What next for FR?

[Angel Tarragon]

I'd love to see new Al-Qadim, Great Glacier and Heartlands material.

 

[mr_outsidevoice]

I want the Old Empires. Unther is a lot more interesting to me now with the invasion.

Westertn Heartlands needs a serious write-up

One book touring Zakhara, Maztica, and Kara-tur would rock. with Dragon support as a nice cherry on top.

 

[ashockney]

My vote would be for:

1) Old Empires
2) Bloodstone Lands
3) Cormyr

 

[d20Dwarf]

Shakes head sadly.

I think Mysteries of the Moonsea is a fine book for what it is, which is an adventure book in a similar vein to Ruins of Adventure. I do not think it does an adequate job conveying the entire Moonsea area, however. If you were new to the realms and bought this book, you would be left with little more than a thumbnail sketch of the region and four cities. If you were serious about running this region , you would need to go back to the 1E and 2E supplements that detailed it in much greater detail.

I feel that as a collection of short adventure locations, it succeeds just fine, and shows how a campaign frequently shifts gears, leads you from one place to another, causing you to deal with one organization or another. In that respect, I think it's a great book.

Do I want to see the rest of the upcoming regional books follow this format? No way. Would I mind seeing more books of this nature set in the Forgotten Realms? Sure, I'd happily buy them. Just call them something other than regional sourcebooks.

I dunno, I don't particularly think the 2e Moonsea sourcebook was that great. I don't see how detailing four cities and their surroundings, plus a regional history and overview, isn't enough information to run a campaign there. Like I said, I'd add a bit more lore than we were able to, and talk about the central conflicts of the region in a more expository fashion, so that people could compare that to the adventures presented and go "aha! That's what the Moonsea is all about!" Do that with several regions and you'd really have a living, breathing *adventuring* environment in Faerun, as opposed to a catalog of crap you're never going to care about, like what the local elf tribe eats for breakfast.

 

[Lorgrom]

I would like to see an update (not these one room at a time things WOC has been doing) for Undermountain. But this time really expand the random encouter tables, what levels come maped (I say all the levels should be done). But if they do update it, set it after the war that has damaged Waterdeep, and Halister getting his sanity back.

 

[Razz]

Quite true, my copy hasn't arrived yet, so I haven't read the entire thing. I do like the format, though, and with a few tweaks I think it should be the standard format for FR regional books from here on out. I'd include a little more lore, but not necessarily as much as a lot of people are asking for.

Sorry but, MotM was completely horrible. It had very, and I mean very, little lore and I don't need a regional book with 40 mini-quests that a 12-year old D&D player can come up with in 10 minutes (it's happened, I once had a player that can do that at that age a long time back). I'd like to not be spoon-fed and do it on my own. Give me the information, background, and tools and I can do the rest. Doing the work for the gamers isn't what D&D is about, last I checked.

Technically, it's not a regional book but they marketed it as such. It's actually a Campaign Arc book, and to point out further it has a different title than the others as well. The regional books were titled after the name of the area, however MotM wasn't titled "The Moonsea", but "Mysteries of the Moonsea." And the title was the only clever thing about the book...the Moonsea region will forever remain a mystery. :\

If MotM is what future FR books will be, then we can all kiss FR goodbye. A lot of fans will not accept it, I assure you.

I dunno, I don't particularly think the 2e Moonsea sourcebook was that great. I don't see how detailing four cities and their surroundings, plus a regional history and overview, isn't enough information to run a campaign there. Like I said, I'd add a bit more lore than we were able to, and talk about the central conflicts of the region in a more expository fashion, so that people could compare that to the adventures presented and go "aha! That's what the Moonsea is all about!" Do that with several regions and you'd really have a living, breathing *adventuring* environment in Faerun, as opposed to a catalog of crap you're never going to care about, like what the local elf tribe eats for breakfast.

Hence, why Ed Greenwood is awesome and should be running the realms and not the "bean counters." (If you don't know who the bean counters are, check out Sean K Reynolds website).

MotM is a book that, well, becomes practically mostly useless once you used up all the adventures. At least I can, and I still do, go back to books like FRCS and Unapproachable East and find myself inspired to put together many many adventures.

Heck, I go back to 2E Forgotten Realms books, nearly many FR Fans both veteran and new, go back towards 2E books for the lore. It's what the Realms are about. Sprinkle in a healthy dose of PrC, Feats, Spells, and other such to mechanically represent the lore and you're all set. Silver Marches was a wonderful regional book, and so was Underdark, Unapproachable East, Serpent Kingdoms, and Shining South. Lost Empires of Faerun should've been a bigger book and MotM...it really twisted my stomach, sorry.

 

[Banshee16]

1-The Moonshaes
2-The Old Empires
3-The Elven Empires (updated with newly populated Cormanthor, Evermeet, decimated Evereska, etc.)

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Shakes head sadly.

I think Mysteries of the Moonsea is a fine book for what it is, which is an adventure book in a similar vein to Ruins of Adventure. I do not think it does an adequate job conveying the entire Moonsea area, however. If you were new to the realms and bought this book, you would be left with little more than a thumbnail sketch of the region and four cities. If you were serious about running this region , you would need to go back to the 1E and 2E supplements that detailed it in much greater detail.

I feel that as a collection of short adventure locations, it succeeds just fine, and shows how a campaign frequently shifts gears, leads you from one place to another, causing you to deal with one organization or another. In that respect, I think it's a great book.

Do I want to see the rest of the upcoming regional books follow this format? No way. Would I mind seeing more books of this nature set in the Forgotten Realms? Sure, I'd happily buy them. Just call them something other than regional sourcebooks.

It's honestly the first FR release that I have had no desire to purchase in a few years....

Hopefully WotC isn't going this way with all their books for FR..

Banshee

 

[d20Dwarf]

Same old rant.

Buy novels.

 

[Darrin Drader]

It's honestly the first FR release that I have had no desire to purchase in a few years....

Hopefully WotC isn't going this way with all their books for FR..

Banshee

I'd be very surprised if this format becomes standard. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if WotC does a more traditional treatement of the Moonsea in the next year or two.