D&D General Most Accessible Sword Coast Novel?

[Paul Farquhar]

With respect to the original post, Dalkwalker on Moonshae is one of the more accessible FR novels, in that a) it sucks less than most and b) doesn't require you to have read a bunch of other novels beforehand.

The main drawback is it's not really the Sword Coast. The same goes for The Crystal Shard. Doesn't really describe the Sword Coast.

Personally, I think the CRPG Baldur's Gate is the best way to get the "feel" of the region. Unfortunately, the novelization falls victim to the FR novel curse of suckyness.

 

[pukunui]

I’m not sure the Moonshae trilogy is appropriate for kids, though. I seem to recall there being a corrupted druid who magically alters her body to make it more voluptuous and then magically seduces Tristan. I don’t remember which book that’s in but I’m not sure I’d want my 10 yo reading that.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I’m not sure the Moonshae trilogy is appropriate for kids, though. I seem to recall there being a corrupted druid who magically alters her body to make it more voluptuous and then magically seduces Tristan. I don’t remember which book that’s in but I’m not sure I’d want my 10 yo reading that.

It's not the first one. I think I would recommend that as a stand-alone rather than the trilogy as a whole.

 

[Parmandur]

Cool! I didn't know that.

So it looks like they were originally in the FR but that the appearance of the islands were changed to suit the novel (the original archipelago became an island group similar to the British Isles as per the novel). Doug Niles changed the name to Moonshae in his novel to suit what Ed Greenwood already had in place.

So the correct way to put this is that the Moonshaes were always part of FR. It's just that the Doug Niles Darkwalker on Moonshae novel, originally slated for the Dragonlance universe, was ported over to FR for marketing purposes (along with a few tweaks on the FR side to accommodate the parts of the novel already written).

More than a few tweaks, the only thing kept was the name of the islands, which I had forgotten. Nothing of the original from Greenwoods conception made it through.

 

[Parmandur]

With respect to the original post, Dalkwalker on Moonshae is one of the more accessible FR novels, in that a) it sucks less than most and b) doesn't require you to have read a bunch of other novels beforehand.

The main drawback is it's not really the Sword Coast. The same goes for The Crystal Shard. Doesn't really describe the Sword Coast.

Personally, I think the CRPG Baldur's Gate is the best way to get the "feel" of the region. Unfortunately, the novelization falls victim to the FR novel curse of suckyness.

Both the Moonshaes and Icewind Dale are part of the Sword Coast region as defined by SCAG, and they do both have coasts that touch the Sea of Swords.

It is helpful to remember that the Sword Coast area is somewhat larger than Europe.

 

[pukunui]

It's not the first one. I think I would recommend that as a stand-alone rather than the trilogy as a whole.

OK. It must be in the second or third one. It’s been years since I read them.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

More than a few tweaks, the only thing kept was the name of the islands, which I had forgotten. Nothing of the original from Greenwoods conception made it through.

Really? Do you have another quote to back that up? Because that is not what was said in the quote you linked (i.e. nothing from Greenwood's Moonshaes was retained).

 

[Parmandur]

Really? Do you have another quote to back that up? Because that is not what was said in the quote you linked (i.e. nothing from Greenwood's Moonshaes was retained).

The two passages make it pretty clear that nothing was retained, they just replaced it wholesale with Douglas Nile's novel Setting. It is a different geography, with different politics. Different place entirely.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

The two passages make it pretty clear that nothing was retained, they just replaced it wholesale with Douglas Nile's novel Setting. It is a different geography, with different politics. Different place entirely.

"We looked at Doug's book and Ed's World. It was a good fit, both being rooted strongly in "traditional fantasy." Compromises were made. Doug took the name of extant island grouping in the Realms. Ed accepted the change of the appearance of the islands (they were an arching archipelgio as opposed to british-shaped chunk). The world was new and we had not published yet."

You might be extrapolating a little bit...

 

[Parmandur]

"We looked at Doug's book and Ed's World. It was a good fit, both being rooted strongly in "traditional fantasy." Compromises were made. Doug took the name of extant island grouping in the Realms. Ed accepted the change of the appearance of the islands (they were an arching archipelgio as opposed to british-shaped chunk). The world was new and we had not published yet."

You might be extrapolating a little bit...

The Greenwood portion where he explains the completely different culture in a completely different geographic context seems relevant.