D&D 5E Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide Neverwinter description mostly useless

[robus]

So my players are about to spend some time in Neverwinter after getting dropped off from ice castle (my conclusion to HotDQ) and I thought "Ah - I'll crack open the Adventurer's Guide and get some useful details from there..."

This thing is all full of fluff about the political machinations and very little about the interesting nooks and crannies of the city. Things noted on the map are not described in the text.

Flipping through, descriptions seem to be all over the shop. Some locations get useful detail others get lost in discussing events that are completely irrelevant.

This to me is the big issue with the FR setting. It's so bogged down with its own history that it becomes oppressive and overwhelming for new people trying to get a handle on things. I just want my adventure to land in medias res. What are Waterdeep, Neverwinter, etc like now. What are the parts of town to avoid? Where are the useful shops, places of worship etc etc.

/rant over

 

[robus]

OK - not quite yet. The river flowing through Neverwinter isn't even named! I guess the assumption is that everyone already knows all this stuff...?

 

[pming]

Hiya!

You need to go old-skool, dude. I'd rather have ten pages of maps, encounter tables and "area descriptions" that are nothing more than:"The abandoned lighthouse at Rooks Point is avoided by the townsfolk, as it is a known meeting point for shadowy figures making shadowy deals that they don't want the authorities to interrupt". Maybe another sentence or two about what type of flora/fauna can be found around the area, and maybe a 'rumor' the DM can use or ignore:("Rumors are that the long-dead lighthouse keeper was a pirate at one point and retired here. His treasure, if any, was never found and some say he hid it somewhere on the grounds").

Any and all "historical facts" and "political machinations" can be dealt with in the first two pages of the book and then that's it. Don't scatter it all over the freaking place, because unless the DM is starting a fresh new campaign right then and there, chances are that the history/politics is going to be different (a little, to completely different). It's easy to just flip to page 4 than it is to try and parse out ever other paragraph of an areas description because those paragraphs deal with history that never happened in the DM's game or NPC's that have died or whatever.

Anyway, yeah. I'd suggest looking into and exploring all the "OSR" type things out there before going to WotC/Their Affiliates for good imagination-sparking. Besides, for the same price you can get a LOT more 'stuff' for your campaign. Stuff that you can integrate and weave into your own campaign using your imagination. It will make for a VASTLY SUPERIOR campaign that both you and your players will remember...or stick with SCAG books and have your players refer to your campaign as "Oh, yeah, right...that was two years ago we did that adventure. I did it again a couple months ago with that other group. Lets do something else as I know all the stuff in it". (...as if it's like a book, movie or video game and will all have the same plots, NPC's, politics, and oth....er...uh...yeah...I guess it would have all the same stuff going on... ).

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Leatherhead]

OK - not quite yet. The river flowing through Neverwinter isn't even named! I guess the assumption is that everyone already knows all this stuff...?

The Neverwinter River, named so because fire elementals under Mount Hotenow keep the river supernaturally warm.

Yeah there is a lot of information about Neverwinter, but most of it is 100 years or so out of date. Its supposed to be one of those "Ambiguously and Poorly Mapped" cities so that the DM can put in a shop or NPC for anything the PCs might want or the campaign might demand. That said, you should be able to do some wiki diving and find enough historical locations and buildings to have a serviceable skeleton of a city.

 

[robus]

The Neverwinter River, named so because fire elementals under Mount Hotenow keep the river supernaturally warm.

Yeah there is a lot of information about Neverwinter, but most of it is 100 years or so out of date. Its supposed to be one of those "Ambiguously and Poorly Mapped" cities so that the DM can put in a shop or NPC for anything the PCs might want or the campaign might demand. That said, you should be able to do some wiki diving and find enough historical locations and buildings to have a serviceable skeleton of a city.

Yeah - it's just a shame that the adventurer's guide is more oriented to socio-political rumination than actually whetting an adventurer's appetite for exploration and discovery of the Sword Coast.

 

[pukunui]

The SCAG is more for players than DMs. What we need is a proper campaign guide.

 

[The_Gneech]

The 4E Neverwinter book is quite good and seems consistent with what's been published about Neverwinter in Lost Mine of Phandelver at least.

-TG

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

A proper campaign setting would go a long ways. I find myself going back to the 3e Campaign Setting and the 2e Volo's Guides quite a bit.

I’m not sure that the SCAG is for players, though. Most of mine just looked at the rules options in the back and barely glanced at the setting info.

Also, Mount Hotenow gives me a chuckle. Might as well call it the Volcano Explodesoon.

 

[pukunui]

I’m not sure that the SCAG is for players, though. Most of mine just looked at the rules options in the back and barely glanced at the setting info.

LOL. Just because many (most?) players can't be bothered to read it doesn't mean they're not the primary audience. It's got player-friendly fluff and player-oriented crunch in it. It's the 5e equivalent of the previous editions' players guides.

EDIT: From the official product page: "While the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide is a valuable resource for Dungeon Masters, it was crafted with players and their characters foremost in mind."

 

[Corpsetaker]

One of the things I loved about FR during 3rd edition was they actually a paragraph about "rumours" in the area that gave you a place to start.