Whether you are a veteran player of the
ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®
game or a novice playing a character for
your 1st time, this book can be of help in
AD&D® game play. A campaign can be set in
the sprawling City of Splendors itself, or
Waterdeep can be used as a model of a fantasy
city by DMs wishing to create their
own large port cities without using the FORGOTTEN
REALMS campaign setting.

Waterdeep is a city of intrigue and wonders;
in its streets and buildings can be
found almost every variety of beings and
activities, goods, and interests. Carefully
handled, the City will come to life, and give
players and DMs a continuing,
ever-developing locale in which characters
can adventure, to return to as a base while
adventuring up and down the Sword Coast
by ship or in the wilderland of the North. I
know. Waterdeep can serve such a longlasting
role in a campaign, because the City
of Splendors was the beginning of my original
FORGOTTEN REALMS campaign, and
has been used continuously in play since
then, providing delights and challenges for
characters from levels 0 through 16 down
the years from 1975 and the original D&D®
boxed set through the multi-volume
AD&D® rule books of today.

This book describes the major features of
life in Waterdeep, some important inhabitants,
and the layout of the City wards, but
leaves room for DMs to develop their own
characters and local details. For those
employing the FORGOTTEN REALMS campaign
setting, a section on the City's surroundings
is included, and for all AD&D
game players, a number of possible adventures
set in the City, or beginning within its
walls, are described. These are largely presented
in outline form, so that DMs can
change characters, settings, treasures, and
the pacing to suit their own campaigns.

We begin with brief summaries of the
geography and history of the North, and
then of the City of Splendors, providing an
understanding of why Waterdeep is the
way it is, and a guide for DM innovations. A
summary of the government, laws, and how
justice is enforced and administered in the
City of Splendors follows.

Each of the districts, or "wards" of the
City is then viewed. DMs should note that
many buildings remain "open" for use in
their own adventures, and most structures
in Waterdeep are 3 or 4 storeys in
height, containing private apartments or
offices (not detailed herein) above the
street-level shops. DMs should bear in mind
that many minor features of Waterdeep
change with Time, and can readily be modi-
fied to better suit their own adventures.

The next chapter tries to give you something
of the "feel" of life in Waterdeep, and
describes money and commerce, some of
the natural hazards of City life, and current
events of interest.

City Guard (Waterdeep)

The sections that follow detail in turn the
various Factions and Guilds active in the
City; the Noble Families of Waterdeep; and
individual Non-Player Characters (NPCs)
suitable for use in play.

Gray Hands

Suggested adventures involving the City
of Splendors are then given, and our book
closes with a description of the City's immediate
surroundings.

Well met, all! I give you Waterdeep; my
city. Let it now be your city, too, and if you
treat Waterdeep as a real place, as I have
done, it will live for you, too. Many happy
hours of AD&D game play in a campaign
can use only those details of the City's
streets and people contained herein. Further
development of Waterdeep's sewers,
dungeons, and intrigue could even keep a
campaign going for years without any PC
ever setting foot outside the
City walls. So read on, and walk the streets
of Waterdeep the Great, Crown of the
North, with (of course) the standard warning:
keep weapon to hand and eyes attentive...