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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 02:06:03
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Am I the only one that uses these in the Forgotten Realms?
I was just thinking on them after replying again to the Vampire scroll currently active.
What are some of the best uses you have gained from them? Please share!
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The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 02:10:13
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You're definitely not alone. The various Van Richten Guides from 2e RAVENLOFT, along with the Compendiums, and the 3e Van Richten works for the setting, are all regularly thumbed tomes at my gaming time -- especially The Created and Lich volumes.
They never fail to provide good ideas, concepts, and/or inspiration for campaigns themed around their featured nasties. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that they are likely to be among my most valuable RPG sources from over the last 25+ years of collecting. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7974 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 02:16:29
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| I make heavy use of them, too. 2E's Ravenloft and Planescape lore are unsurpassable. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36782 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 03:32:05
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| The Van Richten's Guides are some of the best books TSR produced. I recommend them highly, for any edition or setting. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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GRYPHON
Senior Scribe
USA
527 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 14:37:05
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| VR Guides are a great source of material... |
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Halidan
Senior Scribe
USA
470 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 20:56:27
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| Add my name to the ever gowing list of supporters. As Wolly said these guides were some of the best material ever written for D&D, whatever edition you play. You can take the lore and easily figure out the stats for the creatures in any edition - including other games. I've used several Van Richten creaturers/settings in my GURPS game. |
"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied,
"If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Allen Poe - 1849 |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 21:18:32
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quote:
Originally posted by Halidan
Add my name to the ever gowing list of supporters. As Wolly said these guides were some of the best material ever written for D&D, whatever edition you play. You can take the lore and easily figure out the stats for the creatures in any edition - including other games. I've used several Van Richten creaturers/settings in my GURPS game.
I'm seriously taken aback by what all I'd FORGOTTEN from these books! Seriously, the lore is deep. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 21:46:08
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| Yup - I take them as the 'D&D default' (core) rules regarding all things undead (or Created... or Vistani). Great set of books. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Laerrigan
Learned Scribe
USA
195 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2011 : 01:37:02
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| Yes, good stuff regardless of setting. I'm particularly fond of Created and Shadow Fey, and much more for the lore and perspective than the stats. Great ideas in them. |
"Your 'reality,' sir, is lies and balderdash, and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever." (Baron Munchausen)
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was not made for this world." (C.S. Lewis, "Surprised by Joy") |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2011 : 02:10:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Laerrigan
Yes, good stuff regardless of setting. I'm particularly fond of Created and Shadow Fey, and much more for the lore and perspective than the stats. Great ideas in them.
The 3e Shadow Fey guide is particularly notable, since that particular region of RAVENLOFT hasn't received all that much attention in the past. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Fellfire
Master of Realmslore
1965 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2011 : 02:14:35
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| I thought that VR's Guide to Shadow Fey was a just a reprint of the lore presented in Shadow Rift. The three Compendiums are a valued part of my library as well, though I seem to have misplaced II in my most recent move. Grrrr. Still waiting for it to turn up. |
Misanthorpe
Love is a lie. Only hate endures. Light is blinding. Only in darkness do we see clearly.
"Oh, you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but.. blinding. The shadows betray you because they belong to me." - Bane The Dark Knight Rises
Green Dragonscale Dice Bag by Crystalsidyll - check it out
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Edited by - Fellfire on 03 Apr 2011 02:15:14 |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2011 : 03:07:41
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The shadow-fey (Shadowrift) material was the only decent treatment of fey in AD&D. Tall Tales... was OD&D, and everything else was 3rd party. It remains one of my favorite 2e sourcebooks.
How a fantasy setting/game/genre has managed to avoid fairy-lore for nearly 40 years is beyond me. 
I found the online WotC articles... disappointing. Not bad, but they didn't really grab me, either. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 03 Apr 2011 03:11:25 |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2011 : 03:22:45
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quote:
Originally posted by Fellfire
I thought that VR's Guide to Shadow Fey was a just a reprint of the lore presented in Shadow Rift.
There's some reprinted stuff, but a lot of new info was presented too, and material that hadn't been updated in quite some time.
Also, some of the content had to be changed to reflect the fact that the 3e RAVENLOFT campaign didn't take place in the core D&D cosmology.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Van Richten Guides
