I’m rather less pleased with how the map of the Sword Coast was printed it splits over two pages and the page fold means rather important places like Neverwinter and Waterdeep are hard (or impossible) to find! Thankfully, Wizards have released a high-res version of the map to download for free. It also opens up the possibility that not all of the information is correct… something that DMs may have a lot of fun with. The conversational style of the book makes it a delight to read. I’m very pleased by the style in which the information is presented: from the point of view of a native of those areas (the book uses the viewpoints of several different people). Nor does it really cover the threats to the region, which a DM seeking to invent adventures might want, although there’s a lot of politics and intrigue you could draw from the book! The Underdark isn’t developed all that much, but that’s what Out of the Abyss is for. The book is a lot better at describing Luskan, Waterdeep and Mithril Hall, major places in the Sword Coast. It explains what the terms are, but little more. Cormyr hardly gets a mention, nor does the Moonsea. For areas outside of the Sword Coast, it’s not really the book you want. It had only a third of a page in the original Campaign Set book! There’s been a lot of development of the setting since it was originally released, and I think this book does an excellent job of conveying the essentials (and a bit more) of the areas it covers. Baldur’s Gate gets about 2 pages (including a half-page map). There’s actually quite a lot of information on the various towns and settlements of the Sword Coast in the book. Although the Guide isn’t primarily a source of adventure ideas, there is enough in it to help the DM bring the place to life and potentially inspire a side-quest or two. When your travels in Hoard of the Dragon Queen take you to Baldur’s Gate, all of the players and DM can use this book to understand where you’ve ended up. One of the things it is very good at doing is giving context to the cities you see references to in the adventures. This is the land that the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide describes. This land includes the great city of Waterdeep, as well as the important centres of Baldur’s Gate, Candlekeep and Neverwinter, all of which have featured in well-received computer games. The newest adventures are set in the region of the Forgotten Realms known as the Sword Coast – a great stretch of land covering the western shore of the main continent of Faerûn. Although I’ve read a few of the recent novels, my view of the current Realms is shaped primarily through the adventures. I returned to the Realms mainly through the adventures released as part of the D&D Encounters seasons of 2010 onwards. I’m coming to the book as someone who picked up the original Forgotten Realms Campaign Setin the late 1980s, investigated the Realms heavily for a couple of years, then stepped away from it for a couple of decades. This isn’t to say that Dungeon Masters won’t find it a useful book, but that it’s important to understand the primary scope of the book. It’s an unusual book, as – unlike most of the campaign books released in the past – it is aimed primarily at players, not Dungeon Masters. The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide is the first non-adventure book published by Wizards of the Coast for D&D 5th Edition since the core rulebooks.
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