City of Splendors: Waterdeep (Forgotten Realms)

by Eric L. Boyd

The first in-depth look at Waterdeep, the shining jewel of the Forgotten Realms setting, in many years.

City of Waterdeep offers an in-depth examination of the great
city of Waterdeep in the Forgotten Realms setting. An overview of the
city includes history, a who’s who, information on laws, and rules for running and playing in a Waterdhavian campaign. Information on the people of Waterdeep covers non-player characters, arcane schools, armed forces, guilds, nobility, prestige classes specific to the city, and more. Also included in the book are discussions of specific Waterdeep locales, adventure locales, and new monsters. An extensive appendix gives information on new equipment, magic items, psionic powers, poisons, spells, and more.

ERIC BOYD is a software developer who has written extensively about the Forgotten Realms setting for Wizards of the Coast, Inc. His most recent credits include Lost Empires of Faerûn ™, Faiths & Pantheons ™, Races of Faerûn ™, and Serpent Kingdoms ™.

Genres: Role Playing Games, Gaming, Forgotten Realms, Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Reference, Games

157 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2005

Reviews

[Daniel A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of the difficulty with roleplaying sourcebooks in a dynamic, evolving setting such as Forgotten Realms (and particularly in contrast with, say, 3rd and 3.5 edition sourcebooks for Eberron) is that as the setting evolves (especially with subsequent editions, the latter of which is the core setting for the gaming iteration), the older sourcebooks become increasingly out-of-date. To some extent, this matters less for sourcebooks such as, say, Monsters of Faerun, since monsters exist in the world no matter how much the world evolves, but for one as tied to the current era (whenever that may be) as is City of Splendors: Waterdeep—which, as 5th edition has demonstrated, is at least a full century or so before the current iteration of the Forgotten Realms—this leads to nothing short of obsolescence. Yes, Eric L. Boyd does his usual standout job conveying every last nuance of the city of Waterdeep, but in light of that obsolescence, this exhaustiveness is simply, well, exhausting. For a 5th edition campaign, much of the information isn't especially useful, and while 5th edition explicitly accommodates every previous edition, given that 5th edition is much harder on DMs than it is for players, it's no small feat (no pun intended) for DMs to adapt the contents of City of Splendors to their own campaign, should they choose to do so. There is some, very general, material that's useful in City of Splendors, but given just how dated it's become, there's less than one would expect, and what there is is mechanics-heavy for an edition no longer specifically supported. Which is sad, because I wanted to like—and use—City of Splendors; unfortunately, I'll have to make do with other "core" titles in 3rd and 3.5 edition Forgotten Realms.

[Caleb Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this. I really, honestly did, having bought nearly every 2nd Ed. Forgotten Realms product back in the nineties. And after the boxed set that was that edition's introduction to this pivotal, rich city, this one felt like such a let-down that I'm afraid I feel that three stars is too good for it...but since I loved the 2nd Ed. version so dearly, I'm transferring some of that appreciation to this one in some strange display of nostalgia.

The entire line of the Forgotten Realms products for 3.0/3.5 seemed off, to me at least, except for the Campaign Setting sourcebook. I really enjoyed that one, which in my opinion is one of the ten 'Must Have' titles for any 3rd Ed. enthusiast. This one, though...I'd honestly rather up-convert the 2nd Ed. boxed set stuff.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the few supplementals that's actually worth having

[Samir Rawas Sarayji · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice details, rich world.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's old and outdated, but has great flavor for the various factions, cults, districts, guilds, etc. in the City of Waterdeep.