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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vanuslux" data-source="post: 2009224" data-attributes="member: 937">I had been looking forward to the 3rd Edition relaunch of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting with much anticipation and great expectations.  The Forgotten Realms novels were what lured me into fantasy role-playing and I was a big fan of the setting back in the 2nd Edition days.  Appearances - Gone are the days of the classic boxed set format for campaign settings.  The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (FRCS) is a gorgeous 320 page hardbound book with a map gooed to the back cover.  The map is pretty nice, though it doesn't cover as large of an area as I would have liked.  Aside from one annoyance, the layout of the book is quite likeable.  The interior art ranges from mediocre to quite good, with most of it just being nice but dull.Content -     Introduction: Just a few pages of overview to get us reacquainted with the setting and give us the stats for Elminster, the single most annoying character in all of role-playing.  Don't get me wrong...I don't care that he's uber-powerful.  I'm just sick to death of the fact that he's everywhere you turn in the Forgotten Realms. Absence makes the heart grow fonder...so take a vacation already.    Chapter 1 - Characters: This book cuts to the chase and goes straight to how to make a character in the Forgotten Realms.  46 pages of races, racial variants, feats, and prestige classes.  The presentation is good, and I have few complaints about the crunchy stuff except that the prestige classes seem like they're overpowered.  I somehow expected that from the Forgotten Realms though.      Chapter 2 - Magic: Magic is a central part of the Forgotten Realms, so I was surprised that this chapter was only 22 pages long.  A lot of different types of magic are touched upon very briefly, but it's obvious that they saved the meaty stuff for the Magic of Faerun supplement.  I was delighted, however, by the load of new domains and thrilled that they didn't include the loathsome concept of prestige domains.  The news spells struck me as run-of-the-mill, but not bad.      Chapter 3 - Life in Faerun: Another 22 page long chapter, this one a pleasant overview of what life is like in the land of Faerun.  The seasons, the languages, the coinage and things like that, with a handful of new equipment.  The weapons are cool and most of the items having a degree of usefulness like insect netting and bandoleers.  However, I do question the sense of not one, but two herbal contraceptives (one for each gender, and far more effective than any drug available today).  All in all a decent chapter.    Chapter 4 - Geography: Here lies 134 pages of information about the diverse regions of Faerun.  I really fell in love with this chapter.  Not only does each entry have the basic stats (Capital, population, imports/exports, etc), history, major geographical features, important locations, and societal information, but it they each also have plots and rumors associated with the area which makes it hard to read any given entry without getting a good idea for an adventure or even campaign.  I could have done without the NPCs in each entry, but they didn't bother me either.      Chapter 5 - Deities: The gods of the Forgotten Realms are real movers and shakers, rarely content to leave the mortal's to their own devices.  This 28 page chapter gives a nice run down of a hefty number of deities, and the information is pretty useful for both DM and players.  Definitely an excellent chapter.    Chapter 6 - History: I'm not a real history buff in real life, and I'm not much more interested in the history of a fantasy world.  I'm more into current events.  That is why I'm glad this chapter was a scant 12 pages.  It covers some of the major points and gives an "abbreviated" timeline.  That's pretty much all I care to know.     Chapter 7 - Organizations: I was disappointed in this chapter, as I would have liked it to have taken a cue from the Geography chapter and included plots and rumors.  At only 12 pages, there really isn't enough room to do justice to the 12 organizations represented, especially with NPC stats taking up most of that space.    Chapter 8 - The Color of Ambition: A 4 page mini-adventure.  Not bad, not great.  It's just there.  I would rather it not have been, but at least it didn't take up much space.    Chapter 9 - Running the Realms: This is an eccentric 14 page chapter that is hard to describe.  It is mostly a DM's grab-bag.  A list of some known dungeons, level adjustments for a handful of races, tips on running a campaign.  Stuff like that.  Mostly useful, if somewhat chaotic.    Chapter 10 - Green Bones: Another short adventure, this one 6 pages long and no more special than the other one.  What really annoys me is that they didn't group the adventures together.  Putting a useful chapter between them just highlights their near uselessness.      Chapter 11 - Monsters: This chapter is 8 pages of spiffy critters.  Not a whole lot of them, mind you.  Just some lizards, a winged cat, the death tyrant beholder, dracolich, kir-lanan gargoyle, rothe (underdark cattle), and shade.  Good stuff, but left me wanting more.    Index - This book has an awesome index.  Enough said.  In Conclusion -  The FRCS is a big, cool, expensive book.  It met my expectations and surpassed a few of them.  There were some minor disappointments, but mostly nitpicks.  There's a lot of stuff crammed into these pages, though most of it is setting specific.  Hence its usefulness to non-Forgotten Realms gamers is diminished greatly...but that's generally how it is with setting books.</blockquote>

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