D&D BECMI - GAZ 9 - The Minrothad Guilds

Gazetteer 9 - The Minrothad Guilds

D&D BECMI Rules

Product Description - GAZ 9 - The Minrothad Guilds

Life in Minrothad is one of the sea. The vast oceans are tied up in everything the people do, from their livelihoods to their recreation to their stories and songs.

The sea is also their defender. Surrounded on three sides by Ierendi, Karameikos, and mighty Thyatis, Minrothad has developed the art of naval trade to its highest form in the Known World.

The Minrothad Guilds, the latest Gazetteer for the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game system, gives you an in-depth, complete look at the people and traditions of Minrothad, including:

Product History

GAZ9: “The Minrothad Guilds” (1988), by Deborah Christian and Kim Eastland, is the ninth book in the “GAZ” series of Gazetteers for the Known World. It was published in November 1988.

Continuing the “GAZ” Sourcebooks. By 1988, the Known World books had reached a plateau of stability and maturity, and so “The Minrothad Guilds” looks a lot like it predecessor — containing a 32-page players book and a 64-page GM book that together detailed a country in the Known World. The organization of the material was slightly different in “The Minrothad Guilds”, with more of the crunchy players material (like a new class) ending up in the GM book, but other than that it was a clear continuation of the “GAZ” series to date.

Expanding Basic D&D. Since the expansion of the “GAZ” series to include two books totaling 96 pages, more emphasis had been placed on expanding not just the Known World, but also the Basic D&D rules system, and “The Minrothad Guilds” continued with that trend — perhaps moreso than any of its predecessors.

For the players, there was a whole new character class, the merchant-prince, as well as extensive rules for speculative trade. This was all new ground for D&D; though science fiction games had long featured trade as an alternative focus of adventure, D&D never had previously.

For the GMs, there were numerous new systems related to nautical adventuring. This included rules for sea battles as well as new guidelines for sailing — all supplementing sea rules found in the Expert Rule Set (1981, 1983), M1: “Into the Maelstrom” (1985), and GAZ4: “The Kingdom of Ierendi” (1987). Though nautical adventuring had been a major focus of Basic D&D play since the Expert Rule Set and X1: “The Isle of Dread” (1981), this showed continued interest in the topic.

Expanding the Known World. “The Minrothad Guilds” returns to one of the best-loved locales of the Known World: the Sea of Dread. Minrothad details the northeastern corner of the area, expanding on the setting found in X1: “The Isle of Dread” (1981), X7: “The War Rafts of Kron” (1984), and GAZ4: “The Kingdom of Ierendi” (1987).

Unsurprisingly, Minrothad is another unique, evocative country. It’s also a nice contrast to nearby Ierendi. Where Ierendi is an attractive vacation spot, Minrothad is instead a closed and insular society bound up with its own laws, guilds, and castes.

“The Minrothad Guilds” also details the water elves, a nautical race of elves who live throughout Minrothad.

Future History. GAZ 11: “The Republic of Darokin” (1989) would be another complementary supplement to “The Minrothad Guilds”, detailing land-based trade rather than sea-based trade.

About the Creators. Christian started freelancing in 1988 with much of her attention going toward Mayfair’s City State of the Invincible Overlord, but she also worked on three books for TSR: Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms (1988), GAZ9: “The Minrothad Guilds” (1989), and DLA1: “Dragon Dawn” (1990). Eastland worked more extensively for TSR from 1984-1988. “The Minrothad Guilds” was his only D&D book and his last publication for the company, though he continued writing infrequent Dragon articles afterward.

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons – a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

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