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Waterdeep: City Encounters
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/02/2021 02:55:26

Although this product was mostly developed as an expansion to Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, my players are going to be in the City of Splendors quite a lot as a hub for their adventures in Rise of Tiamat. Obviously Volo's Waterdeep Enchiridion is getting a lot of use, but having a book of random and location based encounters, keyed to different wards of the city, with weather options and more all goes a long way to getting across the vibrant, alive, and massive nature of Faerûn's most storied city. A must have for any DM running 5e adventures in Waterdeep.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Waterdeep: City Encounters
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Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster's Forgotten Realms
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/18/2021 17:42:48

If you really want a ground level cultural view of the Realms, the kind of information that's going to make your Faerûn actually feel like a unique place and not just a generic medieval-Europe fantasy setting, this is the book for you. Absolutely pair it with the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and other setting sourcebooks, because none of the typical "bird's eye view" stuff is here. This is about ho the people of Faerûn (mostly Waterdeep and Cormyr, as per Ed Greenwood's primary interests) live their lives. The slang, the food, the laws, the cultural attitudes, the fashion, the religious practices. What do people in the Realms think of magic? Is it no big deal or super weird? Etc. You can use this book with any edition, just use some common sense and pay attention to the date markers (1330s vs 1470s, etc) to keep things straight.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster's Forgotten Realms
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Ancestry & Culture: An Alternative to Race in 5e
Publisher: Arcanist Press
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/18/2021 17:37:05

Hard to find something to say about this product that hasn't already been said. It is well written, well considered, and very easy to integrate into the existing 5e rule structure in a way that doesn't throw away the baby with the bathwater. As much as I appreciate the idea behind WotC's new direction of "choose whatever ASIs, languages, proficiencies, and feats you want", for new players just starting out that's super daunting. And if you look at the PHB races, a lot of the distinctive qualities of the races come from those elements. Taking away all cultural elements from the fantasy races is not the answer - so much of what makes a classic dwarf a dwarf is cultural after all, for example.

The Ancestry & Culture system allows players to still play to those cultures. What we need is not featureless generic races who lack any flavour at all - but the ability to play different flavours. The Volo's Guide to Monsters orc shouldn't be replaced by the Eberron orc - they should be allowed to exist side-by-side and understood to represent orcs from different backgrounds and cultures. Ancestry & Culture presents an easy framework where this can be done. Imagine a suite of races in a future PHB featuring just the physical, inheritable traits of the races - what this release calls ancestries and what WotC is solely focusing on going foward. But then! Each camaign setting book presenting add-on options representing the cultural traits of those races in that setting: Forgotten Realms orcs are desperate raiders, Eberron orcs are Greenpeace fanatics, with a suite of traits for each. The Ancestry & Culture model makes this easily doable and allows for more diversity of character types without erasing traditional lore or throwing new players into a deep end of having to know every option in the game before they can make a character.

The base product offered here only has entries for the 5e races in the OGL, but once you've read it, it's very easy to apply the philosophy to any pre-Tasha's Cauldron of Everything style race.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Ancestry & Culture: An Alternative to Race in 5e
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Elminster's Candlekeep Companion
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/17/2021 02:05:03

It's going to be interesting to compare this with Candlekeep Mysteries in terms of the lore revealed about the location because if you ever wanted all the major lore about Candlekeep in one place, this is it: updated to the 5E Realms and approved by the man himself, Ed Greenwood. The new book is more of an adventure anthology with a Candlekeep wrapper but it'll still be intriguing to see where they differ or agree.

As it stands, this book has everything you need for your players to visit the great library, meet interesting people, find interesting books, and even have an expanded version of the Candlekeep encounter from Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus as penned by one of the designers of that adventure.

For the price I can't recommend this highly enough, I just wish I could get a Print-on-Demand version!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Elminster's Candlekeep Companion
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The Expedition of the Magi: A Christmas Tale from the Forgotten Realms (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/09/2020 15:48:54

This title was something of a disappointment. It's very short - as befits what would likely be run as a single session one-shot - but just because it's a quick read doesn't make the lack of any kind of adventure overview at the beginning any less frustrating. As a DM, I'd like to have an idea of what I'm getting into right at the start, rather than reading the entire text.

Setting an adventure in Zakhara is really cool, it's appropriate to the inspiration and it's an underused area of the Forgotten Realms, but there's also no explanation of what it is or where it is for a DM running this adventure who isn't familiar with the place either from it's very brief mention in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide or else old AD&D 2E supplements.

The translation of traditional beliefs about Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior to Forgotten Realms terms (Araba = Zakhara, India = Estagund, Persia = "Turmish accent, though he is not ethnically Turmish") is pretty clever. The adventure to gain the gold, frankincense, and myrrh is pretty fun and varied. The fact that the sages are literally going to Earth to see Jesus, as opposed to trying to create a Realms equivalent, is pretty wild.

I will admit that I was confused that this religious inspired adventure opens with a disclaimer not about its content, but about its use of Challenge Rating balanced encounters! Is this really so controversial?

Ultimately what I wish is that this adventure had been a bit more fleshed out. As a DM I would have liked a bit more detail, a bit more meat on the bones, a bit more support and sense of the adventure's intent. The writing feels very barebones, and is presented almost as if it's designed to be read by players as they go, without a DM. The adventure doesn't use boxed text but instead the regular text almost reads like it's all meant to be boxed text or read aloud. Ultimately the way the adventure is written, unfolding as the players go through it, makes it an engaging read but frustrating as a document meant to serve as a blueprint to running a game. Again, what saves it is that it's so brief, so reading it all the way through doesn't take much time.

The adventure is extremely linear, to the point here the various descriptions assume player actions and attitudes. This would be a problem, but again because this is clearly meant as a one-shot it is somewhat forgiveable.

This adventure reads as a great set of notes for the DM who wrote it, but could use work to function as a guide for other DMs.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
The Expedition of the Magi: A Christmas Tale from the Forgotten Realms (5e)
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Eyes Unclouded
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/20/2020 18:27:43

This is an absolutely wonderful, delightful, intelligent collection of themed adventures that clearly had a lot of thought and care put into them. It's a great achievement and a fantastic product for those of us who live D&D and Studio Ghibli equally. The creators are to be commended for fashioning these wonderful adventures for us to play. The amount of discourse and intolerance thrown around online about these adventures was completely uncalled for and showed such an immense close-mindedness. Reading through these adventures was a delight and I can't wait to run the delivery service one for my wife's next birthday. If you love D&D and how much variety it can hold within itself, you owe it to yourself to purchase this fine collection.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Eyes Unclouded
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OUTCLASSED: The NPC Statblock Compendium
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/20/2020 18:24:42

A fantastic solution to a common DMing problem! A wonderful resource. Some of the choices made for the construction of the statblocks are a bit odd, like a CR 10 War Wizard that only has spells up to level 3 when the existing CR 6 Mage has spells up to level 5, but the sheer number of statblocks here is a huge boon.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
OUTCLASSED: The NPC Statblock Compendium
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Darkhold: Secrets of the Zhentarim
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/18/2020 03:19:08

An absolutely fantastic resource! Want to play a Zhent character? Run a Zhent campaign? Run an evil campaign? Storm Darkhold? Did the entry on the fortress in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide spark your curiosity? Ever wanted to know the truth of the Pereghost? Have trouble keeping track of the Manshoon clones running around the 5e Realms? Player options, lore, magic items and spells, statblocks, inspiration and advice -- Darkhold: Secrets of the Zhentarim has everything and from an absolutely crack team of game designers and Realms experts (including the Realms expert).

Buy it. You will not regret it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Darkhold: Secrets of the Zhentarim
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Supplemental Empires
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/22/2020 03:45:15

This is worth exactly what you pay for it. It's poorly laid out, with a very bare-bones look. Information seems culled from wikis, as there are numerous errors - at least as far as being up to date with fifth edition lore is concerned. The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide has less information about each nation, but it's information is correct so if you see a contradiction between the two, go with SCAG. Another great source of information are the novels of Erin M. Evans: Ashes of the Tyrant and The Devil You Know. It's unfortunate the author of this work seems to have utilized sources summarizing Evans rather than getting details from her themselves, as the novels are very difficult to find these days due to short print runs, and are very long reads as well, so an accurate and detailed summary would be very helpful to anyone running a campaign in the Tymanther or Unther area. There's enough here to provide some inspiration for a DM who doesn't have any sourcebooks handy and can't access the very-flawed Forgotten Realms wiki, but as a good updating of the lore on these empires to a Post-Sundering world it's a shallow and oft-incorrect work. Good thing it's free!



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
Supplemental Empires
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Amarune's Almanac: Swamps of the Realms
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/15/2020 22:55:31

I am currently running the Mere of Dead Men section in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, and I was looking for material to flesh out the experience for my players. Not so much encounters as good fluff: how the place felt, looked, smelled, what the environment was like, things I could use to make the experience more in-depth and evocative.

I'd been aware of the Amarune's Almanac series on the Dungeon Masters' Guild for some time, and thought this might be a good opportunity to try a volume. I knew of the character from the novels of Ed Greewood and was aware of his involvement in the series, which to me spoke promisingly to its quality.

I was immensely glad to find I did not regret the purchase in the slightest. The work is of very fine quality, attractively laid out and professional in appearance. Reading it I was immediately struck by how happy and calm I felt reading material that felt so true to the Realms, marking the product as clearly head and shoulders above much DMs Guild content.

The player options are certainly interesting, although I may never use them or the new spells (although never say never!). What really interested me was the lore on each wetland region, which is written in the form of short stories starring Amarune and her lover Arclath. These were delightful, a great mix of informative and evocative. Entertaining in their own right but also very inspiring as to the flavour of each place and what kind of stories belong there. A huge plus for me was the section on flora, elaborating on what unique species can be found in each area and what they can be used for. This was exactly the kind of content I'd been wanting! The assortment of new monsters was an added bonus!

All in all, I'm very happy to have made the purchase, and I'm now looking forward to getting other entries in the series.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Amarune's Almanac: Swamps of the Realms
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Ghost of the Mere
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/13/2020 17:47:05

A well written add-on for Tyranny of Dragons, finally delivering on a showdown with the Black Death of the Mere of Dead Men! Even just having the map and description of the dragons' lair and their tactics was a big help, but the added adventure involving the lich is a fun time. A great find!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Ghost of the Mere
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Heroic Maps - Trial of the Maze
Publisher: Heroic Maps
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/25/2020 23:37:15

Map artwork is great! It was exactly what I needed when I needed it. However, a legend would be helpful - it's clear that many areas need to be accessed by secret doors or similar methods, but where are they? Obviously the VTT version is unmarked, but even the PDF has nothing to help out the DM.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Heroic Maps - Trial of the Maze
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Updated Demon Lords: Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/21/2020 02:56:10

A fantastic product offering a great write-up on the infamous demon queen, with Lair Actions, Legendary Actions, new demons, a legendary weapon and of course the Spider Queen herself in all her glory at a CR that makes sense. Anyone disappointed that Lolth's stats were left out of OotA or MToF should be buying this. Highly, highly recommended.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Updated Demon Lords: Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders
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Feldor's Guide to Elturgard - a region gazetteer
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/30/2020 03:53:21

A heads up that this is a great product only if you don't already own the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. If you own that, or the fourth edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, then this is going to be a pretty redundant purchase, as it mostly paraphrases that information, in about the same amount of depth, with a little bit of original content - particularly about Triel, as the author has already written a full length guide to that village.

If this guide went more in-depth about Elturgard than the available sourcebooks and really fleshed out the region, that would be different. As it is, the price is right for what you're getting here, and it's certainly worth it if you're running a campaign that's traveling through this area and don't have any of the sourcebooks. No shade on the product, really, just a heads' up to potential buyers that they aren't getting much extra if they already have the sourcebooks.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Feldor's Guide to Elturgard - a region gazetteer
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Hoard of the Dragon Queen Maps: Episode 2 Raider's Camp
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ben R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/27/2020 00:25:51

I bought this in anticipation of using them as guidelines to draw on my grid for Episode 2 of my HotDQ campaign, like I did for the Episode 1 maps.

Then COVID happened and all my games moved online and I had to learn Roll20 REAL quick, and these maps became an immediate lifesaver. So so thankful!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Hoard of the Dragon Queen Maps: Episode 2 Raider's Camp
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