The ''Underdark'' sourcebook for the
Forgotten Realms
''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a ...
campaign setting
A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A ''campaign'' is a series of individual adventures, and a ''campaign setting'' is the world in which such adventures and ca ...
of the
3.5 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 ...
.
Contents
The sourcebook covers gaming material such as new character classes, Drow Judicator as well as covering the geography of this fictional setting.
Publication history
This book was written by
Bruce R. Cordell
Bruce Robert Cordell (born 1968) is an American author of roleplaying games and fantasy novels. He has worked on ''Dungeons & Dragons'' games for Wizards of the Coast. He won the Origins Award for ''Return to the Tomb of Horrors'' and has also wo ...
,
Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, and
Jeff Quick
Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey.
Music
* DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes
* ...
, and was released in October 2003 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 ...
. Cover art was by
Sam Wood
Samuel Grosvenor Wood (July 10, 1883 – September 22, 1949) was an American film director and producer who is best known for having directed such Hollywood hits as ''A Night at the Opera (film), A Night at the Opera'', ''A Day at the Races (fi ...
, with interior art by
Kalman Andrasofszky
Kalman Andrasofszky (born August 21, 1975 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian comic book artist, writer, inker, letterer, penciller, and designer.
Kalman is a native Torontonian and resides there still.
Career
Much of his work has been i ...
,
Matt Cavotta
Matt Cavotta is an American artist and writer. His artwork is focused on the fantasy genre, with notable contributions to popular games such as ''Magic: The Gathering'' and ''Dungeons & Dragons''.
Career
Cavotta wrote a weekly column for Magic ...
,
Mike Dubisch,
Wayne England
Wayne England (d. 9 February 2016) was an English artist whose work regularly appeared in role-playing games, wargaming rulebooks and magazines and was used on cards for collectible card games such as ''Magic: The Gathering''.
He died on 9 Feb ...
,
Matt Faulkner,
Vance Kovacs Vance may refer to:
Locations United States
*Vance, Alabama, a town
*Vance Township, Vermilion County, Illinois
*Vance, Mississippi, an unincorporated community
* Vance, Nebraska, an unincorporated community
*Vance County, North Carolina
* Vance, ...
,
Vince Locke
Vincent Locke () is an American comic book artist known for his work on ''Deadworld'' and '' A History of Violence'' and for his ultraviolent album covers for death metal band Cannibal Corpse.
Biography
Locke began work in 1986 illustrating ''De ...
,
Raven Mimura
Raven Mimura is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games.
Early life and education
Raven received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design. He spent a year teaching art and building his portfolio ...
,
Jim Pavelec
James Pavelec is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games.
Career
His ''Dungeons & Dragons'' work includes interior art for '' Races of Faerûn'' (2003), '' Unapproachable East'' (2003), ''Underdark'' (2003), ''Unearthed Arcana'' ...
,
Vinod Rams
Vinod Rams is an American artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games.
Early life and education
Vinod Rams attended the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. He did product design at the Franklin Mint in Philadelphia, Penn ...
,
Richard Sardinha
Richard Sardinha is an American artist based in Providence, Rhode Island, whose work has appeared in role-playing games.
Works
Richard Sardinha has been illustrating books since the 1980s. He provided the art work for ''At Lovecraft's Grave'' (re ...
,
Stephen Tappin
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
, and
Joel Thomas.
When asked how the designers dealt sorting through years' worth of publications on the Underdark to create a more definitive sourcebook, Jeff Quick responded: "I was the editor of
Eric Boyd's exhaustively detailed 2nd edition sourcebook, ''
Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark
Drizzt Do'Urden () is a fictional character appearing in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. Drizzt was created by author R. A. Salvatore as a supporting character in the ''Icewind Dale ...
''. Eric, as Forgotten Realms fans know, is a detail nut. When he wrote it, he consulted pretty much every Underdark reference ever -- including Bob Salvatore, personally. So rather than duplicate effort, I turned to that book for inspiration and to Eric for a few details and opinions."
Reception
In a review of ''Underdark'' in ''
Black Gate'', John ONeill said "''Forgotten Realms: Underdark'' is one of the most readable and entertaining gaming supplements I've read in years and it's well worth the few measly bucks sellers are charging for it these days. If you think your underworld design has recently gotten stale, or if you just want to remind yourself of the magic of Gary Gygax's original D-series adventures, then this book is what you're looking for."
The editor from rpgnews.com stated the book did not deliver on the price it costs, was incomplete, contained a lot of assumed information making it difficult for casual readers to understand references without knowledge of the novels; however, fans of the novels might enjoy it.
Viktor Coble listed ''Underdark'' as #5 on ''
CBR''
's 2021 "D&D: 10 Best Supplemental Handbooks" list, stating that ""Underdark" reveals a massive breadth to the area, filling it to the brim with disastrous creatures of the dark. It stacks this whole world and way of thinking underneath what normally happens, making great strides in building up alternate ways of adventuring and the dangers involved in stepping out of a player's comfort zone."
Reviews
References
External links
Underdark Forgotten Realms Campaign Supplementat Wizards of the Coast
Forgotten Realms sourcebooks
Role-playing game supplements introduced in 2003
{{ForgottenRealms-stub