| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Dargoth |
Posted - 24 May 2007 : 01:21:30
Apparently Eberron is getting a new source book next year
City of Stormreach
Here
Presumably it will be similar to Eric Boyds City of Splendors
So if CoS sold enough that there giving Eberron a shot at the same format the question has to be asked when is the realms getting another shot?
I reckon they should do a CoS style book on one of the following
Suzail
Calimport
Baldurs Gate
Zhentil Keep
Hopefully we are not doomed to drown in a sea of modules in 2008
Mod Edit: I applied some "URL" magic to Dargoth's link.
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| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Chosen of Moradin |
Posted - 06 Aug 2007 : 13:10:58
I agree with Archwizard, and think that a book of Telflamm will be a great idea. |
| VonRaventheDaring |
Posted - 05 Aug 2007 : 02:53:30
The lake of Steam could use with an update as well. |
| MerrikCale |
Posted - 13 Jun 2007 : 04:14:03
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Well, they could do a "Cities of the Realms" series of source books... A bunch of oh, 96-page softbacks with 4 cities each in them....
Thats pretty much what I was thinking. It would be very cool |
| shandiris |
Posted - 11 Jun 2007 : 07:41:55
I'd absolutly like one on shade i mean they are atm the big boys in the timeline yet they only get a entry in the FRCS and a small chapter in LoD |
| MerrikCale |
Posted - 10 Jun 2007 : 04:18:49
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
I have to admit...I kind of prefer those cities not being overly detailed.
Thats why should have a supplement with about 30 to 40 pages on 4 or 5 of those cities instead of 160 pages on each one |
| Archwizard |
Posted - 09 Jun 2007 : 22:56:13
quote:
Originally posted by MerrikCale
I would like to see a large book dealing with several cities. Perhaps 4 cities at 40 pages each. Westgate, Neverwinter, perhaps a Amn or tethyr city, perhaps Luskan, Elturel, Iraibor, etc
I think this could be an idea with a lot of potential. I've often heard many praise the Cities of the Realms articles by Ed in Dragon. Lots of those people said they don't even use the Realms, but still found the cities very useful because they could be slotted into any number of published or homebrew settings. The idea of a survey of Realms cities also allows the chance to cover places that traditional regional sourcebooks might not get to (or could but not cover in any decent detail).
A good approach might select a mix of well known metropolises and lesser known cities that have slipped under the publishing radar. Perhaps themed the book on individual city-states, call it "Free Cities of Faerun," which might include four of such cities as:
- Westgate (Ideal for its fame and infamy, and importance along the caravan and sea trade routes.)
- Telflamm (Covered in Unapproachable East, bit its location and independence makes it ideal.)
- Baldur's Gate (Aside from the great computer games, it's the second largest port along the Sword Coast, independent and important. And just the name would sell books.)
- Neverwinter (Smaller ditto of Baldur's Gate.)
- Berdusk or Iriaebor (Either one, so it leaves plenty for a Western Heartlands book in the future that covers the rest. This would give us a taste of this central region.)
- Ormath & Lhashayl (A hint of the Vilhon Reach/Shining Plains.)
- Innnarlith (A peek at the Lake of Steam. There are some happenings there due to the Watercourse Trilogy I believe.)
- Mourktar in Threskel (An interestingly semi-autonomous piece of the Old Empires.)
- Tantras, Raven's Bluff, Procampur, or Tsurlagol (Any one of these for a long overdue visit to the Vast.)
Alternatively, this city-focused format would work for regions that contain mostly city-states. Something like Mysteries of the Moonsea but more informational instead of dominated by pre-made adventures. Regions such as the Western Heartlands, the Vast, or the Lake of Steam could make good use of this.
This also reminds me of a documentary show from BBC - Holidays in the Danger Zone: Places That Don't Exist. A sourcebook in a similar theme for the Realms could finally show us little known places that would get overshadowed by larger, more well-known kingdoms in traditional regional sourcebooks. Places such as:
- Erlkazar
- Sossal
- Murghom & Semphar
- Threskel
- Lapaliiya
- Tashluta
- Tharsult
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| Reefy |
Posted - 06 Jun 2007 : 06:31:55
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
quote:
Originally posted by Jorkens
I agree, but as so little information is given about these city states,there is a tendency to overlook them in the power and trading structure of the Ralms. Together the central Sword Coast and the Dragon Coast are meeting points of most of the other (detailed)lands and will therefore have an important role in the Realms as a whole. If Ed were to be involved in the writing of one of these I would be a very happy man indeed.
You have a point about that. And it'd be hard for such a book to go wrong if Ed was the one writing it.
I've felt that the Western Heartlands have been neglected in print for far too long, I'd dearly love to see a sourcebook on the region. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 06 Jun 2007 : 02:31:21
quote:
Originally posted by Jorkens
I agree, but as so little information is given about these city states,there is a tendency to overlook them in the power and trading structure of the Ralms. Together the central Sword Coast and the Dragon Coast are meeting points of most of the other (detailed)lands and will therefore have an important role in the Realms as a whole. If Ed were to be involved in the writing of one of these I would be a very happy man indeed.
You have a point about that. And it'd be hard for such a book to go wrong if Ed was the one writing it. |
| KnightErrantJR |
Posted - 06 Jun 2007 : 00:08:09
That may be true, but the it also depends on if these are the same NDAs that were written for the original NWN and Baldur's Gate games, or of they have expired and have been rewritten. If they are the same ones still in effect, modern philosophy on what to be able to expound upon might be different than what the NDAs reflect. Then again, most of us here aren't likely to know any of those details, and the few that do aren't likely to be able to discuss it. |
| Chyron |
Posted - 05 Jun 2007 : 16:31:30
quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
Neverwinter and Baldur's Gate would both be great as well, but I beleive both are still under a cloud of mystery due to the games that bear their names.
This doesn't seem to be a hindrance for the Eberron line however. Since Stormreach has been featured in a 6 page write up in Secrets of Xen'drik (quite similar to the way cities were written up in the 2nd ed. Forgotten Realms Adventures book). Remember that it is the primary locale for D&D Online (and since there are already some discrepancies between the source book entry and the virtual realm, there are likely to be many more with an entire book being dedicated).
Perhaps WOTC is looking to do more product focus in cross platform titles, so maybe a BG or Neverwinter Sourcebook is not so far fetched after all.....well one can hope 
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| Matthus |
Posted - 05 Jun 2007 : 14:26:44
quote:
Originally posted by VonRaventheDaring
True I hadn't thought of it like that, well Skullport could use an update as well, but its not any great rush.
Well I didn't know that Skullport is in Sembia  - but I like the idea nevertheless
quote:
Well, they could do a "Cities of the Realms" series of source books... A bunch of oh, 96-page softbacks with 4 cities each in them....
Great idea - I would like to see a lot of them, most have already been mentioned here.
As some have missed Volo to do a "update-touring" touring through the Realms - I also would like to see a "Dungeons stumbled in"  |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 05 Jun 2007 : 11:11:28
Well, they could do a "Cities of the Realms" series of source books... A bunch of oh, 96-page softbacks with 4 cities each in them.... |
| Jorkens |
Posted - 05 Jun 2007 : 07:30:30
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
quote:
Originally posted by MerrikCale
quote:
Originally posted by Jorkens
Well, one of the cities of the Western Heartlands or the Dragon Reach would be a possibility to update the regions as a whole somewhat with notes on relationships with, and happenings within, other settlements of the area. Iriabor or Elturel would be nice, as would Westgate. Come to think of it Elturel is of limits for some old PC game reasons( I think), so unless this is lifted that city is of the list.
Luskan could also be an interesting alternative, as could Arabel.
They could do one for all of the cities of that region, Elturel, Iriaboer, Scornubel, Berdusk, etc.
I have to admit...I kind of prefer those cities not being overly detailed.
I agree, but as so little information is given about these city states,there is a tendency to overlook them in the power and trading structure of the Ralms. Together the central Sword Coast and the Dragon Coast are meeting points of most of the other (detailed)lands and will therefore have an important role in the Realms as a whole. If Ed were to be involved in the writing of one of these I would be a very happy man indeed.
As for detailing the city's together, this would more or less be a source book of the Western Heartlands. I would love that, but it wouldn't be a City source-book more than the old Forgotten Realms Adventures book is. If a collection of cities where to be written, it would probably be a better idea to take one country, such as Cormyr or Sembia. In other words; where is Volo when we need him?
The problem is picking any single settlement (with the exception of Waterdeep) that holds such a dominant position as to demand a whole book on its own. I agree that Calimport would be a possibility. Its already been done, true, but as this is the only one of Steven Schends products I really don't like, it would be interesting to see some new information written.
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| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 05 Jun 2007 : 02:47:15
quote:
Originally posted by MerrikCale
quote:
Originally posted by Jorkens
Well, one of the cities of the Western Heartlands or the Dragon Reach would be a possibility to update the regions as a whole somewhat with notes on relationships with, and happenings within, other settlements of the area. Iriabor or Elturel would be nice, as would Westgate. Come to think of it Elturel is of limits for some old PC game reasons( I think), so unless this is lifted that city is of the list.
Luskan could also be an interesting alternative, as could Arabel.
They could do one for all of the cities of that region, Elturel, Iriaboer, Scornubel, Berdusk, etc.
I have to admit...I kind of prefer those cities not being overly detailed. |
| MerrikCale |
Posted - 05 Jun 2007 : 01:38:36
quote:
Originally posted by Jorkens
Well, one of the cities of the Western Heartlands or the Dragon Reach would be a possibility to update the regions as a whole somewhat with notes on relationships with, and happenings within, other settlements of the area. Iriabor or Elturel would be nice, as would Westgate. Come to think of it Elturel is of limits for some old PC game reasons( I think), so unless this is lifted that city is of the list.
Luskan could also be an interesting alternative, as could Arabel.
They could do one for all of the cities of that region, Elturel, Iriaboer, Scornubel, Berdusk, etc. |
| Jorkens |
Posted - 04 Jun 2007 : 07:41:36
Well, one of the cities of the Western Heartlands or the Dragon Reach would be a possibility to update the regions as a whole somewhat with notes on relationships with, and happenings within, other settlements of the area. Iriabor or Elturel would be nice, as would Westgate. Come to think of it Elturel is of limits for some old PC game reasons( I think), so unless this is lifted that city is of the list.
Luskan could also be an interesting alternative, as could Arabel. |
| KnightErrantJR |
Posted - 04 Jun 2007 : 03:11:45
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
Baldur's Gate 3, as far as I know, is still under development out there somewhere, and its suppose to be based heavily on the history of the city, so that its not likely that we'll see anything on this city until either the game gets made or it finally dies officially.
I have the feeling it's probably still "vaporware" (I haven't heard anything about it in a long time).
Last I heard about it was back when PC Gamer did an article on D&D video games, I think two years ago, before NWN 2 and DDO were released. But in that article Atari was ardent that they were going to put this one out, and they thought they were really onto something with setting it in Faerun's past, near the founding of Baldur's Gate.
Which I thought was odd considering the main reason Baldur's Gate was named thusly was because that was were the climax of the game was, not because it was ABOUT Baldur's Gate.
Ah well. The problem is, unless Atari admits its dead, if there are any outstanding NDA, they likely won't clear up. |
| VonRaventheDaring |
Posted - 02 Jun 2007 : 17:57:53
True I hadn't thought of it like that, well Skullport could use an update as well, but its not any great rush. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 02 Jun 2007 : 00:37:14
quote:
Originally posted by VonRaventheDaring
Sembia
Which city in Sembia?
Remember, several of the larger cities in Sembia did receive some rather interesting treatment serving as settings for most of the novels in the "Sembia" series. Thus, they may not exactly be on WotC's "must-detail-this-city" list...
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| VonRaventheDaring |
Posted - 02 Jun 2007 : 00:28:17
I would love to see the following areas cities:
Skuld (It would be nice to get some info on it)
Sembia
Shade (It would be cool to learn about them)
the Chessenta region would be cool as well
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| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 01 Jun 2007 : 23:23:02
quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
Baldur's Gate 3, as far as I know, is still under development out there somewhere, and its suppose to be based heavily on the history of the city, so that its not likely that we'll see anything on this city until either the game gets made or it finally dies officially.
I have the feeling it's probably still "vaporware" (I haven't heard anything about it in a long time). |
| KnightErrantJR |
Posted - 01 Jun 2007 : 23:08:39
Since Calimport had its own sourcebook in the olden days, I'd love to see an update on the city for 3.5. The place is huge and has tons of room for interesting adventures, and as one of the truly huge cities of Faerun, and given that the Lands of Intruige have seen little love in 3.5 I think this would be a great one.
Silverymoon is another city that seems like it would be perfect for its own stand alone product, and it feels like this one has been a long time coming, yet its never really come about.
Zhentil Keep would be good as well. Not only is it the preeminant "evil" city of the Heartlands, we could use an update to see how its advanced since the Ruins of Zhentil keep boxed set (I know we got a bit of an update in Mysteries of the Moonsea, but more detail would be great). Not only that, but it would give an excuse to see a bit more of the growing "Zhent Empire," with some updates on recent events.
Westgate is also another great "adventure city" with lots of hooks for PCs that wander around there.
Neverwinter and Baldur's Gate would both be great as well, but I beleive both are still under a cloud of mystery due to the games that bear their names. Neverwinter Nights is going to have an expansion, and even though its set in Rashemen, for some reason the "base city" in these games always seem to remain locked up. Its a shame too, because Neverwinter was one of the first places in the Realms I ran a campaign. I love the details from the old 1st and 2nd edition sourcebooks.
Baldur's Gate 3, as far as I know, is still under development out there somewhere, and its suppose to be based heavily on the history of the city, so that its not likely that we'll see anything on this city until either the game gets made or it finally dies officially. |
| Uzzy |
Posted - 30 May 2007 : 15:25:48
Well, no sourcebook ever details ALL of a City. Developers would be able to have plenty of creative freedom, and if the sourcebook was made at the same time as the game, then you could have many of the events that happen in the game and areas you go to in that sourcebook. Would be interesting. Though, I do get what your saying about giving developers more room to manoeuvre. I just think that a sourcebook for Neverwinter brought out around the same time as the Video Games might bring in many people to PnP. |
| WalkerNinja |
Posted - 29 May 2007 : 21:49:59
In looking at this question, I believe that there are probably some larger questions that need to be addressed.
1) What is the object of having a city source book?
From my perspective, the object of having a city source book is to facillitate gaming in ways that are not handled by the core campaign setting. It provides depth and detail to an otherwise one or two paragraph treatment in a larger book. City books create a campaign setting within a campaign setting. The FRCS tells us that "the world is this way." A city source book should tells us that "While what the FRCS says is true, here is the exception, and we find it quite exciting."
2) What cities would warrant a source book treatment?
From answering the first question, we begin to know the answer to the second. A city that warrants a source book is a city whose true flavor is not properly expressed in the FRCS. This postulates that such cities must tend to be larger and emblematic of a society or civilization. Waterdeep, for instance, is the quintessential city of the Sword Coast North. In detailing Waterdeep, we now know more of the peculiar flavor of the entire region. Suzail, on the other hand gets a generous treatment in the FRCS as does its surrounding country. Cormyr (and to a lesser extent the Dalelands) seem to be the staple of the Campaign Setting from the standpoint of word count alone. Thus, these two regions would not necessarilly be eligable under our criteria especially when one considers the sheer amount of print devoted to them in novels and in previous editions. What cities might qualify? Baldur's Gate, West Gate, Athkatla, Silverymoon, Calimport, Iriebor.
3) How would a city source book fit into WotC's current marketing strategy?
WotC is currently re-aligning their marketing strategy. In the beginning, when the OGL was first published, the thought was that WotC would print rule books and Campaign Settings and that 3rd parties would write adventures. Over the years, however, 3rd parties have been much more interested in printing their own rules and campaign settings and no one has been exploring the market for adventure modules. This year seems to be a course correction. Taking the initiative (they rolled high), WotC is releasing all kinds of modules to recapture that audience and collect the money that no one has been pursuing. Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave seems to be testing the water as did Mysteries of the Moonsea. MotM was a City Source Book, Regional Source Book, and Module Hybrid that some found distasteful. C:ttotW is a Super Module with a respectable appendix detailing the city of Wheloon and seems to have been better recieved. The next evolution could be:
Step 1: Release a City Source Book
Step 2: Release a module anthology (along the lines of Four from Cormyr) in and around the city depicted.
Step 3: Release a super-module revolving around that city
Step 4: Release novels revolving around the depicted city.
Step 5: Produce miniatures depicting characters from the novels and modules.
I don't know for sure that we'll see this (it would be like putting a year's worth of eggs into one basket), but it is the next logical step in marketing evolution. In short, a City Source Book is only functional if it is strong enough to affect your spending habits. Some of you buy modules... some do not. But would you be more inclined to buy a module if you had the city source book? Many of you do not buy mini's. Would you buy minis if they were for the module that you bought to complement the shiny source book that you purchased?
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| Matthus |
Posted - 29 May 2007 : 15:59:03
quote:
Originally posted by Dargoth
I reckon they should do a CoS style book on one of the following
Suzail
Calimport
Baldurs Gate
Zhentil Keep
Mod Edit: I applied some "URL" magic to Dargoth's link.
______________________________________________________________________
Just wanted to support the first Proposal  - I would like to see some information from Calimport.
Anybody heard from some source books or informations from the more exotic regions - Halrua or Chult for example? Maybe this wouldn't be a marketing opportunity - but I would find it cool to get a tour around the Realm...
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| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 28 May 2007 : 21:59:29
quote:
Originally posted by Uzzy
That would be an odd reason for it, but I can just about see it being that! 
It seems to me that WotC actually likes to give game designers room to develop areas that their games are set in (in this case, the area in and around Neverwinter). |
| MerrikCale |
Posted - 28 May 2007 : 13:58:42
I would like to see a large book dealing with several cities. Perhaps 4 cities at 40 pages each. Westgate, Neverwinter, perhaps a Amn or tethyr city, perhaps Luskan, Elturel, Iraibor, etc |
| Uzzy |
Posted - 25 May 2007 : 22:45:03
That would be an odd reason for it, but I can just about see it being that!
It would be a golden marketing opportunity though. WOTC could release a 'Neverwinter' sourcebook at the same time as the game, have some cross advertising, and you might end up attracting players of the computer game to the PnP game. |
| Kajehase |
Posted - 25 May 2007 : 16:35:52
quote:
Originally posted by Uzzy
Heck, I would love to see supplements for all the following cities.
Neverwinter (Quite why no one ever did one to tie in with Neverwinter Nights, I don't know. Golden marketing opportunity)
I seemto recall it being mentioned that it is in fact because of the Neverwinter Nights games that there's not been much done with that area since the release of the last 2nd edition "North" sourcebook (the same being the case with Baldur's Gate as well). Of course, I could be barking up a tree in the wrong forest for all I know |
| SirUrza |
Posted - 24 May 2007 : 21:41:38
I thought the Waterdeep counts as a region book for it's year because waterdeep was so big it demanded a full book?
Did something change? I thought everything else was just hopeful speculation... |
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