sawyer0413
Explorer
Mysteries of the Moonsea
Forgotten Realms Campaign Accessory
Stated Bias: I have run campaigns in the Forgotten Realms since the first bits started trickling out from Ed. I still run a game in the Realms, and I am strongly biased towards it as an outstanding Campaign World.
Summary: If you are running a campaign in Faerun, or you want to, this book does an outstanding job of giving you campaign options in the Moonsea area of Faerun. If you are not running a campaign in Faerun or have no intention of running a campaign in Faerun, you probably overlook this book, and judge it to be nearly worthless to you. That will be your unfortunate loss.
Facts:
Book: Hardcover
Length: 158 pgs.
Suggested Retail: $29.95
Condensed Table of Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: Melvaunt and the North
Chapter 2: Hillsfar and the South
Chapter 3: Mulmaster and the East
Chapter 4: Zhentil Keep and the West
Starting out, notice carefully that nothing in the Table of Contents says anything about the following:
Spells
Magic Items
Monsters
Feats
Skills
Equipment
Races
Classes
Prestige Classes
This book relies upon the Core 3.5 books plus the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (FRCS), the Player's Guide to Faerun (PGtoF), Magic of Faerun (MoF), and Unapproachable East (UnAE). Primarily it is the FRCS, with PGtoF, MoF, and UnAE being optional but valued additions.
In my opinion, this is exactly the sort of campaign sourcebook that I want. In fact, it lives up to its overall series title, Forgotten Realms Campaign Accessory. I prefer to keep the "crunchy" bit to a few books. In my stack, I use FRCS, PGtoF, and MoF extensively. I would love in WotC would publish addendums to add new crunchy bits, and keep the regional information just like this sourcebook. Then, I don't have to hunt for all the new crunchy stuff.
Because it is virtually crunch free, it will unfortunately be passed over by those who have no interest in the Realms. That will be their unfortunate loss. Why? This book shows how a campaign area with multiple story arcs should really be set-up. It shows how those story arcs intersect, mix, mingle, and separate out again. It gives ideas for quests that could easily be modified to fit other geographies. All in all, this is EXACTLY the kind of material that separates out the adequate DMs from the exception DMs. Even if you don't run the realms, you can pick up very useful skills by reading this book. Sure, it will be a more difficult read, but well worth the growing pains.
All in all, I give it a score of 4 overall. For those DMs running in the Realms, it gets a 4.5. And for those not, I give it a 3.5. The only reason it didn't earn a 5 for those running in the Realms is that such a score, in my book at least, is reserved for something exceptional. While this is very, very good, it doesn't tip that scale in large part because there is only 158 pages and no index. But, considering that is 158 crunch-free pages, it well earns its 4.5. Enjoy! I certainly am.
Best Regards,
Bill
Forgotten Realms Campaign Accessory
Stated Bias: I have run campaigns in the Forgotten Realms since the first bits started trickling out from Ed. I still run a game in the Realms, and I am strongly biased towards it as an outstanding Campaign World.
Summary: If you are running a campaign in Faerun, or you want to, this book does an outstanding job of giving you campaign options in the Moonsea area of Faerun. If you are not running a campaign in Faerun or have no intention of running a campaign in Faerun, you probably overlook this book, and judge it to be nearly worthless to you. That will be your unfortunate loss.
Facts:
Book: Hardcover
Length: 158 pgs.
Suggested Retail: $29.95
Condensed Table of Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: Melvaunt and the North
Chapter 2: Hillsfar and the South
Chapter 3: Mulmaster and the East
Chapter 4: Zhentil Keep and the West
Starting out, notice carefully that nothing in the Table of Contents says anything about the following:
Spells
Magic Items
Monsters
Feats
Skills
Equipment
Races
Classes
Prestige Classes
This book relies upon the Core 3.5 books plus the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (FRCS), the Player's Guide to Faerun (PGtoF), Magic of Faerun (MoF), and Unapproachable East (UnAE). Primarily it is the FRCS, with PGtoF, MoF, and UnAE being optional but valued additions.
In my opinion, this is exactly the sort of campaign sourcebook that I want. In fact, it lives up to its overall series title, Forgotten Realms Campaign Accessory. I prefer to keep the "crunchy" bit to a few books. In my stack, I use FRCS, PGtoF, and MoF extensively. I would love in WotC would publish addendums to add new crunchy bits, and keep the regional information just like this sourcebook. Then, I don't have to hunt for all the new crunchy stuff.
Because it is virtually crunch free, it will unfortunately be passed over by those who have no interest in the Realms. That will be their unfortunate loss. Why? This book shows how a campaign area with multiple story arcs should really be set-up. It shows how those story arcs intersect, mix, mingle, and separate out again. It gives ideas for quests that could easily be modified to fit other geographies. All in all, this is EXACTLY the kind of material that separates out the adequate DMs from the exception DMs. Even if you don't run the realms, you can pick up very useful skills by reading this book. Sure, it will be a more difficult read, but well worth the growing pains.
All in all, I give it a score of 4 overall. For those DMs running in the Realms, it gets a 4.5. And for those not, I give it a 3.5. The only reason it didn't earn a 5 for those running in the Realms is that such a score, in my book at least, is reserved for something exceptional. While this is very, very good, it doesn't tip that scale in large part because there is only 158 pages and no index. But, considering that is 158 crunch-free pages, it well earns its 4.5. Enjoy! I certainly am.
Best Regards,
Bill
