Close
Close
Advanced Search

Book of Lairs [Forgotten Realms] (2e)Click to magnify
Full‑size Preview
https://watermark.dmsguild.com/pdf_previews/16846-sample.pdf

Book of Lairs [Forgotten Realms] (2e)

ADD TO WISHLIST >
Selected Option:

NOTE: This title is a scanned PDF. Some text and images might be slightly blurry as a result.

So, thee say there be beasts out there thee've ne'er heard of nor encountered? 'Tis easily enough repaired—provided thee've the stomach for it!

-Elminster, the Sage of Shadowdale

D&D's most popular world just became even better! Here are over 30 exciting adventures that can be played in the Forgotten Realms setting in a single session. Danger, puzzle-solving, humor, and excitement: All lie in wait for intrepid adventurers of every level. All scenarios are ready to play, with little or no preparation by the DM!

Enjoy making the acquaintance of beasties from all parts of the Realms, from alguduirs to dimensional warpers, inquisitors to revenants, ring-worms to wemics. The good, the bad, and the ugly (and the not-so-ugly) – they're all here, ready to encounter your party!

The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and Forgotten Realms Monstrous Compendium Appendices are necessary to fully enjoy this product.

Oh, and one more thing: DMs and players should be aware of this famous corollary to Elminster's Rules of the Rabbit: Sometimes a rabbit is just a rabbit. And sometimes, it's much, much more.

*****

Product History

The Forgotten Realms Book of Lairs (1994), by Nicky Rea and Sam Witt, was the fifth book to use TSR's popular "Book of Lairs" format. It was released in January 1995.

Introducing the Books of Lairs. In 1985, TSR introduced a new perfect-bound format of larger, 96- to 144-page adventure books. Their premier releases in this "super module" format were Lankhmar: City of Adventures (1985) and T1-4: The Temple of Elemental Evil (1985). Meanwhile, TSR was also experimenting with adventure anthologies, where several shorter scenarios were compiled as one release. The first of these was B9: "Castle Caldwell and Beyond" (1985), a short 32-page adventure book. A few years later, TSR would combine their adventure anthologies with the larger super-module format to produce books like WG7: Castle Greyhawk (1988) and OP1: Tales of the Outer Planes (1988).

However, in the interim, TSR tried something more unusual: They produced REF3: The Book of Lairs (1986), a super-module-sized anthology of much shorter encounters. In fact, each encounter was just one to two pages long, meant to be inserted into any setting between larger adventures. Each of these "lairs" was also centered on a specific monster from one of AD&D's monster books.

Concluding the Books of Lairs. The “Book of Lairs” format was sufficiently popular that five standalone volumes were released over the years: REF3: The Book of Lairs (1986); REF4: The Book of Lairs II (1987); DLT2: Book of Lairs (1993) for Dragonlance; SJR8: "Space Lairs" (1993) for Spelljammer; and finally this one, the Forgotten Realms Book of Lairs. The format also influenced the shorter adventures found in Greyhawk Adventures (1988).

However, all things must come to an end, for good or ill, and TSR ultimately decided that the Books of Lairs had run their course following this final Forgotten Realms excursion. Nonetheless, the idea of super-short adventures would survive; after the Forgotten Realms Book of Lairs, this format transformed into multiple new forms – which should be no surprise from the TSR of the mid-90s, which was constantly looking for new ideas for new sourcebook series.

The Book of Lairs was a rare concept that crossed over between first and second edition AD&D and lasted almost a decade.

Future History. In 1994 and 1995, super-short adventures popped up in two other forms: The two Decks of Encounters (1994-95) provided encounters on individual cards, while Castle Sites (1995), City Sites (1994), and Country Sites (1995) offered somewhat longer encounters for specific locales.

Today, the Encounters organized play program that kicked off with "Undermountain: Halaster's Lost Apprentice" (2010) is the most recent take on singular encounters, yet they're molded into longer stories. Dungeon Delve (2009) was another recent look at the short adventure paradigm, although its dungeons were intended as a night's play rather than a single encounter.

Expanding the Realms. The encounters in the Forgotten Realms Book of Lairs feel as though they could be run in any setting rather than being unique to the Forgotten Realms. As a result, some fans of the Realms point to Book of Lairs II as a better setting resource because of the three scenarios therein written by Ed Greenwood: otyughs, iron golem, and xorn.

That said, the Forgotten Realms Book of Lairs takes most of its monsters from the two Forgotten Realms monster manuals: MC3: "Monstrous Compendium, Volume Three: Forgotten Realms Appendix" (1989) and MC11: "Monstrous Compendium, Forgotten Realms Appendix II" (1991). Thus, while most of the lairs could be set anywhere, monsters like the crawling claws, the dracoliches, and the saurials all have close connections to the Realms.

About the Creators. Rea was involved in writing all three of the second edition Lairs books. In 1994, he was writing extensively for both TSR and White Wolf.

Witt was a more infrequent freelancer. In 1994, he also wrote The Complete Sha'ir's Handbook (1994); the next year, he'd carry the short-adventure torch forward by co-authoring Castle Sites.

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 (0)
Discussions (1)
Customer avatar
Antonio W January 23, 2021 3:58 pm UTC
would love a POD
Reply
Customer avatar
Søren W February 16, 2021 12:50 am UTC
Didn't have to wait long to get your wish.
Browse Categories
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!















Product Information
Gold seller
Author(s)
Rules Edition(s)
Pages
96
Edition
1.0
ISBN
1-56076-924-6
Publisher Stock #
TSR 9465
File Size:
12.57 MB
Format
Scanned image 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:
October 30, 2013
This title was added to our catalog on October 29, 2013.