| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Eremite |
Posted - 11 Sep 2005 : 09:25:21
I really enjoyed SK (except for the absence of maps) but have yet to use the material in my games (although I'm working on it!).
I was wondering if anyone on these boards has used it and, if so, how? |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Beirnadri Magranth |
Posted - 27 Aug 2006 : 16:25:43
Lack of maps obviously was a big issue with me as well. I, however really like Serpent Kingdoms and completely disagree with msatran. I think the varied history is something fresh and some sketches out an otherwise blank gap in the history of faerun. If someone wants more info for the dales etc then that's fine by me. I just think since there are already scores of books about them that something fresh might be a good thing. |
| wildmage |
Posted - 18 Aug 2006 : 03:20:16
I just wanted to second (or third, tenth, etc...) that I look forward to using material from Serpent Kingdoms in a campaign! I think this is one of the most inspiring FR tomes I own in terms of reading a few pages and having a whole campaign idea pop into my head. I thoroughly enjoy the descriptions and lore of the different scalykind races, I'm a fan of most of the new monsters presented in this book, and I really like most of whats written in the locations section that makes up the later part of the book. The maps available online at the Wizards website round out this all in all excellent piece of FR gaming literature. |
| Alisttair |
Posted - 17 Aug 2006 : 02:51:56
I haven't made use of it yet but am looking forward to using it. I kept thinking about NWN CRPG when I read it though... |
| Kalin Agrivar |
Posted - 16 Aug 2006 : 13:48:41
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
[quoteNot arguing about distance, so much as the miles and miles of nothingness part (ie. the belief that the "empty" spaces on the map of Faerun literally have nothing in them--no settlements, enclaves, etc.).
Ha! Welcome to Canada!  |
| Na-Gang |
Posted - 16 Aug 2006 : 11:44:29
quote:
Originally posted by Brakkart
...consulted the Seer at Procarlith...
In the campaign I'm running the PCs have something of an ongoing relationship with The Seer, in their race against time with agents of Sseth and Set and a whole heap of other nasties to find the Mhairshaulk Emeralds. |
| Brakkart |
Posted - 16 Aug 2006 : 02:02:52
I did use the book extensively during the run of my "Rise of the Snakemen" campaign, which had an overall plotline extrapolated from the Dungeon module "Slave Vats of the Yuan-Ti". During the course of the campaign the party battled lizardfolk and yuan-ti in the Mere of Dead Men, Fangs of Sseth cultists in Baldur's Gate & Waterdeep, consulted the Seer at Procarlith, stormed Ssinthee'ssaree and destroyed the Cult of the Dragon cell in Hlondeth.
One of the best Realms books I've ever bought short of the FRCS itself. |
| Ardashir |
Posted - 02 Aug 2006 : 18:43:15
I like the book. It's 'David Icke meets Elminster', and satisfies all my desires for twisted Reptoid conspiracies in the Realms. ;)
Though for this to have that real paranoid crackle that Icke's lunacy does, you'd have to retcon many of the most powerful mages of the Realms as serpent-folk. Elminster the Sarrukh, anyone? |
| Von Seossk |
Posted - 25 Jul 2006 : 17:45:19
oh yeah...I used to use it all the time. One of my favorite characters was a Lizard Folk that I built around that book, though it unfortunetly seemed like I was the only person that I knew that cared one bit about it. It's a great source book for making enemies that aren't the typical stuff that most DMs throw around. Yuan-ti show that Drow, Liches, and Cults aren't the only villains that can make multilayered plots. It's also really good for anyone who wants to play a scaled one...which I personally hope more people do, as with some thought, they could probably make really good PCs, and if you need more novel reference, there's of course Dragonbait from Finder's Stone (good evidence that scaled ones can be good aligned), and then the HOuse of Serpents series, which is all about Hlondeth, and the Yuanti, not to mention being one of the first books to prominently feature psionics. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 20 Jul 2006 : 03:11:48
quote:
Originally posted by Faraer
Considering that that map covers an area about the size of the British Isles, it doesn't show a high density of serpent stuff -- there are indeed miles and miles between all those locations.
Not arguing about distance, so much as the miles and miles of nothingness part (ie. the belief that the "empty" spaces on the map of Faerun literally have nothing in them--no settlements, enclaves, etc.). |
| warlockco |
Posted - 19 Jul 2006 : 19:00:53
quote:
Originally posted by Trace_Coburn
quote:
Originally posted by Faraer
Considering that that map covers an area about the size of the British Isles, it doesn't show a high density of serpent stuff -- there are indeed miles and miles between all those locations.
(I've remarked before that certain misconceptions about the Realms wouldn't occur if people read the map scales, but maybe these distances seem small to Americans. They aren't small to me, or to folk of Faerūn.)
I'm actually a Kiwi, Faraer, so everything looks pretty big to me... but by the same token, I have to plead 'guilty' to not referencing the map scale-bars. Mainly because most of the Faerūnian maps I see don't have scale-bars, but still.... 
My players just about fainted when I told them how far 1 inch was on the map that I was using....    |
| Trace_Coburn |
Posted - 19 Jul 2006 : 13:56:30
quote:
Originally posted by Faraer
Considering that that map covers an area about the size of the British Isles, it doesn't show a high density of serpent stuff -- there are indeed miles and miles between all those locations.
(I've remarked before that certain misconceptions about the Realms wouldn't occur if people read the map scales, but maybe these distances seem small to Americans. They aren't small to me, or to folk of Faerūn.)
I'm actually a Kiwi, Faraer, so everything looks pretty big to me... but by the same token, I have to plead 'guilty' to not referencing the map scale-bars. Mainly because most of the Faerūnian maps I see don't have scale-bars, but still.... |
| Chosen of Moradin |
Posted - 19 Jul 2006 : 13:29:49
quote:
...Plus the fact that the Mulhorandi deity Set is masquerading as the Yuan-Ti deity Sseth, lets me indulge my Old Empires obsession as well.
This is exactly my grasp in the book, too. My family plays in a Silver Marches campaign, and one of the players plays with a paladin of Osiris, that is following a Minion of Set (a sarrukh, in truth) from Mulhorand to the North. |
| warlockco |
Posted - 19 Jul 2006 : 12:53:33
quote:
Originally posted by Bocklin
quote:
Originally posted by warlockco
Well yeah everything is small to us considering we have many states that are bigger than most countries
But you still have "miles and miles" of nothingness between places.
I remember driving between cities in eastern California, Nevada, Utah, etc. and even though one single state is x time larger than my home country I had the feeling that it was 90% of nothingness with dots of civilization intersped. Very muich "Western Heartlands".
Bocklin
Well yeah, in that part of the country we like our space. Some people will up and move if they have a neighbor that is closer than 10km |
| Jorkens |
Posted - 19 Jul 2006 : 08:07:05
As I remember, the Western Heartlands were somewhat shrunk between editions also. If you look at an old map you see that this area was quite a bit larger and the serpent folks area even more remote. |
| Bocklin |
Posted - 19 Jul 2006 : 07:32:10
quote:
Originally posted by warlockco
Well yeah everything is small to us considering we have many states that are bigger than most countries
But you still have "miles and miles" of nothingness between places.
I remember driving between cities in eastern California, Nevada, Utah, etc. and even though one single state is x time larger than my home country I had the feeling that it was 90% of nothingness with dots of civilization intersped. Very muich "Western Heartlands".
Bocklin |
| warlockco |
Posted - 19 Jul 2006 : 01:50:37
quote:
Originally posted by Faraer
Considering that that map covers an area about the size of the British Isles, it doesn't show a high density of serpent stuff -- there are indeed miles and miles between all those locations.
(I've remarked before that certain misconceptions about the Realms wouldn't occur if people read the map scales, but maybe these distances seem small to Americans. They aren't small to me, or to folk of Faerūn.)
Well yeah everything is small to us considering we have many states that are bigger than most countries |
| Faraer |
Posted - 19 Jul 2006 : 00:03:18
Considering that that map covers an area about the size of the British Isles, it doesn't show a high density of serpent stuff -- there are indeed miles and miles between all those locations.
(I've remarked before that certain misconceptions about the Realms wouldn't occur if people read the map scales, but maybe these distances seem small to Americans. They aren't small to me, or to folk of Faerūn.) |
| Na-Gang |
Posted - 17 Jul 2006 : 11:55:51
quote:
It is available on the WoTC website. I intended for the maps to be in the book.
--Eric
Yep Yep, I already had it from there but would have preferred maps included with the book, although I understand that's not your fault. |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 16 Jul 2006 : 04:01:21
Well remember that the map doesn't tell you everything.  |
| Purple Dragon Knight |
Posted - 16 Jul 2006 : 01:04:12
Well, if people 'do' give the High Moor a wide berth, and keep to the roads to the south, the miles and miles thing is 'still' true...  |
| Rinonalyrna Fathomlin |
Posted - 15 Jul 2006 : 22:14:56
quote:
Originally posted by Trace_Coburn
I mean, I thought the WH were supposed to be nothing but "miles and miles of miles and miles"? 
That's not a fact, just what certain ignorant people think. |
| Trace_Coburn |
Posted - 15 Jul 2006 : 16:14:38
quote:
Originally posted by Faraer
Here are the maps:
http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mw/20051213a
[looks at 'tunnels' map]
Holy crap!
Is it just me, or does that place crawl with snake-things and nasty locales? I mean, I thought the WH were supposed to be nothing but "miles and miles of miles and miles"?
Huh - so much for a 'nice, safe trip' from Evereska to Cormyr for one of my chars.... 
[/digression] |
| Faraer |
Posted - 14 Jul 2006 : 17:58:41
Here are the maps:
http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mw/20051213a |
| ericlboyd |
Posted - 14 Jul 2006 : 16:12:25
quote:
Originally posted by Na-Gang
COPIED AND PASTED FROM THE WOTC PRODUCT FORUM THINGER DOWN THERE.
Well I use it. In fact my whole campaign hinges on it, being that it's set in Lapliiya and The Chultan Peninsula 'n all.
The Yuan-Ti are great foes. Individually powerful but with enough subraces, slaves, and lesser races of 'scaled ones' to provide opposition to any level of party. My group started at 1st level, are now on the cusp of 4th level and have only just met their first Yuan-Ti (even though she's not an opponent she's facilitated their work against a rival Yuan-Ti House).
Yuan-Ti satisfy my DM's need for thick, multi-layered plots, betrayal, and behind-the-scenes manipulation. Plus the fact that the Mulhorandi deity Set is masquerading as the Yuan-Ti deity Sseth, lets me indulge my Old Empires obsession as well.
It's a good book, but I do bemoan the absence of maps. Even if one was made available on the WotC site. I would've gladly paid a bit more for a great map or two included with the product.
It is available on the WoTC website. I intended for the maps to be in the book.
--Eric |
| Na-Gang |
Posted - 14 Jul 2006 : 14:24:44
COPIED AND PASTED FROM THE WOTC PRODUCT FORUM THINGER DOWN THERE.
Well I use it. In fact my whole campaign hinges on it, being that it's set in Lapliiya and The Chultan Peninsula 'n all.
The Yuan-Ti are great foes. Individually powerful but with enough subraces, slaves, and lesser races of 'scaled ones' to provide opposition to any level of party. My group started at 1st level, are now on the cusp of 4th level and have only just met their first Yuan-Ti (even though she's not an opponent she's facilitated their work against a rival Yuan-Ti House).
Yuan-Ti satisfy my DM's need for thick, multi-layered plots, betrayal, and behind-the-scenes manipulation. Plus the fact that the Mulhorandi deity Set is masquerading as the Yuan-Ti deity Sseth, lets me indulge my Old Empires obsession as well.
It's a good book, but I do bemoan the absence of maps. Even if one was made available on the WotC site. I would've gladly paid a bit more for a great map or two included with the product. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 11 Jul 2006 : 02:10:58
There was a topic here, I'm sure of it... |
| Jorkens |
Posted - 11 Jul 2006 : 01:12:40
quote:
Originally posted by Kajehase
Pardon the off topicness, but doesn't rocky mountain way pretty much sum up getting out of the door in Norway?
Well as I live in a hundred year old wooden house built on an old mire that makes the house tilt in all directions at once, I sometimes get the feeling that I don't even have to leave the house.
And you are pardoned. |
| Kajehase |
Posted - 10 Jul 2006 : 21:36:36
quote:
Originally posted by Jorkens
Well, I am back, a long train journey on a, in the words of the immortal Joe Walsh, rocky mountain way, is behind me.
Pardon the off topicness, but doesn't rocky mountain way pretty much sum up getting out of the door in Norway? |
| Jorkens |
Posted - 10 Jul 2006 : 17:55:18
Well, I am back, a long train journey on a, in the words of the immortal Joe Walsh, rocky mountain way, is behind me.
Serpent Kingdoms is among the book I have used most of the 3ed books. The information about the Western Heartlands and the pieces of history from the same region have seen the most use. Some bits of snakelore have been used to flesh out the customs and beliefs of the region.
The rest of the book have mostly been a fun read until now. |
| warlockco |
Posted - 09 Jul 2006 : 07:20:16
quote:
Originally posted by RodOdom
Now it's been half a year since we discussed it, has anyone used the Serpent Kingdoms much?
Mainly use it for the Tren. My players just hate running up against those |
