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Secrets of Xen'drik
Secrets of Xen'drik(TM)
Keith Baker
Jason Bulmahn Amber Scott
Here Be Monsters ... and More
There's an old saying in Stormreach: "Great power rests in the ruins of the past." The shattered cities and vast dungeons of Xen'drik hold the secrets of countless fallen empires. Legends speak of titanic landmarks, sunken treasure vaults, and forgotten places suffused with powerful magic. Beyond the walls of Stormreach, an entire continent waits to be rediscovered. But beware! Terrible monsters rule Xen'drik now, and explorers searching for gold or glory often find death instead.
Inside this book, you'll find everything you need to adventure in the shattered continent of Xen'drik:
* Comprehensive overview of the continent of Xen'drik and the gateway city of Stormreach
* New feats, prestige classes, spells, equipment, and magic items
* Encounters and magical locations you can drop into your existing campaign
* Ready-to-play adventures, monsters, and villains For use with these Dungeons & Dragons(R) products
"Player's Handbook(TM) Dungeon Master's Guide(TM) Monster Manual(TM)
Eberron"(R)" Campaign Setting
"
Keith Baker
Jason Bulmahn Amber Scott
Here Be Monsters ... and More
There's an old saying in Stormreach: "Great power rests in the ruins of the past." The shattered cities and vast dungeons of Xen'drik hold the secrets of countless fallen empires. Legends speak of titanic landmarks, sunken treasure vaults, and forgotten places suffused with powerful magic. Beyond the walls of Stormreach, an entire continent waits to be rediscovered. But beware! Terrible monsters rule Xen'drik now, and explorers searching for gold or glory often find death instead.
Inside this book, you'll find everything you need to adventure in the shattered continent of Xen'drik:
* Comprehensive overview of the continent of Xen'drik and the gateway city of Stormreach
* New feats, prestige classes, spells, equipment, and magic items
* Encounters and magical locations you can drop into your existing campaign
* Ready-to-play adventures, monsters, and villains For use with these Dungeons & Dragons(R) products
"Player's Handbook(TM) Dungeon Master's Guide(TM) Monster Manual(TM)
Eberron"(R)" Campaign Setting
"
160 pages, Hardcover
First published July 11, 2006
1 person is currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Keith Baker
73 books193 followersI've been interested in games since I first fell under the sinister influence of the Dungeons & Dragons boxed set, back in sixth grade. Over the last few decades I have managed to turn gaming from a hobby into a career. Here is a list of the highlights of my life as a game designer. If you have any questions, let me know!
From 1994-2002, I fell into the computer games industry. My first job was with Magnet Interactive Studios, in Washington DC. Sadly, Magnet never managed to hit the big time as a game developer. I worked on a number of projects during my stay at Magnet; for a time I was lead designer on a game called BLUESTAR, a position that was held at other times by such roleplaying luminaries as Ken Rolston and Zeb Cook. However, the only work that ever saw the light of day was some level design on the abstract arcade game Icebreaker.
Magnet began a slow implosion in 1996, and along with a number of other people I went to work for a Colorado company called VR1. I started as lead designer on VR-1 Crossroads, a text-based MUD centered on warring conspiracies – The X-Files meets Illuminati, with a world of dreams thrown in for good measure. When VR1 decided to move away from text games, I started work on a graphical MMORPG based on the pulp serials. After a few twists and turns, the project ended up being known as Lost Continents. But early in 2002 I decided that I'd had enough of the computer games industry and left VR1 to focus on writing. Then in June of 2002, Wizards of the Coast announced their Fantasy Setting Search, and I thought: What about pulp fantasy? And the rest is history. . .
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
From 1994-2002, I fell into the computer games industry. My first job was with Magnet Interactive Studios, in Washington DC. Sadly, Magnet never managed to hit the big time as a game developer. I worked on a number of projects during my stay at Magnet; for a time I was lead designer on a game called BLUESTAR, a position that was held at other times by such roleplaying luminaries as Ken Rolston and Zeb Cook. However, the only work that ever saw the light of day was some level design on the abstract arcade game Icebreaker.
Magnet began a slow implosion in 1996, and along with a number of other people I went to work for a Colorado company called VR1. I started as lead designer on VR-1 Crossroads, a text-based MUD centered on warring conspiracies – The X-Files meets Illuminati, with a world of dreams thrown in for good measure. When VR1 decided to move away from text games, I started work on a graphical MMORPG based on the pulp serials. After a few twists and turns, the project ended up being known as Lost Continents. But early in 2002 I decided that I'd had enough of the computer games industry and left VR1 to focus on writing. Then in June of 2002, Wizards of the Coast announced their Fantasy Setting Search, and I thought: What about pulp fantasy? And the rest is history. . .
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 17, 2020
While I recognize that Eberron tends to be my preferred Wizards-owned campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons, that loyalty has its limits; more specifically in this case, for a "standard" D&D campaign, Eberron: Secrets of Xen'drik is of, at best, limited usefulness.
While Secrets of Xen'drik (a sub-setting taking place on the exotic, huge, and mysterious and dangerous southern continent of Eberron) benefits from its lead author's being Keith Baker (the primary creator of the Eberron setting), Xen'drik is perhaps most useful if the bulk, if not entirety, of an entire campaign, from 1st level to 20th (or even beyond), is spent on the continent; for the majority of D&D players just learning of the Xen'drik sub-setting, if not Eberron itself, it seems somewhat unlikely that such a focus would actually occur, without massive cooperation from both the PCs and DM, and for that matter even from before the campaign starts. And given that Eberron is arguably at its best with a noirish focus, as well as with a heavy dose of urban intrigue, to have an entire campaign set in a rather different milieu at least a little bit does a disservice to the setting. (To some extent, Secrets of Xen'drik might benefit from being ported to 5th edition {through Eberron: Rising from the Last War}, but this volume is decidedly centered on v.3.5, and less feasibly ported than other v.3.5 Eberron supplements; to what extent this comes from Jason Bulmahn's, of Pathfinder fame, influence is not entirely clear, but not out of the question.)
Secrets of Xen'drik is admittedly not without its benefits—v.3.5 surprisingly frequently ports well to 5th edition D&D—but it represents a huge investment of time and energy to the exclusion of other aspects of a campaign setting enormously rich in character and flavor; as such, Secrets of Xen'drik is more than a little disappointing, even if it's colorful in its own right.
While Secrets of Xen'drik (a sub-setting taking place on the exotic, huge, and mysterious and dangerous southern continent of Eberron) benefits from its lead author's being Keith Baker (the primary creator of the Eberron setting), Xen'drik is perhaps most useful if the bulk, if not entirety, of an entire campaign, from 1st level to 20th (or even beyond), is spent on the continent; for the majority of D&D players just learning of the Xen'drik sub-setting, if not Eberron itself, it seems somewhat unlikely that such a focus would actually occur, without massive cooperation from both the PCs and DM, and for that matter even from before the campaign starts. And given that Eberron is arguably at its best with a noirish focus, as well as with a heavy dose of urban intrigue, to have an entire campaign set in a rather different milieu at least a little bit does a disservice to the setting. (To some extent, Secrets of Xen'drik might benefit from being ported to 5th edition {through Eberron: Rising from the Last War}, but this volume is decidedly centered on v.3.5, and less feasibly ported than other v.3.5 Eberron supplements; to what extent this comes from Jason Bulmahn's, of Pathfinder fame, influence is not entirely clear, but not out of the question.)
Secrets of Xen'drik is admittedly not without its benefits—v.3.5 surprisingly frequently ports well to 5th edition D&D—but it represents a huge investment of time and energy to the exclusion of other aspects of a campaign setting enormously rich in character and flavor; as such, Secrets of Xen'drik is more than a little disappointing, even if it's colorful in its own right.
May 30, 2012
Stuff I Read D&D Edition – Secrets of Xen’drik
Here is another of the first round of Eberron supplements that I got. As a bit of background for it, Xen’drik is a southern continent that is mainly unexplored. Forty thousand years before the current Eberron campaigns are supposed to start, giants had an enormous empire on Xen’drik with elf and drow slaves. Possessing incredible power and magical abilities, the giants were invaded by creatures from the plane of dreams and only managed to push them back by unleashing incredibly devastating magic. After this the drow rebelled and the giants fell. Since then Xen’drik has remained mainly wild and uncivilized.
The book itself provides a number of useful actual locations on the continent, with a small number of settlements and organizations and NPCs populating those settlements as well as ideas for how characters and parties can begin adventures in Xen’drik. It also provides new traps and quick references for DMs with sample encounters, sections that I personally enjoyed quite a bit. I mean, it’s not that I don’t like taking all the damn time to stat out encounters, but, wait, it is that I don’t like it. So I appreciate that this book has filled the pages with challenges that can be used for different scenarios, and for a variety of levels and races. I might not have been that impressed by the prestige classes, but at least the stat blocks provided for drow and the like can save me a great deal of time when looking for encounters.
Less helpful but still fairly interesting were the sample ideas for adventures. Because I like to make my own, I really doubt that I will use the ideas, but there might be something in there that I can use in a story of my own, and reading adventure ideas sometimes spurs my mind into thinking of different adventure ideas. Along the same lines, there are also a number of maps of places that might exist in Xen’drik. I do appreciate that the book leaves up the vast stretches of Xen’drik to the DM, as the continent is really supposed to be a mystery. As such, the maps and such are just examples and while they can be used they go more to show the kind of things that can be found in the reaches of the jungles, tundra, and deserts. So these various ideas and campaign hooks are interesting, and flesh out the book a bit, as the book offers little of what is out there, the charm being in the possibilities.
And in the end I like that. The book is effective where it does add items and monsters and locations and NPCs, and where it does not it gives ideas for DMs that want more guidance and for those that do not it lets them run where they will. Really it is a storytellers ideal location, because it allows for a place where a DM can put absolutely anything in and even players very familiar with the setting cannot get upset at the liberties. Not that I really put much stock in things like that anyway, preferring story to staying true to the letter of the setting, but it is nice that the setting lets DMs go where they want, and the book is flexible and versatile. While it could have provided a bit more on the ancient empires that existed, the vagueness really helps storytelling instead of hurting it, so I approve. I give it a 8/10.
Here is another of the first round of Eberron supplements that I got. As a bit of background for it, Xen’drik is a southern continent that is mainly unexplored. Forty thousand years before the current Eberron campaigns are supposed to start, giants had an enormous empire on Xen’drik with elf and drow slaves. Possessing incredible power and magical abilities, the giants were invaded by creatures from the plane of dreams and only managed to push them back by unleashing incredibly devastating magic. After this the drow rebelled and the giants fell. Since then Xen’drik has remained mainly wild and uncivilized.
The book itself provides a number of useful actual locations on the continent, with a small number of settlements and organizations and NPCs populating those settlements as well as ideas for how characters and parties can begin adventures in Xen’drik. It also provides new traps and quick references for DMs with sample encounters, sections that I personally enjoyed quite a bit. I mean, it’s not that I don’t like taking all the damn time to stat out encounters, but, wait, it is that I don’t like it. So I appreciate that this book has filled the pages with challenges that can be used for different scenarios, and for a variety of levels and races. I might not have been that impressed by the prestige classes, but at least the stat blocks provided for drow and the like can save me a great deal of time when looking for encounters.
Less helpful but still fairly interesting were the sample ideas for adventures. Because I like to make my own, I really doubt that I will use the ideas, but there might be something in there that I can use in a story of my own, and reading adventure ideas sometimes spurs my mind into thinking of different adventure ideas. Along the same lines, there are also a number of maps of places that might exist in Xen’drik. I do appreciate that the book leaves up the vast stretches of Xen’drik to the DM, as the continent is really supposed to be a mystery. As such, the maps and such are just examples and while they can be used they go more to show the kind of things that can be found in the reaches of the jungles, tundra, and deserts. So these various ideas and campaign hooks are interesting, and flesh out the book a bit, as the book offers little of what is out there, the charm being in the possibilities.
And in the end I like that. The book is effective where it does add items and monsters and locations and NPCs, and where it does not it gives ideas for DMs that want more guidance and for those that do not it lets them run where they will. Really it is a storytellers ideal location, because it allows for a place where a DM can put absolutely anything in and even players very familiar with the setting cannot get upset at the liberties. Not that I really put much stock in things like that anyway, preferring story to staying true to the letter of the setting, but it is nice that the setting lets DMs go where they want, and the book is flexible and versatile. While it could have provided a bit more on the ancient empires that existed, the vagueness really helps storytelling instead of hurting it, so I approve. I give it a 8/10.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews