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Originally posted by George Krashos

Not what I would describe as a particularly exciting map.

-- George Krashos

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Originally posted by Markustay

The 'regional approach' suggests how they plan to proceed with the products themselves.

quote:

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Originally posted by George Krashos

Not what I would describe as a particularly exciting map.

-- George Krashos

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'Vague' "is the new Black".

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Originally posted by Gyor

I don't think they're done designing the realms as a whole, so it had to be vague.

But it tells us more then it seems apparent at first.

1. The Old Empires are back.
2. Its clearly influenced heavy by 1e/2e.
3. The Calimshan Desert looks much smaller to me then in 4e which tells me it shrunk, which hints that Suldorph (probably misspelled that) is a living city again.

I'll have to examine the map more.

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quote:

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Originally posted by eeorey

quote:

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Originally posted by Gyor

I don't think they're done designing the realms as a whole, so it had to be vague.

But it tells us more then it seems apparent at first.

1. The Old Empires are back.
2. Its clearly influenced heavy by 1e/2e.
3. The Calimshan Desert looks much smaller to me then in 4e which tells me it shrunk, which hints that Suldorph (probably misspelled that) is a living city again.

I'll have to examine the map more.

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The map doesn't show any national names, the region is know as "The Old Empires" to the people in the rest of Faerun, however this doesn't mean they are back.

Yes the map looks quite like 1/2/3ed maps rather than 4th but we still don't know which nations have returned/recovered. As much as it pains me I'm gonna be a bit sceptical about it. I want Mulhorand and Chondath back, and old Calimshan is way better than the 4th ed one.

One thing I'm seeing back for sure though is LANTAN!!! Huray for steam-punk!!! Thank Ghond it's back!!!

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Originally posted by Irennan

Yeah, looks like it's back. I wonder if/how the Lantanna survived...

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quote:

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Originally posted by eeorey

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Originally posted by Irennan

Yeah, looks like it's back. I wonder if/how the Lantanna survived...

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TECHNOLOGY!!! At least I hope they survived, it would be a downer if it became another fallen nation whose bones are there just to be picked by adventurers.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Caladan Brood

That is a depressingly low page count, even if it's but a part of the setting. My guess it'll be mostly similar to 3rd edition's 'Player's Guide to Faerûn'.

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Originally posted by Caladan Brood

Yeah, I know, I just don't see "full lore" + "crunchy part" = 160 pages :)
Makes me suspicious of just how much lore there'll be.

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Originally posted by Irennan

The page count of the book is around 160, according to CoolstuffInc. I hope that the crunch section is really small (esepcially considering that it will include some rules already released through the Unearthed Arcana articles)

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quote:

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Originally posted by Gurgle Gobblespit

quote:

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Originally posted by Irennan

The page count of the book is around 160, according to CoolstuffInc. I hope that the crunch section is really small (esepcially considering that it will include some rules already released through the Unearthed Arcana articles)

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Totally agree. I hope it is mostly lore, maps, history updates, timeline updates etc ….. all of which are desperately needed for 5e.

The crunchy stuff they could easily just crank those out as piecemeal (and FREE) PDF updates like in UA or even the Supplemental PDFs like they did with PotA which introduced 4 new races (Deep Gnomes, Genasi, Aaracockra, Goliath)…. which is content we got free of charge. At some future date, they could compile the "PDF supplement" contents into some future handbook, which I'm sure most 5e players will buy anyways.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Gyor

I Suspect the crunchy portion will be at least as big as EE companion and more likely alot bigger. We're talking at minium, Greenflame Blade Cantrip (and likely some other spells), Deugar Dwarf subrace, Tiefling and Half Elf Variants, Backgrounds like Urban Bountry Hunter, Oath of the Crown Paladin subclass, Mastermind Rogue Subclass, Swashbuckler Rogue Subclass, Purple Dragon likely fighter Subclass, Bladesinger likely Wizard Subclass, Undying Warlock Patron, hier background, and I think its unlikely that Sorceror, Cleric, and Ranger won't have a subclass for different reasons. And that what's certain and mostly likely in there, it doesn't include any surprises.

So I'm figuring a minium of 20 to 40 pages of crunch, maybe as high as 60 pages at the very high end, they want to make sure that its worth peoples time to buy if they're only interested in crunch. A list of Gods in it, could straddle the line between crunch and fluff (different gods gives access to different cleric domains).

Looking at my PHB, a subrace takes about half a page, a subclass about half a page, almost a whole page, a racial variant (based on the human variant found in the phb), a paragraph, background variant, a paragraph, spells about a paragraph usually, a Table of the Gods, at least two full pages, I don't expect full write ups for all of them,or even most of them, just the basics in a table format like in the 4e FRCG, domain, plane of existance, Portifolio, maybe a few other tidbits.

Thier are no new full races or classes to my knowledge, which take up a large amount of space, so they can cram in a ton of crunch options into 20 to 60 pages.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Dargoth

where are you getting that its only 160 pages?

I was hoping it would be as long as Out of the Abyss which weighs in at around 250 pages

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quote:

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Chapter 1 of this book gives an overview of the Sword Coast and nearby lands, its history, the role of magic, and its religions. Chapter 2 goes into detail about the cities and other locations of the Sword Coast. Chapter 3 gives history and some game material for various races and subraces, both common and uncommon, that can be met on the Sword Coast and in the North. Chapter 4 shows how the character options in the Player’s Handbook fit into this region and presents new character class options specific to the Forgotten Realms. Chapter 5 gives backgrounds designed to link your characters to the great places, people, and events of Faerûn.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Delwa

Preface for the book is out. It gives a brief overview of the contents:

quote:

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Chapter 1 of this book gives an overview of the Sword Coast and nearby lands, its history, the role of magic, and its religions. Chapter 2 goes into detail about the cities and other locations of the Sword Coast. Chapter 3 gives history and some game material for various races and subraces, both common and uncommon, that can be met on the Sword Coast and in the North. Chapter 4 shows how the character options in the Player’s Handbook fit into this region and presents new character class options specific to the Forgotten Realms. Chapter 5 gives backgrounds designed to link your characters to the great places, people, and events of Faerûn.

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It does repeatedly state that the book is 1. An Overview, 2. Brief in Description. I'd say at best we can expect a 50/50 crunch / fluff ratio.

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quote:

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Originally posted by ZeshinX

I have the feeling this will be as illuminating to the Realms as the Sundering novel series was for the Sundering non-event. I'll be snagging a copy once it hits shelves, of that there is no doubt...but durn it if I just can't shake that feeling.

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quote:

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Originally posted by ZeshinX

I have the feeling this will be as illuminating to the Realms as the Sundering novel series was for the Sundering non-event. I'll be snagging a copy once it hits shelves, of that there is no doubt...but durn it if I just can't shake that feeling.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer

If this book is on par with The Neverwinter Campaign Setting, then it will be worth the price of purchase.

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