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The latest entry into the World of Greyhawk, "The Adventure Begins" is a supplement detailing the history and social climate of the City of Grayhawk. While full of details and minutia, it doesn't do as good a job of helping the GM breathe life into the city.

Of all the cities within the Flanaess, Grayhawk is considered to be the most important one. For this reason the majority of the book is spent detailing history and society specific to Grayhawk and its domains. The amount of information is simply staggering, a GM will need to find a way of passing on "common knowledge" to his players. Sadly, this book doesn't provide an abridged history of either the Flanaess or the City of Grayhawk for the players.

TSR seems to have begun minimizing their artwork. The same corner art appears in the margins of each page with an occasional quarter page black and white. They are also continuing the annoying trend of having two different sized columns on each page, what this is suppose to acomplish is beyond me.

Those GMs looking for a more supplement detailing a city in great detail should look elsewhere. The book gives quick overviews of many of the guilds, personalities and more famous locations found within the city. However, a great deal of work remains for a GM to flesh out the immediate encounters a party will deal with. It's almost as if the daily details of the city are left as an exercise for the reader.

The recently released World of Grayhawk Player's Guide gives a better overview of the campaign world for both players and GMs. Those wishing a detailed history of a specific part of the world may be interested in "The Adventure Begins". But be prepared to fill in the blanks.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Adventure Begins
Author: Roger E. Moore Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR, Inc. Cost: $19.95 Page count: 128 ISBN: 0-7869-1249-9 Capsule Review by Tomas J Skucas on 08/04/98. Genre tags: none	The latest entry into the World of Greyhawk, "The Adventure Begins" is a supplement detailing the history and social climate of the City of Grayhawk. While full of details and minutia, it doesn't do as good a job of helping the GM breathe life into the city. Of all the cities within the Flanaess, Grayhawk is considered to be the most important one. For this reason the majority of the book is spent detailing history and society specific to Grayhawk and its domains. The amount of information is simply staggering, a GM will need to find a way of passing on "common knowledge" to his players. Sadly, this book doesn't provide an abridged history of either the Flanaess or the City of Grayhawk for the players. TSR seems to have begun minimizing their artwork. The same corner art appears in the margins of each page with an occasional quarter page black and white. They are also continuing the annoying trend of having two different sized columns on each page, what this is suppose to acomplish is beyond me. Those GMs looking for a more supplement detailing a city in great detail should look elsewhere. The book gives quick overviews of many of the guilds, personalities and more famous locations found within the city. However, a great deal of work remains for a GM to flesh out the immediate encounters a party will deal with. It's almost as if the daily details of the city are left as an exercise for the reader. The recently released World of Grayhawk Player's Guide gives a better overview of the campaign world for both players and GMs. Those wishing a detailed history of a specific part of the world may be interested in "The Adventure Begins". But be prepared to fill in the blanks. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)