D&D General Forgotten Realms cover to "Guide to the Dalelands" revealed, book delayed

Whizbang Dustyboots · Friday at 10:52 PM

Paul Farquhar said:
I doubt the setting will be twisted. It's more a case of "for those of you who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you like." It's a DMG product so it doesn't need mass market appeal, it can afford to be niche.

I mean, I don't particularly care about the Forgotten Realms, but if I did run it, I'd want it to be in a pastoral place like the Dalelands.

The market doesn't need every setting to be grimdark. Having a range of tones out there means there's something for everyone. If a setting isn't for you, there's plenty more that likely will be.

Whizbang Dustyboots · Friday at 10:53 PM

mamba said:
not that I know anything about the Dalelands, but from what has been written in this thread it sounds like ‘all Shire’, is there a Mordor in it / near its border?

There's a giant elven city megadungeon right next door. So you go from the pastoral towns into Myth Drannor, which has all the danger anyone wants, and then you limp on home to listen to a mandolin by the fireplace.

VashVet · Friday at 10:59 PM

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
There's a giant elven city megadungeon right next door. So you go from the pastoral towns into Myth Drannor, which has all the danger anyone wants, and then you limp on home to listen to a mandolin by the fireplace.

Dalelands is just a quintessential D&D setting within a setting to me. It’s FR’s version of Hommlet, IMO.

You can take pretty much any bottom up how-to build a campaign setting primer and see that in the construction of the Dalelands. It starts with a small town, you have a dungeon nearby, then a little further out is a dangerous forest and a bigger dungeon, and somewhere close by are the Zhents who are your big enemy faction. If one didn’t want to do all that on their own, The Dalelands is perfect.

Parmandur · Friday at 11:49 PM

mamba said:
not that I know anything about the Dalelands, but from what has been written in this thread it sounds like ‘all Shire’, is there a Mordor in it / near its border?

All over: the Moonsea city states, particularly Zhentil Keep and the expansionist Zhentarim are present threats, and there is a giant Megadungeon that is like if you made Lothlorien into Moria, filled with tons of threats as well as loot.

mamba · Saturday at 12:42 AM

Parmandur said:
All over: the Moonsea city states, particularly Zhentil Keep and the expansionist Zhentarim are present threats, and there is a giant Megadungeon that is like if you made Lothlorien into Moria, filled with tons of threats as well as loot.

I guess my question is which of these would be included in the upcoming Daleland books, or are they just in nearby regions. Do we have any idea?

Elvish Lore · Saturday at 2:08 AM

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
There's a giant elven city megadungeon right next door. So you go from the pastoral towns into Myth Drannor, which has all the danger anyone wants, and then you limp on home to listen to a mandolin by the fireplace.

I love the way you phrased this vibe.

Parmandur · Saturday at 3:34 AM

mamba said:
I guess my question is which of these would be included in the upcoming Daleland books, or are they just in nearby regions. Do we have any idea?

No idea: they are covered in the recent official books.

Paul Farquhar · Saturday at 6:36 AM

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
The market doesn't need every setting to be grimdark

Grimdark is not the only alternative to vanilla. Calimshan in the new book is really great, and not at all grim or dark.

Paul Farquhar · Saturday at 6:39 AM

VashVet said:
It’s FR’s version of Hommlet, IMO

Sure, a boring place filled with an implausible number of high level NPCs and a megadungeon on the doorstep. Hommlet isn’t quite so bucolic, but I still wouldn’t use it. The similarities show just how generic they both are.

Paul Farquhar · Saturday at 6:41 AM

mamba said:
I guess my question is which of these would be included in the upcoming Daleland books, or are they just in nearby regions. Do we have any idea?

Well there is a book of adventures in the list, so I imagine so.