D&D 5E I just don't see why they even bothered with the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

[The_Silversword]

I just picked it up, I thought it was nicely done, good balance of crunch and fluff.

 

[Corpsetaker]

Then I read the book. Now I'm actually interested in the setting as both a player and maybe even as a GM. I could take the info on just the dwarf kingdoms and run a great campaign from that. (And I find dwarves, by and large, boring.)

So the book not only gave me good crunch and mineable material, it made me care about a setting I didn't care much about. So I'd call that a success, and I don't regret giving WotC my money. Sorry some of you don't feel the same way.

I'm sorry but why are you giving SCAG the credit for this when probably 95% of the content in the book is recycled material from past editions?

SCAG didn't uniquely give you anything that couldn't have been found in the campaign guides from the previous 2 editions.

 

[Angel of the Dawn]

I'm sorry but why are you giving SCAG the credit for this when probably 95% of the content in the book is recycled material from past editions?

SCAG didn't uniquely give you anything that couldn't have been found in the campaign guides from the previous 2 editions.

1) Recycled material is the point of the book. Actually. SCAG is a book for an existing campaign setting, the Forgotten Realms. Right? So if it didn't cover stuff from that campaign setting, it'd be a new campaign setting with FR branding, yes? And people would moan and bitch about that. (Of course, they are anyway. Ya can't win.)

2) In addition to missing the point of the book, you're incorrect in that SCAG does give us material we won't find in previous editions' renditions of the FR -- specifically, 5th edition rules updates for things unique to that setting. Which was initially why I bought it.

3) And finally, I'm not going to go out and buy FR books for previous editions I'm not interested in playing. (Especially since I've read some of them already and none of them interested me.) That in itself makes the book worth a purchase, even if 100% of the fluff is recycled from previous books.. which it isn't, because the book advances the setting's timeline. Not only will I use this, SCAG will prompt me to buy future FR material for 5E up to its standard.

The book does what it's supposed to do. It covers the FR for the current edition of D&D. I understand the internet is made for complaining, but you really should have legitimate reasons to do so, and not complaining the book does what's intended.

 

[Prism]

I'm sorry but why are you giving SCAG the credit for this when probably 95% of the content in the book is recycled material from past editions?

SCAG didn't uniquely give you anything that couldn't have been found in the campaign guides from the previous 2 editions.

There is plenty of new content in SCAG as far as I can see - they haven't just rehashed the old text. In this particular example there are 7 and a half pages of content on the dwarf kingdoms alone which I have not seen much of before. You'd probably need to go back to 1e/2e for this much detail on an area.

I have the FR campaign and player guides for 3e and 4e and the SCAG holds up well in terms of writing and details

 

[Corpsetaker]

There is plenty of new content in SCAG as far as I can see - they haven't just rehashed the old text. In this particular example there are 7 and a half pages of content on the dwarf kingdoms alone which I have not seen much of before. You'd probably need to go back to 1e/2e for this much detail on an area.

I have the FR campaign and player guides for 3e and 4e and the SCAG holds up well in terms of writing and details

I'm afraid a lot of it is except for things that have happened in the current novels. I don't think you've fully read your 3rd edition FR campaign guide and player's guide because I know for a fact there is no comparison in terms of detail. Writing is subjective but you are 100% wrong on the detail part.

Yes there are seven pages on the dwarven kingdoms but none of it is really useful information. What are the populations, maps of the kingdoms, prominent figures and their stats, what kind of magic items would you find there, etc...

If you are happy with SCAG then that's fine but don't sit there and compare it's detail to 3rd edition material because there is no comparison.

 

[Prism]

I'm afraid a lot of it is except for things that have happened in the current novels. I don't think you've fully read your 3rd edition FR campaign guide and player's guide because I know for a fact there is no comparison in terms of detail. Writing is subjective but you are 100% wrong on the detail part.

Maybe its you who needs to have another look at how little information there is in the 3e campaign guide. The sword coast and the north gets a total of 18 pages of which over 4 are wasted on utterly pointless stats for NPC's you will likely never meet and even less likely fight. I mean, for example a whole page on Halaster's stats is pointless. Meanwhile Luskan and Neverwinter get 2 small paragraphs each.

The SCAG has over 30 pages on the same area. Populations of towns and cities would have been nice, but everything else is good and has plenty of detail, story and adventure ideas. Maps of the cities would be nice but shouldn't be in a players book anyway really.

Yes there are seven pages on the dwarven kingdoms but none of it is really useful information. What are the populations, maps of the kingdoms, prominent figures and their stats, what kind of magic items would you find there, etc...

If you are happy with SCAG then that's fine but don't sit there and compare it's detail to 3rd edition material because there is no comparison.

If you had compared to the amount of detail on the various 1e and 2e boxed sets and guides then you might have had a better point but not for 3rd edition which was detail light for much of Faerun. Even the 4e campaign guide had more detail then the 3e one

 

[gyor]

One cherry picked region is more detailed in the SCAG then the 3e FRGC, and given were talking about the SWORD COAST CAMPAIGN GUIDE it'd be very weird if the sword coast didn't get special attention.

 

[Prism]

One cherry picked region is more detailed in the SCAG then the 3e FRGC, and given were talking about the SWORD COAST CAMPAIGN GUIDE it'd be very weird if the sword coast didn't get special attention.

I totally agree. That's what the book does pretty well, and based on that I would love some more regions down the line but not sure if we will ever get them

 

[Jester David]

I'm sorry but why are you giving SCAG the credit for this when probably 95% of the content in the book is recycled material from past editions?

SCAG didn't uniquely give you anything that couldn't have been found in the campaign guides from the previous 2 editions.

It gave it in a unique perspective, with the in-world description.

And, really, what did the 3e Campaign setting give us that wasn't "recycled material from past editions"? All revisions of a campaign setting are going to be recycled to some degree. A full 5e campaign setting that can go into less detail on individual regions is going to read a heck of a lot more like recycled material.

I'm afraid a lot of it is except for things that have happened in the current novels.

And adventures, since it also mentions the effects of Murder in Baldur's Gate and Legacy of the Crystal Shard

I don't think you've fully read your 3rd edition FR campaign guide and player's guide because I know for a fact there is no comparison in terms of detail. Writing is subjective but you are 100% wrong on the detail part.

Shouldn't the comparison be with the 3e and 4e Player's Guides to the Forgotten Realms. And I can tell you, this book has a LOT more information than the Player's Guide to Faerun. (But you need to double-check the amount of setting content in the 3e book... you might be surprised.)

Yes there are seven pages on the dwarven kingdoms but none of it is really useful information. What are the populations, maps of the kingdoms, prominent figures and their stats, what kind of magic items would you find there, etc...

population numbers, prominent figures & statblocks, and magic items are DM information. Why would they be in a player's guide?

 

[Corpsetaker]

It gave it in a unique perspective, with the in-world description.

And, really, what did the 3e Campaign setting give us that wasn't "recycled material from past editions"? All revisions of a campaign setting are going to be recycled to some degree. A full 5e campaign setting that can go into less detail on individual regions is going to read a heck of a lot more like recycled material.


And adventures, since it also mentions the effects of Murder in Baldur's Gate and Legacy of the Crystal Shard


Shouldn't the comparison be with the 3e and 4e Player's Guides to the Forgotten Realms. And I can tell you, this book has a LOT more information than the Player's Guide to Faerun. (But you need to double-check the amount of setting content in the 3e book... you might be surprised.)


population numbers, prominent figures & statblocks, and magic items are DM information. Why would they be in a player's guide?

I'm actually staring at the 3rd edition Campaign setting book right now so I don't need to double check anything. If you think SCAG has more information than it then you need to go back and triple check.

Also, not to mention the fact that while the 3rd edition campaign setting gives you regional history, life and society, and important sites, it also gives you plots and rumours.