Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="ericlboyd" data-source="post: 2365623" data-attributes="member: 7000">Lots of little things, but that's the case with every book, particularly for me as I tend to overwrite.The major thing that was cut was the "Environs of Waterdeep" section. This is the major thrust of the web enhancement I turned in.I left this vague for space reasons, because it's only really a problem if you live down there for centuries, and because I didn't want to constrain Ed's ability to continue Halaster's story from "Elminster in Hell" in future novels.I'm not sure I agree that he's softer, so I'd appreciate insight as to how you felt it came across that way. In general, I think the school is more Laeral's than Khelben's these days, which makes it softer than Khelben to start with. Is it the alignment mix of the students? Something else that rubbed you wrong?See above. In the interim, "The North" is available for free on the WoTC website.This is covered to some extent in the aforementioned web enhancement (assuming it doesn't change in editing).The idea of sprawl was brought up on several message boards while I was writing the book, so I did think about this a lot and talked with Ed about it. I'd note the following:1) Waterdeep has actively destroyed "sprawl" in the past. (Destroying the settlement that sprang up where the Rat Hills are today.)2) FRCS indicates the population of the Waterdeep area is much higher than the city population, indicating that a LOT of people live in the area surrounding Waterdeep.3) The threat of orc or troll hordes is real (see Waterdeep's history) and feared by the populace.4) Sprawl is not depicted in any previous products or novels.In the end, I decided that Waterdeep is surrounded by farmland and small hamlets scattered throughout the region. Such settlements are generally smaller than Rassalantar and don't appear on maps. There is no concentration of settlements in the shadows of Waterdeep's walls because it does not provide any particular advantage (either you live in the city or you're a farmer) and because the Lords do not encourage such concentrations.Thanks for the comments.--Eric</blockquote>

Verification