I recently asked Charles Ryan about the Fantastic Locations series (Fane of the Drow; Hellspike Prison) and whether they were a new take on adventures.
Here is his reply:
Charles Ryan:
So, last year we put out a couple map products (the Map Folios I, II, and 3-D). They were kind of an experimental product, and frankly they didn't turn out the way we would have liked--but they did really well. So we thought "heh, what if we made a really good map product?"
We put our heads together and thought about what sort of map product would be interesting and most useful to players, and the Fantastic Locations series is what we came up with.
Essentially, what they are isn't just a set of diagrams of interesting locations, but a set of diagrams that you can actually use in play. Then we added some material for both RPG play (interesting encounters and a mini-adventure) and minis skirmish play (scenarios).
The basic premise is the same as the Map Folios: Cool maps of interesting places that you can use in any campaign. The difference is in the immediate utility to the player. If players like the FL products, you can count on seeing more in the future.
As for adventures, the Eberron series of adventures (last year and this) marked our return to adventure publication. You'll notice in that same catalog that there's an FR adventure coming out in September. You might see more, for the campaign settings and for D&D in general, in the future.
(Philosophically speaking, back in the day we figured the d20 community would jump all over adventure publication, and we'd focus on the core rules and high-end products we're uniquely qualified to produce. But the d20 publishers quickly abandoned adventures in favor of competing with us in the realm of rulebooks and supplements (Sun Tzu would not be proud), leaving that part of the market underserved. So we're going to serve it!)
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=5899353#post5899353
Here is his reply:
Charles Ryan:
So, last year we put out a couple map products (the Map Folios I, II, and 3-D). They were kind of an experimental product, and frankly they didn't turn out the way we would have liked--but they did really well. So we thought "heh, what if we made a really good map product?"
We put our heads together and thought about what sort of map product would be interesting and most useful to players, and the Fantastic Locations series is what we came up with.
Essentially, what they are isn't just a set of diagrams of interesting locations, but a set of diagrams that you can actually use in play. Then we added some material for both RPG play (interesting encounters and a mini-adventure) and minis skirmish play (scenarios).
The basic premise is the same as the Map Folios: Cool maps of interesting places that you can use in any campaign. The difference is in the immediate utility to the player. If players like the FL products, you can count on seeing more in the future.
As for adventures, the Eberron series of adventures (last year and this) marked our return to adventure publication. You'll notice in that same catalog that there's an FR adventure coming out in September. You might see more, for the campaign settings and for D&D in general, in the future.
(Philosophically speaking, back in the day we figured the d20 community would jump all over adventure publication, and we'd focus on the core rules and high-end products we're uniquely qualified to produce. But the d20 publishers quickly abandoned adventures in favor of competing with us in the realm of rulebooks and supplements (Sun Tzu would not be proud), leaving that part of the market underserved. So we're going to serve it!)
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=5899353#post5899353
