Villains' Lorebook (AD&D/Advanced Dungeons & Dragons/Forgotten Realms) [Paperback]

Dale Donovan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 1998

VILLIAN'S LOREBOOK FORGOTTEN REALMS DUNGEONS & DRAGONS GOOD CONDITION

Product Details

• Paperback: 159 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (July 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786912367
• ISBN-13: 978-0786912360
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,156,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Villain Lorebook promotes intelligent gaming, December 20, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Villains' Lorebook (AD&D/Advanced Dungeons & Dragons/Forgotten Realms) (Paperback)

While it has been said that this book rehashes old material, it is still an invaluable tool for game masters. For starters, it compiles a whole slew of villains for you to use in part or in whole. Many of these villains have been pronounced dead and people have a problem with this. What we often times forget is that AD&D is a fantasy role playing game. The world isn't run by TSR or RA Salvatore (though, he's obviously great) but by the Dungeon Master. If you want to use a defeated Lich, use him. Maybe he didn't die in your world. Or perhaps the campaign with these villains in them occurs before their deaths, since there are no rules on when campaigns must take place (and especially since we could ignore them even if there were). I'm a DM, and the one thing i've learned is that my world is different from anyone elses, so get the book, read it, and use the villains. They're fun, dynamic, and all the stats are there for you to enjoy. Have fun and remember we're playing a game with nmo rules but the ones we make.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A very poor sourcebook that is useful only to FR newbies., October 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Villains' Lorebook (AD&D/Advanced Dungeons & Dragons/Forgotten Realms) (Paperback)

I wasn't very impressed by this product. The first thing I noticed upon opening the book was the paltry amount of villains covered. Less than half the book is taken up by actual villain entries. The rest is a mixture of monstrous compendium entries (many of which can be found in the monstrous manual and nearly all of which are covered in existing FR products), pages of spells and magical items (again, reproduced from existing material), and small descriptions of the major evil groups in the realms. The villains section is mildly interesting but rather useless, since most of the characters described have been dead for age s and have no impact upon the FR world at present. Of course, there are the inevitable munchkins lurking among the pages, breaking rules left, right, and centre, but that's only to be expected of FR products these days. What really annoyed about these entries was that the information is virtually all statistical, hardly any notes on background, history, personality, and the like. Good fun for mathematicians and rules-lawyers, not so good for DMs trying to find interesting villains to add to their campaign. The rest of the book is, as I have said, made up of existing material. Virtually nothing new or creative is contained in these sections, copying the existing products they were taken from word for word in many cases. The only section of real interest is the power groups section, which does detail a bit of fresh information of the Kraken Society, the Mage Lords of Athalantar, and the Knights of the Shield. Sadly however, this section is rather short. So, if you're new to the realms and don't have any of the other products that the contents of this book were poached from, it may be worth buying. For the rest of us, however, this is a cynical rehash of existing realmslore that isn't worth half the asking price.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dark Cornucopia of Characters, Magic, and Monsters, October 20, 2000

By 

Skirmisher Online Gaming Magazine (Fairfax, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Villains' Lorebook (AD&D/Advanced Dungeons & Dragons/Forgotten Realms) (Paperback)

Villains' Lorebook presents a cornucopia of characters, magic, and monsters collected from Forgotten Realms novels, short stories, articles, and accessories (several out of print). Dungeon masters will find a generous spread of ideas for possible encounters and long-term adventures.

A companion volume to Heroes' Lorebook, this accessory acts as a sampler of rogues (unlike the Heroes' volume, which tried to present ALL the heroes of the Realms). Twenty-nine juicy villains have been converted from the Realms' huge selection of fiction, ranging from Drizzt Do'Urden's foe Artemis Entreri to the 29th necromancer lich Szass Tam. Extended charts for THAC0s and spell progression from levels 1 to 40 are provided conveniently in the front of the book.

Supplementary materials include large sections of evil organizations, magic items, priest and wizard spells, and monsters (five of them unique individuals such as the balor Errtu and the venerable red dragon Mist), making this collection a delightful resource for any DM.

--Sharon Daugherty for Skirmisher Online Gaming Magazine