Covers Preview for Elemental Evil Adventurer's Handbook and Princes of the Apocalypse!

So, it's official now. The Elder Elemental Eye has been somehow released from The World of Greyhawk to unleash havoc in the Realms. No fantasy world was described in more detail than the Forgotten Realms, and they still manage to produce not one, but two storylines in a row with themes and antagonists that have nothing to do with the Realms. Good job, Wizards.

 

[Wolfskin]

Wasn't the Cult turning to worship Tiamat somewhere in the 3e FRCS? In the Well of Dragons entry, IIRC-don't have the book with me, I had to sell it a few years ago

 

[tomservo999]

Wasn't the Cult turning to worship Tiamat somewhere in the 3e FRCS? In the Well of Dragons entry, IIRC-don't have the book with me, I had to sell it a few years ago

According to the 3rd Edition FRCs, there are few clerics in the the Cult of the Dragon. The majority of those worship Bane, Shar, Talona, Talos, or Velsharoon. A smaller number worship Cyric, Gargauth, Malar or Tiamat.

The 4e FRCS does not mention what god cultists have a predilection towards.

 

[Staffan]

Wasn't the Cult turning to worship Tiamat somewhere in the 3e FRCS? In the Well of Dragons entry, IIRC-don't have the book with me, I had to sell it a few years ago

Nothing about that in the FRCS. The Well of Dragons mentions nothing at all about gods, and the writeup of the Cult says that most worship Bane, Shar, Talona, Talos, or Velsharoon, but some instead follow Cyric, Gargauth, Malar, or Tiamat.

 

[AverageCitizen]

Owe? Again, this is basic business: if there was demand for Greyhawk products, I am sure those products would be produced. Clearly WotC has determined that their best bet in this industry is to focus on FR right now. Greyhawk obviously doesn't sell well enough to enjoy support.

It seems likely they are doing FR because Drizzt is pretty the only thing that sells well outside of the hobby niche these days. If we want Greyhawk support, someone is gonna have to write a bang-up Greyhawk novel.

 

[Parmandur]

Rise of Tiamat does mention at some point that the nature of Tiamat being trapped is actually secret knowledge, previously unknown to common mortals; all her previous activity is called out as being limited by her stay in Avernus, which is why it is very, very bad if she success.

 

[Inchoroi]

I dunno.

I showed these covers to a few friends, and I started running the Starter Set for them just a few weeks later. One of the players even wants to be the DM for the new adventure, and actually already bought the PHB, MM, and DMG for that purpose.

So, I'm not going to complain at all, especially since HotDQ was somewhat lackluster, to say the least (salvageable, though, if you didn't mind multiple prep days beforehand). Given that its written by people who have a passing familiarity with the guy that wrote the starter set, I'll give them a benefit of the doubt for the adventure. The only thing I'm worried about is the mechanical balance of the character options in the Adventurer's Handbook--splatbooks have a history of upsetting the balance of the core classes.

Those covers, even though they don't really scream "Elemental Evil" to me, are still quite awesome on many levels.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Many?


I sincerely doubt that the 1E-playing market is anything but a fraction of the market for the new edition.

I think Sir Antoine was speaking tongue-in-cheek. (If not, then Poe's Law applies.)

 

[Staffan]

The only thing I'm worried about is the mechanical balance of the character options in the Adventurer's Handbook--splatbooks have a history of upsetting the balance of the core classes.

My hope is that since 5e generally focuses on fewer but bigger choices compared to 3e/PF (Pathfinder rogue: choose a talent every other level; 5e rogue: At level 3, choose Thief, Assassin, or Arcane Trickster), it will be easier to balance those choices since you can do them as a "package deal." Also, since one choice is mutually exclusive with the others, you don't need to watch out for weird synergies.

 

[aramis erak]

I finished running Hoard of the Dragon Queen last night. My group will begin Rise of Tiamat next week. Given that Ed Greenwood was writing about Tiamat in 1983 (his tremendously important articles on the Nine Hells) and that Tiamat herself in D&D predates Dragonlance by several years, I've had no problem with the current FR storyline.

Are the adventures FR stories? Yes, yes they are. The fact is that running them in Krynn would feel utterly wrong. Even running them in Greyhawk would feel wrong to me (and most of my home games in the last 20 years have been set there). And the reason that they are Realms stories is because they take advantage of the characters and societies of the Realms.

I've read a lot of adventures that you could set anywhere, including more than a few that are allegedly set in a particular world. I could conceivably set Hoard on another world, but Rise has so many links to the Realms that changing its location would rip out too much for me to consider it worthwhile.

I'm not a Realms fan... Sure, I've got the grey box SOMEWHERE... but I never really appreciated it. (It was "inherited" from a college roommate who went AWOL from the Army.)

But I'm noticing that, as Merric has, there are lots of touches that I've seen only in other Realms adventures. The factions, the specific groups, the great old magics (as exemplified by the enchantment illuminating Elturiel)...

It wouldn't be that hard to take the basic plot, nor most of Chapters 1-3 into Mystara, but Mystara lacks the factionalism. And the iconic Red Wizards of Thay have no particular readily identifiable equivalent. So porting Hoard would be a good bit of effort, and would lack the inherent "Let's have your faction impose the adventure upon you" that can be done within the Realms. And I've not even looked at Rise.

Likewise, Mystara would have the other immortals (especially Ka) stomp the excrement out of Takhisis' attempt to destroy the status quo right before the ending. So, the overall storyline would not work nearly so well on Mystara, because the obvious end is going to unite most of the Mystaran Immortals against whichever upstart decides to go manifesting willy-nilly...

If the guys doing Elemental Evil do as good a job as Kobold did with Hoard, it will not feel like a port...

 

[Sailor Moon]

Tiamat was a minor power that few outside of the Old Empires even knew about.

Sounds like someone was flipping through the 2nd edition Cult of the Dragon supplement and saw that Tiamat had an interest in the Cult and went from there.

Out of all the villains and gods out there, they could have chosen something a bit more popular and frankly a bit more interesting.