I'll be starting DMing a new group next year, and I'm considering using Forgotten Realms for my own campaign, probably using the Grey Vale starting area. What I want to know is, what makes it feel different to any other setting? What kind of things do I need to add in to give it that FR flavour?
Thanks
BUT also, don't let canon 'choke' you. It's YOUR game...
What is "high fantasy"? Lots of magic, fairy castles, that kind of thing?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fantasy
You might try reading a Realms novel or two, and take some inspiration there. What sort of fantasy books/movies do you like/want your game to be like?
Cheers
I don't have any desire for my campaign to be "like" anything, I just want it be consistent with a FR feel, if that makes sense :-)
I don't have any desire for my campaign to be "like" anything, I just want it be consistent with a FR feel, if that makes sense :-)
Dont worry about it.
Do your campaign the way you like it; for the FR feel, if i understand you correctly, just set it in a known area of Toril, add a bit of FR canon to your story, and im sure it will be just fine.
The Forgotten Realms Wiki is a good source for canon, if sometimes a bit outdated.
As a FR author myself and a lifelong reader and gamer in the setting, I find that the best way to get the "feel" of the setting is to read some of the books. I would recommend the Dark Elf trilogy (starting with Homeland) and/or Icewind Dale (starting with Crystal Shard), the Avatar trilogy (starting with Shadowdale), the Sembia series (starting with Halls of Stormweather), and/or Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep (starting with Blackstaff Tower).
I'd obviously recommend my own work too, but that would just be terribly biased.
Cheers
Spellfire and Homeland are radically different novels, written in radically different styles, as you will no doubt discern for yourself.
As a FR author myself and a lifelong reader and gamer in the setting, I find that the best way to get the "feel" of the setting is to read some of the books. I would recommend the Dark Elf trilogy (starting with Homeland) and/or Icewind Dale (starting with Crystal Shard), the Avatar trilogy (starting with Shadowdale), the Sembia series (starting with Halls of Stormweather), and/or Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep (starting with Blackstaff Tower).
Strangely I just put Blackstaff Tower in my amazon shopping basket earlier this afternoon :-)
The more I read on the subject, I realise that a daunting, but fascinating, box I've opened.
I think my biggest worry when writing my new campaign over the holidays will be some smartass at the table querying some detail I've dropped in, and me going "wha..?" :P
The more I read on the subject, I realise that a daunting, but fascinating, box I've opened.
It really is, and one with a plethora of options. Look through it, find what intrigues you, and run your game there.
I think my biggest worry when writing my new campaign over the holidays will be some smartass at the table querying some detail I've dropped in, and me going "wha..?" :P
My suggestion for this (which is a common concern of FR DMs) is to keep an open mind and ask a lot of questions--use your players' knowledge for inspiration for your game--but at the same time, make it very clear that this is YOUR game, YOUR Realms. If you say Drizzt got sacrificed to Lolth in 1297, rather than grew up to be an iconic rebel, that's what happened. The canon is a toolbox for you to use, full of ideas to borrow or ignore, rather than a set of manacles to bind yourself.
Cheers
My suggestion for this (which is a common concern of FR DMs) is to keep an open mind and ask a lot of questions--use your players' knowledge for inspiration for your game--but at the same time, make it very clear that this is YOUR game, YOUR Realms. If you say Drizzt got sacrificed to Lolth in 1297, rather than grew up to be an iconic rebel, that's what happened.
If I may add on to this a little bit: Something I tell my players for my Realms campaign is that unless or until I bring up some fact or facet of Canon Realmslore during the course of play at the gaming table, never assume what the books say about the Realms is true.
That is, the truth of what the Realms "is" for our gaming group is always and only the sum of what the players experience at the gaming table through the eyes of their characters.
Very best of luck to your for your Realms campaign, Chimpy20. Also, I've read Blackstaff Tower by Steven Schend and heartily recommend it to you.
EDIT: I see your last post was 7 days ago, so I suppose I should instead say that I hope you are enjoying Blackstaff Tower.
When I started running the realms, I kind of wrote up a small peice as an intro, talking about the Spellplague and the world as a whole.
When my party goes to a new city, I make sure to do my research so I can portray it accurately, changing anything I don't personally care for all that much for stuff that I would like to use, which is typically little things.
The best thing about Forgotten Realms is all of it's lore in my opinion. Try and give your players a sense that the world they are traveling is very old, with many stories imbued into it.
But for me, I think the campagin setting name says it all. The world where the adventure takes place has a history to it.
If the players feel the oldness of the world and why it effects the current one, then you have ran a Forgotten Realms adventure.