''Waterdeep'' is an

adventure module An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game. These can be constructed by gamemasters for their players, and are also released by game publishers as pre-made adventure modules. Different types of designs exist, including l ...

published in 1989 for the '' 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 ...

. It is the last of the three-part " Avatar" series, the first being Shadowdale and the second Tantras.

Plot summary

''Waterdeep'' is a Forgotten Realms scenario which takes place in the city of Waterdeep, where the

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

s seek to return the Tablets of Fate to the almighty god Ao in the final adventure of the FRE series.

Publication history

FRE3 ''Waterdeep'' was written by Douglas Niles, with a cover by Clyde Caldwell, and was published by TSR in 1989 as a 32-page booklet with a d three pane outer folder. Also included is a fold-out color map.

Reception

In the February–March 1990 edition of '' Games International'' (Issue 13), Dave Hughes criticized that the adventure "sticks rather too closely to its source, using dialogue, descriptive passages and, unforgivably, all the characters from the novel as non player characters." He said as a result "the players are either saved at every turn by a helpful non-player character, or simply left to die inconsequentially where luck saved the characters in the novel." He thought the adventure railroaded the players' actions, saying, "The players may well feel they are being herded from scene to scene ..with few opportunities for ideas of their own." He also pointed out that whatever the players did, non-player characters took credit for saving the Realms at the end of the adventure. Hughes concluded by giving ''Waterdeep'' a poor rating of only 4 out of 10.

References

Forgotten Realms adventures Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1989 {{ForgottenRealms-stub