The Waterdeep Primer is a 24-page document compiled by Jason Hardin that introduces the reader to key facts about the City of Waterdeep, an important city in the Forgotten Realms. With the upcoming adventure season revolving around this city, this is a way to learn some lore before the official release.

The primer covers the history of the city in four pages, the geography in six pages, and most of the remainder deals with factions, societies and groups of power. Covers, contents and bibliography take up five pages. The bibliography is very important, as it shows you the primary sources to gain more information on the city, albeit in previous editions.

Details on each topic are necessarily brief, but informative. The writing is clear, with enough details to pique the reader’s interest. I liked that it describes notable establishments and particularly liked the descriptions of education and mages academies in the city.

The primer only mentions a few characters of Waterdeep and doesn’t give detailed descriptions of them. We won’t know about most of the characters currently in Waterdeep until the adventures get released, as most of the characters we know lived about one-hundred years before the present time in the Realms – since 4E’s release, we’ve only learnt a little about who lives in Waterdeep these days.

The product serves as a reference for both Dungeon Masters and players. There might be a couple of secret factions a DM wouldn’t want their players to know about, but for the most part its information should be common knowledge.

If you’re unfamiliar with the city or want a quick refresher on the setting, this should suit your needs. Recommended.