D&D General Forgotten Realms Book preview from NYCC

Nerd Initiative on YouTube previewed the new Forgotten Realms books with Mackenzie De Armas in this short video, including a quick flip-through of the Adventures in Faerun book.



During the quick flip-through, he shows off blurry but mostly readable pages from the Dalelands section of the book, including a few of the DMG-style adventures, including a level 13 adventure called Heart of Fire, where the party is asked to recover a magic item in an Adult Red Dragon's hoard.

Notably, none of the adventures you can see in the video seem to have any new monsters from the book included. Also, not all of the adventures are confined to a single page. Some seem to be at least a page and a half, while others are even smaller to just a half page.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

There's extensive references to the Shadovar in the books, and yet no stat blocks for them. I wonder if they'll be among the monsters included in Netheril's Fall? I also hope that supplement has beefier phaerimm in it!

Shadovar are mostly human, and so the statblocks for described members are just things like Mage. Netheril's Fall will appearntly have more Phaerimm.

 

[TravDoc42]

Shadovar are mostly human, and so the statblocks for described members are just things like Mage. Netheril's Fall will appearntly have more Phaerimm.

That makes sense! And I look forward to seeing those phaerimm. Thanks!!

 

[Demetrios1453]

That makes sense! And I look forward to seeing those phaerimm. Thanks!!

I definitely was wondering where the higher-level phaerimm were, and putting them in the Netheril suppliment certainly does make sense!

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Toronto was established in 1793, which means a) it has nothing medieval, and b) it has nothing more than 232 years old - the Sword Coast cities all have much longer histories. Ed is Canadian, but I don't think he really used his local cities as primary inspiration.

Much of D&D is based on US Western tropes which are even younger than that, what's your point? You can see both Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms are inspired much more by North American tropes than anything actual medieval, that's why you get these strange urban centres sitting by themselves, whereas in actual medieval europe, cities were surrounded by rural villages, providing food and supplies to them, and the military power in most nation was in the manor estates. Cities provided wealth. You can also see it in how terribly any monarchy seems to be portrayed in D&D - I mean, Ed Greenwood (and Chris Perkins for that matter) were literally born in monarchies yet still seem to have no understanding of them...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Much of D&D is based on US Western tropes which are even younger than that, what's your point

Point: those tropes (at least with regards to things like how people dressed) were not specifically US. The tropes were the same in the UK and elsewhere.

that's why you get these strange urban centres sitting by themselves, whereas in actual medieval europe, cities were surrounded by rural villages, providing food and supplies to them, and the military power in most nation was in the manor estates

The existence of extensive farmland around Baldur’s Gate and the like has long been assumed. And not all European cities were built like that way - eg Venice is surrounded by swamp, because its location was selected for defence. If D&D cities were based on US cities they would all be less than 200 years old, built on a gridiron street plan, and not have walls. Whereas almost all D&D cities are old, with layers of settlement from earlier periods, with twisty turny streets, castles and walls. Because they were based on European cities by people who were not historical ignoramuses.

You can also see it in how terribly any monarchy seems to be portrayed in D&D - I mean, Ed Greenwood (and Chris Perkins for that matter) were literally born in monarchies yet still seem to have no understanding of them

Modern monarchy has no resemblance to medieval monarchy, and Ed Greenwood in particular liked to experiment with types of government drawn from his imagination rather than history.

 

[Parmandur]

Point: those tropes (at least with regards to things like how people dressed) were not specifically US. The tropes were the same in the UK and elsewhere.

The existence of extensive farmland around Baldur’s Gate and the like has long been assumed. And not all European cities were built like that way - eg Venice is surrounded by swamp, because its location was selected for defence. If D&D cities were based on US cities they would all be less than 200 years old, built on a gridiron street plan, and not have walls. Whereas almost all D&D cities are old, with layers of settlement from earlier periods, with twisty turny streets, castles and walls. Because they were based on European cities by people who were not historical ignoramuses.

Modern monarchy has no resemblance to medieval monarchy, and Ed Greenwood in particular liked to experiment with types of government drawn from his imagination rather than history.

Yes, the physical layout of the cities is drawn from Medieval and Classical examples mixed with imagination. Greenwood has a gift for creative settlement cartography, 1990's Forgotten Realms Adventures is excellent for all the diverse city maps, that's where Baldur's Gate first git detailed for example.

But the people populating the cities, the characters? Slightly less Medieval, less European.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Doom of Daggerdale is for Levels 1-3
Sword of the Dales is for Levels 1-4
Secret of Spider Haunt is for Levels 1-4
Return of Randal Morn is for Levels 1-4
Shadowdale: Scouring of the land is for Levels 9-13

I'm also planning on using Forge of Fury which is designed for Levels 3-5 to represent ancient Dwarven Kingdom of Tethyamar

This is a cool plan, if you need extra content then I recall Dungeon magazine had two Daelands adventures: the Raiders of Galath's Roots in issue #87 and Woe to Mistledale in issue #100, which I think is a sequel to Raiders.

 

[TheSword]

This is a cool plan, if you need extra content then I recall Dungeon magazine had two Daelands adventures: the Raiders of Galath's Roots in issue #87 and Woe to Mistledale in issue #100, which I think is a sequel to Raiders.

Love Raiders. It was actually the first adventure I ever ran for the face to face group I DM for. As part of a one off at a 4 day ‘con’ at @GuyBoy ‘s house some 22 years ago. I didn’t realize there was a sequel though that is awesome!

My plan is a Dalelands war/politics campaign

• The Zhents harassing from the north first by infiltration then by full invasion
• Archendale using mercantile protectionism and transactional diplomacy to try and force smaller/poorer dales to join them and push back Sembia. Even to the point of leaving the northern dales to the mercy of the Zhents
• Cormanthor drow causing all sorts of trouble - provoking the breaking of the Dales Compact and the shattering of the standing stone.
• Rise of the Eldreth Velluthra
• Mages of all stripes trying to interfere culminating in a Mage Fair Conclave.

It’s going to have quite a Witcher/Witcher3 vibe I hope. With the PCs exploring ruins, taking sides and helping one faction or another. Culminating in a decent exploration of Myth Drannor.

 

[Zardnaar]

Love Raiders. It was actually the first adventure I ever ran for the face to face group I DM for. As part of a one off at a 4 day ‘con’ at @GuyBoy ‘s house some 22 years ago. I didn’t realize there was a sequel though that is awesome!

My plan is a Dalelands war/politics campaign

• The Zhents harassing from the north first by infiltration then by full invasion
• Archendale using mercantile protectionism and transactional diplomacy to try and force smaller/poorer dales to join them and push back Sembia. Even to the point of leaving the northern dales to the mercy of the Zhents
• Cormanthor drow causing all sorts of trouble - provoking the breaking of the Dales Compact and the shattering of the standing stone.
• Rise of the Eldreth Velluthra
• Mages of all stripes trying to interfere culminating in a Mage Fair Conclave.

It’s going to have quite a Witcher/Witcher3 vibe I hope. With the PCs exploring ruins, taking sides and helping one faction or another. Culminating in a decent exploration of Myth Drannor.

Basically 3E

I'll have to dig up those Dungeon magazines.

 

[TheSword]

Basically 3E

I'll have to dig up those Dungeon magazines.

Absolutely. It was probably my favorite time in the Dales. Though there’s been a Zhent invasion of shadowdale pretty much every edition so take your pick!

I’m toying with the idea of having a different adventure in each Dale but I think that might be too artificial.