Mysteries of the Moonsea (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Supplement) (Hardcover)

by Thomas Reid (Author), Sean Reynolds (Author), Darrin Drader (Author), Wil Upchurch (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Mysteries of the Moonsea™

Thomas M. Reid Sean K Reynolds
Darrin Drader Wil Upchurch


A Campaign Arc for Characters of Levels 1—18

The Moonsea–a perilous frontier ruled by tyrants and threatened by monsters. Here cities consumed by decadence and war rise and fall like the sun, and conspiracies abound. Great adventure awaits those who oppose evil, for the Moonsea is rife with it.
The Mysteries of the Moonsea accessory contains 37 loosely connected adventures that can be run individually or linked to form the basis of an entire Forgotten Realms® campaign. In addition to the adventures, this book presents maps and descriptions of the major Moonsea cities of Melvaunt, Hillsfar, Mulmaster, and Zhentil Keep, as well as statistics and descriptions for 15 important campaign villains.


For use with these Dungeons & Dragons® products
Player’s Handbook™ Dungeon Master’s Guide™ Monster Manual™
Forgotten Realms® Campaign Setting

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (June 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078693915X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786939152
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #171,559 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Less facts, more to play, July 4, 2006

By	Peter Craig "Pete" (Europe) - See all my reviews

Mysteries of the Moonsea is WoTC's newest addition to the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. It is mostly for DMs, and to use it, DMs will need the 3 core books and at least the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Access to the other supplementary books published for Forgotten Realms may also prove to be handy, if not necessary.

Unlike other previous books that described a portion of Faerun and presented the reader with a huge load of data on the region, as well as prestige classes, spells and magic item connected to that region, Mysteries of the Moonsea takes a different approach when it describes only mayor locations, NPCs and the most important adventuring info on the region and uses the remaining space to present a huge amount of small adventures, each connected to one of the four mayor cities of the region (or to their surroundings). Some adventures are not really more than side-treks or encounters, but most are perfectly suited for one session games. The adventures are loosely connected, and if the DM takes the - considerable - time and effort, they can be chained together to form a campaign from 1st to 18th level, during which the party travels around the Moonsea and makes allies and enemies in mostly all parts of the region.

Unlike other books in the series, there are no new spells, no new prestige classes, monsters or magic items, which may not necessarily be a problem, as there are already a huge munber of these in other books to find the one you really want.

To sum it up, I found the book to be great, it contains enough info on the region to help the DM and the player to get a feel of the people of the region, and most of the short adventures are interesting and have neatly presented maps. Maybe instead of a whole horde of small adventures, a bit smaller horde and one larger adventure connected to each of the 4 cities would have been better, but that may only be my oppinion.

As usual with Forgotten Realms books, the book is beautifully illustrated and edited, but there are certain disturbing errors (like there is no scale on the map).

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent resource for DMs, January 21, 2007

By	C. Jiang (Mountain View, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is different from most of the other supplements that Wizards of the Coast has released, and I have to say that it was a very refreshing change of pace. The best way to categorize this book would be to say that it's halfway between a regional sourcebook and a campaign module.

Unlike the other regional books, it doesn't contain a random hodgepodge of information about NPCs, locations, Prestige Classes, new spells, and so on. Instead, you don't have new Prestige Classes, feats, and spells at all, which is just as well, since I think there's more than enough of all three. The book also has much narrower scope, focusing on only the four main cities in the Moonsea region and their surrounding areas. Again, this is just as well, since at least half of the material in my other regional books sit unused.

And unlike the other published modules, the adventures presented in Mysteries of the Moonsea are very loosely connected. Most are nicely self-contained, and have just enough encounters for a party to face in a single day. Each adventure presents a few possible hooks to draw the players in, and I found that it was very easy to tailor them to fit the flavor and motivations of the players closely.

Overall, I think that this book strikes the perfect balance between being a generic regional book that puts most of the work on the DM, and a published module that railroads players.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for those little 'in betweener" quests, April 16, 2008

By	M. Heisler (PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a DM I'm getting a TON of mileage out of this book. It contains 37 mini adventures based around 4 cities on the Moonsea region of Faerun. The adventures can be linked together into a super adventure or played separately. Perfect for when your group just wants a side quest or little tomb or something to raid outside the larger campaign. Just pop one of these settings in the middle of the woods as they're traveling and you'll have a more diverse, fleshed out world. The cool thing is each of the mini adventures can be wiped out in just a couple short hours and of course you can alter them however you want to contain things they need or NPC's you want them to meet. Since it's set in Moonsea I highly recommend the Sons of Gruumsh adventure for level 5 characters to run alongside this as a larger adventure since tyour PC's will be in the town of Melvaunt and adventuring in the wilds of Thar anyway. One of the most USEABLE adventure books/regional books I have seen. It takes a great load off the DMs back. I just wish they made more like this...