This is a good guide to the drow capital, but way out of date unfortunately. The merchants and Houses are well covered though and the map is of good quality. I managed to adapt this for Neverwinter Nights for our server www.moonlightandshadows.com<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Description, map, adventure enclosed<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Out of date <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

This set is useful only if you want to know the state of Menzoberranzan around the time of R.A. Salvatore's Homeland and Exile novels. Otherwise, any of the new WotC d20 supplements (Underdark, City of the Spider Queen, etc) provide a much more focused (and succinct) introduction to the Drow of Forgotten Realms.

<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: With the exception of the cover art, the interior illustrations are sub-par for what was really TSR's "golden age" in campaign world publishing.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

DISCLAIMER: Please note that The Le Games purchased this product for a freelancer as payment. This is technically his review. The Le Games is not affiliated with this product or it's publishers in any way.

REVIEW: There are so many weird and wonderful products available for fantasy role players these days that it is difficult to remember the impact that the Menzobarranzan Campaign Set had when it was first released nearly twenty years ago. Black and evil underground elves ? drow; the dread spider queen Lolth ? fantastic stuff and a step beyond the rather sunny world of hobbits and dwarfs that we had played with before. Now by releasing the campaign set as a PDF download, the Wizards (previously TSR) have made it possible for those of us who remember Menzo to recreate our youths and those who came to gaming in the years after to see what gaming used to be like.

The set comes with the three original books ? the first being the setting of the underground city itself, the second being descriptions of the warring drown houses and the third outlining the recommended adventure ? together with a poster. As would be expected with this publisher, there are quite detailed sections on society, monsters, magic and religion. Lolth herself is a pleasingly laissez-faire kind of goddess and rarely bothers with her numerous worshippers. I would prefer to see more campaign religions of this more mature sort, rather than the seemingly endless stream of earnest interventionist do-gooder gods and their followers we get from other products. The drow are all also nicely wicked and indulge in backstabbing and, we can imagine although rarely talk about, have sex with each other. And all of this within a city filled with poisonous mushroom spores, stalactites and stalagmites hiding vicious monsters and an economic system that almost makes sense.

Players who are familiar with the more complicated d20 systems and who want substantial and standardized statistics blocks should probably stay away from Menzo and other products of this line because they may become frustrated with trying to convert from this earlier system. However, for those interested in how to create a detailed setting with a consistent theme and feeling will be interested in checking out an important part of FRPG history.

John Walsh, Shinawatra International University, August 2004 <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>