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.

 

[RichGreen]

I'm looking forward to these books. Rich Baker is a great adventure designer - he wrote the awesome Red Hand of Doom - and knows the Realms too. Hopefully the Adventurer's Handbook will be usable in other settings too.

 

[TheCelric]

On a serious note, FR bores me, but good adventures with dragons and cults and evil and temples fit anywhere for the DM who puts in a little time to tweak the fluff. I don't see what all the grousing is about.

Heh. I can get behind this, but the lore of the FR is exciting to me. more than the adventures, I love reading where things grow to be in the future and from whence they came in the past. The adventurer's really only know the now of a campaign, unless there's some really good reason to delve in the library in-game, or it's a time jumping adventure. As a DM, I find the other things happening in the world fascinating, and try to sprinkle those into the game whenever possible. The Tavern you guys just entered is filled with people talking about such and such thing happening in far-away Cormyr. The guards at the gate warn of Red wizards in the area, and "where there are Red Wizards, there's always darkenbeasts", or zombies. Whatever. Lore and more of it.

 

[gweinel]

Did you know that you can just put these - or any! - adventures in any world you'd like? Seriously. You can. The WOTC folks won't ever know...

On a serious note, FR bores me, but good adventures with dragons and cults and evil and temples fit anywhere for the DM who puts in a little time to tweak the fluff. I don't see what all the grousing is about.

Of course I can play the adventures in any world i like. Actually I am playing the HotDQ in my homebrew campaign. This isn't the point. It is just I find annoying to take some of the iconic features of some settings (like Dragonlance and Greyhawk) and with an eclectic approach to put all these in the Realms. What about the Realms lore? Having Realms as one of my least appealing settings doesn't help to like the whole idea.

 

[Ranes]

Heh. I can get behind this, but the lore of the FR is exciting to me. more than the adventures, I love reading where things grow to be in the future and from whence they came in the past. The adventurer's really only know the now of a campaign, unless there's some really good reason to delve in the library in-game, or it's a time jumping adventure. As a DM, I find the other things happening in the world fascinating, and try to sprinkle those into the game whenever possible. The Tavern you guys just entered is filled with people talking about such and such thing happening in far-away Cormyr. The guards at the gate warn of Red wizards in the area, and "where there are Red Wizards, there's always darkenbeasts", or zombies. Whatever. Lore and more of it.

I'm not the FR's biggest fan (nor am I a huge fan of Greyhawk, as it happens) but it sounds like you're putting it to excellent use. I am a huge fan of anything to do with the Elder Elemental Eye, however, for reasons I can't quite quantify. The bottom line is, I don't see why the Realms can't take on board some EEE.

Not impressed by those covers though. That ain't no Prince of the Apocalypse, unless it's a trans-gender themed end of days thing (which is fine, of course). And I'm not sold on the strategy of combining a supplemental player's handbook with a campaign. I know it's been done lots of times before but I've never been a fan of it. I've often wanted to run such games in the past, only to find myself in the awkward situation of acting as a reluctant salesman for the supplement to a friend who thought he'd already bought into the game by investing in a PHB.

 

[Dire Bare]

Seems to me they are trying to turn FR into a generic world.

Perhaps I'm missing some sarcasm here, but . . . the Realms IS a pretty generic world. It's why Greyhawk, Mystara, and even Dragonlance don't see much action, because they are ALL fairly generic worlds without much to distinguish themselves from each other. And the Realms has long been the most popular of the three, so it makes perfect sense for WotC to highlight the setting.

The storylines of Tyranny of Dragons and Elemental Evil are PERFECT matches for FR. Retreading the War of the Lance in Dragonlance does not excite me, retreading the Temple of Elemental Evil in Greyhawk does not excite me. But adapting those themes to a different setting, one that is EASY-PEASY to translate to any homebrew? That is interesting to me, and I suspect to a lot of other people too, despite the Internet Kvetching Team's best complaints.

Guys, you are simply not going to get a new Greyhawk release anytime soon. It's also pretty unlikely we'll see a Dragonlance release in the near future. I'm a fan of both settings, and I'm excited to see their themes brought forward into the new edition. If I get a hankering to run me some classic Dragonlance, adapting Tyranny of Dragons should be super easy. Likewise with the upcoming Elemental Evil campaign if I really want to run me some Greyhawk goodness.

Or, I suppose, this is the internet. I could just join in on all the sour grapes and offended fans. Jeesh.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and the artwork is fantastic! Really don't get the complaints and weird "transgender" comments. Keep up the good work WotC! You are making at least this guy happy with 5E!

 

[SilverfireSage]

About the Greyhawk complaints, who other than grognards actually knows about Greyhawk at all? There are at least a few fantasy buffs that know about Drizzt and Elminster and the Forgotten Realms, perhaps Dragonlance as well, but Greyhawk is relatively unknown. This edition just came out and they're still trying to build up a player base, why would they try to do that with a relatively unknown setting?

 

[pukunui]

Those could just be stand-in covers, you know. Wouldn't be the first time the artwork changes between the previews and the final thing.

 

[Sitara]

So will we be seeing new character options in the Adventurers Handbook? Who is it being written by, WOTC or a 3rd party?

 

[the Jester]

Of course I can play the adventures in any world i like. Actually I am playing the HotDQ in my homebrew campaign. This isn't the point. It is just I find annoying to take some of the iconic features of some settings (like Dragonlance and Greyhawk) and with an eclectic approach to put all these in the Realms. What about the Realms lore? Having Realms as one of my least appealing settings doesn't help to like the whole idea.

Yeah, the shoehorning of everything into the 4e default setting was one of the things that, I think, left a lot of people disliking it.

Speaking as a guy who didn't use, but did like, the 4e default setting.

 

[the Jester]

Guys, you are simply not going to get a new Greyhawk release anytime soon. It's also pretty unlikely we'll see a Dragonlance release in the near future.

Cite, please.

Or are you just assuming?