Customer Reviews

The Ruins of Myth Drannor (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition)

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The Ruins of Myth Drannor is another one of those Forgotten Realms products which features more on suspense, thrill of adventure, hack and slash than role playing. Despite that, it has one rich history, and one scenario to either get rich quick, or die quick. I was rather pleased with the Ruins of Myth Drannor product, mostly because it had a lot of information about the elves (which is my favorite race), and gave a lot of background information of their lives before their retreat to Evermeet. The downfall of the product would be that any low level adventurers would find this product too challenging and too mind boggling to play. This is not just like any dungeon above ground setting. It is one of the only settings where you can encounter baatezu and tan'ari. Heck, if your DM is familiar with various Forgotten Realms novels, you just might encounter the "Knights of Myth Drannor", allies of Elminster.

This product does feature some good monsters (like Baelnorn - undead elves), and has more than one adventure, all done well.

Not recommended for roleplaying, recommended for a lot of combat, and a lot of wealth!! If you get this product, make sure you get out your dice and start practicing your rolls!!

Next to the first Ruins of Undermountain boxed set, this is the finest "dungeon crawl" in existence. Centuries ago, the great city of the elves was the heart of civilization - then, evil forces from around the world (and beyond) gathered together to throw the lovely Myth Drannor into ruin. No one has ever managed to delve deep enough to discover what truly happened, or what untold wealth and magics await in the depths below. Until now... you get 4 giant map posters, 8 sheets of new monsters, 8 cardsheets, 160 pages of adventures, and a lot of dead PCs - this one is for thinking, veteran players only.

Ruins of Myth Drannor has to be one of the BEST Forgotten Realms adventures ever to be made, together with Ruins of Zhentil Keep, Curse of the Azure Bonds, and of course Desert of Desolation! It sheds light on the magical elven city of Myth Drannor, once the "Jewel" of Cormanthor, now in ruins after having been overrun by powerful and very evil denizens.
Ranging from background history, to city descriptions and the respective gods, to important people and characters, to adventure hooks and encounter tables, to magical items and artifacts, to new spells and monsters, this accessory has it all and more. There is excellent information included on adventuring parties currently operating in the vicinity, such as Zhentarim and Thayvian groups, which can in turn be placed anywhere in the Realms.
As a result, I have had endless hours of gaming enjoyment playing on material presented within the pages of the Ruins of Myth Drannor Adventure!
For other FR references/adventures, I recommend: the Old Empires accessory on Chessenta, Mulhorand, and Unther, the Dreams of Red Wizards accessory on Thay, the Pirates of the Fallen Stars, Moonsea, Dwarves Deep, and Draconimicon accessories (they are Second Edition AD&D, out of print and it will take a bit of searching, but it's well worth it).
Also recommended, the Third Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, which even though is quite expensive, is still very useful to all FR fans!
In short, if you have a soft spot for everything elven, and you love a good fight, try and get your hands on a copy of Ruins of Myth Drannor. You will not regret it! Trust me!

I bought this boxed set at my local bookstore when it came out new in 1993. I've been thrilled with it ever since. Myth Drannor has featured prominently in about half of the campaigns I've ran in the past 17 years, and has made small appearances in the other half that I've ran.

It is a lost legendary city hidden in the heart of the elven woods, filled with treasure, ancient magic, and very powerful monsters who are trapped inside the city and trying desperately to escape and overrun the countryside.

Not a walk in the park, There WILL be combat! Roleplaying possibilities would include dealing with Bealnorn (intelligent undead elves of the city), dealing with any other (possibly competing) adventuring groups found in the ruins, & dealing with NPC's outside the ruins, who want to send your group in to gather info or collect an artifact. Also, the elves of the forest don't look kindly on adventurers looting their ruins! Most adventures in Myth Drannor consist of finding the lost city (not easy), sneaking into it without the elves of the surrounding forest noticing, & rushing in to grab whatever treasure you can find as fast as possible only to rush back out of the city before something big and nasty EATS YOU! After that, good luck making it back to civilization in your wounded condition.

There are numerous magical portals within the city that may or may not still function correctly. It is easy to have the characters accidentally or intentionally go through a portal and end up anywhere else you'd like. A few times my players characters have been rescued from certain death by finding such a portal. (don't rescue them too often.)

Several Small adventures are included in this boxed set. My favorites are the arm of valor (an artifact broken up into five parts hidden throughout the city), & what we face in dreams (a circle of enchanted swords allowing the player characters to become defenders of the city).
Ever wanted to loot a wizards school? There are several within the city. I'm particularly fond of Windsong Tower where Elminster studied magic. Locked away and hidden inside of it are a complete set of the Nether Scrolls that the elves stole from ancient Netheril!

Many of the buildings are in ruins, and as such, a lot of the city's buildings are not fully detailed. You will probably need to sketch out some interior maps for the inside of a few buildings that you want the players to enter, but that isn't very tough to do.

Some of the encounter tables in this boxed set include Batezu & Tanar'ri that are only fully detailed in MC8 Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix. Basic combat statistics ARE listed in this boxed set, but those monsters special abilities are NOT well explained, so unless you want to substitute different monsters (which I did for several years), I'd Highly recommend getting the MC8 book. (Especially the full description for Vrock Tanar'ri because that one seems to come up most often.)

The city has a very detailed history. This is the main boxed set for the city, but a lot of additional information was also released in later products. I'd Highly recommend getting the Cormanthyr book as a companion to this boxed set! The Cormanthyr book contains more info on the people & government of the city before it fell into ruins, along with additional info on numerous buildings in the city.

Other supplements you may be interested in are Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor, and Anauroch the Empire of Shade (which contains more info on Windsong tower & the Nether Scrolls).

If you're a die hard Myth Drannor fan like me, there is also The Fall of Myth Drannor (sort of a historical text with lots of info for adventure hooks), City of the Spider Queen (where the stolen artifact Warblade was hidden for centuries), Shadowdale the Scouring of the Land (allowing players to recover the stolen artifact Warblade), Elminster in Myth Drannor Novel (good background info), Lost Empires of Faerun (mostly repeat info, but well organized), The original Pool of Radiance computer game, and the newer Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor computer game. There is also a nice adventure in the original old gray 1987 Forgotten Realms campaign setting called Halls of the Beast Tamers (which links Myth Drannor with Undermountain).

If you have ever wanted a more beneficial boxed set when it comes to the Elven Forest well here it is. This boxed set will provide you the DM with several hours of wonderful torture for your pc's. I recomend that if you can get your hands on it don't let go. The maps are excellent also.