Close
Close
Please choose which option you would like to add to your cart.
Advanced Search

Eye of the Wyvern (2e)Click to magnify
Quick Preview
/gs_flipbook/flip.php?xml=/demo_xml/180846.xml&w=500&h=327
Full‑size Preview
https://watermark.dmsguild.com/pdf_previews/180846-sample.pdf

Eye of the Wyvern (2e)

ADD TO WISHLIST >
Selected Option:

You hold in your hands the introduction to the world's greatest fantasy roleplaying experience, the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game. If you have a taste for excitement, if you're ready to take the next step beyond computer adventure games, this is what you've been waiting for! It contains everything you need to learn the fine art of becoming a Dungeon Master, weaving the interactive stories from which heroic adventures are made.

It all starts with the celebrated Fast-Play Rules, a step-by-step tutorial that shows you the basic concepts of the game in a few quick pages. Then, dive right into "Eye of the Wyvern," and exciting adventure that takes heroes across the wilderness to confront a rampaging wyvern that has devastated the countryside!

Experience roleplaying the way it was meant to be, face to face with your friends, where imagination is your only limit. Welcome to the worlds of adventure.

Product History

"Eye of the Wyvern", by Jeff Grubb, is a Fast-Play book for AD&D 2e. It was published in February 1999.

Origins: The Fast-Plays. After Wizards of the Coast purchased TSR, they had to figure out how to get D&D back on track. One of their answers was to build "Fast-Play" books. Though they were branded "Dungeons & Dragons", recalling the defunct Basic game, they linked up with the AD&D 2.5 edition release (1995-1996). At first the Fast-Plays advertised TSR's older Introduction to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1995) set, but they would soon replace it. In the modern-day, we'd call these books "quick-starts", but back in late 1998 small books that combined cut-down rules with simple adventures were almost unknown; Wizards was breaking new ground.

The Fast-Plays began in late 1998 with an insert that was included in Dragon #251 (September 1998), Dungeon #70 (September/October 1998), and Dungeon #71 (November/December 1998). It included the simplest of rules as well as a short adventure called "The Ruined Tower".

Fast-Plays moved onto Wizards' commercial schedule in early 1999 with "Wrath of the Minotaur" (1999) in January and "Eye of the Wyvern" (1999) in February. Each of these books replicated the material from the original Fast-Start, added a new set of slightly more advanced rules, then ended with a new material. For the 48-page "Eye of the Wyvern" book, that means that the first 26 pages were all repeats … but after that readers got the new "Eye of the Wyvern" adventure.

Expanding D&D. The original Fast-Play insert included a very minimal set of D&D rules. Jeff Grubb wrote the adventure using the same conversational voice that he used when he taught the game live. The GM was instructed what to do at each step as the players moved through an adventure. The rules were most notable for telling the GM what to do without necessarily explaining why; for example in each fight the GM is told the to-hit rolls for each character on each monster and for each monster on each character, but the adventure doesn't explain how those numbers correlate to the AC, class, and level found on the character's sheet. By the end of the original Fast-Play the players had fought monsters, earned experience, and gained loot.

The rules expansions in "Wrath of the Minotaur" and "Eye of the Wyvern" are identical. This time the rules do explain foundational concepts like Armor Class and THAC0s; characters also get more complex abilities and may fight in more complex combat. Finally, characters can level up — and gain minor advantages from doing so.

Adventure Tropes: Into the Wilderness. Both "The Ruined Tower" and "Wrath of the Minotaur" were typical dungeon crawls. "Eye of the Wyvern" introduces the other major D&D setting: the wilderness. However, don't expect a classic hex crawl of the sort popularized in X1: "Isle of Dread" (1981). "Eye of the Wyvern" is very much a child of the '90s, which means that its wilderness is organized into six (or seven) linear encounters.

Exploring The Vale. A large-scale wilderness map shows how "The Ruined Tower", "Wrath of the Minotaur", and "Eye of the Wyvern" all fit together into a micro-setting called The Vale. It's one of the teeniest campaign worlds ever created for D&D.

Enterprising fans at the Pandius web site have linked the Vale adventures to another small, introductory D&D setting: Thunder Rift.

Future History. "Eye of the Wyvern" was the last of Wizards' first series of Fast-Plays. Just a few months later they'd publish a new introductory box, Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game (1999), which was followed by a new style of Fast-Play, "Crypt of the Smoke Dragon" (1999).

About the Creators. Jeff Grubb is probably best known for his work creating the Spelljammer (1989) setting and for his role as TSR's Forgotten Realms scholar. He wrote "Eye of the Wyvern" shortly after returning to TSR in the late '90s.

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.

pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (1)
Discussions (1)
Customer avatar
Matt B May 24, 2019 7:15 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Great POD copy.
Narrow Results
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!
 Recent History















Product Information
Electrum seller
Author(s)
Rules Edition(s)
Pages
48
File Size:
17.3 MB
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Information
Watermarked PDF Click for more information
Watermarked PDF

These PDF files are digitally watermarked to signify that you are the owner. A small message is added to the bottom of each page of the PDF containing your name and the order number of your purchase.

Warning: If any files bearing your information are found being distributed illegally, then your account will be suspended and legal action may be taken against you.

Here is a sample of a page from a watermarked title:

File Last Updated:
April 18, 2016
This title was added to our catalog on April 19, 2016.