The Site Seer
By Chris Warter [Defrag]
By the power of Mystra I will one day know all of the AD&D/Realms related websites out there by heart. But for now I will just have to wing it by surfing and and suggestions from our readers. I am the Site Seer for the Forgotten Times. It is my job to surf the net and find all the killer AD&D/Realms websites that have useful content and a good clean style. If you would like to suggest a site for review, please e-mail FTsubmit@bigfoot.com with the site URL, and I will try to get it in the next issue.
I rate the sites on 5 different qualities and then give it an overall rating. The 5 qualities are:
- Layout (Look and feel) - The overall site layout. Is it pleasing to the eyes?
- Navigation - Can you find what you want?
- Content - Groovy site and all, but is there anything there?
- Originality - How much of it is original material?
- Realms Relevance - Does it relate to the Realms?
So, without further ramblings from me, here are this issues Top 10.
Number 10 - Forgotten Realms http://members.tripod.com/~Arawn/fr.html
No Image Available
| Area |
Rating |
| Layout |
2 |
| Navigation |
2 |
| Content |
2 |
| Originality |
2 |
| Realms Relevance |
2 |
Overall |
2 |
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What is this? They title the site "Forgotten Realms" and all that's there is junk. Poorly formatted tables and justifications, and stolen graphics. I am really disappointed with this one.
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Number 9 - Ironspires Grove http://www.geocities.com/Area51/2700/
No Image Available
| Area |
Rating |
| Layout |
2 |
| Navigation |
3 |
| Content |
2 |
| Originality |
3 |
| Realms Relevance |
3 |
Overall |
2.6 |
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Well I was somewhat disappointed with this site. With a name like "Ironspire's Grove," one would have expected more. Frames based navigation (optional) with left side menus. Not a lot of content. They have an FR timeline, but not near as good as the one on "Yet Another Forgotten Realms Page." They also have a very incomplete listing of FR dieties. Save yourself some bandwidth, move on down the list.
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Number 8 - Adventure in Faerun http://home.earthlink.net/~jtlawson/A1-PBEM/Default.htm
No Image Available
| Area |
Rating |
| Layout |
2 |
| Navigation |
3 |
| Content |
2 |
| Originality |
4 |
| Realms Relevance |
4 |
Overall |
3 |
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Cool cover graphic. I like the art a lot. Otherwise, unless you really care how someone else's PBEM game is going, there isn't much here. There is some interesting and humorous tales of this groups adventure, if you want to read through it.
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Number 7 - Zhentarim on the Net http://earth.vol.com/~zhent/dnd/
| Area |
Rating |
| Layout |
3 |
| Navigation |
4 |
| Content |
3 |
| Originality |
3 |
| Realms Relevance |
4 |
Overall |
3.4 |
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Even the bad guys need their own web page, and here it is. Interesting information on the good guy/bad guy power structures in the Realms. Frames layout, left side navigation. Relatively easy to get around and find what you're looking for.
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Number 6 - Yet Another Forgotten Realms Page http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Castle/2566/
| Area |
Rating |
| Layout |
3 |
| Navigation |
3 |
| Content |
4 |
| Originality |
3 |
| Realms Relevance |
4 |
Overall |
3.4 |
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If you are looking for a good forgotten realms timeline, here it is. This is a good page of information. I'm personally not too fond of the site design, but it's content you surf for right? It is another Geocities based site, and has all of the downfalls of one (the window spawns and the branding). Still worth a look though.
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Number 5 - Kalador's Realm http://www.travel.to/kaladors-realm
| Area |
Rating |
| Layout |
3 |
| Navigation |
4 |
| Content |
4 |
| Originality |
3 |
| Realms Relevance |
4 |
Overall |
3.6 |
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A good simple site with some good information. Frames based, and easy to navigate. Kalador's Realm has Heroes and Villians, Java Apps, fantasy fonts, fantasy names (a big list really), and more. If you can get past the annoying Geocities script error that pops up on every page, then this site is worth a gander.
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Number 4 - Lord Hannible's Realm of Chaos http://kingofchaos.5th.net/
| Area |
Rating |
| Layout |
3 |
| Navigation |
3 |
| Content |
4 |
| Originality |
5 |
| Realms Relevance |
4 |
Overall |
3.8 |
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Do you ever feel like being a devious and somewhat evil DM? Lord Hannibles Realm of Chaos is the place for you then. Frames layout (optional) with dynamic html page transitions (cool if you like neat effects, but slow). If you've never been to a midevil torture chamber, go to Lord Hannible's. Almost forgot, as an added bonus, this is also the home of the AD&D Top 100.
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Number 3 - Thistledown Hall http://www.thistledownhall.com/
| Area |
Rating |
| Layout |
4 |
| Navigation |
4 |
| Content |
4 |
| Originality |
5 |
| Realms Relevance |
5 |
Overall |
4.4 |
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Thistledown Hall. I don't know about you, but that site name grabbed my attention. This is a good clean site. Frames based navigation, and formatted so even the slackers surfing at 640X480 can view the site without un-necessary scrolling. Good content, some good fluff, and useful information. Definately worth a look.
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Number 2 - Olde Tavern Tales http://users.quadrunner.com/tavern/
| Area |
Rating |
| Layout |
4 |
| Navigation |
5 |
| Content |
5 |
| Originality |
5 |
| Realms Relevance |
4 |
Overall |
4.6 |
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I love this site. The webmaster, Nathan Caroland, has put a lot of time and effort into creating and maintaining this site. The minute you go in, the mellow background music kicks in and immediately sets the atmosphere. It is a frames based site with left side navigation, and pretty easy to get around. The content is all original and an excellect read. Kudos to Nathan for providing us with such an excellect site.
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Number 1 - Arylon http://sefton.tradepage.co.za/arylon/
| Area |
Rating |
| Layout |
5 |
| Navigation |
5 |
| Content |
5 |
| Originality |
5 |
| Realms Relevance |
5 |
Overall |
5 |
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Want to be impressed? This issues feature was on the Arylon project, so I went ahead and reviewed the site for the Site Seer section. I'm so glad I did, what a fantastic site! Frames based pages with left side navigation. A ton of info for this new city. It's easy to see why Arylon is the number one website for this issue. Go check it out!
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