Review: Empires of the Shining Sea (Part 2)

The Empire of the Shining Sea boxed set comes with 2 large maps and a 200-page book dealing with the Shining Sea region of the forgotten realms. In spite of the cover, showing a blue dragon fighting a Jinn, it’s much more northern African in flavor, rather than Arabian Nights.

The book’s goal is to provide the information that would theoretically be necessary to run a game set somewhere around the Shining Sea. What you get is 200 pages of history, sociology, biography, travel log, and CIA info dumps. It’s all pretty well organized, and the references to other products are kept to a shocking minimum. I expected significantly more cross-referencing than I found. The only product that is consistently referenced is Lands of Intrigue (TSR1159) boxed set, and less often the For Duty and Diety Forgotten Realms/Planescape crossover adventure (the results of which could have some interesting impacts on the lands of the Shining Sea).

I was also shocked to find that there was almost next to no crunch in this set. No new spells, kits, monsters, rules tweaks… nada. There was a new artifact, some minor magic items, and that was about it. NPCs were provided with the minimalist 2e stat line (example here), and while there is the usual assortment of high level NPCs, there were also a shocking number of low level and 0 level characters in positions of power. I can’t remember the last time I saw a 0 level character in charge of a village shop in the realms, let alone in a position of real power…

Intrigues abound in the shining sea, helped in no small part to a number of secret, centuries-old groups, some of which are still run by their founding members. Nothing like vampires, liches, and dragons to minimize turnover at the highest levels of an organization…

Because the Realms are so interconnected, an understanding of the various power groups around the area detailed within really is necessary. Knowing who Elminster is isn’t enough. You have to know who the Zentrum are, who the Harpers are, where the Sword Coast is, Skullport, Hastur, Cormyr, etc. You also need to know Realmsian history, at least the major events like the Time of Troubles. Without such knowledge (most of which would be obtainable from the basic Forgotten Realms boxed set) you’re likely to find yourself lost.

I can’t say reading this was much fun. It’s dense like a textbook, but written in a much less formal tone. More like a modern version of the type of travel books written during the 18th and 19th centuries, full of questionable information and personal observations that may or may not be accurate.

Unless you’re Ed Greenwood, and know the Realms inside out, I wouldn’t suggest trying to use everything in here as is. While there is some genuinely useable gaming material that can be pulled from it, a DM will have some work to fully flesh any of it out, and in the process will toss a lot of material that’ll never be used.

The original price of the set was $29.99. Was it worth it? I would have a hard time saying yes. The maps are nice, the book was very informative, but... I would have preferred a shorter book and an adventure or two designed to introduce characters to the shining sea. Maybe one designed for 1st level native characters and another for 5th level foreign characters? As it is, there just so much info that'll never ever see use. I can't imagine many games would even use half the info in this book. I also can't imagine players spending the time to read through 200 pages of stuff that isn't going to impact their characters.

Final Thought: Skip it, unless you're really really interested in Calimshan.

Review: Empires of the Shining Sea (Part I)

A while ago (I honestly don’t remember exactly when) picked up the Empires of the Shining Sea boxed set. Seeing as I have a stack of stuff I've managed to collect, and haven't really read yet, I decided to pull this one from the pile, and have a go, based solely on the cover.

Summoning a genie to fight a dragon? Awesome!

It’s a fairly typical 2nd edition forgotten realms setting boxed set. Here’s the text from the back of the box:

Calimshan and the Lake of Steam Revealed!

The dusty trails from the North have brought you to the warm and welcoming coasts of the Shining Sea and the Lake of Steam. Here is history spanning millennia, not just centuries; passion, profit and danger; dreams of power and conquest; and wonders mysteries centuries older than any hedge realm north of Dalagar's Road and the Snowflake Mountains.

Empires of the Shining Sea goes farther and deeper into the southern reaches of the FORGOTTEN REALMS campaign setting, providing a breadth of scope and a level of detail never before published. This boxed set includes a 192-page book filled with information on these topics:

History The Empires of the Shining Sea hold tales and legends passed down by word of mouth across the years. The myriad mysteries and dramas of more than 300 rulers across four empires - including the infamous Shoon Imperium - reveal themselves in the history and timeline spanning more than 8,000 years.

Calimshan The long-fallen empire of Calimshan rises yet again, as a new ruler and new power groups take control of the former land of the genies. Updated and expanded by more than 100 pages since its first appearance in FR3, Empires of the Sands, Calimshan shows itself to be a land bent on returning to its former greatness - at any and all costs!

The Land of the Lions This rugged land sandwiched between the Deepwash and the Lake of Steam seems empty, but many surprises lurk among its plains and woods - nomads and raiders astride giant lynxes, elder orbs, ruined cities, lost cultures, and more!

The Lake of Steam This steaming bay of the Shining Sea unveils its secrets, proving that it holds more than easy trade routes to the Inner Sea. Scarlet pearls the size of a human fist or the smoking majesty of the volcanic Arnrock tempt those who dare test its deceptively calm waters.

Also inside are two full-color poster maps showing Calimshan and the Lake of Steam region at 30-mile-per-inch scale.

Everything you need to adventure in the conspiracy-laden Empires of the Shining Sea is here!

I’d like to point out that bit right in the middle there, the over 8,000 years of history. You don’t actually get the timeline until you’ve gotten all the way past the 30 pages of history.

Seriously, 30 pages covering 8,000 years?? How much of that is even vaguely relevant to anything 99.9% of players are ever going to deal with? And we’re not looking at nice easy to read 30 pages, we’re talking serious textbook small type. The level of verbosity is just astounding, and the amount of useful info is vanishingly small.

I’ll grant you that I’m spoiled, living in an age of video info graphics and supplemental web pages to expand on material presented elsewhere, but even granting the technological limitations of 1998, this is really user unfriendly, but typical of a Forgotten Realms product from the end of the TSR era.

If you’re going to attempt reading this, I’d strongly suggest keeping a copy of the maps handy, especially if you aren’t all that familiar with the region to begin with.

One thing that doesn’t really stand out, is what’s the point of having this particular area? The predominant themes I’ve noticed are Genies, Dragons, Beholders, Angry Sea Goddess, Volcanoes, Slaves, etc. Now, it seems very like Al Quadim thus far. Flipping ahead I can see it’s a bit more africa themed, rather than arabia, but it isn’t obvious. We’ll see how it goes as I get past the 8,000 years of history.

Birthright - Economics - Expenses

Expenses are just as abstract as the revenue side of things. Basic upkeep is determined by adding up the total number (not level) of holdings (not counting level 0 holdings) and provinces, and checking a chart. You must also pay 1 GB per castle/fortified holding owned and per province occupied. Next you add up the upkeep costs of the standing army and navy (1-2GB/unit). Finally you decide how opulent you want this seasons court to be. If your court isn’t up to par, you suffer a penalty when making any diplomacy actions. If you don’t have the GBs to cover everything, you either have to disband your army, or you can spend RP (at a cost of 4 RP to 1GB) to cover those costs. If you still don’t have enough cash after disbanding your army, and selling off your assets... the rule book doesn’t actually address this. I would probably rule that you automatically lose levels of holding for any you can’t afford and/or provinces ruled would drop in loyalty.

Number of Provinces and Holdings Controlled	Maintenance Cost
1-2	0 GB
3-6	1 GB
7-12	2 GB
13-18	3 GB
19-24	4 GB
25-30	5 GB
31-40	7 GB
41-50	10 GB
51-75	20 GB
76-100	30 GB
101+*	1 GB / 3 Provinces + Holdings

I looked at the realms of the southern coast when checking on regency, and I’m going to focus on the same area for expenses. Unfortunately the box set only gives the description of the standing army of one realm on the coast. Roesone is the only realm on the southern cost given the the full 2 page write up. Even the Players Secrets Guides (32 page books on individual realms) don't list the standing armies...

Marlae Roesone, Baroness of Roesone rules 7 provinces with 7 law holdings. Base cost is 3 GB. She has a castle in her capitol city (1 GB), and a standing army of 3 units of archers, 1 artillerist, 1 knight, 3 pikes, and 1 infantry which costs an additional 11 GB, for a total upkeep of 15 GB per turn. On average Roesone collects 17 GB/turn in taxes, and due to her low level of control of the law holdings of her realm she may collect an additional 1 or 2 GB per turn from the guilds and temples. This means that depending on what actions Marlae decides to take during the turn, especially if she decides to hold court, she may end up having to tap into her treasury.

Medoere, a young theocracy is 3 provinces, of which the regent Archpriest Suris Enlien controls 3 temple holdings and 2 law holdings. She also controls a temple holdings in Roesone for a total of 9 provinces/holdings and a cost of 2 GB. There is also a temple in the capital, for a total upkeep of 3 GB. She can bring in 7-8 GB per turn in taxes and an additional 7 GB in Temple collection, and maybe an additional 1 from the guilds.

Ilien is a single province. It's ruled by Rogr Aglondier, a wizard who controls the law and source holdings of Ilien as well as source holdings in 8 other provinces, has an upkeep cost of 0 GB. Source holdings don't require upkeep! Rogr brings in a total of 6.5 GB/ turn in taxes! In addition he can probably claim 3-5 GB/turn from the guilds and temples.

The Impregnable Heart of Haelyn, a temple on the southern cost has 12 holdings, but one of them is a level 0, so doesn't count, for a total cost of 2 GB. It brings in 22.5 GB/turn, but it probably loses 5-7/turn from law collections. Still, without an army or castles to maintain, much of that will go into actions or the treasury!

As you can see, depending on the size of the realm, and the regents control of it, things can get very expensive very quickly!

Birthright - Economics - Revenue

The economics of Birthright are fairly abstract, and significantly simpler than those presented in the Rules Cyclopedia*. Every domain turn (3 months/1 season) you generate revenue in Gold Bars (GB) based upon your different holdings. Province rulers collects taxes, while temples and guilds collect tithes and profits. Magic holdings provide no revenue forcing wizard regents to either collect money from other regents or to convert Regency Points (RP) into gold via a realm spell (if they have it!). Law holdings (distinct from ruling the realm) can be used to claim money from Temple and Guild Holdings.

Taxes

Province Level	Light Taxes	Moderate Taxes	Heavy Taxes
0	-	-	d3-2
1	d3-2	d3-1	d3
2	d3-1	d3	d4
3	d3	d4	d4+1
4	d4	d4+1	d6+1
5	d4+1	d6+1	d8+1
6	d6+1	d8+1	d10+1
7	d8+1	d10+1	d12+1
8	d10+1	d12+1	2d8
9	d12+1	2d8	2d8+2
10	2d8	2d8+2	2d10+2

Guild + Temple Collections

Province Level/Holding Level	1	2	3	4-5	6+
0	-	-	-	-	-
1	d3-2	-	-	-	-
2	d2-1	d2	-	-	-
3	d2-1	d3	d4	-	-
4	d2	d3	d4	d6	-
5	d2	d3	d4	d6	-
6	d2	d3	2d2	2d3	2d4+1
7+	d3	d2+1	d4+1	d6+1	2d4+2

Law Claim

Comparitive Holding Level	GBs Generated
	1	2	3	4-5	6+
Law < Target	-	d4-3	d3-2	d2-1	d2-1
Law = Target	-	d3-2	d2-1	d3-1	d4-1
Law > Target	d4-3	d2-1	d3-1	d4-1	d3

In addition to revenue from holdings, Trade Routes can be created. These generate an income for the creator equal to the average of the two linked province levels. Linked provinces need to have a road running between them, and they have to be of a different terrain type. Coastal provinces can have sea routes, which provide half the provinces level in revenue. A province can only have a limited number of trade routes. Level 1-3 can have 1, 4-5 can have 2, and 6+ can have 3. The rules say that only someone with guild holdings can create a trade route, however the rules for what a wizard can and can't do with a Source Holding say that with a level 7 holding they can create trade routes.

Next Birthright post will address Expenses. I know you just can't wait!

*I remember late in one campaign when a name level fighter decided he’d try his hand at clearing and holding a domain, that the costs of upkeep, namely the staff, was simply exorbitant, and rather unrealistic for such a small realm. Almost immediately thereafter a Dragon Magazine came out with revised prices.

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