D&D 5E More Details About Laeral Silverhand’s Explorer’s Kit

This press release just dropped into my inbox. Laeral Silverhand Explorer’s Kit contains dice, cards, and a map. This comes out on the same day as the as-yet unnamed D&D hardcover on March 17th, whose identity will be revealed on Thursday.

Explore the realms! Wizards of the Coast once again is presenting new dice and miscellany for the world’s greatest roleplaying game. Forgotten Realms Laeral Silverhand Explorer’s Kit builds on the success of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. Forgotten Realms Laeral Silverhand Explorer’s Kit will be available in stores everywhere on March 17, 2020!

Let Laeral Silverhand – Open Lord of Waterdeep, centuries-old archmage, and daughter of the goddess of magic – guide you on your path to adventure. The new kit includes eleven dice placed in a durable, felt-lined box that functions as two dice trays. Fans can also enjoy the twenty illustrated, double-sided cards detailing Laeral’s expert insights on key characters, locations, and lore from across the Forgotten RealmsTM and a foldout double-sided map of the Sword Coast and city of Waterdeep.

• Eleven dice (two d20s, one d12, two d10s, one d8, four d6s, one d4).
• Twenty illustrated, double-sided cards detailing Laeral's expert insights on key characters, locations, and lore from across the Forgotten Realms.
• A durable, felt-lined box that functions as two dice trays.
• Foldout double-sided map of the Sword Coast and the city of Waterdeep.

 

[Fenris-77]

Nope. The Forgotten Realms is "comfortable", "familiar", "conventional", "unchallenging". That's enough to make it popular. My own game is set there for those reasons. It's only "interesting" in the way a blank piece of paper is "interesting" it's a good place to put any idea you like.

Interesting things are "different", "challenging", "unconventional", "difficult" and therefore are rarely popular.

So, I find the Realms interesting. The dictionary definition of interesting usually reads something like "arousing curiosity or interest; holding or catching the attention". No mention of difficult or challenging. I find the written background of the Realms interesting and I also find the immense blank spaces in between compelling. As a long time player I also find the evolution of the Realms from edition to edition interesting. You have a pretty narrow definition of interesting, one which I think indexes better what you find interesting rather than what is interesting generally. Conflating your idea of what makes something interesting with a more usual definition is going to cause some bumps in the conversation here. I'm pretty sure you aren't telling people that your opinion of what's interesting matters more than theirs, but it can be read like that.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Nope. The Forgotten Realms is "comfortable", "familiar", "conventional", "unchallenging". That's enough to make it popular. My own game is set there for those reasons. It's only "interesting" in the way a blank piece of paper is "interesting" it's a good place to put any idea you like.

Interesting things are "different", "challenging", "unconventional", "difficult" and therefore are rarely popular.

Game of Thrones was interesting because it was the first big-budget tv show to break several medieval fantasy tropes while also maintaining a level of seriousness.

It became one of the most popular shows of all time.

The idea that concepts that are different/challenging/unconventional can't become popular is an annoyingly dumb take.

 

[Parmandur]

Game of Thrones was interesting because it was the first big-budget tv show to break several medieval fantasy tropes while also maintaining a level of seriousness.

It became one of the most popular shows of all time.

The idea that concepts that are different/challenging/unconventional can't become popular is an annoyingly dumb take.

Indeed, or that conventional isn't interesting by the dictionary definition.

 

[Eltab]

Realms = Bad.

News! News!: we strenuously tested your reasoning and discovered (when backtracking the logic) that Realms = Good.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

No, "interesting" means "holding or catching the attention." Since you set your games in the Forgotten Realms, it is holding your attention, that is, you find it interesting.

By that definition, FR definitely does not hold my attention. The antics of my players held my attention for a while, with FR forming a convenient blank slate. But I've had quite enough of that now and am starting a new campaign in Eberron.

 

[Parmandur]

By that definition, FR definitely does not hold my attention. The antics of my players held my attention for a while, with FR forming a convenient blank slate. But I've had quite enough of that now and am starting a new campaign in Eberron.

And yet, it did.