast and LEGO also created a 20-page adventure, which is available for free on D&D Beyond.
The retail price for the Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale set is $359. The set just retired last month, so is no longer available on LEGO’s website, but you should still be able to find a copy at some LEGO stores or at 3rd party sellers.
The set is broken up into 4 different sub-builds, and each of those builds has its own instruction book. There are 32 bags of bricks, as well as a sticker sheet, special pieces, and fabric capes and dragon wings.
The first book is actually chock full of content. In addition to information about the creation of the set, there’s background history of the Dungeons & Dragons game, descriptions of the monsters and heroes found within the set, and a look at how D&D evolved into the world’s most famous tabletop roleplaying game.
Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale Minifigures
There are 6 Minifigures in the set, which all feature in the downloadable playable adventure. All of the Minifigures can be built as either male or female, except for the dragonborn Alax Jadescales. Most of the figures also have heads with different expressions, notably Ervan Soulfallen, who (spoiler alert) is revealed as the villain of the adventure.
Unlike the majority of LEGO sets, you build most of these Minifigures early, rather than spread out through the entire build. That’s because the adventure allows you to start playing while you’re still building the set!
Assembling the LEGO Ideas Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale
The Inn Plain Sight (Book 1)
Here is the completed Inn Plain Sight:
If you’re a D&D fan, there are a ton of nice details running throughout. In Dungeons & Dragons, players know that anything can be a mimic. So in the upstairs bedroom of the inn, not only is there the classic chest that turns into a mimic, but the bed lifts up and transforms into a mimic, too!
The wizard’s spellbook comes with a few different spells, that can be swapped out:
At the entrance to the inn, adventurers check their weapons at the door:
And of course, what would be an adventurer’s inn without food and ale?
The Meadow and Dungeon (Book 2)
The next segment of the build consists of two different areas, which when assembled will be one piece.
The meadow connects to the side of the Inn Plain Sight:
There are several creatures that can be found in the meadow and dungeon:
There are also a couple of hidden features, like buried treasure in the meadow:
And a secret door to the dungeon:
The Tower (Book 3)
The Tower is where the villain hoards his treasure, and is also the home of some of the deadliest creatures. As with the meadow and dungeon, the tower consists of two separate parts, a basement, and the tower itself.
Once the tower and basement are stacked, they then connect to the inn, meadow, and dungeon.
There are many threats to the heroes to be found in the tower.
The tower also contains a dragon shrine:
An arcane workshop:
And a chamber where Ervan has a dragon’s egg:
The Dragon (Book 4)
The final instruction manual is devoted to the assembly of Cinderhowl, the titular red dragon of both the LEGO set and the D&D adventure.
The completed Cinderhowl:
Cinderhowl doesn’t attach to the castle, but can be balanced with the forelegs resting on the railing of the walkway, and the back legs on the tower. It’s surprisingly stable, though I carefully removed the dragon when I moved the set from my workspace to its new home on my shelf.
LEGO Ideas Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale – Final Thoughts
So here’s the thing- the first ever LEGO D&D set is pretty awesome. If you’re a fan of Dungeons & Dragons, it’s just bursting with details that will be bring a smile to your face. There are iconic monsters, jokes that will appeal to longtime D&D players, and even a couple of traps to be found in the build. The only downside to all that detail, is that there’s not a ton of play space within the set. You’ll be hard pressed to recreate dramatic battles from your tabletop sessions. But there are still plenty of studs available throughout the floors and stairs to place your Minifigures.
For D&D‘s 50th anniversary, LEGO also released a blind box set of 12 Dungeons & Dragons Minifigures. I managed to pick up a bunch, and as you can see, they are a great addition to the Red Dragon’s Tale set:
When talking about play, we also need to mention the downloadable adventure. It’s pretty cool to have a LEGO set that provides both the figures and the terrain for a full Dungeons & Dragons adventure. I haven’t had time to play it yet, but it looks to be fun and family-friendly, as well.
I had really wanted to get the Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale set when it was originally released. Now that I’ve built it, I feel so lucky that LEGO was able to send me a set before they were sold out. The build itself is very enjoyable, and if you’re a D&D player, you’ll have a smile on your face the entire time you’re assembling the set.
All LEGO sets eventually get retired, and after a couple of years in circulation, it was unfortunately this set’s turn. But if you can find a copy of LEGO Ideas Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale in a local store or online, grab it up. I can’t recommend this set enough. My only hope is that LEGO releases more Dungeons & Dragons sets…and they’re as good as this one.
For more information on Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale, visit the LEGO website.
LEGO provided a set for evaluation, but had no input into this review.
