Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TheReverend 04-26-05, 01:40 AM	New (actually born again newbie after looong hiatus) to D&D seeking a campaign setting to settle into.... I know that thread upon thread has parsed and argued the various merits of FR vs Eberron or DL or whatever... but my question is this: Is FR thriving? This is clearly a realm that has seen many years of development, but is 3.5 the deathknell (if you will) of FR, or will this realm continue to flourish? Is the FR Campaign Setting book even compatible with 3.5? What I'm seeking is a world that I know lots of other people are currently enjoying and will continue to enjoy. So, even though airships and magic trains and warriors made of steel are not really what I"m looking for, if Eberron is the future then that's where I'll go. Does this make sense? Me and my group (also newbs) want to be part of something that still has that sense of a "happening," even though we'll be having our own little individual adventures on our own little sphere. So tell me... what's the future of Forgotten Realms? Will it soon be Forgotten or am I safe to set up shop here for the next few years?
Ssussunriyh 04-26-05, 03:30 AM	The Realms are alive and well. FR has lots of fans, and this strong loyalty base will insure its continuation. In fact, of all the campaign-specific sourcebooks published by WotC since 3E came out, FR has probably had the most. And while many of them are 3.0E, it's really no big stretch to use them with 3.5E rules; A few minor changes to the crunchy bits, and the fluff text works just fine as written.
Chosen Of Bhaal 04-26-05, 04:35 AM	In the upcoming product list, FR has a similar number books coming as eberron has coming out. So i think its safe to say shes doing ok
tariff 04-26-05, 11:57 AM	The lack of 3.5 stuff (specifically adventures) for the realms is not a good thing. And to say its easy to convert is just not true, do a search on "The city of the spider queen" to see exactly how much worrk you have to do to convert old adventures over.
Kuje31 04-26-05, 12:00 PM	The lack of 3.5 stuff (specifically adventures) for the realms is not a good thing. And to say its easy to convert is just not true, do a search on "The city of the spider queen" to see exactly how much worrk you have to do to convert old adventures over. There's one set for later this year. :)
Faraer 04-26-05, 12:08 PM	Industry commentators used to fragilely built worlds have predicted the end of the commercial viability of the Realms several times. It's not going to happen. The majority of information about the Realms is in Ed's basement and has never been published. We're still just beginning to see the depth of this world. The Realms is receiving unprecedented novel support, and the next few years will see the publication of Ed Greenwood's Knights of Myth Drannor trilogy, perhaps the Realms' central and paradigmatic story. As to the ease of converting 3E material to 3.5E, it depends on how strictly you apply the rules. If you demand (for God only knows what reason) absolute precision, it's very laborious. If you use the rules more casually, you don't have to do anything.
tariff 04-26-05, 12:28 PM	cool, anyone got a link for what adventure is coming out?
Kuje31 04-26-05, 12:48 PM	cool, anyone got a link for what adventure is coming out? There's not much more then a name atm since it's late in the year. :) If I recall right it's Ruins of Grummush (sp?)...
tariff 04-26-05, 01:44 PM	wow..youve got me all excited now :)
Whistledown 04-26-05, 02:02 PM	The amount of novels, alone, being published shows how active this world is. I disagree with the previous poster about conversion being tricky. I have no prob converting. For the most part, all it takes for me is to put sticky notes in the monster manuel where the 3.5 version of the monster is. I don't bother converting nameless low level npc's. Big deal if some nameless 1st level ranger has the ambixdexterity and two weapon fighting feats from 3.0. Does that really disrupt the game? Would the players even notice? And usually for the high level npc's there is prolly just a feat or two that need switching. . . and some skills. I suppose if you wanted to pour over the adventure re-writing every encounter into 3.5 that may take a bit. The way I see it converting means making the module compatible with 3.5, not RE-WRITING.
Preternatural 04-26-05, 02:43 PM	Setting-wise, FR still seems to be WotC's cash cow. It seems to have a greater volume of upcoming materials beyond Eberron and the other settings. The steady supply of supplements and novels shows that. It's the most iconic of classical fantasy that WotC has, and is unlikely to be dethroned by Eberron, which while a seemingly decent setting is still in a somewhat new and unknown state, also it occupies a slightly different niche, so the competition isn't as great as some make it out to be, at least in my opinion. On a side note, WotC unfortunately doesn't fully support their older settings like Planescape, even Greyhawk and OA. While the market for them still seems to exist. So who knows what the future holds for any official setting. :(
ClobberinTime 04-26-05, 03:17 PM	Its pretty stale honestly and has been for a while, but its the best thing going as far as detail and so is the only game in town.
Lashan 04-26-05, 03:24 PM	I think it is a bit stale, too. Of course, maybe it just is for me. I don't like a bunch of the world changes they have done recently, which means I haven't cared for some of the new stuff. Oh, don't get me wrong. I think Races of Faerun is one of the best books out there (and there are many more). I just think some of what the game designers are focusing on is not what I am interested. Does this mean I will never DM in FR again? No. There's enough material out there for me to run stuff in the FR before 1370 DR and have fun with it. Still, though, I find myself thinking more and more of Greyhawk...
Zevox 04-26-05, 03:28 PM	Definitely thriving. FR has a huge fan base thats built up over the past two decades. Just look at how active these forums are, and then recall that far from everyone who plays in the Realms is a member of these forums. FR is the largest, most in-depth campaign setting in D&D, with literally hundereds of novels and scores of sourcebooks, and more still coming every year (heck, in the novels case, practically every month). Its not going anywhere for a long time. Zevox
Thig 04-26-05, 03:37 PM	Firstly, I have to say that I think any fears regarding Toril's imminent demise are... well, unfounded. FR material fills half of my local game store's D&D stock, including third party stuff. That just means they aren't carrying it all, of course, but the Realms are WELL represented on store shelves. Elminster isn't going to kick the bucket anytime soon. Behind that, though, it is a little funny for me to see this kind of concern being voiced over the Forgotten Realms. You see, the first published campaign setting I ever purchased, and that I continue to play in, was Ravenloft. While White Wolf is publishing stuff for the Domain of Dread now, there was a considerable period of time during which my setting of choice really was dead. That's the smaller of the stories. My absolute favorite published setting was Planescape, and we all know how THAT'S turned out. Planescape is a fansite now. Therein lies the hope overlying your fears, though: Take a look at Planewalker.com sometime. Even dead settings dance inside their coffins. Imagine if you were a Birthright/Dark Sun/Kalamar/Spelljammer freak.
ClobberinTime 04-26-05, 04:55 PM	I like the FR don't get me wrong, its just not Fresh anymore, honestly I would switch all of my campaigns back to Greyhawk if it wasn't so much damned work. Its more limited but at the same time there really is nothing like the Great Kingdom, or the Lord of the Ring's esque evil that is Iuz in the realms.....
Whistledown 04-26-05, 05:33 PM	I liked Greyhawk. Besides everything else there is some nostalgia. By the way, every issue of Dungeon Magazine has an adventure for Greyhawk in it
Shemeska the Marauder 04-26-05, 07:26 PM	My absolute favorite published setting was Planescape, and we all know how THAT'S turned out. Planescape is a fansite now. Therein lies the hope overlying your fears, though: Take a look at Planewalker.com sometime. Even dead settings dance inside their coffins. I like to think that we're not dead in any way shape or form, we're just not a seperately published line. If you look at sum total of material published for 3e and 3.5, I think you'll find that Planescape is getting more support than Greyhawk in terms of books containing material it created or elaborated upon. Manual of the Planes, Planar Handbook, the majority of the planar critters in each of the monster manuals, the planes in the 3.5 DMG, etc. Not dead, but just folded into the core. Ostensibly to remove market dilution, plus PS had a higher cost per book due to the box sets and a larger number of inks used to print its books. I sold well, quite well, but the profit margin was slimmer than FR or others. We've got tons of material on Planewalker that converts and expands on the material from the setting to end all settings. And one of the most recent entries, if I may pimp it shamelessly, branches to FR and seeks to tell the 'true origin of Ao' : Being an Account of the Origin of Ao, Overpower of Realmspace, and Not One of Those Crappy Fake Accounts You've Heard Before. This One is the Real One, Honest. (http://www.planewalker.com/entry.php?intEntryID=10294&PHPSESSID=9fe80bcaeedfac120dd804ac1535d8 5f)
Thig 04-27-05, 12:38 AM	I like to think that we're not dead in any way shape or form,... Not dead, but just folded into the core. I know, believe me. I have more info downloaded from Planewalker than should be at all considered healthy. That's why I pointed specifically at Planewalker as being the greatest of examples - MANY examples - that a child of TSR could live on, long after Wizards had pulled the life support. Planescape may even be a BETTER setting now that the community is its official author base. BTW, what's your take on Beyond Countless Doorways? I see it as a fascinating collection of alternate Primes and well-imagined demiplanes, but not an alternate cosmology. Glad I bought it, but it's not gonna see an awful lot of use. You?
Shemeska the Marauder 04-27-05, 01:22 AM	BTW, what's your take on Beyond Countless Doorways? I see it as a fascinating collection of alternate Primes and well-imagined demiplanes, but not an alternate cosmology. Glad I bought it, but it's not gonna see an awful lot of use. You? It's an idea mine. Even if I won't use the exact cosmology they present in the book, the locations/planes could work perfectly as domains within the planes of the Great Wheel, prime worlds, demiplanes, etc. And some of the ideas in the book are just awesome. The graveyard of dead angels is just creepy*. *and by creepy I mean better than anything I've seen in a published WotC book. McComb, Cook, Baur, Vallese... GD but they can write. :bow:
tariff 04-27-05, 03:37 AM	Whistledown... i guess we will agree to disagree..as i said before, look at the pages upon pages of conversion stuff regarding city of the spider queen. And it isnt a case of simple stat adjustments, the whole drow tactic (using the old haste spell), dosent work in 3.5. And as for the monsters..well, some of them are completely different beasts in 3.5.. Also, do you really think anyone new to DnD will want to go through all that hassle??...no they wont...theyll go play Everquest or sumthin.. Ive been playing DnD for many many years, but if i was new to the hobby now...well, i wouldnt even bother, theres none (count em.. 0) FR Modules that are 3.5 compatable (and im not talking about dungeon magazine, why the hell should you have to subscribe to a seperate magazine to get playable material). Its a disgrace it really is.. The makers of the original and most popular RPG in history are not supplying a complete game anymore. Still, i am heartened that apparently there is finally a 3,5 FR adventure coming out... But if you want to kill Forgotten Realms, wizards are going the right way about it in my opinion.. It needs new blood, young players. And out of those that are gonna comment on my views..how many of you are "veteran players"... bet most, if not all of you.
Whistledown 04-27-05, 10:43 AM	I suppose you have a point. I've been playing since the red boxed set, so I can splice things together on the fly. Module support is an issue. I think Wizards is not putting out many adventures because they are trying to plug Dungeon magazine. Dungeon magazine is pretty darn good these days. There is that big Waterdeep one coming out. I bet you there are a few polls in the general D and D section on "which world do you use" I find the massive amount of D and D books being published a bit of a paradox. I am mostly impressed and grateful for the copious amount of books. On the other hand, and I know this isnt' true, I sometimes say to myself "gadzooks, I am tired of needing so many books." You don'tneed books like Lords of Madnessor The Book of Vile Darkness, but once you start using them you sorta become dependent.
Kuje31 04-27-05, 11:35 AM	Actually WOTC stopped putting out modules, except for Dungeon, because they were losing money on them because there were so many 3rd party modules. Now that the 3rd party companies have backed off doing that, WOTC is going to try to fill that void.
Jacilla 05-04-05, 07:06 PM	So, I’ve been reading this thread and I’m a little confused I think. Maybe someone could help me out here. I don’t see the need for a lot of books to be written about a world setting in order for it to be used. On the contrary I find a lot of the books, especially the novels, to be detrimental to play. I’ve always been under the impression that D & D was a place to use one’s imagination. Give me a map and a few city names and I’m good to go. I’ve scanned the new FR books but aside from referencing maps I don’t use much in them. Nor do I use premade modules, I make my own adventures geared to my group and their strengths, weaknesses and goals. Anyway, the way I see it no world FR, Greyhawk, Planescape or even Eberron could ever really die as long as people keep playing in them, even if there aren’t “new” books released.
RogerWilco 05-04-05, 07:58 PM	I don't think FR is going to die anytime soon, but it's more a mature then a fresh young setting. It has a lot of details worked out, so it depends on how good your memory is versus how many blank space you want to have to define your own world. I happen to like all the work already done, I find it encourages players to build elaborate backgrounds. Most of the stuff in the Campaign setting can be used without a problem in 3.5, the Player Guide has the updates. But as for new stuff comming out, just look at Lost Empires of Faerun, it's great! And look at all the novels.
Lashan 05-06-05, 10:02 AM	Novels, a game world doesn't make.
GothicDan 05-08-05, 08:30 PM	I personally think that the modern Realms is pretty stale. 90% of the new material/sourcebooks are either changing in ways that does not at all feel Realms-y, or are simply rehashing things that have already occurred/been done before in the Realms. This is why I've pretty much stopped buying Realms sourcebooks altogether. I took one look at Champions of Ruin and Lost Empires of Faerun and continued to stare on in bored horror. I just cannot fathom how WotC can continue to put out products that are so far below the line of quality (in terms of fluff, in this case, and actual thought put into the sourcebooks, and consistency) of the majority of 2E Realms products. I think that look sealed the coffin for my interest in the 3E Realms. I suppose, though, it's all about personal preference rather than actual "how active/popular is the setting." Bob knows that I don't give a damn about how popular something is that I profess enjoyment in. *Sobs briefly over the loss of Planescape*