D&D Brand Manager of Fluff

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Years ago, I did my own work on that, listing out the trade goods coming from a number of nations in western Greyhawk, where I run my campaign. It always struck me as a good investment of my DMing time, to know what comes from where. My inspiration, more than anything, is the discovery of Southfarthing pipeweed in the ruins of Orthanc in the Two Towers -- a little minor dungeon dressing detail with a lot of portent built into it.

You know, this is the kind of thing that would go great on Wizards' site. Have there been Eberron and Forgotten Realms articles like this at all?

Because you're right: Knowing what's coming where -- and what's valuable where -- seems like an idea gold mine for a DM (and enterprising players).

 

[der_kluge]

You know, this is the kind of thing that would go great on Wizards' site. Have there been Eberron and Forgotten Realms articles like this at all?

Because you're right: Knowing what's coming where -- and what's valuable where -- seems like an idea gold mine for a DM (and enterprising players).

I know there's at least one campaign setting (Hârn, perhaps?) which has a detailed trade route map as part of its campaign map. I'd love to see someone put something like this together for the Wilderlands. That'd be awesome.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sight unseen, I will predict that Kalamar has trade routes detailed.

 

[Razz]

You know, this is the kind of thing that would go great on Wizards' site. Have there been Eberron and Forgotten Realms articles like this at all?

Because you're right: Knowing what's coming where -- and what's valuable where -- seems like an idea gold mine for a DM (and enterprising players).

The FRCS has a map (note sure which page, but it's in the "Life in Faerun" chapter) with trade routes and what areas trade what to where and what type of commodities they import and export. It's not definitive, but it's a really good trade route map.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Sight unseen, I will predict that Kalamar has trade routes detailed.

You're probably remembering the ads for their trade routes supplement that were in Dragon a few years ago.

Brad

 

[3catcircus]

Sight unseen, I will predict that Kalamar has trade routes detailed.

Correct, sir! Well - to a degree. The Kalamar Atlas is more explicit than FRCS on where the trade routes are, but there isn't any information in the KoK Campaign Setting, nor in the Atlas, regarding imports/exports in great detail for each region. In the KoK Atlas, a trade route might have "wheat and livestock" going in one direction and "slaves" going in the other, but no details beyond that.

FRCS and KoKCS take two different, but mostly equivalent, approaches to providing trade route information.

 

[blargney the second]

The FRCS has a map with trade routes and what areas trade what to where and what type of commodities they import and export.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that! I wish Eberron had something similar, because I really enjoyed that feature.

 

[haakon1]

Correct, sir! Well - to a degree. The Kalamar Atlas is more explicit than FRCS on where the trade routes are, but there isn't any information in the KoK Campaign Setting, nor in the Atlas, regarding imports/exports in great detail for each region. In the KoK Atlas, a trade route might have "wheat and livestock" going in one direction and "slaves" going in the other, but no details beyond that.

FRCS and KoKCS take two different, but mostly equivalent, approaches to providing trade route information.

Wheat over an overland route, or a sea route?

I'd like stuff like this written by someone with a feel for economics and medieval history. As in, wheat will only be exported by water, otherwise going no more than about 40 miles, if we're being historical. So river valleys like the Nile, yes. Northern Canadian prairies without an outlet to the sea? No, not until railroads came along.

Most of the trade stuff I'd like to see would deal not with bulk commodity trading, but with the sort of stuff that ancient and medieval societies actually traded. I'd like to see stuff like this, from my own campaign:
-- Perrenland exports "Perrenland" cheese, famous for its holes, mercenary bands, and high-quality dwarven-designed crossbows.
-- Highfolk exports leather, leather armor, boots, and gloves. It uses cowhides from Perrenland and the Wolf Nomads and deerskins from the Vesve, while making the tannic acid from the oaks of the Vale and the Vesve, and the local halflings are expert leather workers.
-- Bissel is famous for exporting blackberry preserves from the eponymous "Bramble"wood Forest. There are also many builders of small river craft, barrels, and wagons for the trade across the Bramblewood Road, linking Eastern and Western civilizations. Most peasants, however, subsistance on hearty upland oats and pigs raised in the forest.
-- Rel Astra is famous for exporting orange liquor (like Grand Mariner), made by a secret family recipe. This high-value liquor is used for toasting and in cooking.
-- Hardby is the regional center for the spice trade. While spices from East and West can be found here, Hardby's mages have also created magical self-heating vats, from which sea salt is extracted. And the Gynarch's plantations grow hemp, which is used for rope making and medical herb that is prohibited in many lands outside the Wild Coast region.

Much more interesting, useful, and "real seeming" than "slaves for wheat".

 

[pawsplay]

I can't help but be amused by how many of the books suggested have already been done by 3rd party publishers.

That's not the point, really. If they were official WotC products, other WotC writers would be beholden to them as guidelines. the books themselves could function as throwing weapons, in the event a writer misbehaved.

 

[Shade]

Many of these have been said before upthread and in numerous threads, but I'll lend my support.

Fiendish Codex III: FC1 is IMHO, the best book released in 3rd Edition. FCII isn't bad, either. I'd love to see a continuation of this line to give the yugoloths the full treatment, and include some of the other fiendish races. Basically, combine the best elements of FCI and Lords of Madness. Leave out the new spells and prestige classes this time (unless they are geared towards the fiends themselves, not fighting them), and devote more space to the monsters, their histories, and environments.

Planetscape/Manual of the Worlds/etc.: Plane-hopping has been given a very thorough treatment in various D&D resources, but world-hopping between different Material Plane planets has been given very little. Follow the toolkit approach of Manual of the Planes, and offer various ways for getting from world to world, including (but not limited to) spelljamming, travel via gates (Stargate anyone?), and spells. Differentiate between alternate Material Planes and different worlds on the same Material Plane. Describe some of the legendary worlds from D&D's rich history.

Campaign Classics: Mystara/Dark Sun/etc.: Give each of the old campaign settings a single hardcover treatment, being as exhaustive as possible on maps, prominent locales and NPCs, unique monsters, etc. Summarize which elements from different books are appropriate for the setting in question without using the valuable limited space with reprints or reinventing the wheel. DO NOT INCLUDE ADVENTURES!

Inner Planes Book: I can't think of a clever title for this book, but it would give the Fiendish Codex/Lords of Madness treatment to the elementals and the elemental planes. It would also bring back the paraelemental and quasielemental planes as options, along with some of the best of the paraelemental and quasielemental creatures from past editions. And of course, the archomentals would be included. (BOZ and I already did the work for you in Dragon Magazine ).

Order & Anarchy: Good vs. evil is well-developed, but how about giving Law vs. Chaos a go? Include information on the legendary battle between the armies of the vaati and the Queen of Chaos. Explain how to get away from the law=good and chaos=evil mindset. Include the slaad lords and the revised modrons. Describe the planes of law and chaos in greater detail. The book could be expanded to include neutrality as well, fleshing out the societies of the rilmani and other beings of neutrality.

Complete Epic: Overhaul or replace the epic spellcasting system to be easier to use and less easy to break, expand the advice on running epic-level campaigns, gather up all the updated rules from the various books and the excellent Epic Insights column on WotC's website, and don't mention Union. Include better synergy with Deities and Demigods and revise the rules for ascencion to better fit with the epic ruleset.

Forgotten Realms: Lands of Mystery: Delve into the other continents of Toril, such as Maztica and flesh out the rest of the world.

And for the eight, the demiplanes idea described upthread sounds great.