Netheril's Fall - First Impressions

If Astarion's Book of Hungers is the player-facing add-on for Heroes of Faerun, than Netheril's Fall is the slightly more beefy add-on for Adventures in Faerun. The new digital "DLC" for the Forgotten Realms book is a gazetteer for the lost kingdom of Netheril, with an overview of the fallen kingdom, a look at two of its cities (one flying city, Eileanar, and the landbound city Conch), some magically-themed environmental hazards, and a short collection of mini-adventures in the style of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Netheril's Fall is functionally a mini-gazetteer, albeit not quite as beefy as the five gazetteers found in Adventures in Faerun that detail various regions.

At first glance, it's easy to see why Netheril's Fall wasn't included in Adventures in Faerun. Netheril is a fallen empire and having an adventure in Netheril will likely require the use of time gates (which are conveniently explained in the supplement, with two adventures dedicated to traveling and crossing through a Time Gate. I'll note that the adventures in this book feel much more specific than what we saw in Adventures in Faerun or the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. While the adventures in other books could be "plugged" into any level-appropriate campaign, these adventures feel much more narrow in scope and cover specific locations or events found in the DLC. There's a few adventures in Adventures in Faerun that cover locales seen in the gazetteer, but there aren't very many that cover a specific event. I don't mind the "one page adventure" format, but I'm not sure it works with every adventure type. If an adventure sends players into a mad wizard's attempted ascent into godhood, I want a little more meat than a few encounters and a resolution of "well, the players will have time to explore the city before the ritual fails."

Another criticism I have of Netheril's Fall is that Netheril doesn't feel nearly as fantastical as an ancient high-magic society should. Given that Adventures in Faerun did a very find job of elevating the Forgotten Realms beyond its generic high fantasy trappings, I feel like a bit more care could have really sold Netheril as more fantastical in nature than what we got. If we could have gotten a few more pages about Netheril's culture, I feel like Netheril would have been more appealing as a place that DMs would want to incorporate into their campaigns. As presented, there are a few cool ideas, but even the phaerimm (one of my favorite D&D monsters) feel a bit flat compared to what we would have gotten.

I was critical of Astarion's Book of Hunger's price point, and while I feel that $15 is still too high for Netheril's Fall, there's a lot more "content" compared to that book. Generally speaking, some adventure content, a gazetteer, and some monster statblocks is probably a bit more valuable than one new species and a collection of feats, although I'm probably a bit biased towards DM content since I'm usually the one behind the DM screen. I personally would had preferred a $10 price point for this DLC, but others may feel that the price point of these are more fair.

All in all, I feel a bit underwhelmed by Netheril's Fall. Netheril seems like a very cool part of Forgotten Realms lore, but it's not given full justice here. I know there's some other Netheril content out there from past editions, and I encourage people to check those out on DMs Guild if they want a real deep dive into this lost empire.

 

[Maxperson]

Based on your approach, you could also say that the Thirty Years War is myth and legend for your average real life person, because they might have trouble identifying the protagonists by name. Which might be the case, actually.

But I'd like to address the possibility of more formal learning as a solution. Even if it is canonical that elves lives longer, maybe in some case for 2,000 years, I am not sure they recall the information better over time. Maybe Karsus' folly is the equivalent of the WTC attacks and most elves who were there remember the event and what they were doing even a very long time after. But if we take something a little less dramatic, there is a lot of things we know at some point and forgot. If you're the kind of person who know you current cabinet members, can you name the cabinet members of 20 years ago? If not, maybe the 2,000 years old elf was knowledgeable about the Netheril Empire because it was next door, but forgot most of it after some time.

The elven mind works differently. They are similar to Vulcans in that they undertake mental exercises and actually go back to dwell on prior memories via reverie. They would not forget the past like humans do.

From Mordenkainen's

HISTORY, MY YOUNG FRI ENDS? JUST BECAUSE YOUR lives are as fleetingly swift as a hummingbird's flight is no cause to say mine constitutes history. History is the weave of things outside life , not for those still within its loom. Still I shall tell you of my lifetime and my clan's lifetime, as my clansong has not been sung in over a century. In reverie, the People may learn all that has passed for them and their predecessors. Now, in songs that were once only sung in celebration, I may teach you brief candles of humanity of the People and your own place among us. - Cymbiir Haevault, Lorekeeper of House Haevault"


"Perhaps more so than any other race, elves are familiar with all aspects of memory. F rom birth, elves don't sleep but instead enter a trance when they need to rest. In this state, elves remain aware of their surroundings while immersing themselves in memories. What an elf remembers during this reverie depends largely on how long the elf has lived, and the events of the lives that the elf's soul has experienced before."

"During a young elf's first few years, the memories evoked during trance are drawn not from current life experiences, but from the fantastic past adventures of the elf's immortal soul. Parents of young elves and priests of Erevan Ilesere encourage the youths to explore these memories and talk about them with one another"

"Events from centuries ago that are distant or even ancient history to humans might have been experienced firsthand by many elves who are still alive. And an elf's memory of such events is likely more accurate than a well-researched historian's account, because the elf can revisit the memory over and over during trance, fixing it more firmly in mind each time."

 

[Zardnaar]

The elven mind works differently. They are similar to Vulcans in that they undertake mental exercises and actually go back to dwell on prior memories via reverie. They would not forget the past like humans do.

From Mordenkainen's

HISTORY, MY YOUNG FRI ENDS? JUST BECAUSE YOUR lives are as fleetingly swift as a hummingbird's flight is no cause to say mine constitutes history. History is the weave of things outside life , not for those still within its loom. Still I shall tell you of my lifetime and my clan's lifetime, as my clansong has not been sung in over a century. In reverie, the People may learn all that has passed for them and their predecessors. Now, in songs that were once only sung in celebration, I may teach you brief candles of humanity of the People and your own place among us. - Cymbiir Haevault, Lorekeeper of House Haevault"


"Perhaps more so than any other race, elves are familiar with all aspects of memory. F rom birth, elves don't sleep but instead enter a trance when they need to rest. In this state, elves remain aware of their surroundings while immersing themselves in memories. What an elf remembers during this reverie depends largely on how long the elf has lived, and the events of the lives that the elf's soul has experienced before."

"During a young elf's first few years, the memories evoked during trance are drawn not from current life experiences, but from the fantastic past adventures of the elf's immortal soul. Parents of young elves and priests of Erevan Ilesere encourage the youths to explore these memories and talk about them with one another"

"Events from centuries ago that are distant or even ancient history to humans might have been experienced firsthand by many elves who are still alive. And an elf's memory of such events is likely more accurate than a well-researched historian's account, because the elf can revisit the memory over and over during trance, fixing it more firmly in mind each time."

The elf would still have to experience the events.

Very few elves lived in Netheril. Cormanthyr and Everska were contemporaries.

They would know Theres a magic using kingdom next door of humans. But they probably dont know much about the internal workings of the empire.

Even in the internet age I dont know who a lot of figures in public space in the USA are for example.

Netherils probably better documented than say Rome. Average person probably doesn't have access to these documents or are interested in them.

IRL a lot of people don't engage with current events or keep up with internet stuff.