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.

 

[Parmandur]

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

I mean, the Species, Backgrounds and Feats can be years of gameplay for someone, Monsters and Adventures are a but more one-off.

 

[EthanSental]

I enjoyed reading this one as well. It felt a little more substantive compared to Astarions dlc from first read but id be curious of a word count for both.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Sounds like a pass that is ideal to be downloadable content for those who really want it.

The Netheril sourcebook from 2E used to be a free download on WOTC's site; I wonder if it's still up?

 

[Zardnaar]

Sounds like a pass that is ideal to be downloadable content for those who really want it.

The Netheril sourcebook from 2E used to be a free download on WOTC's site; I wonder if it's still up?

Idk if they work but.....

Previous Edition Dungeons & Dragons Downloads

Previous Edition Dungeons & Dragons Downloads

web.archive.org

 

[TheSword]

I know these are first impressions but it feels like a lot of conclusions and not a lot of description of the product itself. What kind of items, what kind of magical hazards, what makes it interesting.

My preference would be to focus on the product contents rather than make value judgements about whether $15 is a lot of money for something. If you focus on what’s included we can decide for ourselves whether we think that’s worth the price because that’s going to be such a personal thing.

Apologies if this is just my personal hangup about people complaining TTRPG products are too expensive. For what you get they are pretty darn cheap. Comparatively speaking.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

One of the things that irritates me about Netheril, is it's sort of presented like this big legendary culture of the distant past...but it only ended and had those floating cities come down about a thousand years before the current couple of centuries (depending on edition).

When I first heard about it, I was imagining ancient Sumeria or a Hyborian Age, but it's only as ancient to them as the Middle Ages to us, or as ancient as the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages! And that's assuming a human view of things! In the Forgotten Realms, with all the elves, and dwarves, and half-elves, it's going to seem even more recent.

I feel like that's where the real dropping of the ball was when they first came up with the idea decades ago. They needed to set this stuff -9,000 DR or something to really get the feel right.

So if they didn't make it any more fantastic that the currently super-fantasticated FR in this supplement? Maybe they just noticed the date and tried to be consistent. :shrugs:

 

[Parmandur]

One of the things that irritates me about Netheril, is it's sort of presented like this big legendary culture of the distant past...but it only ended and had those floating cities come down about a thousand years before the current couple of centuries (depending on edition).

When I first heard about it, I was imagining ancient Sumeria or a Hyborian Age, but it's only as ancient to them as the Middle Ages to us, or as ancient as the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages! And that's assuming a human view of things! In the Forgotten Realms, with all the elves, and dwarves, and half-elves, it's going to seem even more recent.

I feel like that's where the real dropping of the ball was when they first came up with the idea decades ago. They needed to set this stuff -9,000 DR or something to really get the feel right.

So if they didn't make it any more fantastic that the currently super-fantasticated FR in this supplement? Maybe they just noticed the date and tried to be consistent. :shrugs:

The Fall of Netheril was -339 DR, over 1800 years prior to the current FR book timeline, and generations ago even for Elves and Dwarves.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

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

One DM to another, I think you're wrong here.

Two adventures, a setting you say isn't nearly as interesting as it ought to be, and some associated monsters who will probably be used in the included adventures and never again versus a new species and feats that might run the life of a campaign and get reused in future campaigns.

 

[Chaltab]

One DM to another, I think you're wrong here.

Two adventures, a setting you say isn't nearly as interesting as it ought to be, and some associated monsters who will probably be used in the included adventures and never again versus a new species and feats that might run the life of a campaign and get reused in future campaigns.

I mean I don't really have a strong opinion either way, but we're also talking about 'new' species that's just a revamp (pun not intended) of an existing lineage option. That would factor into my decision making if I were considering these DLCs.