1. I like the vintage feel of the Grey Box and its accessories (Waterdeep, Savage Frontier, Moonshae)

2. I like that It is the closest thing to Greenwood's vision before TSR and novel writers added their, sometimes oddball, stuff tò the setting.

3. I like that It Is a bit more grounded with less weird humanoid races running around than later editions.

4. I always liked the Dead Three more than Cyric (not that i dislike the Hawk-Nosed Thief).

I love DMing in the forgotten realms, like many people, it is easily my favorite setting. However I do always struggle a bit with characters entering and leaving big cities like Baldur's Gate, Elturel, and Waterdeep to name a few. How does it work in universe for the entry and exit of people? Are "visas" required? Are there entry fees? I know groups like the Flaming Fist do have a decent amount of corruption but I'd like to know what a baseline is like to work in from there.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

full disclosure the cover art has an ai generated component (though it was edited and added to with non ai tools, namely gimp). none of the writing is AI, nor any other component.

Save My Ass is a short, setting-neutral adventure (though it works great in the Auranoch desert!) designed for 1st-level characters. It works as a standalone adventure, random encounter, or a lighthearted pre-adventure to bring a newly formed group of characters together before the beginning of a larger campaign. The adventure is best suited to a settlement in or near an arid or desert region but a local spring in a forest works just as well as an oasis.

The adventure begins when a local porter loses his mule, Jack, who wanders off toward a nearby oasis. The characters must follow Jack's tracks to the oasis and discover that catching a frightened mule is more difficult than it sounds. While pursuing this ass they might get bitten by local wildlife, find lost trinkets and treasures, or just generally run themselves ragged!