Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook

[Big Mac]

I just found a book, called Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook . There actually seems to be two alternative covers out there (one with "Into the Unknown" in big letters and the other with "The Dungeon Survival Handbook" in big letters). I don't know which is the correct cover.

Anyhoo, here is the blurb I got from Amazon:

Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons) Hardcover – May 15, 2012

D&D ENCOUNTERS SUPPORT: This product supports the D&D Encounters in-store play program by providing Dungeons & Dragons players with exciting new options for their D&D Encounters characters. The player material in this book is also suitable for home game use.

CHARACTER THEMES: This book presents several new character themes tied to dungeon exploration. Themes are popular with Dungeons & Dragons players, as they provide more depth to each character's back story and provide intriguing in-game benefits.

This book also includes advice for Dungeon Masters on how to integrate character themes into an ongoing campaign that features dungeons and other subterranean environments, as well as dungeon-building tips.
This product has tangential ties to the drow-themed marketing campaign.

The D&D Encounters thing, makes this look like this is on the same sort of level as the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer was.

I don't know anything about D&D Encounters. Is this book set in Nentir Vale/Nerath? Do you need D&D Encounters adventures to get the best out of this book?

[Zeromaru X]

Yeah, the book is set in the Nentir Vale. And nope, you don't need to play the only three Encounters adventures set in the Vale to make use of this book. The book just mentions places used in those Adventures (the Keep on the Borderlands, Castle Inverness), but the mentions are of events that happened in the "ending" of those adventures, so, you can use it as standalone without problems.

[VoidWalker]

Into The Unknown was a book I missed during the original print run of 4e, but which I gladly added to my collection when I found it. Built s a resource book for both DMs and players, it contains the following material:

New Character Themes, a mechanic introduced to 4e with Dark Sun, consisting of the Bloodsworn, the Deep Delver, the Escaped Thrall, the Trapsmith, the Treasure Hunter, the Underdark Envoy, and the Underdark Outcast.

Three new races, in the form of the Goblin, the Kobold, and the Svirfneblin.

An assortment of new "dungeon themed" powers for various classes.

An examination of tactics for successfully surviving a delve into the dungeon environment.

A detailed look at the various types of dungeon, namely caves, crypts, death traps, floating castles, ice palaces, magic laboratories, mazes, mines, prisons, sewers, volcanoes and warrens.

A detailed look at the creatures most prone to dwelling in dungeon environments, from aboleths to umber hulks.

An examination of some of D&D's most infamous dungeons - Castle Ravenloft, the Ghost Tower of Inverness, The Lost City, the Pyramid of Amun-Re, White Plume Mountain, the Tomb of Horrors, the Temple of Elemental Evil and the Gates of Firestorm Peak - and some minor suggestions for tying a character to a dungeon, such as a background for a Barovian Refugee.

A wide array of DM tricks for running dungeons, such as how to involve the characters and how to best create & run an adveture in the dungeon's depths.

An examination of the 4e species most prone to creating dungeons.

Some examples of unique rewards that might only be found by dungeon-delving.

A discussion on how to build your own dungeon.

And an approach to "random dungeons".

[Zeromaru X]

I'm not actually haven't read this book yeah, but I't seems I do need to do it. Thanks for your review.