Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 7880362" data-attributes="member: 16069"><p><strong>#038 Shadowdale by Scott Ciencin (Avatar 1) </strong></p><p><strong>Read 18/12/19 to 24/12/19</strong></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]117020[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Well... this one was toughie, I liked it and then I didn't like it. Then... I liked it and then I didn't like it, I kept on putting it down (and not picking it up again), and for two days I was full on Christmas force-five, and so didn't get a chance to do more than flip through a few pages.</p><p></p><p>So, the Gods have been kicked out/off the Planes by Ao (big chief Godhead) who is severely pissed, their mortal avatars are set adrift in Faerun to do what they will- all is chaos in the Forgotten Realms and magic is just... wild (and/or busted)! It seems the Tablets of Fate have been taken (Bane & Myrkul are to blame, from memory) and Ao wants them back.</p><p></p><p>Then there are the four main players-</p><p></p><p>Midnight, beautiful wizard with crazy magic and soon after a shard of Mystra to help her get along. She's actually the only one of the quartet that isn't completely broken inside.</p><p></p><p>Kelemvor, gruff Fighter-cursed-to-turn-in-to-a-BLACK-PANTHER, if he doesn't get his reward. K is honourable (sorta), stupid, a bit of a lug, a great warrior and tactical genius and an emotional cripple (and an idiot). He gets the girl (Midnight) and then conspires to do all he can to lose the girl, he changes his mind like his pants. He's an idiot- I may have mentioned that already.</p><p></p><p>Adon, adorable (no-spells = no use) Priest of Sune who goes from cheeky chirpy chappy (with a few doubts) to a somnambulist basket case in three easy moves. He's an idiot at times, other times... he does the right thing.</p><p></p><p>Cyric is the nastiest bastard ex-Zhent Rogue who is just looking for an excuse to be an even nastier bastard, any excuse. He's called Cyric- the fifth book in this trilogy (you read that right) is called Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad... so, I'm presuming... In truth I liked Cyric at the start but then I got to see inside his head a bit and... boy, he's going to do something real bad- he's going to BLOW!</p><p></p><p>Also isn't Cyric somebody very bad in the Pantheon these days?</p><p></p><p>So, the four characters tend to change their mind a bit, or at least three of them do- the same three do and think idiot things, the explanation for their contrary actions is sometimes tissue thin. I'm reading this and thinking... No, don't do that- No, don't think that- what flimsy reason could you have... you are a dotard (mainly Kelemvor).</p><p></p><p>So there's that, then there's the fact that some of the writing seems a little plain- repetitive, maybe a little under-crafted. There are odd paragraphs (sometimes pairs of paragraphs) in which the same word is used repeatedly. For example there's a section in which the characters are attacked by Spiders- in ten lines the word "Spider" or "Spiders" is used 14 times. Which is okay, but a bit of variety- or else a bit more descriptive phrasing to crank up the tension- eight-legged menace, whatever, anything but "Spiders". I realise this may appear as nit-picking, but it happens a lot (in some sections)- single words, or simple phrases- repeated often.</p><p></p><p>It doesn't heighten the... well, anything.</p><p></p><p>And I bet you're thinking- so where's the good stuff, what did I like in it- well, here goes-</p><p></p><p>The four characters are all broken, they are not toothpaste commercial heroes, they don't have the best lines, or the slickest moves (they do have some slick moves) they bumble and fumble, they're frail and at the same time unbending; they're egotistical and at the same time pathos-worthy, they're... very interesting.</p><p></p><p>A bit like- shhh, whisper it- PCs.</p><p></p><p>Also there are some cool fight/flight scenes, a bit of Elminster that I actually liked, and a ton of other bits of action that are in some part splendid. The illusion/quest stuff at the beginning was just great.</p><p></p><p>Bane and his lieutenants are suitably terrible and awful (in a good/bad way- work that out), the exploding mage scene is a hoot and only needs a Wah-wah-wah sound effect to make it a thing of beauty.</p><p></p><p>Some of the villain stuff is, as previously, just cringeworthy- the bad guys keep doing the wrong thing, making bad assumptions- but then again, that's how they ended up where they are- being the bad guys.</p><p></p><p>So, overall- I'm in. It's a ragbag, but worth the effort... I think.</p><p></p><p>Read.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Goonalan, post: 7880362, member: 16069"] [B]#038 Shadowdale by Scott Ciencin (Avatar 1) Read 18/12/19 to 24/12/19[/B] [ATTACH alt="Forgotten Realms Shadowdale (Avatar 1) a 30.jpg"]117020[/ATTACH] Well... this one was toughie, I liked it and then I didn't like it. Then... I liked it and then I didn't like it, I kept on putting it down (and not picking it up again), and for two days I was full on Christmas force-five, and so didn't get a chance to do more than flip through a few pages. So, the Gods have been kicked out/off the Planes by Ao (big chief Godhead) who is severely pissed, their mortal avatars are set adrift in Faerun to do what they will- all is chaos in the Forgotten Realms and magic is just... wild (and/or busted)! It seems the Tablets of Fate have been taken (Bane & Myrkul are to blame, from memory) and Ao wants them back. Then there are the four main players- Midnight, beautiful wizard with crazy magic and soon after a shard of Mystra to help her get along. She's actually the only one of the quartet that isn't completely broken inside. Kelemvor, gruff Fighter-cursed-to-turn-in-to-a-BLACK-PANTHER, if he doesn't get his reward. K is honourable (sorta), stupid, a bit of a lug, a great warrior and tactical genius and an emotional cripple (and an idiot). He gets the girl (Midnight) and then conspires to do all he can to lose the girl, he changes his mind like his pants. He's an idiot- I may have mentioned that already. Adon, adorable (no-spells = no use) Priest of Sune who goes from cheeky chirpy chappy (with a few doubts) to a somnambulist basket case in three easy moves. He's an idiot at times, other times... he does the right thing. Cyric is the nastiest bastard ex-Zhent Rogue who is just looking for an excuse to be an even nastier bastard, any excuse. He's called Cyric- the fifth book in this trilogy (you read that right) is called Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad... so, I'm presuming... In truth I liked Cyric at the start but then I got to see inside his head a bit and... boy, he's going to do something real bad- he's going to BLOW! Also isn't Cyric somebody very bad in the Pantheon these days? So, the four characters tend to change their mind a bit, or at least three of them do- the same three do and think idiot things, the explanation for their contrary actions is sometimes tissue thin. I'm reading this and thinking... No, don't do that- No, don't think that- what flimsy reason could you have... you are a dotard (mainly Kelemvor). So there's that, then there's the fact that some of the writing seems a little plain- repetitive, maybe a little under-crafted. There are odd paragraphs (sometimes pairs of paragraphs) in which the same word is used repeatedly. For example there's a section in which the characters are attacked by Spiders- in ten lines the word "Spider" or "Spiders" is used 14 times. Which is okay, but a bit of variety- or else a bit more descriptive phrasing to crank up the tension- eight-legged menace, whatever, anything but "Spiders". I realise this may appear as nit-picking, but it happens a lot (in some sections)- single words, or simple phrases- repeated often. It doesn't heighten the... well, anything. And I bet you're thinking- so where's the good stuff, what did I like in it- well, here goes- The four characters are all broken, they are not toothpaste commercial heroes, they don't have the best lines, or the slickest moves (they do have some slick moves) they bumble and fumble, they're frail and at the same time unbending; they're egotistical and at the same time pathos-worthy, they're... very interesting. A bit like- shhh, whisper it- PCs. Also there are some cool fight/flight scenes, a bit of Elminster that I actually liked, and a ton of other bits of action that are in some part splendid. The illusion/quest stuff at the beginning was just great. Bane and his lieutenants are suitably terrible and awful (in a good/bad way- work that out), the exploding mage scene is a hoot and only needs a Wah-wah-wah sound effect to make it a thing of beauty. Some of the villain stuff is, as previously, just cringeworthy- the bad guys keep doing the wrong thing, making bad assumptions- but then again, that's how they ended up where they are- being the bad guys. So, overall- I'm in. It's a ragbag, but worth the effort... I think. Read. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)
Top