Perkins' Foreword From OUT OF THE ABYSS

WotC's Chris Perkins on the Alice in Wonderland themes of D&D 5th Edition's Rage of Demon's Out of the Abyss by Green Ronin Publishing.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I wish I could get excited about anything set in the Forgotten Realms as it's all we've been getting.

But I just can't. The most I can muster is "I hope others like it so they make something else I might like."

Out of curiosity whats your problem with it.

 

[Curmudjinn]

I'm not getting the "booo Faerun" train of thought. It's literally just a tiny bit of effort to change names of things to any setting ever made. That's seriously all that makes it specific to Faerun. Stop seeing it as Realms and done, and as I say often, make it yours.

It's also pretty straight-forward altering an encounter to be fitting for another setting. Princes of the Apocalypse can easily be put in Sigil. The nodes are now powerful doors to elemental planes, the heralds now radical faction members or a new upstart faction.

I've ran quite a few older edition adventures in other settings with minimal effort.

 

[neobolts]

This sounds wonderful and inspired.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

How much Drizzit do you think they got on it?

Just a Drizz'l.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

R A Salvatore + Troy Denning?

The only reason I'll look at this now is because Green Ronin is behind those two authors are bad enough alone: in combination, I dare not think of what garbage they're capable of emitting.

 

[mflayermonk]

After reading Perkins' foreword, I want to plug the work of Michael Shea (deceased in 2014) which features a few stories with insane, weird visions of underworlds. From what I've played from Green Ronin, its likely the adventure is closer to Michael Shea than Lewis Carroll as well.

The books:
Nifft the Lean (1982), in particular the story "Come Then, Mortal. We Will Seek Her Soul". Nifft and sidekick take a journey into hell as errand boys.

A Quest for Simbilis (1974) features Cugel (from Eyes of the Overworld fame) making a journey into the underworld of the Dying Earth. The demons and devils of the underworld trade magical power to the people in the overworld in exchange for souls. The demons, of course, arm both sides of the overworld conflicts.

Both books are available on Amazon for around $9 after shipping.


*note: Michael Shea is a different person than Michael E. Shea (writer of Dungeon Master aids).

 

[John Blaise Lent]

Not gonna lie, this sounds super lame. It sounds like they made a land of nightmare and dark into a land of children's stories. Read a Clive Barker novel, then write about the Abyss. Do not take your inspiration from a children's book. PG rated bs. Oh and more Legolas/Drizzt overpowered ubermench bs too. Gotta love that trash. I know, let's make him sparkle in the daylight. We have the feywild for faerie tales.

 

[Quickleaf]

While I never got into the works of R.A. Salvatore and Troy Denning (is that D&D blasphemy?), and know next to nothing about Drizzt except he has a figurine of a cat or possibly a real cat with a name that sounds like Guinevere, I am a fan of Green Ronin and really appreciate Chris Perkins sharing a snippet of his design process with us.

Definitely will check it out when it releases September 15th!

Actually, this will be the first of their big story books for 5e that I consider purchasing.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

While I never got into the works of R.A. Salvatore and Troy Denning (is that D&D blasphemy?)(snip)

No, it's evidence of supremely good taste. I tip my hat toward you.

 

[Mirtek]

So Troy is writting about Orcus. Interesting. I was sure his new novel, Throne of the Dead, would be about Myrkul's re-ascension. Now it seems we might instead see the return of Kiaranshalee, as she's heavily linked to Orcus