Anyone here DM (or play in) a campaign using "The Fall of Myth Drannor"... ?

[Azlan]

Anyone here ever DM (or play in) a campaign using the 2nd Edition D&D Forgotten Realms "Arcane Age" supplements, The Fall of Myth Drannor and Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves?

I bought these supplements at half-price from a used bookstore, thinking that it would be great to run a campaign where the player characters, while exploring the ruins of Myth Drannor, find a portal that takes them back in time, back to the horrible years encompassing the Weeping Wars, just before the fall of the City of Glory, Song and Wonder. I also bought the "Ruins of Myth Drannor" boxed set, at the same used bookstore, for use with this campaign.

However, after delving into these supplements, I just can't seem to find enough applicable in them. Although the supplements are pretty dense in source material, little of it is "mechanics" and all too much of it is "story". (To understand what I mean by "mechanics" compared to "story", check this article out... http://www.thegamemechanics.com/opinion/point-001.asp.) There is tons of history in these supplements, but little in the way of plot hooks and detailed adventures. (You know, like you'd find an adventure module.) Why, there aren't even that many NPCs for me to use! Reading these supplements was like reading Tolkien's The Silmarillion, and I found myself growing perplexed and even a little bored as I tried to wrap my head around it all.

I found the "Ruins of Myth Drannor" boxed set to be like this, too; only, not as bad. At least there are a few mini-adventures in the boxed set, and there are plenty of "mechanics" to tinker with, including some interesting NPCs. Yet I found myself a little disappointed by the blandness of the poster-size maps included in the boxed set (you'd have to see the maps to know what I mean), which depict the ruins; and I was very much disappointed by the lack of detailed descriptions for the keyed areas on these maps.

So, who else out there has used (or at least thought about using) the "Ruins of Myth Drannor" boxed set? And what about the"Arcane Age" supplements, The Fall of Myth Drannor and Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves? I'm curious to know what your experiences with them might be; i.e. how were they used, and what was ultimately added to (or changed in) them, in order to make them work as a campaign?

 

[Henry]

Anyone here ever DM (or play in) a campaign using the 2nd Edition D&D Forgotten Realms "Arcane Age" supplements, The Fall of Myth Drannor and Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves?

I'm running a Myth Drannor game soon, and I'm planning to use some of the material there as "flashbacks" - not for people to play through, but events they catch glimpses of through "memory pools" or such like.

The problem with running a "time travel" game is the players' natural propensity to screw with timelines such that NOTHING comes to pass as it should.

 

[Ycore Rixle]

Back in the day, I used the Ruins of Myth Drannor boxed set. You're right, the maps totally sucked.

IIRC, one great thing came out of the set: Vleem. In one of the books there is a picture of a wizard on a flying manta ray mount, yes? If not, I'm thinking of the wrong book, and just disregard this silliness. Anyway, my group and I were all enchanted by that picture. The group fought that villain, took the mount, and raised Vleem (don't remember if they named it or if it came named in the book) on their own. At some point he was transformed into a giant flying pig, too. We loved that flying pig. Point being, that one picture inspired an NPC that I remember ten or twelve years later. Good stuff.

Other than that, I mostly remember running battles amid the crumbling ruins with strafing phaerimm and charging unicorns with horns of Black Flame (which drained experience on a hit). I think I made up the unicorns. The scenery of the crumbling elf city was pretty dramatic. Oh yes, also there was Hassambra - I think he might have been original to the boxed set - an alhoon? I believe he killed the party's archmage at one point. She was resurrected and vowed revenge. He went into hiding but harassed her when he could, finally dying.

So, basically I used it for NPC's, for scenery or atmosphere, and not much else.

 

[Azlan]

I'm running a Myth Drannor game soon, and I'm planning to use some of the material there as "flashbacks" - not for people to play through, but events they catch glimpses of through "memory pools" or such like.

That's an excellent way to use those supplements. In the same vein, I could make the ruins of Myth Drannor be genuinely haunted, with ghosts that eternally act out and replay those flashbacks.

Hmm...

The problem with running a "time travel" game is the players' natural propensity to screw with timelines such that NOTHING comes to pass as it should.

True. But I could make it so that any changes in Myth Drannor's timeline, brought about by the player characters, creates a branching alternate history. Or I could make it so that some things are immutable and inevitable, as in the end of the movie Terminator 3.