Pyramid Review
Explorer's Handbook (for Eberron)
Published by Wizards of the Coast
Written by David Noonan, Frank Brunner, & Rich Burlew
Edited by Michelle Lyons, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, & Kim Mohan
Art & maps by Wayne Reynolds, Anne Stokes, Draxhall Jump Entertainment, Eric Deschamps, Francis Tsai, Howard Lyon, Igor-Alban Chevalier, Mark Tedin, Steve Prescott, & Dennis Kauth
160-page color hardcover; $29.95
Introduce your players to a new land, a new setting, or a new world, and the first thing the responsible company is going to do is start pumping out the gazetteers. When Wizards picked up the Eberron line, you knew there'd be a slew of what to see, where to go, who to kill supplements. We've seen a few, but for general interest, the Explorer's Handbook is a good reference.
Some of the guides, like Sharn: City of Towers, have been really good tours of important sites, but there's so much of the world to see that, at that rate, the buying public will never see the end of the tunnel. This book begins with one of the best introductions ever and ends with the treasures your journeys rightfully earn you. In between it takes a broad view, going wide and surprisingly deep . . . and you're halfway through the book before you get into specific hotspots. The first half discusses your travel and character options.
If you've ever wondered about the transportation systems that crisscross the world, the elemental vessels are laid bare. This includes, but . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: August 25, 2006
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