Covers Preview for Elemental Evil Adventurer's Handbook and Princes of the Apocalypse!

So, it's official now. The Elder Elemental Eye has been somehow released from The World of Greyhawk to unleash havoc in the Realms. No fantasy world was described in more detail than the Forgotten Realms, and they still manage to produce not one, but two storylines in a row with themes and antagonists that have nothing to do with the Realms. Good job, Wizards.

 

[Mistwell]

I am tired of the splat book train and will skip the book entirely and am a bit disappointed that they are already going down that path. On the positive side, I think 5e did a splendid job of creating a PHB that actually feels like a complete set of options for character creation.

I was hoping for more free standing adventures like Madness at Gardmoore Abbey or Reavers of Harkenworld. 5e started out really well when it comes to adventure support with the Starter Set, but following it up with two adventure paths isn't what I am looking. 4e had some awful adventure paths and it looks like 5e is following that trend (ok, not awful, but not really good either).

You know these adventure paths are not from WOTC, right? This is all stuff that was licensed out, this one from Sasquatch Studios. The only adventure WOTC has published for 5e IS the starter set. Well, and some good stand-alone adventures for the playtest D&D Next. Even the splatbook isn't from WOTC.

 

[Morrus]

You know these adventure paths are not from WOTC, right? This is all stuff that was licensed out, this one from Sasquatch Studios. The only adventure WOTC has published for 5e IS the starter set. Well, and some good stand-alone adventures for the playtest D&D Next. Even the splatbook isn't from WOTC.

They are designed by other companies, but they are published by WotC.

 

[JTorres]

If it ends up being primarily dungeon-based (potentially, megadungeon), then setting is fairly indifferent. And their talk about Elemental Evil in the PHB (Ranger, Druid entries), the MM (Aarocka, Azer?), and the DMG (all up in the planar section), they seem to be angling for a multiplanar threat here.

I like this track of thought. After the Corruption in Kryptgarden event (hundreds of players simultaneously working towards the same goal) at this past Gen Con, I can see the Princes AP being a set-up for a multi-plane adventure path that kicks-off with a Gen Con 2015 mega-event: a couple hundred players in Faerun, another similar group in Sigil, and still another group of adventurers in another plane (maybe Oerth?) all working towards taking down one major villain or some cabal of villains from across the multiverse. After all, there certainly have been enough references to Sigil and the Manual of Planes in the core books to stoke curiosity.

 

[pukunui]

You know these adventure paths are not from WOTC, right? This is all stuff that was licensed out, this one from Sasquatch Studios. The only adventure WOTC has published for 5e IS the starter set. Well, and some good stand-alone adventures for the playtest D&D Next. Even the splatbook isn't from WOTC.

WotC hasn't licensed out these adventures. They've merely contracted out the writing. They're still WotC adventures. WotC has written the story bibles, WotC oversees the writing and editing, WotC publishes them, etc etc.


Also, I've noticed everyone keeps referring to Tharizdun / the Elder Elemental Eye. Has there been some sort of confirmation that that is what this AP is about? I don't know why, but I got the impression it was more about the archomentals, the evil elemental princes (eg. Ogrémoch, Cryonax, etc).

 

[Barachiel]

While the Realms has the Elder Elemental Evil in the form of Ghaunadar I don't understand why the four elemental gods (or primals, whatever you wanna call them now), Kossuth, Ishtishia, Grumbar, and Akadi, aren't involved in this somehow? There is so much Realms material to pull from, yet they insist on using the typical tropes (Tiamat and now Elemental Evil).

Instead of sticking these in the Realms, what was so wrong with making it a neutral setting and then releasing an online PDF for free that had campaign conversions? Like what they did with Dungeon Magazine's Adventure Paths for the FR and Eberron settings?

 

[Mirtek]

Also, I've noticed everyone keeps referring to Tharizdun / the Elder Elemental Eye. Has there been some sort of confirmation that that is what this AP is about? I don't know why, but I got the impression it was more about the archomentals, the evil elemental princes (eg. Ogrémoch, Cryonax, etc).

In 3e and 4e the evil archomentals were servants of the elder elemental eye

While the Realms has the Elder Elemental Evil in the form of Ghaunadar I don't understand why the four elemental gods (or primals, whatever you wanna call them now), Kossuth, Ishtishia, Grumbar, and Akadi, aren't involved in this somehow?

As greater deities they are so much more powerful than the archomentals that they are mostly ignoring them. They're just no threat to their supremacy

 

[pukunui]

In 3e and 4e the evil archomentals were servants of the elder elemental eye

Ah. I wasn't aware of that. Is there a good chance that this AP will feature both Tharizdun and the archomentals then?

 

[Mirtek]

Ah. I wasn't aware of that. Is there a good chance that this AP will feature both Tharizdun and the archomentals then?

I would think so

 

[Henry]

Did you know that you can just put these - or any! - adventures in any world you'd like? Seriously. You can. The WOTC folks won't ever know...

Sure -- if I wanted an adventure that was themed more for Krynn or Oerth. If I want an adventure that runs with the themes that are representative of Faerun, I don't want either of these. I refuse this business of shoehorning in the Elder Elemental Eye and Krynnish Tiamat themes just because someone wants them to fit in the Realms. Faerun has quite enough lore by itself that is recognizable without needing to shoehorn in another world's villains and threats. It's just a very quirky choice given how much trouble they've gone to to go back to the well for the game, only to kit bash one world's themes into another just because someone thought it looked cool.

Then again, it'll be a while before I get to run a game, so what do I know.

 

[Hereticus]

If you're a creative DM, move it to a different setting.