''Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide'' is a supplement to the 5th edition of the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

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 ...

Publication history

''Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide'' was written by Joseph Carriker, Brian Cortijo, and

Jeremy Crawford Jeremy Crawford is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He is most widely known for being the Lead Rules Designer for Wizards of the Coast. Career Jeremy Crawford co-designed and edited the ''Blue Rose'' role-playin ...

, and was published by

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

with

Green Ronin Publishing Green Ronin Publishing is an American company based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Chris Pramas and Nicole Lindroos, they have published several role-playing game–related products. They won several awards for their games includin ...

in 2015. On book's development process,

Steve Kenson Steve Kenson (born June 16, 1969) is a writer and designer of role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction. Career Steve Kenson began working as an author and game designer in 1995. Kenson co-wrote the super-hero role-playing game ''Silver Age ...

, Lead Designer of ''Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide'', said "we had to balance rooting those options strongly in the Realms – and the Sword Coast, in particular – while also making them as broadly useful to D&D players as possible. Too much one way and you lose the unique character and style of the Realms that make it such an appealing setting; too much the other and the ''Adventurer’s Guide'' would only be useful to those looking to adventure in the Realms".

Reception

In ''

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's'' "Best-selling Books Week Ending November 16, 2015", ''Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide'' was #18 in "Hardcover Nonfiction". The book was a Judges’ Spotlight Winner at the 2016 ENnies Awards. Jonathan Bolding, for '' The Escapist'', highlighted that the book fails to meet its $40

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— "''Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide'', taken as a whole, is not a very good roleplaying game book. It's a 20-page whirlwind tour of thirty-some years of Forgotten Realms history and geography, a kinda-useful 40-page whirlwind tour of the Sword Coast region. The rest of the book is 60 pages of mostly-superfluous descriptions of what standard D&D characters are like in the realms, with scattered nuggets of game mechanics customizing specific classes, a few alternate racial mechanics, and a trove of backgrounds. None of these sections particularly excels". Alex Lucard, for ''

DieHard GameFan ''GameFan'' (originally known as ''Diehard GameFan'') was a publication started by Tim Lindquist, Greg Off, George Weising. and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and import video games. It was notable for its ex ...

'', also highlighted the cost of the book and wrote "what you’re getting here is extremely overpriced for the page count. ..The book basically assumes you are a long time D&D veteran and expects your memories and previous ''Forgotten Realms'' releases to fill in the gaps – which is not cool. ..The Sword Coast deserved a lot better than this, especially for the price you pay. This book is my first real disappointment with ''Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition'' and unless you want some of the new PC options or are a completionist, this is a very easy pass". In a review of ''Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide'' in '' Black Gate'', Howard Andrew Jones said "this a wonderful campaign sourcebook, and a great inspiration for game masters. Two thumbs up."

References

{{reflist, 1 ENnies winners Forgotten Realms sourcebooks Role-playing game supplements introduced in 2015