Don't mistake with the title. I really enjoy reading this book, but it isn't as good as others Greenwood novels. The plot is great, and it keep you reading the book. It plays with an ancient race that is no longer on Faerun, but in other "dimension", and that gives more interest on the book. The treath that they made is very dangerous to Fareun, but Elminster could easilly kill all of them. Thus, Greenwood keep him busy, with the Times of Troubles, the Zentharim, Mystra and all of that. Then, the responsability to save Faerun from the Maulagrym lies in others foes, that make it good :). I enjoy really this book, and it's worth to buy it.

"The Great Foe", a name that sent shudders down the amorphous spines of the shadowmasters, an odd clan of shapeshifting sorcerers living in the demi-plane of Shadows. Such was the name given to Elminster of Shadowdale. Greenwood returns in the sequel to "Shadows of Doom", and the fifth in the line of novels dealing with the Godswar, also called the Avatar Crisis. Ed's humor is once again a huge part in this novel, as is the setting of the stage for the Maulagrym to steal into the magic depleated realms and wreak havok en route to total domination. Ithar, Belkram Sharantyr, along with the ghost of Sylune must battle the horrid creatures, or all Fearun will be lost. Over all a solid book, the best way I can place it is, Entertaining.

Greenwod pulls you into the world of Faerun. If you like the mystic side of fantasy; this is a series for you. Other favs: Salvatore's : Crimson Shadow Series, Drow Series.

The Ruins of Myth Drannor is another one of those Forgotten Realms products which features more on suspense, thrill of adventure, hack and slash than role playing. Despite that, it has one rich history, and one scenario to either get rich quick, or die quick. I was rather pleased with the Ruins of Myth Drannor product, mostly because it had a lot of information about the elves (which is my favorite race), and gave a lot of background information of their lives before their retreat to Evermeet. The downfall of the product would be that any low level adventurers would find this product too challenging and too mind boggling to play. This is not just like any dungeon above ground setting. It is one of the only settings where you can encounter baatezu and tan'ari. Heck, if your DM is familiar with various Forgotten Realms novels, you just might encounter the "Knights of Myth Drannor", allies of Elminster.

This product does feature some good monsters (like Baelnorn - undead elves), and has more than one adventure, all done well.

Not recommended for roleplaying, recommended for a lot of combat, and a lot of wealth!! If you get this product, make sure you get out your dice and start practicing your rolls!!

Next to the first Ruins of Undermountain boxed set, this is the finest "dungeon crawl" in existence. Centuries ago, the great city of the elves was the heart of civilization - then, evil forces from around the world (and beyond) gathered together to throw the lovely Myth Drannor into ruin. No one has ever managed to delve deep enough to discover what truly happened, or what untold wealth and magics await in the depths below. Until now... you get 4 giant map posters, 8 sheets of new monsters, 8 cardsheets, 160 pages of adventures, and a lot of dead PCs - this one is for thinking, veteran players only.

If you have ever wanted a more beneficial boxed set when it comes to the Elven Forest well here it is. This boxed set will provide you the DM with several hours of wonderful torture for your pc's. I recomend that if you can get your hands on it don't let go. The maps are excellent also.

Another of my large Kalamar purchase, this book initially impressed more than the Kingdoms of Kalamar sourcebook did. In the end however, it got the same rating, and the same overall impression. Nice, hung together well enough, lots of NPCs in good detail, but numerous irritations and inconsistencies dragged it down. Worse, not one immediate idea for an adventure sprang to mind reading it. This might be a lack of imagination on my part (I'll not so humbly say that this is unlikely), or more likely the kinds of adventures suggested by this book don't appeal to me.

This book is an exploration of a city in the campaign setting, and follows the same feel in that the emphasis is far more on the politics rather than old ruins or monsters. This is fine, but not quite what most people expect from AD&D. The cover is a very nice picture of a stone and a fire giant fighting while adventurers watch behind small hills, and the city in the background. Unfortunately, that's about all that these kinds of threats are seen, except in passing. The underground sewers are detailed well, but most areas are given the same "rumors of treasures hidden in the walls" treatment.

So the emphasis is on the people and their interactions. The city overall is one with a very peaceful reputation. You have five main groups, the Castle, the Guilds, the Nobles, the Priests and the common people. The Castle and leaders seem mostly good, with the potential heir being somewhat weak, leading to worries as to what will happen if the Lord dies. The guilds are builders, craftsmen, parcel carriers, etc, and basically well respected. There are one or to evil guildmasters, but very little detailed as to if they have any real plans. The Nobles are the most interesting group at first, as they're disliked by the commoners and Guilds alike. But rather quickly it's obvious that most follow a pattern.. Leader of the house, the heir is almost always a young man or woman who either seeks adventure to make a name, seeks adventurers to provide a power base for when they become the leader, or weak/not interested in the job of being house leader. One or two plots are laid out in fair detail, but they still didn't really grab me, and the sameness of each noble house got monotonous after awhile.

The religions are primarily good or neutral, and the evil religions again follow a pattern of only a few followers, want to expand their powerbase in the city, preparing to do so but not yet... One religion is truly evil, with some fleshing out of the despicable practices of its leader, but this was only a blip in the monotony. The shady dealings in the city are minimal and glossed over in the chapter devoted to this, because the town watch is so effective. The section on adventures is quite thin, and almost nothing in it really grabbed me.

Another element of this book that I disliked were some writing style choices and inconsistencies.
1. Names not always consistent between book, glossary (with page number where character is found) and the NPC list.
2. Almost every paragraph had at least one word in quotes, sometimes needed but more than often not.. Example: "If being 'noble' accords him special privileges, he will shamelessly make use of them ... However, he knows very well that anyone who truly believes Talasaarans are 'better' than their fellow Geanavese..." These quotes interrupt the flow of reading for me.
3. The authors use city-wide versions of common words throughout (at least they do explain the meaning) but this is annoying when they're for words like street, corner, avenue, left (sinister) and right (dexter). Again, it breaks up the flow.
4. The walkthrough of the city switches from guide-book style of simple description to actual guide style ("Now, as we go down this street, we decide to turn in the sinister direction and...") multiple times. Combined with huge amounts of quotes and city specific terms, plus including information already mentioned in the rest of the book, this chapter seemed a waste.
5. Sometimes the book goes into great detail about specific plots and plans (well, all of a couple of them), and other times things that it would help the DM to know are merely mentioned and then left alone as something that "No one really knows.". This seems inconsistent.

Ok, so lots of complaints.. It still gets a three for the high production quality and the wealth of NPCs and locations included. The nits and sameness drag it down to just average.

One of the top challenges for a good DM is to run a quality city adventure, as you have to have lots of potential NPCs that your players can run in to - and, you often have to create a lot of them on the fly as well. This book gives the DM a lot of good information about a medium sized city that can be put into a lot of generic campaign settings fairly easily. You have information about the king and his family, then the idle rich "Blackflame" nobility (who can cause a lot of problems), the guilds, as well as the underworld. Very solid information, and not over the top/overpowered like some of Ed Greenwood's past work on the Forgotten Realms. If you want political intrigue in an adventure - you have tons of potential with the Blackflames and the guilds... if you want a dungeon crawl, the city has an extensive sewer system that you can populate with all kinds of bad guys... this book has a lot to offer anybody who is into D&D and the d20 system.

This game supplement is a departure from the other "Volo's Guide" books. Rather than being the somewhat tongue-in-cheek tourist guides that the other books are, this is a reference guide to magic in the Forgotten Realms. This broad purview covers a wide range of topics. Included in this book are guides to magical legends (both people and places) in the Realms, discussions on magic items and their creation (the lion's share of the book), and a study of certain spells.

The most value you will probably get out of this guide is for its detail on magic item creation under the 2nd edition rules. This was always something the core rulebooks remained rather vague on, and this guide takes a good step towards laying down some more concrete details (but just a step). It includes some "recipes" for magic items and walkthroughs for the creation process. If you are interested in magic item creation for 2nd edition AD&D, this is a worthwhile supplement.

Beyond that, it introduces some new magic items, some new spells, a few artifacts, and a monster or two. Some interesting stuff, but nothing particularly spectacular. Given the changes to 3rd edition D&D (which lays down its own clear and straight-up magic item creation guidelines), there probably isn't that much of value here for players who have moved on from 2nd edition.

I found Volo's Guide to All Things Magical to be an excellent resource on magical item creation for Second Edition D&D. The type face is small, and the style is cramped, but to me that indicates that a lot of effort went into packing as much material into the book as possible, while keeping the page count and thus cost down.

The sections on magical woods, gems and metals are perfect for putting those little extra touches that take a magic item from the humdrum to the extraordinary. Since it's all there ready for you, it can also help you give consistent hints to players about what a magic item does by it's description. For instance, your player may eventually learn that magic items bearing alexandrite almost invariably have good luck powers, while those with onyx inlays are often either cursed or unlucky.

The item creation spells are probably the best feature over all. Unlike the Complete Book of Artifacts, and the Second Edition Dungeons Master's guide, this book actually gives a detailed process for magical item creation, including an example item preperation.

The book is a must have for the detail oriented person or any Dungeon Master running a First or Second Edition campaign that is going to involve magical item creation in any way. The gems and woods section above provide plenty of inspiration for adventures when your would be enchanter has to collect some of his materials by hand.

Unfortunately, the magic item creation system in Third Edition does not work at all with this book. I consider that a failing of Third Edition. It has made the construction of magic items exceptionally mundane.

So let me finish with a few words of caution, if you are not a Dungeon Master or are not interested in fleshing out the magic in your campaign you probably don't want this book. But for the Dungeon Master who is, this book is invalueable.

Here's a forgotten Ed Greenwood classic! The great mage, Aglahund the Mighty, lies buried atop Galzar's Crag. His apprentice Ulthorn, one of his greatest proteges, was recently found dead next to the tomb - in a doorway that never existed before! Now, it's up to the heroes (levels 15-20) to ascend the Endless Stair and discover the dread secret none have ever lived to tell... recommended and fun.

This was a good series. Good story, and good writing. However, I was a little let down at the end, not because of the writing, because of the story. It was confusing due to being rushed. Other than that, I liked it.

The classic "Grey Box" campaign set by Ed Greenwood introduced us all to the infinite splendors of Waterdeep and the Realms, through Elminster's eyes, and ushered in the silver age of classic AD&D gaming. Although the set was later refurbished in the 90s, many people prefer this set not only for the nostalgia it provides, but also because the illustrations in the campaign books are gorgeous and unforgettable. Clyde Caldwell's "Ravenloft" style reached its apogee here. In this set, you get the 96-page Players Guide to the Realms, the 96 Page DM's Lorebook, and huge poster maps of the heartlands of the Realms, with the unique transparent hex overlays for adventuring.

The hall is a good play in F&R world.Still that the mission is made for higher caracter or very good player(tink are lethal there)comparating to the level average on the adv book.For inexperienced player I sugest to party to be at least 4 of level 3 to 5.Exepting that al the other ting in the adventure are good and emprese me a lot.But look out dead trap are anywhere.

This is a 2nd edition Monster supplement for the Forgotten Realms setting. The material in this apendix comes in a three hole punched format so that it can be added to the three ring binder monstrous compendium. Each creature takes up one to two pages and are in alphabetical order as are all the compendium entries. This allows the material to be kept separate or integrated into the main compendium as the owner desires.

The descriptions and art are great, each mosnter has physical descriptions, combat statistics, culture, behaviour etc.

There was a second appendix for the FRs but this provides such basic staples as the crawling claw and the darkenbeast

Like the previously printed "Pages from the Mages," Prayers is a companion supplement providing information on the some of the rarer magical books/devices found in TSR's Forgotten Realms world. However, its descriptions are concerned with 'holy' relics instead of wizards' spellbooks. As with that book, it provides good, detailed information and descriptions to aid a player or Game master in adding it to his own role-playing campaign. For those who are adherents to the Forgotten Realms mythology, it remains fairly consistent and incorporates many of the official changes that have developed in that game world. Becuase most of the rules information is placed in the book, a person can generally get by without extensive knowledge of the Realms' pantheon. This allows players to incorporate any of the relics into other, non-Forgotten Realms, game campaigns if they like, with little modifications. The only fault in this material is that some of the ideas for the holy books/relics are somewhat convoluted or odd in their explanations. This may require a more thorough understanding of the gaming rules and possibly alterations to make it less confusing for actual play.