Review: Golden Simril Gifts by Ed Greenwood and Rhonda Parrish

 While technically prefaced that the story is fan-fiction written under the Fan Content policy of WotC, since it is (partially) from the hand of Greenwood, I decided it's essentially canon in my head and worth reviewing. It is also appropriate for Yuletide. Read it here.

art by Amantiium

Simril is a holiday celebrated on the 20th of Nightal, the equivalent to our 21st of December and the Northern Hemisphere's Winter Solstice. This is also the solstice for Faerun, and this celebration is particularly to cities on the Sword Coast like Neverwinter and Waterdeep. 

The story is told in first person present tense and starts with a celebration. The Shiallia Midwinter Festival has been attended by Volothamp Geddarm before, but this is Xen's first time. Shiallia is a minor deity tied to fertility and woodlands and is largely venerated in the High Forest.

"Shiallia, a local deity tied to Silvanus and Mielikki. (Be careful not to wantonly destroy seedlings or harm any animal babes while in Silverymoon or the High Forest lest you direly offend her.)" Volo, The Guide to the North.

While the perspective is abnormal, the story has sexual innuendo and gruesome violence and high magic that I associate with the Realms. With the whimsy comes a sense of human emotion (though most characters are elves and I'm not sure what Xen is) that I associate (well) with Greenwood. It is a good story. Happy Simril, everyone!

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Review: The Night Tymora Sneezed by Ed Greenwood

"The Night Tymora Sneezed" is the fourth Spin a Yarn written by the creator of the Forgotten Realms. While the last was longer than the previous, this one is even longer and divided into six parts. This page links to each one. As always, this is bizarre story collated by suggestions from the audience at a panel of Gen Con, this time in 2004. It was published in July 2005.

The story begins with a chatelaine schooling a young noble student of eight winters. They are in Castle Waterdeep, home of Piergeiron, the current Open Lord of the city. The stripling is obstinate, and the chatelaine patient. Two workers witness the chagrin of the governess. These two are workers going over ledgers of magical items. The elder is Oruld and the younger Reld. This is a fun listing of things you could bring into your own game and includes a cheeky game book reference to LNG. 

The next setup involves two veteran guards going over the guest list for a gnome-halfling wedding. They banter about the new officers put over them and the slaughtering they may have to inflict on the roguish outlanders that are coming to the wedding. The event is at the tavern called the Bloody Fist. It is located at the meeting of Snail and Presper Streets in Dock Ward, and is the designated place to enter into wedlock for Talaressa Wondergleam of the Dock Ward and Lucklai Minstrelwish of Secomber. Belgrim "the Bold" Huldersord is the proprietor, once a sellsword but now the stubborn eyepatch wearing owner (though blind in neither eye) that would rather have constant repairs down than replacing the building. It is also known for its serious drinking, dancing girls, and gnomish brothel down stairs. Flesh-eating fairies wait the tables. 

Something is awry and Belgrim needs to call in a favor from Mirt the Moneylender. It becomes more intriuging and absurd when the Barrera Alhound, Just Blade of Tempus, comes in with a magical sword and gigantic codpiece (though Barrera is a woman) to prevent penguins from stealing Talaressa's chastity belt.

This is essentially the setup of part one. I think I appreciate it more than the first three. While completely absurd it feels like a good controlled hodgepodge rather than complete madness. It also has new and interesting characters rather than the same old ones that I like but have read about a hundred times. Part two introduces our sneezing goddess, Tymora, Elminster, Volo, and much, much more. 

While very fun, it is longer than a short story. It may be a novella, I'm not sure on the word count. Either way, it gets even wilder and it has a satisfying conclusion that involves the bending of norms and actual genders. Ha! Greenwood juggles well many fantastic things but sometimes you wonder if he needs to get so flamboyant. If you can enjoy the longer ride, it is rather Exceptional. 

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Community Spotlight: Owen Edwards Book Reviews

 Owen Edwards is staple watching for me. While not strictly Forgotten Realms related, he has reviewed The Finder's Stone Trilogy (like me), Drizzt, and campaign diaries. He also does much on Appendix N reading. These are books listed in the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide as influential to the game. I read these myself but don't talk about them here explicitly. 

Go check him out! 

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You can track my current progress here.

Review: The Parched Sea by Troy Denning

In 1991 Troy Denning introduced the monstrous series of The Harpers. They're largely standalone or have internal arcs, so you have no need to read 1-16 like it is The Wheel of Time. The first of these is The Parched Sea which introduces Ruha, whom Denning would use in more of his Forgotten Realms novels, including The Parched Sea's sequel, The Veiled Dragon, book five of the Avatar series, Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad, as well as in The Return of the Archwizards trilogy. You can listen to my thoughts here.

Ruha is newly married and is adjusting to her life with a new tribe, the Qahtan of the Bedine in Anauroch desert. She keeps secret her portentous visions so the Qahtan will not think she is a witch. In reality she does know some magic which she learned from a witch who raised her for some of her childhood. 

Her call to adventure comes when her new husband, Ajaman, is given night guard duty. Disaster strikes the Qahtan, and Ruha finds her life upheaved. 

Lander, a Harper from Sembia, is in Anauroch to follow the moves of the Zhentarim. He will become important to this stage of Ruha's life. The year is 1360 DR, a couple years after the Time of Troubles. Cyric is presently God of three domains, and his Bedine aspect is Naser. 

The novel itself is pretty predictable. The Bedines are obviously inspired by the Bedouins. They don’t like magic since greedy magic users are what made the desert in the first place, at least in part (see the history of Netheril). The big theme is prejudice and finding belonging while fighting foreign interlopers. 

The desert setting is cool, I don’t read too many in such a biome. I wish Ruha was more of the main character over Lander, she was much more interesting, and Lander takes some of the attention away from her.

There is some romance here and is not the worst thing I have read by Denning. If I were you, I might skip this novel since there are better ones worth reading unless something here makes you think you would enjoy it or you are a completionist like I am. Regardless, my next review will be for the sequel, The Veiled Dragon.

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What if Drizzt Was Written by Someone Other Than R. A. Salvatore?

Happy Day of Might to any that observe!

The title says it all: what if Drizzt had been written by someone else, specifically after the series had several entries and was popular? Shores of Dusk by Mark Anthony was not meant to be. The novel was written, and ads had appeared for it, but it has never seen the light of day and likely never will. I won't spoil the whole thing for you, but will show you to a write-up written by Anthony about the doomed novel. I was made aware of it by this recent Facebook post.

It is interesting to contemplate the direction Drizzt could have taken if Salvatore had actually hung up his hat. I have not read Realms of the Underdark and can't guess at how well Anthony may or may not have done. What do you think?

Here it is and amarast!:

News: Another Novel is Coming

 On October 11, 2023 a new Forgotten Realms novel was announced. It is Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin by Jaleigh Johnson. It is set to be released on March 5, 2024. See the listing here. 

Here is the blurb:

Meet the newest Dungeons & Dragons party in the first epic adventure of The Fallbacks. To become renowned adventurers, this party needs to survive their first job. Tessalynde is an ambitious young rogue who dreams of leading Faerûn’s foremost adventuring party. While the crew she’s gathered isn’t the stuff of legend yet, she’s confident her guidance can get them there. The team: Anson, a fighter too stubborn to stay down, even when the odds are stacked against him. Cazrin, a self-taught wizard determined to test her theoretical mettle against the real world. Baldric, a cleric who refuses to tie himself to a single deity when he can trade favors with them all. Lark, a bard with as many secrets as songs. And, of course, Uggie, a monstrous pet otyugh who loves giving hugs and eating trash. Their first job: recovering a mysterious spellbook from a lost temple for a hefty payout. Tess hopes this assignment can turn her group of fledgling freelancers into a true team. But when their client is killed, their coin and his murderer both vanish, leaving the party to take the fall. Stuck with a sentient, bloodthirsty grimoire and pursued by mercenaries and the undead, this is hardly the mission Tess envisioned. Her crew must save the day, get the gold, and clear the party’s name—which they haven’t even agreed upon yet! With the threats against them mounting, a single mistake will see this party over before it even begins. Can this band of mismatched misfits stay together in the face of danger? Or are they bound for ruin?

As has been discussed previously, the novel line ended in 2016. Since then any publication has been through third party publishers, and has drastically limited the number of releases. We have gotten several Drizzt books, because of their continued popularity. We also have gotten the two Honor Among Thieves novels, of which Johnson wrote one: The Road to Neverwinter. That is it.

From the Realms novels I have read by Johnson, I'm not super excited. While not a bad writer, the new Realms feeling comes from a place of unsympathetic corporate overlords. I want the Forgotten Realms logo. I want Elminster or something recognizable beyond Sword Coast props. I will still read the novel to let you know if it is worth reading, but looking at the blurb, maybe cozy fantasy fans (or comedy) rather than heroic fantasy fans should note this announcement. I will remain cautiously optimistic and hope that since Johnson is somewhat of a Realms veteran that we will get more from someone like Greenwood, Cunningham, Kemp, or others some day.

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You can track my current progress here.

Community Spotlight: Religion in the Realms

 It is time to put another spotlight on the great Forgotten Realms community. This time we are looking at another podcast, this one sharing indispensable knowledge and lore. Those familiar with D&D in general and the Realms specifically will know that gods and goddesses do exist, it's not a question like it is in our world. They commune with their churches and give spells to their followers. 

BUT there are a lot of these deities. Religion in the Realms has you covered. The podcast started with going over the Pantheons themselves and the latest episode is about Loviatar, the maiden of pain. I highly recommend going through any of these that may pertain to a session you are planning or a character you are building. I even went through Kelemvor's for this post.

You can find the podcast in the usual places, they are all linked here. Follow the podcast to keep up to date on what's next on Twitter as well.

Amarast!

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You can track my current progress here.