Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Terrainosaur 09-12-07, 07:40 PM	I'm starting a new Realms campaign this next weekend. When I asked my players what they wanted, one said, "Make it feel like I'm in the Forgotten Realms." I'm very familiar with the elements of the Realms (high magic, portals, city-states, etc.), but what would you do to make a player feel like he's playing in the Realms?
Tseramed 09-12-07, 08:28 PM	Well I usually give my players a lot of detail. If they arrive in a town or something, I describe as much as I can what they see. They see Johnny the Wheelwright working on a wagon of his, people going back to their homes, sailors heading for the tavern after a day fishing, etc... Make sure to include weather and describe the effects of it. And of course describe the landscape as best as you can, if you can picture it really good in your head you should have no problem. Take what makes the town and village special and show it to them. For exemple, the town of Eveningstar in Cormyr is famous for having Tressym ( winged cats) almost everywhere around. Just make sure that they see some. Also, give your NPC a depth like they have been having a life before they met your PCs. The Innkeeper might read a book and each time the PCs visit he as progressed in his reading and meabe even talking to the PCs about the book. Make your people seem to have a harsh life, especially if it's somewhere like the Western Heartlands or the North... Well, the more you can make the setting alive in your head, the more you will be able to communicate what you see and then your players will be trully feeling the realms.
Terrainosaur 09-12-07, 11:49 PM	Maybe I wasn't clear. Almost nothing in your post is unique to the Forgotten Realms. I meant how does playing in the Realms differ than other fantasy worlds?
DarkSongKnight 09-13-07, 10:11 AM	You could make the tavern songs a local bard sings about places or people specific to the Realms. The Seven Sisters, Elminster, Myth Drannor, the Harpers, various deities... You could also throw in recent (or not so recent) events in the common talk. For example... "Hey, did you hear the news about Silverton?" "No, I'm afraid not. What about it?" "It's gone! Disappeared into shadows!" *gasp* "What?! I have a nephew who lives there!" or... "You know, I hear the ruins of Myth Drannor hold some mighty treasures." "You don't say? Well, that figures I suppose. Elves have always been known for their magics." "Yeah, adventurers go there all the time. Hmmm." "Uh-oh, I know that look. Don't tell me you're thinking of another one of those get rich quick schemes!"
capnvan 09-13-07, 05:09 PM	What does it feel like? Well, at the risk of getting banned... To quote a chef I had the pleasure of working with a coupla years ago: It's like joobin' in the cornah! Yeah, I don't know what it means, either. But it sounds like they're having fun. Maybe, like being in the Realms, there's an aspect of the Zen thing. More to the point, you've got the ability to feel like you're in an actual world. Not just something written on the page by someone desperate to get in under deadline, but something that matured over a good long time, where there are legitimate interactions between time and place and people. In other words, why does it make sense? I mean, does it make sense that Corymr would be a fairly rich and stable kingdom if it's on a number of trade routes, without a lot of powerful neighbors? Well, yes, it does, actually. And do we know how that happened? In large part, yeah. It feels like it's a world that doesn't exist and yet, if it did, you could recognize how it got that way. That's the Realms. The rest of you far more knowledgeable folk may now descend... :hides: