What Ed is doing Now [Archive] - Wizards Community

What Ed is doing Now [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
druid berrymore
02-18-04, 03:14 PM I'm curious. Ed Greenwood is DMing in the Realms, right? Of course. So what are his games like? Does anyone know? Does he play 2, 3.0, or 3.5? What time period? What does he think of Maztica, Zakhara, and Kara-tur? I'd like to know his current version of the Realms.
Cunning Linguist
02-18-04, 03:15 PM from what I hear, its 2.ed, in 1340DR.

he does not use the other settings.. and he has lots of.. "homebrew"
Mystery Man
02-18-04, 07:46 PM your should download the radio interview with Ed here (http://www.mortality.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=viewdownloaddetails&lid=84&ttitle=Mortality_Radio_0050)
Faraer
02-19-04, 10:07 AM It's a great interview, but prepare your ears. Ed recently said, Yes, I still play and DM, usually at conventions, but (I'm afraid) not very often, these days, and 2nd Edition only (because I'm still not comfortable using a lot of the 3e rules). Up in Canada, the first weekend in August is bracketed by a holiday (known, imaginatively enough, as Civic Holiday), and the traditional gathering-times for the original Realms players are that weekend, up at my cottage, and on New Years Day (hangovers and all), for glorious sessions in the Realms.The Knights of Myth Drannor campaign is around 1358 DR, and they voted not to adopt the Time of Troubles, or 3E rules. Kara-Tur etc. aren't part of Ed's Realms.

From all accounts Ed is a brilliant DM. One of his players has said, He spends his time acting all the NPCs as if he's trying to get an Oscar--and forcing us to play our PCs to the hilt, too. He spun intrigues and piled on detail and made little hints match behind the scenes to ENTERTAIN us. He once told us a DM's job is to entertain his/her players, "whatever it takes."Other details of what Ed's campaigns are like are all over the place, in his posts to REALMS-L and in "Ed Says" (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=fr/fx20010314b), for instance.
druid berrymore
02-19-04, 12:21 PM That interview was just what I was craving. Thanks, Mystery Man.
I especially like the part where he says something like, "It is interesting that the designers chose to make square continents, because I would have done it diferently".

For me, Ed's vision is what I want "my" Realms to be. I trust what he has given us so far. As for other authors...some are very good, Slavatore for one. Others...welll....(I guess a tight schedule can hamper creativity, or something).
Faraer
02-19-04, 12:49 PM So the idea of gods walking kinda ruins the illusion for me.And if you do buy into the Time of Troubles (and the Shadow of the Avatar novels give it some credence for me), active gods outside that time defeats the point of the Godswar, which is that that stuff doesn't usually happen.I know that Ed originally wanted the Realms to be similar to Earth in the way that Tolkien wanted Middle Earth to be...The Realms was never conceived as a prehistoric Earth; it's linked to Earth by gates.

It's better for DMs not to have events like Azoun's death in an official timeline, better for short-term novel sales for such events to be told in fiction. We can't expect Wizards to do otherwise when the novels make more money, but we can regret the situation. It's hard to argue that novels using up longstanding plot hooks such as the Sleeping Sword is good for the Realms as a setting.

I don't like the Shade stuff partly because
-- it's based on Rich Baker's The Shadow Stone not even written with the Realms in mind
-- the Shadow Weave seems to be a response to the 'Mystra's too powerful' junk
-- it sets up these elements in the FRCS only to blow much of it in the novels
-- we already knew who lived on the Shadow Plane -- shades and other shadow-creatures as described in Monster Manual II, the (far more interesting) Malaugrym
If I liked the new Shade stuff I could forgive most of those, happens I don't.
druid berrymore
02-19-04, 03:09 PM Originally posted by Faraer

I don't like the Shade stuff partly because
-- it's based on Rich Baker's The Shadow Stone not even written with the Realms in mind
-- the Shadow Weave seems to be a response to the 'Mystra's too powerful' junk
-- it sets up these elements in the FRCS only to blow much of it in the novels
-- we already knew who lived on the Shadow Plane -- shades and other shadow-creatures as described in Monster Manual II, the (far more interesting) Malaugrym
If I liked the new Shade stuff I could forgive most of those, happens I don't.

The information that I use for the Shades is based only on the stuff from LoD and FRCS. I only read the first novel, and even that was boring. I use the Shades as a huge threat that the PCs never have to come into contact with. I love mystery, and that's how they are in my campaign.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
druid berrymore 02-18-04, 03:14 PM	I'm curious. Ed Greenwood is DMing in the Realms, right? Of course. So what are his games like? Does anyone know? Does he play 2, 3.0, or 3.5? What time period? What does he think of Maztica, Zakhara, and Kara-tur? I'd like to know his current version of the Realms.
Cunning Linguist 02-18-04, 03:15 PM	from what I hear, its 2.ed, in 1340DR. he does not use the other settings.. and he has lots of.. "homebrew"
Mystery Man 02-18-04, 07:46 PM	your should download the radio interview with Ed here (http://www.mortality.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=viewdownloaddetails&lid=84&ttitle=Mortality_Radio_0050)
Faraer 02-19-04, 10:07 AM	It's a great interview, but prepare your ears. Ed recently said, Yes, I still play and DM, usually at conventions, but (I'm afraid) not very often, these days, and 2nd Edition only (because I'm still not comfortable using a lot of the 3e rules). Up in Canada, the first weekend in August is bracketed by a holiday (known, imaginatively enough, as Civic Holiday), and the traditional gathering-times for the original Realms players are that weekend, up at my cottage, and on New Years Day (hangovers and all), for glorious sessions in the Realms.The Knights of Myth Drannor campaign is around 1358 DR, and they voted not to adopt the Time of Troubles, or 3E rules. Kara-Tur etc. aren't part of Ed's Realms. From all accounts Ed is a brilliant DM. One of his players has said, He spends his time acting all the NPCs as if he's trying to get an Oscar--and forcing us to play our PCs to the hilt, too. He spun intrigues and piled on detail and made little hints match behind the scenes to ENTERTAIN us. He once told us a DM's job is to entertain his/her players, "whatever it takes."Other details of what Ed's campaigns are like are all over the place, in his posts to REALMS-L and in "Ed Says" (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=fr/fx20010314b), for instance.
druid berrymore 02-19-04, 12:21 PM	That interview was just what I was craving. Thanks, Mystery Man. I especially like the part where he says something like, "It is interesting that the designers chose to make square continents, because I would have done it diferently". For me, Ed's vision is what I want "my" Realms to be. I trust what he has given us so far. As for other authors...some are very good, Slavatore for one. Others...welll....(I guess a tight schedule can hamper creativity, or something).
Faraer 02-19-04, 12:49 PM	So the idea of gods walking kinda ruins the illusion for me.And if you do buy into the Time of Troubles (and the Shadow of the Avatar novels give it some credence for me), active gods outside that time defeats the point of the Godswar, which is that that stuff doesn't usually happen.I know that Ed originally wanted the Realms to be similar to Earth in the way that Tolkien wanted Middle Earth to be...The Realms was never conceived as a prehistoric Earth; it's linked to Earth by gates. It's better for DMs not to have events like Azoun's death in an official timeline, better for short-term novel sales for such events to be told in fiction. We can't expect Wizards to do otherwise when the novels make more money, but we can regret the situation. It's hard to argue that novels using up longstanding plot hooks such as the Sleeping Sword is good for the Realms as a setting. I don't like the Shade stuff partly because -- it's based on Rich Baker's The Shadow Stone not even written with the Realms in mind -- the Shadow Weave seems to be a response to the 'Mystra's too powerful' junk -- it sets up these elements in the FRCS only to blow much of it in the novels -- we already knew who lived on the Shadow Plane -- shades and other shadow-creatures as described in Monster Manual II, the (far more interesting) Malaugrym If I liked the new Shade stuff I could forgive most of those, happens I don't.
druid berrymore 02-19-04, 03:09 PM	Originally posted by Faraer I don't like the Shade stuff partly because -- it's based on Rich Baker's The Shadow Stone not even written with the Realms in mind -- the Shadow Weave seems to be a response to the 'Mystra's too powerful' junk -- it sets up these elements in the FRCS only to blow much of it in the novels -- we already knew who lived on the Shadow Plane -- shades and other shadow-creatures as described in Monster Manual II, the (far more interesting) Malaugrym If I liked the new Shade stuff I could forgive most of those, happens I don't. The information that I use for the Shades is based only on the stuff from LoD and FRCS. I only read the first novel, and even that was boring. I use the Shades as a huge threat that the PCs never have to come into contact with. I love mystery, and that's how they are in my campaign.