Pyramid Review
Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark
Published by Wizards of the Coast
Written by Eric L. Boyd
128 pages plus map, $20.95
When fantasy roleplaying games first started, the only place to go was the dungeon. In fact the dungeon was so important it took top billing in the first FRPG. Many campaigns were just the party moving from one dungeon to the next in search of gold and glory. Then as things evolved, the spaces between the dungeons became important, and there were full fledged campaign worlds . . . with dungeons. Now with Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark, we move to the next step -- campaign worlds that are dungeons.The Underdark, according to AD&D canon, extends well past the dungeons made by surface dwellers, encompassing all the myriad caverns, tunnels and complexes that exist for all intents as a parallel world beneath the surface. It is one of the most well known facets of the Forgotten Realms, with the city of Menzoberranzan and its most famous denizen, Drizzt Do'Urden (the nominal guide of this book) being some of the most famous pieces of the Realms. The Guide to the Underdark serves as a gazetteer of this realm, at least the realm in the north and west of Faerun.
The Guide has a logical structure, starting with an introduction which defines the physical boundaries of the Underdark, clearly describes the intent and organization of the book, and gives a brief list of other TSR (now Wizards of the Coast) materials with a strong Underdark . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: January 21, 2000
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