This article originally appeared in d20 Weekly

Silver Marches

Silver Marches (& Silver Marches Web Enhancement)

Published by Wizards of the Coast

Written by Ed Greenwood and Jason Carl

160 color page softback; $27.95

Silver Marches is the first Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book to transport a highly detailed chunk of the Realms into 3rd Edition. In the frigid north of Faerūn, heroes face challenges from ravaging orcs to the deathly chill of long winters. This weighty volume, co-authored by the master of the Realms himself, will bring the North alive in any Forgotten Realms (FR) campaign. It's a worthy read for all DMs.

The layout and art team really did a great job. The cover, with art by Vance Kovacs, is fine in both design and imagery; the wrap-around painting of an invading orc horde says a lot about the forging of the Silver Marches. Design and typography are top-notch, with few instances of text crowding and typographic errors. Prose is written with storytelling flair, rarely falling into repetitive style. The interior artwork lives up to WotC's fine reputation, and, though a few images are lacking, the varying styles give the book a dynamic feel. Of particular note are Christopher Moeller's portraiture and Adam Rex's dynamic compositions. Of course, one must always note Todd Lockwood's dragons.

Each region of the Marches is described in sufficient detail to give DMs a feel for the environs their players' characters will traverse. Some sections of geographic description require a map in hand to visualize, . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.




Article publication date: September 4, 2002


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