Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jarjaxle 10-05-07, 07:11 PM	Question: Would running the series of adventures Cormyr\Shadowdale\Anauroch be a good lead-in to the changes that Forgotten Realms is undergoing with 4E? My group has time for one more campaign before the big switch and I thought it would be really cool if they could participate in some way with the changes that will be happening. It would make the Realms more personal to them and increase passion for the new 4E Realms. Any advice would be welcome.
Faraer 10-05-07, 07:16 PM	They're connected to it, in ways that won't be fully revealed till the third. I don't know about passion; I think Cormyr (unless very well DMed) would tend to increase boredom more than any feeling about the Realms, which it's only casually related to; Shadowdale can be a very good adventure if you put in a lot of work in interaction with the dalefolk; and Anauroch is a question mark. They are, by themselves, too linear to make a good Realms-style campaign.
Muddman 10-06-07, 11:08 AM	I disagree, but I had a different situation. SPOILERS!! As is, they're ok and linear, but with some work they became alot of fun. Before Cormyr, I ran a series of adventures in Wheloon (where it takes place) with one of the PCs being a cleric of Mystra and with alot of interactions with the temple NPCs. I even included a murder mystery that ended up with the town sheriff being a traitor, so by the time I started Cormyr they were town heroes and beloved members of the community. Shadowdale is kind of the same thing. A great outline but it needs alot on the in betweens. The adventures are not total slam dunks, they assume you're going to do some work to add meat to the bones, thats why they include background on the towns themselves. But on the up side the PCs get to do some stuff they'd never do at those levels otherwise. At 4th level they travel to the plane of shadow and fight a shar powered black dragon and at 9th level they ride into shadowdale and defeat an army of Zhents while killing Scylua Darkhope, the general of Zhentil Keep herself! For what you want to do, include players in the events to come, they're great! Its very clear that this is what WoTC wants to do, include players in events rather than just writing about them. The adventures are treadbare but part of it is the DMs job to make them whole adventures! Happy gaming :)
Butterface 10-06-07, 11:16 AM	I'm running this series for my group, and they're loving it. They're about mid-way through the first book. I'm doing this 3 book arc with the intention of being the lead-in campaign to 4E. In between books, the party will have a chance to take smaller adventures (that I will write for them) ANYWHERE they want to go in the Realms. I described it like this: "I'm running this game until GenCon '08, at which point it will become 4E FR. This is your chance to explore the Realms as is, before it's drastically altered." I plan to stretch out the timeline of the three books (along with the home written adventures in between) to 1385 DR. Rather than moan about the changes, I'm embracing them, and plan to go out of 3.5 FR with a BANG!:shocked: :headexplo