Volo's Guide to the Dalelands

TSR released the first products for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting in 1987, and many supplements and adventures followed. In 1992, TSR released the first in a series of "Volo's Guides" pocket books that brought greater detail to specific regions. The fifth in the series, Volo's Guide to the Dalelands, was a 244-page softcover pocket book written by Ed Greenwood, with cover art by Ciruelo Cabral and interior art by Theresa Brandon, Tony Crnkovich, Ned Dameron, and Valerie Valusek. It was published by TSR in 1996.^[1]

In Issue 11 of the British magazine Arcane, Trenton Webb criticized the poetry that begins the book and called the cover art "dreadful", but admitted that "these are functional trappings rather than an honest indication of content". While Webb initially felt that "the Dalelands seem too settled to be worth bothering with", he realized that "this is an illusion - there's intrigue afoot, monsters in the mountains and war around the corner". Webb commented that Volo's journey is "not always an interesting trip, but it's effective at highlighting the sinister via Volo's rating system" and thought that the locations and characters could be dropped into most AD&D campaigns. Webb concluded by giving this book a rating of 6 out of 10, saying, "In revealing its low-level secrets the guide alludes to darker riddles, the effect of which is to pique the interest of the reader in the Dalelands."^[2]

In Issue 30 of Australian Realms, Paul Mitting commented, "Although a bit silly in places (I think Ed Greenwood is fixated on wine, women and food... but then aren't most of us?), the depth of detail and plenitude of good solid adventure hooks make it a worthwhile buy for any AD&D referees playing in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting." Mitting concluded, "this book, like the other Volo Guides, wins over the boxed sets in my opinion because all the information is supplied in a cheery, chatty tone without the game statistics and rules that bog down those bigger supplements."^[3]