Search results

I agree that the books are somewhat sloppy, but I’m not sure I agree that lack of public playtesting was the issue. You can’t really playtest narrative or research, even if the team was just strapped for time. I’m making my way through Adventures of Faerûn, and there’s still quite a lot to...

The authors clearly think that the god’s residence in the plane tell the player something, otherwise they wouldn’t have included it. I checked the 2024 DMG, which has the following to say about it, after stating that gods aren’t bound by mortal concepts of alignment: “That said, gods tend to...

One thing I forgot in my previous post: why does the player-facing book have Home Plane in the gods table? That’s just alignment with extra steps. Interesting that they stuck very closely to the 2e planar allotment for these deities, which in some cases has ceased to make much sense in the...

I finally had a chance to give Heroes of Faerûn a good look yesterday. I haven’t read it cover to cover, but I spent a good time with it. The following is from a DM perspective: Part of me likes the idea of a player-focused book. If this were truly 100% player focused, I would just skip it and...

Bahamut is unmentioned but got an easter egg, I think. His seven gold canaries are eminently noticeable in one of the early pictures, followed by a pegasus. A spirit dragon is nearby. The species section is mostly based on the SCAG text, which hits all the same notes, sometimes using the exact...

5e has tons of quality artwork. I liked the art direction more in its earlier years (2015-2020) because it was more evocative, whereas most material now evokes a very specific tone that doesn’t do anything for me. This is more of a change in art direction than in quality of art, which remains...

I love factions. I do not care for Ravnica as a setting but their implementation in Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica is my north star when designing them; it’s brilliant. Eminently useful book for faction play; I wish more recent attempts at factions took a page from it.

I generally find Mike Mearls’ patreon very insightful, and I think he is much missed in thr D&D team. I agree with him here. Some control spells’ very existence is detrimental to the game, so monsters that serve a narrative function need to override such spells easily. The result is Legendary...

This is because both things are true: Ed claims (and I'll take him at his word) that the original FR sold to TSR did not include real-world analogues. However, TSR wanted some regions of the world to reflect some real world analogues: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, etc. Therefore, they replaced...

In my experience, it attracts a certain kind of player with a more gamist bent. My more narratively-driven players have never cared for it. It's a bit of a waste of a spell from a design perspective, to be quite honest. If a player takes it, I'll work around that by creating encounters that can...

There’s a historical reason for that: much of our knowledge of the Gauls came from Caesar’s writings (or did, ~50 years ago). The Romans, like the Greek before them, generally didn’t think of foreign gods as truly foreign—they thought of them as the same gods with different names. Therefore...

Some like paper better, so yes. In this case, however, it’s moot: the book is still in print!

Oghma Silvanus Mielikki Loviatar Tyr Asmodeus Then there were those that were simply Greco-Roman Gods, but got renamed early on, like Sune (Venus). I’m sure I’m missing some.

Pets are a tragedy of the commons for players. My experience as a constant DM is that every player wishes he could have a cool pet or summon an army of them, but simultaneously loathes waiting for the others to manage them on their turns. I did not respond to any surveys (ever) but I’m glad...

This was always the case, even within Tyranny of Dragons.

I wanted to add one that I haven't seen mentioned here yet: The Waystop, which is AL-compliant but not part of any of the storylines (at least as I understand it; I've never played or DMed in AL). The whole thing is what I think a professionally written adventure should be: simultaneously...

I like my monster books with lots of descriptions, adventure hooks, and material that helps me put these monsters into the game. I think the statblocks are secondary. For example, I consider the 2014 Monster Manual section on Hags stellar. It is packed full of adventure hooks, each of which can...

It’s sadly very bland. I say this despite finding the adventure seed interesting. The map is fun, but the adventure doesn’t make full use of it. There are no NPCs. Just some statblocks. I don’t find this sort of minimalist design very useful, to be frank. If I’m using pre-written adventures...

The past has taught me me that if something isn’t Forgotten Realms yet, it is only a matter of time. I think they’re both, i.e. joint custody, because they’re both part of the FR universe and the multiverse at large. In Planescape, you can visit the realms of gods from multiple different...

It’s difficult with Bane because as FR accumulated other fiendish entities from the larger D&D multiverse, he got progressively less fiendish to occupy a different niche. Older TSR material portrays Bane as somewhat of a Sauron analogue. He has fiends and dark forces at his command, and his...