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FA1 Halls of the High King (2e)

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Someone in the misty, wooded Moonshae isles needs hundreds of brand new swords taken under guard from Sword Coast smiths to a certain place on the Isles. The swords are needed so badly, and their safe arrival is considered so unlikely, that someone is willing to pay adventurers a lot of gold - someone fairly important.

Adventures foolish enough to take assignments too good to be true (or merely desperate for coins) will soon find themselves embroiled in a dark and mysterious struggle against evil that will take them into sacred groves, crumbling castles, and through ancient magical gates to the halls of the High King - and beyond

This sourcebook contains background lore on the Moonshaes, a DM's delight of new monsters, magic items, and spells usable in any AD&D campaign and enough adventure ideas to keep the most energetic player characters seeking their fortunes in the Moonshaes for years to come!

Product History

FA1: "Halls of the High King" (1990), by Ed Greenwood, is the first in a (short) series of Forgotten Realms Adventures. It was published in October 1990.

Origins. Greenwood was asked to write a "return" to the Moonshae Islands that would update the setting following the Avatar event. However, his book couldn't be a sourcebook, and it couldn't be an epic adventure. He thus settled on a mini-campaign, complete with many appendices that would create a "toybox" for designing Moonshae or druid adventures.

Introducing the FA Adventures. During the AD&D first edition era (1977-1988), the scant few Forgotten Realms adventures like N5: "Under Illefarn" (1987) appeared under a variety of module codes. The "FR" code was used solely for Forgotten Realms sourcebooks. That changed with the release of AD&D 2e (1989). Afterward the "FRE" Avatar adventures (1989) and the "FRA" Empires adventures (1990) each presented an epic Forgotten Realms adventure in three parts using a Forgotten Realms module code.

However, the "FA" adventures were something different: they were smaller scale Forgotten Realms adventures — which was the sort of adventure that was more common throughout TSR's D&D lines. In the end, there were just two of them — FA1: "Halls of the High King" (1990) and FA2: "Nightmare Keep" (1991) — though more Realms adventures would later appear in a variety of different Forgotten Realms lines.

Adventure Tropes. "Halls of the High King" is a heavily plotted adventure of the sort that would become common in the 2e era. Though it includes city adventure, village adventure, wilderness adventures, and some minor dungeon crawls, they're arranged linearly to form a plot about the Cult of the Risen Bane.

As Greenwood planned, this adventure also includes plenty of appendices, taking up almost half of the book. These appendices describe: Moonshae customs, Cult of the Risen Bane details, Moonshae monsters, new magic items, new spells, campaign ideas, druidic background, and rumors.

Expanding the Realms. "Halls of the High King" is a nice look at the Realms after the Time of Troubles, detailing the problems that continue to spin out of that event. It also offers a good look at the Moonshaes, describing several important locations, some of which were previously seen in FR2: "Moonshae" (1987).

Monsters of Note. A number of iconic Realms monsters appear here, including the greater peltast, the nyth, and the weredragon.

About the Creators. Greenwood was of course the creator of the Realms … though not the creator of the Moonshae Islands, which was the product of Douglas Niles' work. That same year had already seen the release of Greenwood's Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990), while FR11: "Dwarves Deep" (1990) was released simultaneously.

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.

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Garth A November 24, 2023 4:47 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Is there a way to order a printed copy. I have the PDF, but cannot print.
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Andrew M July 07, 2023 7:13 pm UTC
Would love POD please
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Alexander C November 19, 2023 12:15 pm UTC
Print it!!!
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Tidal W August 29, 2022 11:55 pm UTC
POD, please.
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Nicholas P July 13, 2021 6:20 pm UTC
POD please
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Simon W April 05, 2021 3:49 pm UTC
Please make a Print On Demand option for this book. :)
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Product Information
Electrum seller
Author(s)
Pages
64
Edition
1.0
ISBN
0-88038-881-1
Publisher Stock #
TSR 9301
File Size:
62.6 MB
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File Last Updated:
July 14, 2014
This title was added to our catalog on July 15, 2014.