Underdark (supplement)

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Underdark
Underdark book cover.jpg
Cover of Underdark
AuthorBruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, Jeff Quick
Genre Role-playing game
PublisherWizards of the Coast
Publication date
2003
Media typePrint (Hardcover)

The Underdark sourcebook for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the 3.5 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

Contents

Contents

The sourcebook covers gaming material such as new character classes, Drow Judicator [1] as well as covering the geography of this fictional setting.

Publication history

This book was written by Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, and Jeff Quick, and was released in October 2003 published by Wizards of the Coast. [2] Cover art was by Sam Wood, with interior art by Kalman Andrasofszky, Matt Cavotta, Mike Dubisch, Wayne England, Matt Faulkner, Vance Kovacs, Vince Locke, Raven Mimura, Jim Pavelec, Vinod Rams, Richard Sardinha, Stephen Tappin, and Joel Thomas.

When asked how the designers dealt sorting through years' worth of publications on the Underdark to create a more definitive sourcebook, Jeff Quick responded: "I was the editor of Eric Boyd's exhaustively detailed 2nd edition sourcebook, Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark . Eric, as Forgotten Realms fans know, is a detail nut. When he wrote it, he consulted pretty much every Underdark reference ever -- including Bob Salvatore, personally. So rather than duplicate effort, I turned to that book for inspiration and to Eric for a few details and opinions." [3]

Reception

In a review of Underdark in Black Gate , John ONeill said "Forgotten Realms: Underdark is one of the most readable and entertaining gaming supplements I've read in years and it's well worth the few measly bucks sellers are charging for it these days. If you think your underworld design has recently gotten stale, or if you just want to remind yourself of the magic of Gary Gygax's original D-series adventures, then this book is what you're looking for." [4]

The editor from rpgnews.com stated the book did not deliver on the price it costs, was incomplete, contained a lot of assumed information making it difficult for casual readers to understand references without knowledge of the novels; however, fans of the novels might enjoy it. [5]

Viktor Coble listed Underdark as #5 on CBR 's 2021 "D&D: 10 Best Supplemental Handbooks" list, stating that ""Underdark" reveals a massive breadth to the area, filling it to the brim with disastrous creatures of the dark. It stacks this whole world and way of thinking underneath what normally happens, making great strides in building up alternate ways of adventuring and the dangers involved in stepping out of a player's comfort zone." [6]

Reviews

Related Research Articles

Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories. Several years later, Greenwood brought the setting to publication for the D&D game as a series of magazine articles, and the first Realms game products were released in 1987. Role-playing game products have been produced for the setting ever since, as have various licensed products including novels, role-playing video game adaptations, comic books, and an upcoming film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drow</span> Dungeons & Dragons fictional creature

The drow or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of elves connected to the subterranean Underdark in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and connected to the evil goddess Lolth. However, later editions of Dungeons & Dragons have moved away from this portrayal and preassigned alignment. More recent publications have explored drow societies unconnected to Lolth.

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Drizzt Do'Urden is a fictional character appearing in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Drizzt was created by author R. A. Salvatore as a supporting character in the Icewind Dale Trilogy. Salvatore created him on a whim when his publisher needed him to replace one of the characters in an early version of the first book, The Crystal Shard. Drizzt has since become a popular heroic character of the Forgotten Realms setting, and has been featured as the main character of a long series of books, starting chronologically with The Dark Elf Trilogy. As an atypical drow, Drizzt has forsaken both the evil ways of his people and their home in the Underdark, in the drow city of Menzoberranzan.

Menzoberranzan, the "City of Spiders", is a fictional city-state in the world of the Forgotten Realms, a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. The city is located in the Upper Northdark, about two miles below the Surbrin Vale, between the Moonwood and the Frost Hills. It is famed as the birthplace of Drizzt Do'Urden, the protagonist of several series of best-selling novels by noted fantasy author R. A. Salvatore. Menzoberranzan has been developed into a video game and a tabletop RPG setting. Menzoberranzan has been described as "a perfect unjust state" and compared to Glaucon's vision of a state that is held together only by the fear of retribution.

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References

  1. "Chapter Three: Prestige Classes - Drow Judicator". wizards.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
  2. Cordell, Bruce R.; Kestrel, Gwendolyn F. M.; Quick, Jeff (2003). Underdark. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN   0786930535.
  3. Ryan, Michael (October 24, 2003). "Product Spotlight: Underdark". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on February 16, 2004. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  4. "Descend into the Depths of the Earth in Forgotten Realms: Underdark – Black Gate".
  5. "REVIEW OF UNDERDARK". RPGNET. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
  6. Coble, Viktor (2021-12-17). "D&D: 10 Best Supplemental Handbooks". CBR. Retrieved 2022-04-28.