Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Setting)
The first in-depth look at Waterdeep, the shining jewel of the Forgotten Realms setting, in many years. City of Splendors: Waterdeep offers an in-depth examination of the great city of Waterdeep in the Forgotten Realms setting. An overview of the city includes history, a who’s who, information on laws, and rules for running and playing in a Waterdhavian campaign. Information on the people of Waterdeep covers non-player characters, arcane schools, armed forces, guilds, nobility, prestige classes specific to the city, and more. Also included in the book are discussions of specific Waterdeep locales, adventure locales, and new monsters. An extensive appendix gives information on new equipment, magic items, psionic powers, poisons, spells, and more.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Return to the best setting ever!
I was very unsettled when the old parent company TSR went under in 1997. I loved the lavish boxed set filled with maps and cards. The novels was what it was about for myself. I loved the Dragonlance Chronicles in the mid 1980s. Then I happened upon the old gray box called the Forgotten Realms. I thought it revolutionary as an open-ended adventure setting. I didnt have many friends interested in playing the game at the time, so I began reading and collecting the novels.
The stories are not classical liturature, however, they are a lot of fun! I collected all that was published until 1997. It seemed all was lost for old TSR. I decided to stop reading these stories as well. I honestly liked the Birthright setting more, but its lifespan was short indeed, a year or so. It only spawned a few novels.
In the short time of TSR’s hiatus, the Forgotten Realms was uncovering its hidden past-Netheril, Cormanthyr, and others that seemed very enticing to me. I began playing the game itself upon my PC. Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale were very familiar to me. The action became real for once.
The books gathered dust as did the endless supplements besieging my bookshelf. Yet, for sentimental reasons, I could not part with them. Lord of the Rings became a major revival for the genre. It is widely accepted that D&D is a tribute to Middle Earth. I feel it goes much deeper than this, as the architypes can be found all over popular culture. Harry Potter to Star Wars is a little of the magic of old TSR.
That brings us to the present and my rediscovery of the fabulous Forgotten Realms. I approached it with much caution. What had they done to my baby? Absolutely the greatest honor. The entire world is here, with all the vivid details I remembered. It was a little expensive and short on maps but worth it! I have every map 10 time over on my fantasy shelf. Now, I would like to see Kara-Tur, Maztica and Zhakara updated in this format. It is very tidy and easier to carry around in a single book. Now back to the novels, there are about 20 I have to catch up on. Its that old cliche-so many books, so little time.
Thank you, to all that have kept the dream alive! For it is fully developed and ready for the next generation of dreamers! Elminster, if you read this, thank you for your magical input.
5 Stars my review
I think this book is helpful and adds many new features into the game of Dungeons and Dragons. It adds in Gem specifics and Dracoliches and more
5 Stars love forgotten realms
just recently had a chance to use the forgotten realms campaign setting, i love this book it was so helpful with forgotten realms lore, and not to mention npcs to use thanks amazon for carrying so many fine products like this,
4 Stars Giving you more ideas of inspiration
I must admit, I’ve only recently began getting back into D&D. I’ve always enjoyed playing it, but never really played (let alone ran) Forgotten Realms. Most people would tell me it’s crap, or it’s too much work to do. Needless to say, I’m finding it quite useful. The modifications for the general races are one twist to making new characters for players. New magics and specializations for classes give characters a little bit more of a reason to try new things. Plus, any free maps are very cool.
My only dislike (although quite necessary to game in Faerun) is the background on the world (literally takes up 2/3 of the book).
If you want to game in this world, this is the book you’ll definitely want. But it can be useful for running different campaigns as well.
5 Stars Great value for the price
First, it is a beautiful book. The art and overall presentation is superb. The level of detail that some reviewers find lacking is not necessary for a book that is supposed to be a platform to work from. The only annoying thing, as with everything else in D&D, is that if you are a purist, there is always something else you “should” have, like the Monsters Compendium, besides all the rules books, etc; in other words, a huge wallet. But But the book is more than absolutely usable, with plenty of material to play a lifetime, good maps and sideline pointers and helpful tables. Very satisfied….
Filed under: Dungeons and Dragons Book Reviews
