Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden Review

Review copy courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.

 

Pros

• Lots of full colour art (as we have come to expect of this edition). I really like the cover on this one. Probably my second favourite of the edition. The art inside is also better than usual for my tastes. Perhaps it’s all the snow.

• The separate map that can be torn away is still included. I really like this. Keep this going for as long as you can.

• It's got great atmosphere and the storming north is a great place for danger to dwell.

• Aids such as the adventure flowchart and character guides make a return, and I’m happy to see it. These sorts of aids go a long way to making an adventure easier to run.

• Many non-creature hazards like cold weather, cold water, and avalanches.

Could Go Either Way

• Adventure is open ended and requires serious Dungeon Master preparation (for those who like the control, it's a massive pro). This should be fairly normal by now to those who read my reviews of these modules.

• Some examples for certain features would be handy and reduce confusion. A good example would be a turn by turn for avalanches. While it’s not necessary to have it in the book, I believe it should at least be available through the website. I know I did one myself before trying to run the first part of the adventure to help me get my head around it.

Cons

• Some of the encounters will take serious time to prepare, and won’t make sense as written.

• No PDF*

 

* Denotes nitpicking.

Cover of Rime of the Frost Maiden.

Introduction

The last adventure for Dungeons & Dragons in 2020 was Rime of the Frost Maiden. It’s an adventure set in the cold region of Icewind Dale in the Forgotten Realms, but can be transplanted to the icy region of your home brew world with some work. A fitting adventure for winter I think.

In generally, I like many aspects of this one. The setting itself is probably a big reason for this, with cold weather playing an important role. I also like that the central conflict that the region is stuck in perpetual night and cold is there from the very beginning. It leans a bit into horror. That said, there are some encounters that will take serious preparation and care if you don’t want a total party kill. Or to be able to run them at all reasonably. I’m left scratching my head about multiple of them. How should I tie these together? One pretty big one doesn’t seem to work as written. I’d say this is as hard or harder than Curse of Strahd. But without further ado, let’s jump into the meat of it.

An example of the art in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden

The Adventure

New Player Options

There is basically nothing here. There are some player secrets that are used to spice the group’s motivations (I quite like this mechanic), there are some ties to the location based on background, there are some trinkets, and there are some magic items. They take up 1-2 pages per point, meaning that

New Monsters

There are a few monsters provided for this adventure, as we've come to expect. They take up about 45 pages, and they cover a pretty wide range. From vampire and zombie kobolds, new types of illithids and yetis. Most aren’t very easily transplanted, or like reindeer don’t really make for a good combat encounter.

What You Need to Play

The Monster Manual, Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide are referenced at the start of the adventure. This is normal now, though I do miss the old days when adventures could be run with the basic rules only.

The Adventure Itself

Rime of the Frostmaiden is an adventure that takes players from levels 1 to level 10. It starts with introducing the players to the location and certain non-player characters. These mini-adventures are easily can be easily repurposed for your own home brew campaign. I particularly like the murder case. It can easily be adapted to being related to devils or demons instead too. In fact, I’d say these early chapters with the party moving from town to town, learning about the situation, and encountering the danger of the cold are the strongest part of the book.

A big part of this is the setting. Settlements and towns are small, the weather is cold, and even deadly. This deadliness comes from just dying from the cold, dying from the cold while in water, suffocating after being buried alive in an avalanche and many more. This smaller setting and the brutal environment between settlements is something that helps make the adventure feel different. 2500 people is considered large, and many people are out so far because they are running away from something.

There are many horror like moments that occur. Sacrifices, discovering bodies, that sort of thing. It may also be why the adventure appeals to me, as my opinion of Curse of Strahd may have shown. This also translates to our cover villain, the Frostmaiden herself. There’s an air of mystery around them, and why they are doing what they are doing. This makes them different than many other villains/antagonists that feature in such adventures. And being a force of nature, this reflection in the setting is an element I greatly appreciate.

The later parts of the adventure take more time to prepare, or even to understand. These start to have many different moving parts, and often have a time element to them as well. However, as written, it’s a bit confusing and will take a Dungeon Master some preparation. In some cases you may opt to partially rewrite it for your campaign, but I’ll go into specifics in the spoiler section below.

Like many other adventures in this edition, I do recommend reading through the book and taking serious time to prepare. In this regard, it may one of the hardest adventures to prepare in this edition. I think the setting and feel of the adventure makes it worth it, but it needs to hit you right for that. First there’s the multiple towns that have their own casts and adventures. This is done in the early part of the adventure to help get players used to the setting. However, some will force the party to travel to other settlements which are often chosen by the Dungeon Master. Since players can choose the order they travel around, and this portion being more open is part of what contributes to its appeal, you’ll need to have them ready to drop in based on the player’s choices. Eventually the big things start occurring, but that’s also where those confusing things I mentioned earlier need to be handled. It’ll also help to know where things are going in order to help make all the parts fit together thematically.

One thing I’ll say is to keep an eye on the difficulty. Players can get themselves into situations they can’t really win. I do wish they’d note what combat encounters they actually expect players to get through, and which ones are just covering bases. There’s a demilich in one part of the adventure, but do the designers expect the combat encounter to happen? I’d recommend establishing this early with your players so they know what they’re getting into.

That said, if you can figure those sections out, it has the potential to be an amazing experience. Time is often a factor, and lasting consequences occur. Though combat can be difficult and it’s possible to make unwinnable situations if you’re not careful as the Dungeon Master, with care it can make really engaging situations. It can also be some of the most memorable in this edition.

Spoiler Corner

Here I’ll talk about specific things from the adventure. If you’re a player or think you will be a player, jump down to the art section below. You have been warned.

There is an encounter where a giant constructed dragon is unleashed upon the towns of Icewind Dale. The problem is that the times used don’t give players much of a chance to stop it. If they do too much damage, it’s supposed to fly away. You may want to consider making it take longer to destroy a town to give players more time to head it off at a different town. Or if you do enough damage maybe break a wing to keep it around. To make it worse, a table of travel times is provider, and in text the times to destroy a settlement are given. Meaning you have to do the math yourself. Remember what I said about preparation being needed?

There is the lich I mentioned earlier. Yeah, read this part carefully and try to figure it out. By Challenge Rating, this fight shouldn’t happen. So be careful when running this part or risk the wrath of a lich.

And of course, there’s the Frostmaiden herself. There’s a section of the adventure where she could be fought, and stats are given to fight her. One of the places where this fight can happen would be very difficult for players. My conclusion is that the operation is designed so the players avoid her until later. However, reading it, you might not get that fact. Keep this in mind when running this chapter of the adventure.

The sort of map found in Rime of the Frostmaiden.

The Art and Book Build Quality

To begin, the standard cover is my favourite in a good long while. I love how the eyes of the creatures glow, the detail, and the slight dimness. The alternate limited edition cover is also good, but I’ve come to expect at this point. They’re more stylized and higher contrast in appearance, but also solid. These books also perfectly fit the style we’re used to seeing, and look perfectly at home lined up in a bookshelf with other books from this edition.  The maps are also often in colour this time, and I like the style they're done in.

I’m also happy to report that my copies were solid in terms of physical condition. One corner was slightly bent, but you can look for that when you pick it out at your local bookstore. Even if you don’t, it’s not a major thing. What I would recommend is flipping through the pages to make sure they’ve all been cut properly, and that none are stuck together. This isn’t a problem for me this time, but I have run into that before.

Price

For the suggested retail price of this product, you can check here. The cost is the same we are used to for adventures of this size at $49.95 in the States and $64.95 in Canada. However, as usual, most places have the book at a lower price.

What I felt was Missing

A PDF of the adventure would be nice (like always I mention this). Having the supplement containing all of the creatures to run the adventure would also be nice. It was much nicer from a buyer perspective when all that was needed was the adventure. The rest would be provided by the supplement online and the basic rules (now we have the SRD but it doesn't cover everything), and I’ll keep saying so.

You once again need to find grids on your own. I’d have also liked some examples for things like dealing with an avalanche. Just having a turn by turn log for free on the website would help a lot of people understand what it’s meant to look like at the table.

There is a part of the adventure that includes a race against time. You will need to do some calculations beforehand to know how long players have. It would be nice if the adventure did that math for you though.

Free Stuff

Nothing here this time. Move along.

An example of the art found within and how it's formatted. Not bad, right?

Summary

Overall, I’m enjoying Rime of the Frostmaiden. It certainly is one of my favourites setting wise, and the early part of the adventure that introduces the party to Icewind Dale is particularly well done. It’s a bleak, cold place that plays a bit into horror themes. This coldness is also prominently features in much of the art, which I enjoyed more than usual. After that, though the elements can be executed extremely well, it’ll take preparation time to get it to that point. I think that's partly because it’s not very easy to understand, and will take some time to do so. However, it also is because some aspects are left vague to allow the Dungeon Master to leave their own mark and handle the specifics. Or just because something was missed. If done correctly, it has amazing highs that make players make tough choices. However, I also think it’s not as focused or comes together as tightly as Curse of Strahd. If what I wrote sounds interesting to you, I think you’ll enjoy this one, but be ready to do your homework.

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist Review

Review copy courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.

Pros:

• Lots of full colour art as we've come to expect.
• A different feel from the adventures that came before it.
• The search for the half million dragon treasure is a very cool setup and is easy to run with.
• The character of Waterdeep comes up in the adventure, with festivals and locations described. It's really like a mini-guide to Waterdeep, and the Enchiridion section written in world by Volo really helps add to the feel as well as give players a good rundown of what their players might know.
• An assortment of villains to choose from for your run, and even the season affecting play. Don't like one of the villains? No problem! You got other choices.

Could Go Either Way:

• Many of the maps are in a black and white style. If you liked the full colour maps in other books, you may be disappointed. If you prefer a more classic style, you'll love this.
• The adventure takes place in Waterdeep, where the rule of law is strong and things far more powerful than level 5 lurk. This means that players can easily bite off more than they can chew by upsetting the wrong person, or have the full force of the law come down on them. For those players who like intrigue and navigating sticky situations this will probably go over well, but those that like more freedom may find it constricting. If you like adventures set in an urban environment, this is par for the course.
• The book goes from levels 1-5, and the next book (Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage) covers levels 5-20. If you like low level play like I do, this will be exactly what you wanted. Otherwise, you may prefer an adventure that ends with a more powerful party.
• For each choice of villain there is a different flow to part of the adventure. This is provided in flow chart form, and each of these events has a different version depending on the choice of villain. This allows for great variation and would help make a second playthrough more interesting. However, most groups don't touch the same adventure twice. The added complexity makes it harder to understand and run. I'd recommend 2 read throughs at least for this section: 1 to figure out which villain you want to run, and one so you don't get confused between the different setups.
• Like the flow, the lairs of all 4 villains are provided here. Since you'll be picking one of the four, there is a good chance many others won't be used. They may come up if your players decide to steal from one lair to finance their fight against another villain, or have a side conflict with them. Like the other option, this allows greater variation. It also helps to build up Waterdeep and makes it easier to use the other villains in adventures of your own design, or to improvise. What if your players also decide to pick a fight with Xanathar? Well, we got maps for that. However, it does add the potential for more dead pages in your playthrough.
• The adventure is around 224 pages long, including many 2 page spread illustrations, the Volo's Waterdeep Enchiridion, and the monsters section. This is around what we've become used to for adventures in this edition, but these additions mean that the meat of the adventure is not as much as the page count would suggest. It doesn't feel like a steal, but doesn't feel like getting robbed either, especially since previous adventures are roughly the same length. I would've liked to see more value making it closer to a steal. The value equation changes if you can get the book cheaper than the suggested retail price, which isn't very hard if you look.

Cons:

• A few of the monsters in the book are from previous books and eat into the page count if you already have them. A necessary evil since needing every book would be unreasonable, but be aware.
• You'll need the Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide to run the adventure (no more supplement PDFs)*
• No PDF version*
• No included grids*

* Denotes nitpicking.

The cover of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.

Introduction

Half a million gold coins are hidden somewhere in Waterdeep. That's the premise for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, a new adventure for 5^th edition Dungeons & Dragons that takes characters from levels 1 to 5. At the time of writing my players have played through levels 1 and 2, and just leveled up to 3. My opinion is that it's a solid adventure with an interesting touch not present in other adventures in this edition: picking the villain. However, that touch comes with a caveat. I think this is one of those adventures where the “could go either way” will determine if it's an adventure you'll enjoy or not. Without further a due, let's jump into the specifics. I mean, I'm already this late.

The Adventure

New Player Options

There's really nothing here besides loot. Hey, I like loot and don't like broken player options, but be aware going into this one. It's really about the adventure.

New Monsters

There's about 18 pages dedicated to monsters and NPCs. This sounds pretty good on the surface, but it's not quite the whole story. If you have Volo's Guide To Monsters, you'll already have some of the creatures listed here such as the “wizard's apprentice”. Many others are NPCs. Of course they're necessary, but they aren't as reusable as brand new creatures. This is further compounded by the amount of text describing the NPCs in the adventure. This is great for those running the adventure, but again isn't reusable. The nimblewright makes an appearance, and I love these things even though they aren't undead. Otherwise, we have the “Walking Statues of Waterdeep”. It also makes sense that an adventure focused more on intrigue and finding a hidden treasure in an urban area wouldn't have many unique monsters. Just don't expect a mini monster manual out of this one.

What You Need to Play

This is another one of those adventures where you'll need the Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Gude. I think you can get by without the Player's Handbook and by using the SRD/basic rules, but the other two would require more creativity. It would also be hard unless you know what the adventure refers to. I think you could cobble together most of the creatures from the SRD, preview pages from when the Monster Manual was released, and the PDFs from adventures when they'd provide the monsters needed on the website. However, I cannot recommend such an exercise and most of the people I've run into playing D&D 5e have the core books at the very least.

One of my favourite images from this one. I always had a soft spot for the landscape shots.

The Adventure Itself

A half million gold coin stash is a great hook for an adventure. Whether you are the most evil character or most good that kind of money just lying for the taking is a great motivator. And as a great motivator, it's a great way to attract interesting villains. Even if you don't use the book, it's a good enough idea to think about.

One of the interesting aspects of the adventure is that the Dungeon Master can pick their villains. Prefer a villain trying to buy entry into the Lord's Alliance? Great. Evil family trying to get out of an infernal contract? It's an option. I really like adventures that allow for differences and can even be replayed later. Players often don't replay adventures, but it's more likely that a Dungeon Master will run one twice. Having something that can be changed goes a long way in keeping me interested in those cases. However, the flow is quite a bit more complicated than Ravenloft and it's fortune telling. The entire flow of chapter 4 of 5 changes depending on what villain you choose. It's really 4 version of each encounter in a different order, and as such I think it requires at least 2 reads. One to figure out which one you like, and a second to stop you from mixing them up. Oh, and there are also some faction specific mini missions that are included depending on your players too, and they often interact with big NPCs in Waterdeep.

The adventure takes players from levels 1-5, and as such it has a bit of a different feel from those adventures that have a larger level range. It helps make Waterdeep, and the situations feel dangerous. I believe I said it before, but my personal preference is for lower level play. It feels dangerous, and there's plenty of room for players to grow as well as bite off more than they can chew.

However, it brings some deadliness with that level range. For example, your players can run across a intellect devourer and mind flayer at level 1. Now, the mind flayer is trying to run away, but it's still not the easiest of fights for the party to come out unscathed. Anyone who knows of Waterdeep or read Xanathar's Guide to Everything also knows of Xanathar. Having a beholder and its minions running around in a level 1-5 campaign leaves a lot of room for things to go horribly for a party, and saying that the odds of winning against a beholder at level 5 is low is an understatement. New players may not be as cautious with these things and expect things to be better balanced for them.

It's not just creatures that they have to deal with though, it's also Waterdeep. Their is a massive map and a lot of pages devoted to building the city, it's areas, and even giving the players an inn within it. I absolutely love this element of the adventure. Having them own and manage an inn gives them some personal investment and it does feature in some sequences. It's also a godsend for improvisation if your players are into it. I'd love to see more stuff like this in the future, perhaps involving keeps and underground lairs. Waterdeep has laws, and has law enforcement. Interacting and dealing with this complicating factor is part of the adventure and often part of adventuring in cities in general. However, I've seen quite a few players in my time who didn't like this kind of adventure because they found it restrictive. Sure, they could murder someone to try to get what they want, but they also know there will be serious consequences to punish them for it. Your players should understand that getting arrested for breaking the law is a real possibility. There is a nice page detailing some basic legal stuff. I like this for two reasons. It gives players an understanding of the laws they are going to be interacting with, and it also makes it clear from the beginning that this is one of those adventures where law enforcement exists and does their job. This kind of play is handled best when players know what they are getting into.

The style of map I mentioned. Not bad, but different and has less colour.

The Art and Book Build Quality

I am happy to say that my copy was flawless build quality wise. There were no quality issues, and the binding was great. It feels good, and looks good. I would still recommend my usual checks when picking out a book though just in case. Flip through the book quickly to look for stuck pages (could be improperly cut or images damaged), and check the binding.

 

The art is what we've come to expect from this edition, keeping a similar style and quantity. The quantity of art has been a consistent high of this edition. That said, the cover isn't my favourite in this edition. Rise of Tiamat still holds that slot for me. I would have liked to see more realistically styled art since it is my preference. Some landscape shots like that would've gone over very well with me. They have some landscape shots that I really liked, but I want more. Especially so when we are talking about a grand city. I do have to note that there are a lot more black and white styled maps in this book. They are good, and if you prefer that style you'll love it. However, if you are used to the coloured style we've seen more commonly it may be a low point for you.

One of the two page spreads in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. I hope to see more like this in the future.

Price

It's the usual price we've come to expect. Suggested $49.95 USD or $64.95 CAD, but you can keep your eyes out for a deal.

What I felt was Missing

I think this is one of the adventures that would greatly benefit from a printable version of the Dungeon Master map and player maps of Waterdeep. I want a version I can keep on my side and mark up while my players use the massive foldup map. I also think it wouldn't have hurt to have a code to redeem a digital copy of Volo’s Waterdeep Enchiridion. Some people prefer to read on a screen and add notes in a pdf and the option would be a good bonus that wouldn't cost Wizards of the Coast much to implement. Then again, they are donating the money to Extra Life.

Free Stuff

Nothing to see here. It's too bad, since I think they could've included a few things free electronically on their website such as the player and Dungeon Master maps I mentioned earlier.

Summary

This is one of those adventures that the “could go either way” elements will be the deciding factor. None of it is outright bad in my opinion, but I can see how the threat of law enforcement can make it more restrictive than a player might want, for example. A small village in the middle of nowhere might be more flexible and even allow the party to convince the circle of elders to get away with something. Like most adventures in this edition, it is one where planning time will be needed for the Dungeon Master to get their hand on the pulse of the adventure. You won't be running this one out of the box. You need to read over it a couple of times at least. Like other adventures like Curse of Strahd, you will greatly benefit by knowing the layout and character of Waterdeep. A good part of the book is exploring and interacting with the city. You could run this with a first time group and Dungeon Master, but it will be harder than Mines of Phandelver. If you love the concept, it could really click and lead to amazing results. My group had a ton of fun running the first 2 levels, and I think many others will too. If you saw my “could go either way” section and thought it sounds awesome, you probably will enjoy it. If you didn't, it'll look less attractive.

Dungeons & Dragons: Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide Review

Review copy courtesy of Wizards of the Coast.

Pros:

• Lots of full colour art (as we have come to expect of this edition)
• Lots of maps
• Lots of fluff and descriptions about the different areas and people there
• The mechanical stuff doesn't break the game
• New backgrounds with setting ties that are easy to adopt to other settings are provided

Could Go Either Way:

• It's focuses on the Forgotten Realms (if you like the forgotten realms, this is a major plus and if not it's a con)
• New paths for classes are provided (if you don't like creep, you may not like this) though they are not game breaking and will be too few for some to justify the purchase just for mechanics

Cons:

• For the list price, it's a bit short
• No PDF*

* Denotes nitpicking.

The front cover of Sword Coast's Adventurer's Guide.

Introduction

Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide has been released for the 5^th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Inside its 159 pages is information about races, options, backgrounds and locations for use with the Forgotten Realms. Personally, I think those who are interested in the Forgotten Realms will appreciate this book. Being no stranger to the Forgotten Realms myself, I enjoyed reading this book. Still, I had a couple of issues. For more depth, just read below or jump to the conclusion for a high level overview. Table of contents is here.

The Internals

New Mechanics and Rules

Inside this book are different mechanical options for players. At least one (deep gnomes) of these have already been featured in other adventures though I didn't notice much reuse beyond that. It's nice to have everything together in one book and yes, they did seem to be consistent with the previously published material. Most of it, however, is new. Anything I didn't like seemed to be easy to house rule as well and it mostly had to do with fluff (I'm looking at you, spiked armour).

Going in no particular order, we have some new backgrounds. Now, personally, I feel like backgrounds are probably some of the easiest things for a Dungeon Master to create in this edition. Still, it's nice to have some new ones written down and they generally seemed to be in line with the previously published ones (I'm a bit scared of power creep so this is important to me). They also tend to have links to the Sword Coast world which is nice to see (this will take some slight house ruling for other settings but it will be only slight).

We had some new material provided for the classes. There weren't any completely new classes, but some new options where provided (by options I mean domains for clerics, martial archetypes for fighters, etc.). Many different classes get attention here (strangely rangers don't) and I didn't have any concerns for almost all of the paths provided. There's one or two which make me a bit nervous (bladesinger is one of them) but if they are a little bit better than the rest, it isn't by much. The exception is Way of the Long Death but it's easy to increase the number of ki points needed to make it in line with the rest. I find myself occasionally making NPCs by following the character creation rules so any of them I feel may be too good for the players I could always use for my NPCs anyway (and adjusting the encounter to be fair, of course) but it's still nice to see that my players get some new options too.

Finally, we have a big list of races that exist within the forgotten realms. Mechanically, there isn't too much here. Some races get a couple of new variations which are in line with what we have seen so far. However, while I am breaking my format a bit here, there is far more for the races than mechanics. Many of them have fairly long explanations of their place in the world, histories, and unique features. There are even Forgotten Realms scripts provided for races such as humans, elves and dwarves (which means we are missing the exotic scripts Celestial, Infernal and Draconic, though we still have the Draconic script from the Player's Handbook).

Overall, it's rather light on the mechanics which honestly I tend to prefer at this point (lots of mechanics across many books scares me). I could see how some might be disappointed with how few there are, though. 

The Writing

If you are getting this book, it is probably for the writing. Lists of gods are given for the players (those Forgotten Realms veterans already know that there are quite a few gods in the Forgotten Realms), and histories of the world are provided. I knew most of what was in the book due to playing in the Forgotten Realms, but I still enjoyed reading it. Even when new options aren't given to a class or race, information on their roles in the world are provided.

Ever wonder how they measure time? It's covered. What about holidays and festivals? It's covered. Systems of government along the Sword Coast? Check. There's quite a nice range of topics covered and I found them to be a good read. It seems like it would work as a fairly decent reference. It does feel a bit short though. Almost like we could easily have 50 pages or even twice the content in exchange for a bigger price. Still, there were some pretty good deals out there that should help make the book tempting. 

The majority of the writing is good, but the part where this book really stood out for me was the descriptions of the locations through the Sword Coast. There is an emphasis that this is your Forgotten Realms and you should change it to be what you want it to be. Even when describing a location, the book does not speak from a position of authority. Instead, that portion of the book is written as a collection of accounts from informants and it really makes it seem stronger for me. It's evocative but not completely authoritative. It's how I feel that kind of section should be done.

The Art and Book Build Quality

One of the maps inside Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. There are others, and they also look good. They are also in a similar style. 

I found the art throughout this book to be quite nice, though it probably has my least favourite cover so far. The maps and objects are done really nicely in this book, though scaling is missing on the maps. Out of all of the Faerun gods mentioned in the list, almost all of them have an illustration of their symbol (I only counted 3 without illustrations) and they look great (my personal favourite is Jergal's symbol though I can't think of one that looked bad). I tend to be quite picky when it comes to depictions of people and prefer a realistic art style. Even so, there were quite a few pieces of art involving people that I liked in this book.

The book itself is in the same style as the rest in this edition. Everything from the pages to the spine makes it fit perfectly when standing on the book shelf. The pages themselves are in a style that makes them look like they are from an in-game book, complete with fake creases close to the edge of the page. It's nice, and I generally appreciate these kinds of details (they also blend really well with the style of the maps, which look like they are lifted straight out of Faerun).

Defects

The good news is that the pages in my copy were straight. The bad news is that out of all of the books I have of this edition, the binding is the worst. This is especially true for the first page and last page (look at the picture below to see what I mean). Still, I've been reading it and it seems to be staying together securely though it has been worrying me a bit. It also looks like two of the pages in my copy were stuck together with glue and when separated caused a small part of the surface of the page to be ripped out. It's barely noticeable but I feel it's worth noting and looking out for. I'm also not sure how common those kinds of things are for this run of the book.

The binding on the last page of the book. 

Price

The best prices I could find doing a quick search were $23.77 at Barnes and Noble in the US (Amazon has the same price) and $31.94 at Chapters in Canada. 

What I felt was Missing

Again, we are missing a PDF. A reference like this would have made a perfect candidate for a PDF. Also, I would have liked to see all of the script types mentioned in the Player's Handbook (including exotic) included in the book. Fonts being provided would have also been nice so that we Dungeon Masters could use the ones that are here in our handouts. This wasn't done for the Player's Handbook either, but I still feel it's worth mentioning. 

Summary

Overall, this is a resource and reference for Dungeon Masters who will be running games on the Sword Coast. It does what you would expect with its 159 pages. It has generally good art, a lot of good information describing the Sword Coast and is a bit light on mechanics. If you don't like the Forgotten Realms, you might still be tempted to buy the book just for the extra player options though as mentioned, it's a bit light on them. However, I'd say the main reasons to get the book are for the art and writing. It may be hard to justify buying this book if you already have a lot of old Forgotten Realms stuff. It's also not a must own book, especially if you prefer your own setting. Still, it's a good addition to this edition, and Forgotten Realms fans as well as new people to the game who want to learn more about the world they have been playing in through the adventures should be happy (especially if you find a lower price online and prefer description over mechanics since it is shorter and mostly descriptions). If you heard that there was going to be a Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and thought, “Cool”, you will be happy. Just be on the lookout for that binding if you can.

Other Stuff

• Reading over this book, I don't remember many typos