Do i need Expedition to Undermountain?

[Keefe the Thief]

Well, in this thread , i searched for a simple way to hyperlink the scanned maps from the Undermountain boxed set to the relevant room information. I decided to use Microsoft Onenote to do the linking and describing, forgetting about stats and rules during this phase of my campaign preparation. I got frustrated with entering all the text by hand and scanned the pages, simply pasting the OCRed text where it belongs. Then i pasted all the different "Expedition to Undermountain rooms" articles from WotC in, and now i´m finished. For stat blocks, i´ll use the RPG stats side of the miniature stat cards you can get from Wizards for free - i created a separate "monsters" tab and simply push the cards in there and hyperlink to the location where i need them.

Now, i had to give the boxed set back and cannot seem to find one i´m able to afford in Germany. But of course, the Expedition book is out, and it´ll be christmas soon. Perfect gift from me to me, i think.

The only question i have - do i need it? Or have i made it obsolete with my preparations? I´ve filled all the rooms contained in the boxed set, and nearly all those provided by WotC. Is there too much overlap? Or can you convince myself to burn the money and get hardcover goodness in a couple of weeks?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I think you will find it won't help much. It only details small sections of the ruins, without matching to the original maps.

The various Undermountain boxed sets are available as pdfs -- why not go that route? There's the second boxed set (RoUM II), Skullport, and three additional UM adventures.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

I think you will find it won't help much. It only details small sections of the ruins, without matching to the original maps.

The various Undermountain boxed sets are available as pdfs -- why not go that route? There's the second boxed set (RoUM II), Skullport, and three additional UM adventures.

*Sigh*
Yes i know. But, you see, me and books... It´s love

 

[Psion]

I think you will find it won't help much. It only details small sections of the ruins, without matching to the original maps.

I'd like to get more detail on that.

That just makes me gnash my teeth and exclaim "what were they thinking?" Oy.

 

[Imruphel]

I love books too but Expedition to Those Parts of Undermountain That We Felt Like Mapping But, Heck, We Couldn't Even Get the Map of the Yawning Portal Right is a serious waste of money. I would echo the suggestion to get the 2E PDFs and/or the Dungeon Under The Mountain PDFs from 0One Games.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

I'd like to get more detail on that.

That just makes me gnash my teeth and exclaim "what were they thinking?" Oy.

Yes, me too - if the maps do not fit the ones in the old box, it´s going to be a waste of money for me... Too much work already done. Hmm, looks like .pdfs for Christmas. Oh well...

 

[Psion]

As for me, I already have all the undermountain PDFs. And print for that matter. It wouldn't feel right excluding EtUM it from my collection.

And yeah, the 0one games "Under the Mountain" maps are great if you have that innovative spirit that (AFAIAC) the original undermountain required. They have several encounter PDFs in addition to the maps. (I even though about just using the encounter descriptions from the original UM book and dropping them into the 0one maps. It's not like the relative locations of most of the encounters in RoU had much relevance.)

One designer (not one at WotC) even blasted 0one for mimicking the RoU layout and feel. AFAIAC, if WotC isn't going to put an honest to gosh effort into making UM what it should be, it's an ethical "no harm, no foul".

 

[ruleslawyer]

Where would one find the 0one product?

FWIW, I agree with Olgar, Imruphel, and Psion. Undermountain has been used a great deal in my games, and yet I do not own EtU (I spent the time on simply converting the original boxed set encounters to 3.5, instead of the money on the hardcover). It's really a gigantic waste.

I'd go with the pdfs... or specifically the first one (not a fan of RoU II). There's more than enough in there to make months of campaigning.

 

[Psion]

Where would one find the 0one product?

Look here:
http://www.yourgamesnow.com/index.p...s_id=6&zenid=500f17180a981346200473bac6c08468

Specifically the "Rooms & Encounter" products and the "Dungeon under the mountain" products.

They are also at the enworld RPGnow storefront, but I can't get at that interface; there seems to be a problem with it right now.

I'd go with the pdfs... or specifically the first one (not a fan of RoU II). There's more than enough in there to make months of campaigning.

There are parts of RoU2 I like and parts I really don't (that stupid test-of-Tyr thing comes to mind.)

 

[Faraer]

The only question i have - do i need it?

Expedition to Undermountain contains an overview of Undermountain with small, unlabelled, sometimes partial maps, including the best published information on the main levels below the third; four separate encounter areas; and an appendix of magic and monsters. The first two adventure chapters take place in the first and second levels, and do correspond to the level maps in both EtU and RoU. The first shows rooms detailed in RoU, but modified since it's 15 years later. The second shows rooms not detailed in RoU. The second two are in never-before-detailed levels.