The Shining South

[JoeGKushner]

Why? Blackmoor wasn't up to your expectations?

BTW, (and back on topic) The encounter tables would be an excellent WEB ENHANCEMENT. Stuffing them into the books, I don't like. I don't use them. 3 or 4 pages I can ignore. More than that and it is an eyesore.

I don't know about the content of Blackmoor, but the art is not up to par with many other d20 books currently out. I'm a big fan of art in RPG books, especially maps, and find that Blackmoor isn't up there.

It's not because it's a new book either because Red Spire Press, Inner City Games, Blue Devil Games and Human Head Studios first books were all top notch as far as art and layout go.

I know content is king, but art is surely queen. Books that don't grab me visually often don't get referenced more than a few times unless it's a core book.

 

[Mystery Man]

Why? Blackmoor wasn't up to your expectations?

BTW, (and back on topic) The encounter tables would be an excellent WEB ENHANCEMENT. Stuffing them into the books, I don't like. I don't use them. 3 or 4 pages I can ignore. More than that and it is an eyesore.

With the ever growing population of monster books these are handy to have.

 

[Shadowdancer]

With the ever growing population of monster books these are handy to have.

But that's also part of the problem. In a year they'll be outdated.

 

[Arnwyn]

I've seen a lot of talk about Libris Mortis, but no mention yet of Shining South. Was I the only one to pick up this book?

Certainly not! I got this last Friday, and am very pleased with it,

Overall, a very nice book that maintains the quality established in previous FR books.

Maintains? Surpasses, IMO.

Shining South is fantastic. Easily the quality of SK, but with better PrCs (SK's PrCs were incredibly generic and lame, IMO - the ones in SSouth actually have a clear place in Faerun).

As to be expected, the geography chapters are the best part of this book. Full details on a large number of both city and countryside features... far more than what was even in the old 2e FR16 Shining South accessory.

And, while I care very little for art in my RPG books, the art in SSouth I actually noticed. Very well done, IMO, and extremely inspirational (which is what I do value in artwork).

This book blows Libris Mortis out of the water.

 

[Stormborn]

The blurb mentions 3 adventures. How are they? Would they be of any use in a non Realms game?

 

[Psionicist]

Interesting.

Any information about the Great Rift?

 

[ruleslawyer]

aaaaw its so cute - so I'm assuming Beguilers are intelligent (since it seems to be using a 'tool' to do magic) - could they be used as PCs?

PCs, hell. My question is: Can you still make magical caps out of them?

 

[Samurai]

Yes, there is info and a map of the Great Rift.

The 3 adventure sites described are The Astral Inn, a Bandit camp, and a Dwarven crypt. While they have some Shining South spice to them, all 3 should be very easy to move to another setting/world. They are adventure sites (with a short idea of an adventure plot or 2 that can occur there), not full-blown adventures, so they are very portable.

 

[jester47]

Interesting.

Any information about the Great Rift?

Yup, its mixed in with the chapter on the Shaar.

Aaron.