I've been reading a bunch of posts on the the forum, and I wonder if I'm the only one here who doesn't hate the Sundering? I'm not going to say I'm completely thrilled as all the books thus far are very similar in general plot, but in general, I'm fairly happy. Am I the only one?
Those who are the most dissatisfied usually speak the most and the loudest. So take that with a grain of salt.
For my part, I am a fan of the Realms and I respect the fact that WoTC and the authors are the ones telling the story....not us. I feel that I'm on a ride with them in regards to that story and I judge the story on the merits of how it's executed, not the direction it takes. So IMO I feel that they handled the time jump and the spellplague very well. All of the 4E novels were well written and enjoyable. I feel that anyone who says differently most likely has a bone to pick about the time jump and/or the spellplague, with some exceptions obviously.
But the squeaky wheel gets the oil so WoTC is pivoting again to try and please those squeakers. I could care less either way. I know that they will put out well written novels (with a few clunkers here and there) and I think that they are doing a good job with the Sundering. My only concern is the dramatic drop in published story material. I'm hoping that this is only a temporary situation though.
I just hope for more. I know WotC will not match the 3.5 pace of the realms, but give me at least a few books a year on mechaincs and story for the realms! Heck, make them PDF only and do a subscription! I'll give you money!
Howdy, I'm typically not here anymore... not because I'm done with D&D (I have on/off games with several editions after all), but because I stopped caring about the online community. Anyway, I've really enjoyed the Sundering novels so far. Most of them capture what I've enjoyed about older Realms one way or another (literally?) While I've enjoyed the novels (a lot), the game setting is dead to me. Like one of the other posters, I'm not sure if I even want to run/play Realms anymore (even though I'm forced to for WPN/Encounters.) However, I'm cautiously optimistic that The Sundering can deliver and I'll have a renewed interest in the setting. So, you're not exactly alone... but we'll see.
I'm okay with it. I like the idea of the gods getting spooked and using their most powerful agents to shift things in their favor in the world. Makes for plenty of 'things go bad' with out falling into the bonkers stuff like the Avatar Trilogy and the Spell Plague. That said, I hope they at least treat 4E material as something that was there. Dragonborns are now in the Realms, crazier stuff is running around, and Sword Mages are still a thing.
Give me that and I'm gravy.
I don't mind it. I actually prefer the old FG setting. The thing that drew me back in was the Legacy of the Crystal Shard... It was the Crystal Shard that brought me fully into the Realms from Dragonlance, and the fast forwarding 100 years gives you a little bit of playing room to not worry too much about taking back seat to the big guns... I like it.
I really enjoy the Sundering so far. I started DMing in the Realms with the old grey box in 1st edition and I really like the Baldur's Gate computer games, so for me the return of Bhaal in Baldur's Gate was a great moment.
Like you Samotep the Crystal Shard was the first FR novel I read and again I liked the Legacy of the Crystal Shard for the fond memories it brought back.
I never was for a reboot, but I missed some elements of the 'good old days'. The Sundering for me is a good way to return to the roots of Ed's world but with 27 years of materials. I also hope they will keep the good background of the past years as each edition did bring good things. In my campaigns I simply left out the thing I dislike.
My only experience with the Sundering is through Dming the modules released for Encounters.
Since the majority of my players had never even played DND the Sundering has been a great starting point. Plenty of novels, deep and rich lore filled with turmoil and the movement of the gods in the world.
Legacy of the Crystal Shard with its deep history in Ten Towns provided a backdrop that got them all involved with the setting with the added benefit of the players buying or researching the source material.
The lack of activiy in the FR section seems to indicate a lack of... interest.
Can you believe that the pre-2008 FR forum had so much traffic it needed like 10 (give or take) sub-sections?
Kram-Odlog wrote:
I like the events described in the Sundering series. They are inspiring when running campaigns in the Forgotten Realms. Can't wait for the next novel.
The return of several gods is a thing I've started working on several years ago in my campaign. I've borrowed the part of the chosen and the deities using them to advance their agenda.
In my campaign, Mystra has returned in the guise of an entity named The Oracle (a ruse she maintains while she doesn't want other deities to know of her actions and her return). Her priests have been sent to the four corners of Faerûn in an important quest (can't elaborate in case players read this forum). The Weave is being reconstructed as the time advances.
The cult of Shar, through the shadovar and the Chosen of the goddess of the night, has unleashed a terrible ritual in Zhentil Keep, slaying every living being in the city and tranforming them into undead. Dark clouds cover the city (creating a permanent night occasionnaly broken by flashes of purple light) and started to expand all around, threatening to encompass the neighboring regions. Several factions of the Moonsea are taking actions to fight against this (so far Phlan and the Dalelands have installed a camp protected by a miniatur sun summoned by a high priest of Amaunator near the old fortress of Manshoon in Zhentil Keep). Hillsfar and Myth Drannor will certainly have a more active role soon.
In the astral sea, there is a fragment of the old plane of Lathander (Morninglory) where the palace of the deity was located. The mace of Lathander, Dawnspeaker, recently appeared next to the vacated throne. The plane is slowly being reconstructed as Amauntor shifts back to his younger self.
In Versperin, a chosen of Helm, deity killed dead since his duel with Tyr before the Spellplague, just claimed an artifact weapon in an abandoned temple of the god of guardians. He is to use the weapon to fight the undead in Zhentil Keep (the artifact is a modified version of Ruinblade).
I will certainly use the events in "The Reaver" as my campaign advances with the Sundering. I find the events great in this novel, especially the rainfall and its purpose.
What I've been searching for is, will there be an RPGA Living campaign in the Sundering setting, or will the concept of the RPGA die out with the closing of Living Forgotten Realms and 4th Edition? The RPGA gaming group I'm with has been going steadily for 13 1/2 years now, but has been fading ever since Living Greyhawk ended in 2008, and I just don't see any home games cropping up in my area. If there's no Living campaign, I guess I'll have to retire from D&D entirely.
I'd love to get a PbP game going when 5e officialy launches. The more "Retro" games tend to work really well for the PbP game style I think. Don't leave man!
I like the sundering in the sense that it brings about the end of the Spellplague and restablishes the Weave.
Kait wrote:
BRJN wrote:
FR forums have been dead for years for some strange reason.
I am perplexed by the Zhent and Harpers will work together at all. Isn't the Zhent still Bane/Cyric worshipers mostly?
What Green Knight said. Though I have to admit that I'm a little surprised that 4e didn't generate it's own vocal community with those who liked it or started with it. Not that surprised mind you, but a bit.
Is there any truth to the rumors that Ed Greenwood and other FR authors were very unhapping with the 4e version of FR? Are they onboaard for the new version?
Tyranthraxus wrote:
GreenKnight wrote:
TheLoneCleric wrote:
I'm late to the dance on this thread, but I still thought I'd post.
Long time player, since 1st Edition Grey Box. Loved the Realms all the way up to 4th Edition. JUST wasn't my kind of play. I really haven't done table top gaming since that edition came out. I'm excited by 5th, and looking forward to seeing the Realms get that "old" feeling back.
I really like 4E, and even really enjoyed the Neverwinter Campaign Setting, but I hated what happened to the Realms with 4E. I feel it, among other WotC miscues, greatly contributed to 4E's failure in gaining traction with existing players.
I do like that the Sundering is "fixing" many of my gripes. It's bringing back dead deities and hopefully clearing the waters muddied by 4E's ridiculous shuffling of the pantheon. It's restoring geography to a pre-Spellplague state, it would seem. It's making these changes without invalidating the 4E Realms, which I think is the best choice.
I don't like all of the changes, thus far, and I'm sure others will rankle. I think Ed's handling of the Shadovar was excessive. They were a great part of the setting, in my opinion, and I'd hoped to see a diminished Shade freed of Shar's influence. We'll see if that is still a possibility. I really hope to see Thay restored as a living kingdom. It's present state doesn't appeal to me at all. Earthmotes are kind of cool, and I hope they don't all settle to the ground. ;)
All in all, I'm happy that the Sundering is taking place, and I'm eager to get my hands on the newest iteration of the Realms. Hopefully, their failed experiment with the Realms will encourage them to leave the other settings as is. I love Eberron and have no desire to see any timeline advancement. The 4E Dark Sun was a perfect blend of past materials, and I'd like to see it become the default timeframe/state of things. I don't know a great deal about Dragonlance, but I wonder if the Dark Sun approach of resetting the timeline, and keeping the best parts of the collected lore, might not be the right approach.
Just wrote a blog post about what I thought of the Sundering Novels. Overall I was happy, but there are some rough spots with the novels. http://community.wizards.com/content/blog/4117996
Your reviews align pretty well with all the others I've read.
It's kind of sad that this was their "All Star line-up" of writers, and the books weren't all that great. I think Erin and Paul are very good writers, and it's not surprising that I liked their books. I enjoyed Bob's book more than I have enjoyed any of his for a long while. I hope that the return of the companions might reinvigorate his stories. At the very least, Drizzt will share the spotlight with the companions, which should help. How long has it been since we've had any Wulfgar? ;)
I felt like it declined after Book 3, with each successive book getting weaker. The Herald felt like Ed finally getting his chance to restore the Realms, at least partially, to how he envisions it. Maybe that's a good thing, overall, and that is likely what he was asked to do. I, though, like some of the things that were added over the years, and I hated to see them thrown away so easily at the hands of Ed's superhero DMPCs. Blah. Whatever.
I still think I will be pleased, overall, with the new Realms. At least it is starting to feel like the Realms once more.
I often use the Realms as inspiration for my Homebrews.
Before anyone really gets mad at the thought of Derivative Works, remember that the Realms was originally a derivative work of Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien's work had such an impact on our game it really would be a shame if he told Gygax ... "no orcs."
All Creative Works is Derivative
Anyhow, I read the Grey Box after I read the first 2e Boxed Set in 1993 (the one with a Grand Tour of the Realms, and Running the Realms booklets). I thought both were pretty cool, and I like how they are handling the Sundering to bring the Realms back to where it's supposed to be. Actually, if anything, the Realms is a fine example of what not to do when you're looking to get your Campaign published by a company. I.e. don't sign any contracts of selling all of your rights. Sure, the Forgotten Realms is the best thing that TSR had going for it, and now Wizards; but with Ed coming close to tears when they introduced the Spellplague it has again made me nervous of selling all of my rights on anything.
Ahem, the Sundering is a good thing, actually. Although I was surprised that Ba'al or Bhaal is making a comeback; that pretty much means that Myrkul is making a come back too. I haven't read any of the books, I've been pretty much unable to read any realms lore lately. Except what is on the Wiki. So, I tried to find out what was going on -- and the Wiki had no information, and neither did any of the Wizards articles. I felt completely in the dark, and frustrated.
tallric_kruush wrote:
None of the books were "bad," but I agree books 4-6 were not as strong at 1-3. I felt they didn't do a good job of introducing the realms to a new audience. Maybe the comcis will do better.
yeah I think 4th edition really took the wind out of the Realms sales. WOTC trashes so much of the setting... and I'm still not sure what they where hoping to acheive (the best I can figure is they where trying to appease the small but vocal group of online haters who hated on various aspects of the realms)
hopefully WOTC wWILL release a FRCS and the realms can begin to return. However a part of me feels the realms will never be able to return to what they once where, 4th edition having done irrepairable damage to it 
tallric_kruush wrote:
BrianCritchley wrote:
I just got done with The Herald Novel, and all I can say is at least they are headed in the right direction. We shall see where they take it, but frankly, I hated the 4th edition and it drove me straight to the Pathfinder rules overlayed on the pre-spellplague Realms as the setting. I will continue to play 3.5 but really want to see the Realms brought back to its former glory. The Sundering appears to be a good first step. My two cents...
Ya know thinking of it, I don't think I've met a old time FR fan who liked the changes in 4E
I havnt met an old time fan who likes anything. Old people start to like things in general less and less 
I loved the changes 4e brought, they gave me a lot to gripe about, and being old, I appreciate that... 
Can't say I am a huge fan of their changes, I mean, blowing up Neverwinter sure put a thorn in my Neverwinter campaign lol so I didn't like that.
But what I disliked the most was the 100 year time jump and to pour salt on the wound, they literrely left those 100 years blank, as if nothing happened during those 100 years... so to me it felt like the Realms went from a rich detailed world to a dark lonely world.
I mean, I know post-apocalyptic is the in-thing these days but to each their own I guess.
I felt the shift in time was to move the world forward and out of the apocalypse. Instead of having to deal with crazyness, now the world moves on and things are kind of normal, as far as the Realms can ever be normal.
I liked the 4e realms. It was something new and it moved most of the NPCs out of the way so players could be awesome. I felt the 3.5 realms was a world that didn't need players to solve its problems.
BrianCritchley wrote:
mvincent wrote:
Irennan wrote:
Kinda, but with a lighter, ''entry-level'' version of the 3e FRCS. Not that I didn't like it, but in this way, the setting would have been ''more accessible'' without the need of cutting down the pantheon so heavily, or nuking lands and cities and so on. About the ''uber powerful'' NPCs, they're not a problem at all unless DMs want them to interfere with their campaign, but even if WotC really wanted to get rid of them, doing so wouldn't have implied deleting other stuff anyway (and -according to their intent- the first to take the hit should have been the likes of Elminster/Drizzt, i.e. the really uber ones, as perceived by people).
Irennan wrote: