snazel's review
4.0
A really great model to jump off of for homebrew world building, every time I page through it I go "oh, of course, there's another element I forgot to work on, ohhh that's a cool idea".
dylansmphillips's review
3.0
Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide by Steve Kenson is a subpar supplement for Dungeons & Dragons that tackles the storied Forgotten Realms campaign setting. While the book provides a great wealth of information for players to help flavour their characters for this world, it leaves a lot to be desired from the perspective of a DM. The book glosses over many settings and the mechanics of the world without diving deeply enough to be a strong standalone book to help build a story in this world. Instead it seems to expect that you either purchase additional supplements, or do more research online.
TL;DR: Great flavour piece for Forgotten Realms characters, but falls flat on bringing enough lore or description to build the foundation of a campaign set in this world.
TL;DR: Great flavour piece for Forgotten Realms characters, but falls flat on bringing enough lore or description to build the foundation of a campaign set in this world.
arthurbdd's review
3.0
Reasonable introduction to D&D's blandest and most overexposed setting. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/5e-learning-to-expand/
zestyudders's review
2.0
As a setting book this one is severely lacking. You can get more info off the Forgotten Realms Wiki.
stoicloofah's review
2.0
I'm planning to run the "Heroes of Baldur's Gate" adventure and wanted to get a refresher on the Sword Coast. I finally got around to pick up this sourcebook, and it is solidly okay.
I admittedly skipped a large chunk in the middle because I wasn't getting much from it. This book is stuck in an uncomfortable valley between a survey and an in-depth study of the Sword Coast. It's too long to be a survey, so it's easy to get lost in the lore and forget most of what you read immediately. It's too short on any one particular section to actually flesh out an entire adventure setting.
If you're looking for more depth to bake into your game, I recommend reading Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, which has great depth on Elves, Dwaves, Halflings, and Gnomes. Or maybe just play one of the video games (e.g. Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights) to really live it.
If you're looking for a survey of the world, just browse the Forgotten Realms Wikia site with a map handy to connect the dots
I haven't played with the character options in the back, though they also just seem fine.
I admittedly skipped a large chunk in the middle because I wasn't getting much from it. This book is stuck in an uncomfortable valley between a survey and an in-depth study of the Sword Coast. It's too long to be a survey, so it's easy to get lost in the lore and forget most of what you read immediately. It's too short on any one particular section to actually flesh out an entire adventure setting.
If you're looking for more depth to bake into your game, I recommend reading Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, which has great depth on Elves, Dwaves, Halflings, and Gnomes. Or maybe just play one of the video games (e.g. Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights) to really live it.
If you're looking for a survey of the world, just browse the Forgotten Realms Wikia site with a map handy to connect the dots
I haven't played with the character options in the back, though they also just seem fine.
ddavis3739's review
4.0
The first half of the book gives a good introduction to the Forgotten Realms but the writing can be a bit dry. It does read like an encyclopedia in the section about the gods and the towns but there are some cool stories contained so it’s fine to skim that part and focus on what you want. The second part about classes and race did more useful and is good for players looking to expand their play style and their role playing.