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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Realmslore badly organized and with no index (possible spoilers!),
By Jaundiced Eye "jaundicedeye" (Hollywood, California, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Anauroch: The Empire of Shade (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Setting) (Hardcover)
This book reveals to the PCs secrets which have puzzled Faerun for centuries (or for a few years at least), such as, "who is the Teraseer? what changes have the Shadovar wrought in Anauroch? where are the Nether Scrolls which the Elves stole in the days of Netheril?" etc.
Unfortunately, the book is VERY badly organized. Following the recent WotC fashion, encounters are placed at the BACK of the book, not in the section in which the PCs encounter something interesting. That wouldn't be quite so bad, EXCEPT THAT THERE IS NO INDEX AND NO WAY TO FIND ALL REFERENCES TO THE SUBJECT WHICH MOST INTERESTS YOU. For example, the Teraseer, the mysterious wizard-prophet who helped guide Netheril's rise and then predicted its fall, is repeatedly mentioned (and the PCs get to meet him), but the only way to find ALL the references to him and the lore about him is to read the whole book and write your own index, because Wizards of the Coast was too damned cheap to spend twenty or thirty bucks to pay someone to use Microsoft Word for an hour or so to create an index. There are also many forced encounters which REQUIRE the PCs to take something, or do something, and unless they do, the story comes to a screeching halt. Nor are there any options presented for dealing with those inevitable situations ih which the players think for themselves. For example, a trip to Candlekeep is an essential part of the adventure, but the PCs do not get ALL of the information which they can UNLESS they deliver one specific book (hopefully acquired during the adventure!) to Candlekeep. No provision is made for the possibility that the PCs might offer some other book of equal rarity and desirability instead of the one the authors force upon them. The PCs in my campaign recovered a stolen copy of the (real) "Demonomicon" and gave it to Candlekeep, yet "Anauroch: the Empire of Shade" gives no indication of what might happen at Candlekeep if they present something extraordinary like that instead of the book the authors intend. Revealing all of the famous seers, prophets, and sages who crop up as NPCs in this book would be a major spoiler, so I refrain from doing so. I will say, though, that the encounter with the phaerrim (!) gives the PCs an opportunity to lay their hands on a spell so ridiculously "broken" that if a level-appropriate wizard got hold of it and gathered a few dozen 1st level Adepts or any other type of arcane spell casters, it would be possible for them to kill a Chosen of Mystra! But the authors make the absurd assumption that the PCs won't use it themselves to gang up on a powerful NPC and just blow the bejeezus out of him. As if! SPOILER WARNING! The copy of the Nether Scrolls stolen more than a thousand years ago at the behest of the Elves is discovered, and the PCs must acquire and then ... SPOILER UPCOMING! ... destroy them. Who are the authors kidding? Most of the experienced players I know would rather see the Shadovar grow in power and terrorize the world than give up the opportunity to keep and read the Nether Scrolls! There is some good Realmslore in this book, but the book is very poorly organized, the encounters are forced, and few provisions are made for PCs deviating from the plotted course. Worst of all, there is no index to allow a DM to read ALL the references to a particular person, place or thing at one time -- to use the lore in another adventure, for example, as I myself tried to do and could not without bringing my game session to a complete halt, or to help the DM deal with PCs who decide that they want to concentrate on one aspect of the adventure rather than let themselves be dragged around by their noses. Bringing a desirable book to Candlekeep, for example, allows the donor to spend a tenday there, but the authors do not provide enough information on Candlekeep to allow for good roleplaying there; they give just enough information to allow the PCs to go rushing off to the other side of Faerun to complete the next part of the adventure, whether the players want to do so or not. I give this book three stars. *** Had it been better organized, allowed for more options, and contained an index, it would of been a five-star book, but it doesn't, so it's not.
7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not what you think it is....,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Anauroch: The Empire of Shade (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Setting) (Hardcover)
I was hoping for a sourcebook on the ancient Netherese ruins, the Bedine, and geographical locations with adventure hooks. Instead, I got nothing but adventure snippets - like the old Side Treks listed in the DUNGEON Magazine, except that each was linked in some way to some overarching plotline organized by the new authors of the Forgotten Realms (more specifically, NOT Ed Greenwood). Oh well. At least is has some interesting stats and items.
6 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
anauroch empire of shade,
By
This review is from: Anauroch: The Empire of Shade (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Setting) (Hardcover)
Bad idea that threw the rules in the trash and got printed.With several armies in myth drannor and centuries of looting the shades walk in and grab the nether scrolls(no one got there before this?).Next your charecters capture a slightly used mythilar and are just supposed to hand it over on your next encounter.Then to finish it off some shades who are not epic level or capable of the magic needed try to destroy the nether scrolls attempt a spell to destroy the scrolls.The scrolls just dissapear if you succeed in stoppping them.If you don't succeed these non epic yahoos destroy the weave and all regular mages not worshiping shar loose the abuility to cast spells.A)Players are greedy and power hungry this will get out of control.B)This plot is ridiculus.C)Karsus 40th level mage could not succeed against mystra there is NO way even with shars help these guys can do it and as shown in the lates novel UNDEAD if mystra gets wasted she takes the shadow weave down with her, the weave and shadow weave are attached acording to official cannon.I don't recomend this book for any one.
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