The Realms back in 1992 was one of the 1st D&D products I tried via the Eye of the Beholder videogame. I bought a bit of 2nd ed material for it even though one of the other guys was the Realms guy, another bought Darksun another one bought Ravenloft. After the high school group went their own way I bought more than a few Realms books during the 3rd ed era only stopping towards the end when quality took a nosedive. Dragons of Faerun or Serpent Kingdoms would have been one of the last FR products I bought and the War of the Spider Queen series was the last novels I bought. With the destruction of the Realms via the spellplague+timejump I more or less bailed on FR.
Now they seem to be at it again with yet another RSE and the time line is going to be somewhere after 1479 DR. It looks like they are trying to retcon out the spell plague and minimising it impact but the date is still wrong and I'm just not that interested in future future FR. I can kind of see why the developers are doing it but even if I end up picking up D&DN I think I will pass on FR agian as the setting really died for me a few years back probably to the point that short of a reboot back to the grey box or retcon back to 1375 and picking up where 3.5 left it. I'm just not that interested. I am happy to play Mystara, Golarion, homebrew and Eberorn instead.
The FR forums here are all but dead and it seems the new FR articles often get 0 comments which indicates that FR could be in a lot of trouble as the FR boards have never been this bad before. Of course I am only 1 person but I'm just not interested in the sundering at all and I have not even played FR since 2008 or so. I'm not even reading Greenwoods new articles.
Greenwood and RAS have inherited a crappy situation and I have also looked towards Eric L Boyd as well for FR lore more than RA except when it comes to things like Drow. The main appeal of FR to me was watching the story progress from say Powers and Pantheons Yuan Ti writeups in 2nd ed through to the Serpent Kingdoms book of Faiths and Avatars to the Lathendar subplot in 3rd ed through various books and the Amaunter heresy. Things like that appeal to me not the 1479 reboot or whatever they are going to try and do.
As it is, since I still like the Realms better than any other setting, I continue to play it but still play it with 3.5e rules and add only the setting changes as needed and only the ones I like
but the lets kill mystra mentality was a bad idea, the stupidly action of killling and or combining deities was a bad idea, the shoehorning of lore from the core books was a bad idea.
the 100+ year was a bad idea becuase it made the lore uselss,I actually saw a comment when someone asked a question about something and wanted to be canon as possible that stated the good thing about the timejump was that none of the old lore mattered so just make something up.
all the 4e realms did was: wedge the fanbase in two, alienated one half and likely still didnt attract the other half.
so for 5e the current rumors are
that the tablets of fate might be coming back
and if you look on the cover of the murder in baldur's gate, you will see the skull with the bloody tears of bhall on it.
so it gets moved forward 10 years. Mystra has already returned and in Ed's sundering novel, we finally get to know the answer to the 8000000 platinum piece question, as Which Mystra returned, and most of us are hoping that it is NOT Midnight.( and that book is not out yet) go read Elminster Enraged.
that many of the 4e trashed out deities mighnt be coming back is also rumored.
we might be getting a reset button, just no retcon of 4e and no going back to previous time thus a short time jump forward.
the community's most educated Realms lore educated members left, the community here died not long afte the onset, and it might not pick up again until after 5e, and if it doesnt the setting failed and the old addage will ring true" 4e killed the Realms".
so until we have a copy of the 5e setting, wait until you pass judgement.
and then if you don't like it you may pass judgement then.
short of a reboot back to the grey box or retcon back to 1375 and picking up where 3.5 left it. I'm just not that interested
Nothing wrong with that: plenty of 3.5 material. Still fwiw, Ed Greenwood's recent works (Elminster's Forgotten Realms, and his Forging the Realms articles) have technically been era neutral, but have mostly been geared towards 1375 campaigns.
But as long as we're using this board primarily as a complainground (continually, about the spellplague) ;):
I'm still upset that the Greyhawk setting was mostly ignored in favor of FR. To me, the Realms will always be the 'new child' that stripped attention from what was once the one true setting. Thanks for ruining my setting, Greenwood.
they have already long ago stated that: they can't do a reboot because it would then invalidate the novels and what do you think the authors would think of that????
but the lets kill mystra mentality was a bad idea, the stupidly action of killling and or combining deities was a bad idea, the shoehorning of lore from the core books was a bad idea.
the 100+ year was a bad idea becuase it made the lore uselss,I actually saw a comment when someone asked a question about something and wanted to be canon as possible that stated the good thing about the timejump was that none of the old lore mattered so just make something up.
all the 4e realms did was: wedge the fanbase in two, alienated one half and likely still didnt attract the other half.
so for 5e the current rumors are
that the tablets of fate might be coming back
and if you look on the cover of the murder in baldur's gate, you will see the skull with the bloody tears of bhall on it.
so it gets moved forward 10 years. Mystra has already returned and in Ed's sundering novel, we finally get to know the answer to the 8000000 platinum piece question, as Which Mystra returned, and most of us are hoping that it is NOT Midnight.( and that book is not out yet) go read Elminster Enraged.
that many of the 4e trashed out deities mighnt be coming back is also rumored.
we might be getting a reset button, just no retcon of 4e and no going back to previous time thus a short time jump forward.
the community's most educated Realms lore educated members left, the community here died not long afte the onset, and it might not pick up again until after 5e, and if it doesnt the setting failed and the old addage will ring true" 4e killed the Realms".
so until we have a copy of the 5e setting, wait until you pass judgement.
and then if you don't like it you may pass judgement then.
Well perosnally I do not give a rats rear end about the sundering and attempts t fix the Realms when they could easily retcon the spellplague away via a dream of Savras or have a chosen of Savra short circuit Mystras murder or something like that.
Just not sure what is worse trying to maintain continuity for a fanbase who probably doesn't really want it (I could be in a minority though) or just suck it up and do a reboot perhaps ignoring the 3 people and their mothers who liked the FR changes.
1479DR doesn;'t interest me at all and I would prefer to see Greyhawk come back or Mystara, Eberron or anyhting apart from Kynn really. Not even interested in home games of FR even in a different toimelie as the players know what is gogint o happen to the world officially and any home brew timeline is really a version of sticking your fingers in your ears and going la la la la la la.
I might pick up D&DN depending on how it turns out but FR will be a no go and I will prefer Golarion or maybe some PDFs of Grewhawk or another world that was not trashed. Krynn was trashed by TSR in the 90's.
Well, if the Realms collapses in 5e, it'll probably be abandoned for a while, like Dark Sun. Only then would it probably warrant a reboot. But, I don't see this happening. No reason you can't start a group project somewhere on the web to forge a better Realms. Hell, I'd join in on that!
Maybe that is something that someone could pitch to Wizards....an 'alternate Realms.' They can continue with their set Canon and an alternate canon can develop starting at whatever point you like. Pay wizards anGreenwood royalties for borrowing the property. And see where it goes
they actually did release a good deal of the old material for resell as digicopies.
www.dndclassics.com/products_new.php?man...
For now there is not much new to talk about. Don't worry, when the Realms is released, the FR Board will boom with people posting about all they love and or hating about the new Realms RSE.
The Companions by RAS actually comes out next week, so hopefully it provides us with a good first impression of what the Sundering means for FR (or for Icewind Dale and the Silver Marches, at least).
now now, we both know that we always blame the man in charge, which would be or would have been Chris Perkins.
Chris Perkins MUST be stopped!!!!
Blast from the past there...
I do hope taht its in paper back.......
Taht ;) will be in about a year. Release in Hard then wait 10 to 12 months to release in soft . Profit...
In 2008 I was saying give them time they will try to fix it. In Ed Greenwood & Brian R. James I trust. WotC "will fix the setting" and then WotC will screw it up again.
I am done with this rodeo. All of the Ed articles I will be using with my 1357 OGB.
Don't get me wrong, I will check out the 5E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting/Guide. I might even buy it to support the setting. I don't trust WotC. Let a bunch of new people get hired, and watch what kind of bright ideas they have.
The Bright Idea Fairy will strike again...
I could really careless about the 5e Realms. Give WotC 5 to 10 years and they will screw it up yet again.
In 2008 I was saying give them time they will try to fix it. In Ed Greenwood & Brian R. James I trust. WotC "will fix the setting" and then WotC will screw it up again.
I am done with this rodeo. All of the Ed articles I will be using with my 1357 OGB.
Don't get me wrong, I will check out the 5E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting/Guide. I might even buy it to support the setting. I don't trust WotC. Let a bunch of new people get hired, and watch what kind of bright ideas they have.
The Bright Idea Fairy will strike again...
I Blame Cosmo
I could really careless about the 5e Realms. Give WotC 5 to 10 years and they will screw it up yet again.
In 2008 I was saying give them time they will try to fix it. In Ed Greenwood & Brian R. James I trust. WotC "will fix the setting" and then WotC will screw it up again.
I am done with this rodeo. All of the Ed articles I will be using with my 1357 OGB.
Don't get me wrong, I will check out the 5E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting/Guide. I might even buy it to support the setting. I don't trust WotC. Let a bunch of new people get hired, and watch what kind of bright ideas they have.
The Bright Idea Fairy will strike again...
I suspect you will be right. I suspect D&DN will not be for me either but I'm seeing how the next packet is shaping up.
I could really careless about the 5e Realms. Give WotC 5 to 10 years and they will screw it up yet again.
In 2008 I was saying give them time they will try to fix it. In Ed Greenwood & Brian R. James I trust. WotC "will fix the setting" and then WotC will screw it up again.
I am done with this rodeo. All of the Ed articles I will be using with my 1357 OGB.
Don't get me wrong, I will check out the 5E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting/Guide. I might even buy it to support the setting. I don't trust WotC. Let a bunch of new people get hired, and watch what kind of bright ideas they have.
The Bright Idea Fairy will strike again...
I Blame Cosmo
You mean Kramer!?
Well, if the Realms collapses in 5e, it'll probably be abandoned for a while, like Dark Sun. Only then would it probably warrant a reboot. But, I don't see this happening. No reason you can't start a group project somewhere on the web to forge a better Realms. Hell, I'd join in on that!
Maybe that is something that someone could pitch to Wizards....an 'alternate Realms.' They can continue with their set Canon and an alternate canon can develop starting at whatever point you like. Pay wizards anGreenwood royalties for borrowing the property. And see where it goes
I'd happily pitch it to Wizards, if I had the cash. My original pitch was a "Modular Realms", which seems to be the path things are going in (I think), perhaps have supplements for different eras and keep guides on cities/provinces year-agnostic. Also, no reason why a community can't come together to build their own Realms without Wizards looking over our shoulders. If they'd be cool with an alternate realms pitched by fans, sweet! If not, whatever.
I've been doing that already with some fascinating alt-history (including Lantan's Blackmoor-esque "Temporal Engine." Do I sense another Great Rain of Fire?)
I could really careless about the 5e Realms. Give WotC 5 to 10 years and they will screw it up yet again.
In 2008 I was saying give them time they will try to fix it. In Ed Greenwood & Brian R. James I trust. WotC "will fix the setting" and then WotC will screw it up again.
I am done with this rodeo. All of the Ed articles I will be using with my 1357 OGB.
Don't get me wrong, I will check out the 5E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting/Guide. I might even buy it to support the setting. I don't trust WotC. Let a bunch of new people get hired, and watch what kind of bright ideas they have.
The Bright Idea Fairy will strike again...
I Blame Cosmo
You mean Kramer!?
No I blame DR. Phil
Well, if the Realms collapses in 5e, it'll probably be abandoned for a while, like Dark Sun. Only then would it probably warrant a reboot. But, I don't see this happening. No reason you can't start a group project somewhere on the web to forge a better Realms. Hell, I'd join in on that!
Maybe that is something that someone could pitch to Wizards....an 'alternate Realms.' They can continue with their set Canon and an alternate canon can develop starting at whatever point you like. Pay wizards anGreenwood royalties for borrowing the property. And see where it goes
I'd happily pitch it to Wizards, if I had the cash. My original pitch was a "Modular Realms", which seems to be the path things are going in (I think), perhaps have supplements for different eras and keep guides on cities/provinces year-agnostic. Also, no reason why a community can't come together to build their own Realms without Wizards looking over our shoulders. If they'd be cool with an alternate realms pitched by fans, sweet! If not, whatever.
I've been doing that already with some fascinating alt-history (including Lantan's Blackmoor-esque "Temporal Engine." Do I sense another Great Rain of Fire?)
I'd be very interested in contributing. I would love to get into game design. I wonder how many people would be interested in contributing content in such an event
Well, if the Realms collapses in 5e, it'll probably be abandoned for a while, like Dark Sun. Only then would it probably warrant a reboot. But, I don't see this happening. No reason you can't start a group project somewhere on the web to forge a better Realms. Hell, I'd join in on that!
Maybe that is something that someone could pitch to Wizards....an 'alternate Realms.' They can continue with their set Canon and an alternate canon can develop starting at whatever point you like. Pay wizards anGreenwood royalties for borrowing the property. And see where it goes
I'd happily pitch it to Wizards, if I had the cash. My original pitch was a "Modular Realms", which seems to be the path things are going in (I think), perhaps have supplements for different eras and keep guides on cities/provinces year-agnostic. Also, no reason why a community can't come together to build their own Realms without Wizards looking over our shoulders. If they'd be cool with an alternate realms pitched by fans, sweet! If not, whatever.
I've been doing that already with some fascinating alt-history (including Lantan's Blackmoor-esque "Temporal Engine." Do I sense another Great Rain of Fire?)
I'd be very interested in contributing. I would love to get into game design. I wonder how many people would be interested in contributing content in such an event
That's the theme of the campaign I'm making. It could end like Blackmoor, it might turn for the better. In turns of a community built Realms, I'd be all over that! I could contribute a bunch alone with the years of homebrew lore alone! (Including a global war because we also like Eberron, Maztica and various factions of Faerun becoming allies and forming a new nation on an untraced island as a sign of peace, Lantan moving underwater/underground and becoming a BioShock inspired dystopia, and a rising movement against "mageocracy" leading to the overthrowing of Thay... and resulting in a Soviet Union like movement instead!) Needless to say, most of the RSE that my group has run into were lead by social or political problems rather than deus ex machina... Perhaps closer to the stories The Sundering hopes to achieve, before "The Sundering" was a thing (Well, the 5E version of The Sundering.)
Well, if the Realms collapses in 5e, it'll probably be abandoned for a while, like Dark Sun. Only then would it probably warrant a reboot. But, I don't see this happening. No reason you can't start a group project somewhere on the web to forge a better Realms. Hell, I'd join in on that!
Maybe that is something that someone could pitch to Wizards....an 'alternate Realms.' They can continue with their set Canon and an alternate canon can develop starting at whatever point you like. Pay wizards anGreenwood royalties for borrowing the property. And see where it goes
I'd happily pitch it to Wizards, if I had the cash. My original pitch was a "Modular Realms", which seems to be the path things are going in (I think), perhaps have supplements for different eras and keep guides on cities/provinces year-agnostic. Also, no reason why a community can't come together to build their own Realms without Wizards looking over our shoulders. If they'd be cool with an alternate realms pitched by fans, sweet! If not, whatever.
I've been doing that already with some fascinating alt-history (including Lantan's Blackmoor-esque "Temporal Engine." Do I sense another Great Rain of Fire?)
Wizards moderators....are you listening? This would make you a lot of money. YOu should hire us
I'd be very interested in contributing. I would love to get into game design. I wonder how many people would be interested in contributing content in such an event
That's the theme of the campaign I'm making. It could end like Blackmoor, it might turn for the better. In turns of a community built Realms, I'd be all over that! I could contribute a bunch alone with the years of homebrew lore alone! (Including a global war because we also like Eberron, Maztica and various factions of Faerun becoming allies and forming a new nation on an untraced island as a sign of peace, Lantan moving underwater/underground and becoming a BioShock inspired dystopia, and a rising movement against "mageocracy" leading to the overthrowing of Thay... and resulting in a Soviet Union like movement instead!) Needless to say, most of the RSE that my group has run into were lead by social or political problems rather than deus ex machina... Perhaps closer to the stories The Sundering hopes to achieve, before "The Sundering" was a thing (Well, the 5E version of The Sundering.)
4E killed a certain section of the FR fanbase.
It did not kill the Realms.
I've been running FR games since the Old Grey Box and I'm running 4E FR games now. Other than the shittiest map in the history of RPGs, the 4E Realms is a really good campaign world. In many ways there are more plot hooks than before because there is always setting the world back to the way it was before the Spellplague.
There are genuinely Epic quests (the capital E is deliberate) so restore Mystra, end the Netherese Empire and (for more evil parties) set Cyric free. And dungeons in the traditional sense? Just use any ruined settlement from before 4E.
Anyway, I'm not trying to persuade people to like the 4E Realms - that ship has long sailed - but this silly hyperbole that, somehow, 4E killed the Realms is simply hyperbole.
Well, I loathed the inorganic nature of the changes during 4e, but I'm still sticking around for 5e. And that certain section? It was a massive section causing a fissure in FR fandom larger than the San Andres fault! The fandom opened up for a while with new fans, but became short of a ghost town. The changes just weren't popular with FR fans, and with good reason. Changes were needed (by all means), but the way they handled it wasn't good. Though, we're past this. It's in the past, in and out of game. We have other things to look into now.
Though, I can't complain too much about the past couple years. After I abandoned the canon Realms, the group I played with created its own fanon (see above) and we've had a blast (while completely ignoring post-1372 DR's existence.) But, I for one look forward to what's going on with The Sundering. The Companions was enjoyable and I'm looking forward to the next book. Plus, the Encounters events have been interesting so far as well.
That said, if 5E Realms isn't for me (and countless others), I want to start up the Community-generated Realms project! Maybe here, maybe Candlekeep. That way, we can forge our own take on the Realms to dabble with.
and the first two things to go would be likely:
The Time of Troubles
The Spell Plague
sfdragon wrote:
Mirtek wrote:
and I would like to point out that Ed Greenwood's home game states the TOT did not happen at their game.
that is just the TOT andn othing else after it afaik.
sfdragon wrote:
each to their own
Mirtek wrote:
I don't really care what Ed or anyone else does or doesn't do in their campaigns, that's strictly the business of the DM and players involved. Having said that, I just started up a new Realms campaign and am utterly ignoring the ToT. Now don't get me wrong, I like the ToT just fine, it's the era that introduced me to the Realms in the first place, but we just decided to try something new and utterly divorced from most 'canon' beyond the basics, and not even all of those.
I might have to do that but I have not really played FR since the cataclysm of 2008. I lie I ran a quick 2nd ed game using FR Adventures. PCs were investigating the shades in a wild magic zone. Wizard more or less nuked himself via wild magic.
Zardnaar wrote:
I would be all for rebooting it to 1992 and/or prior to 4th edition. I actually feel one of the main problems are the game mechanics with the level inflation. Back in ye olde days, being a level 10 wizard actually made you quite powerful. In 3rd edition, a metropolis has several level 15+ wizards, meaning you don't feel quite as special. AD&D's Heroes' Lorebook contains several famous characters that would be turned into mincemeat by a hezrou (Dove Falconhand is a 14th level Ranger). I've tried my best in my campaigns to remove the level inflation and I don't believe I've ever used one of the Realms' famous NPCs like Elminster or the Simbul.
I also feel the the books in themselves cause problems - it was hard to keep up with them for one and would often contradict your adventurers. This doesn't need to be a problem of course, it's your world, but it does feel a bit odd.