''Country Sites'' is a supplement to the 2nd edition of the ''
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons''
fantasy role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...
.
Contents
''Country Sites'' is a supplement which includes seven large settings, such as The Haunted Temple, Sanctuary in the Sand, The City of the Dead, The Mariner's Graveyard, The Island of Lost Souls, Darion's Wall, and The Place of Broken Dreams. The set also includes four smaller settings, which consist of floorplans and background sites, which include examples of a toll-house and a waystation.
Publication history
''Country Sites'' was the final release for the "''Sites''" accessory series produced by TSR.
''Country Sites'' features design by
Robin Jenkins
John Robin Jenkins (11 September 1912 – 24 February 2005) was a Scottish writer of thirty published novels, the most celebrated being '' The Cone Gatherers''. He also published two collections of short stories.
Career
Robin Jenkins was bo ...
, and design assistance by
John Nephew
John A. Nephew is an American game designer, who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Career
John Nephew began freelancing for TSR as a ''Dungeons & Dragons'' author in 1986 while he was still in high school, first writing material for ...
(with
Paul Numberger), and was published by TSR in 1995. The cover art was by
Jennell Jaquays with interior art by
Phillip Robb
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...
.
Reception
David Comford reviewed ''Country Sites'' for ''Arcane'' magazine, rating it a 6 out of 10 overall.
He cautions that the settings in this book "are frameworks for adventures. Taken as they are, the majority of the sites will prove to have many failings - lack of any reward for a PC's efforts being a major weakness."
Comford advised ignoring the adventure hooks, calling them "very poor", but felt that the settings can be "salvaged with a little thought".
He called The Haunted Temple and The Place of Broken Dreams "Prime examples" and found them interesting sites, "but with little hope for exciting roleplaying unless set as a divine test of faith or as a condition for level advancement".
He commented on The City of the Dead, "where tomb robbing PCs find new surprises", and recommended Darion's Wall "to a certain extent
..although avid readers of
David Gemmel
David Andrew Gemmell (; 1 August 1948 – 28 July 2006) was a British author of heroic fantasy, best known for his debut novel, ''Legend''. A former journalist and newspaper editor, Gemmell had his first work of fiction published in 1984. H ...
will surely have staged such an adventure".
He said that ''Country Sites'' does succeed with The City of the Dead, The Mariner's Graveyard, The Island of Lost Souls, and Darion's Wall, as all four "offer a certain amount of originality and offer exciting scenarios for roleplaying, whether as part of an existing campaign or even as stand-alone adventures".
He recommended that if the reader is "looking for a volume of amazing adventures - fully mapped, laid out and ready to use - then look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you are looking for adventure ideas, then search no longer."
He suggested that the book does have failings and that some reworking would be needed, and noted that for example there were no monster descriptions. Comford concluded by saying that "''Country Sites'', as with other volumes in the series, is a useful accessory, but by no means an essential one."
Notes
References
{{D&D topics
Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks
Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1995