What are you currently reading or playing of the Forgotten Realms? Share your thoughts, not necessarily reviewing it.
Currently Enjoying: The Avatar Series, Book 1: Shadowdale by Scott Ciencin. Half-way through.
I don't think I need spoilers on this, do I?
It's old, and important in terms of Realms history, but this is the first time I've read the Avatar series. I mainly get FR novels from libraries, so getting a complete trilogy together is hard (unless its Drizzt).It's wierd reading about gods as characters, and human characters at that. Not just Bane and Mystra, but Cyric and Kelemvor too. Like they don't really belong. But I get that every time I read an FR novel with gods making cameo appearances. Also, Midnight is just an awkward name, I keeping thinking its night-time.
I was surprised by their personalities as well. Kelemvor is a jerk, even without his werepanther curse. Cyric's the most likeable one here, a former thief who now gives to charity, in a Robin Hood kind of way. Gee, I hope he becomes a CG trickster god of rogues. :D It doesn't quite fit with the images I have of them as deities later on. I expect some serious Character Development to go on. Either that, or some serious Character Derailment.
(Ah, Cyric's spontaneously developed some blood-lust.)When thinking of mortals who become gods, one thinks of an epic quest, great deeds, grand destinies and fate, and the faith of peoples placed upon them. When I think of Mystra, Kelemvor and Cyric (and Adon, but he doesn't count), I think of a group of average joe adventurers who just happened to be in the right place(s) at the right time. Mystra's geased girl Caitlan was only seeking adventurers in the Arabel area who were good enough for the task. Anyone could have been intercepted by her, any old schmuck could have become a god as a result of this.
It's like four players turned up to the table with their character sheets, with no knowledge of what the DM was planning, and the DM had no idea what they intended to play ("Human Werepanther Fighter!"), and patched the campaign as best as he could.
It seems in any adventuring party that goes on to become gods, the cleric has to miss out. Why would a servant of a god become a god? Bane, Bhaal, Myrkul - no cleric. Mystra, Kelemvor, Cyric - Adon's missing out big time. Poor guy.
Scott Ciencin writes in an odd way. Its a big no-no in fiction writing to switch viewpoint characters (telling us about their thoughts and feelings) within a block of text. Scott does it with paragraph or so, sometimes within a paragraph. Also, he gets cause and effect all mangled, telling about something that happened, then telling us why, then telling what happened as a result of that. It's all very confusing.
But it's good enough to not be a chore.
Enjoying: Ari Marmell's Black Crusade novel (free on Wizard's site). Not really FR, but I wish he would write some FR novels.
FR-specifics I am enjoying ... well since I don't play anymore, I have been enjoying the Best of Forgotten Realms book 1-3, though I am not too fond of the "Ed Greenwood" book. Too much Elminster, Seven Sisters or Danilo.
I have also just finished the Queen of the Depths novel, which I found quite enjoyable. If for nothing else, then for the fact that it doesn't feature any of the über-NPCs, and none of the heroes in the book are actually "good".
1) Mortal Consequences third book in the Arcane Age Netheril trilogy.
2) War of Bloodstone H3 Module, heavily modified for 3.5 rules.
Currently enduring:
My last two weeks at my now former employer before I start my new job.
Enduring: The fact that I've been told my maps are pointless
Show
It was a surprise to see Bane, of all people, used as a viewpoint character for a god struggling to deal with human emotions. Like needing to eat and sleep and crap, and not wanting knowledge of this to colour his worshippers' perceptions of his divinity. Also, his friendship and grief at the death of Blackthorne. I mean, humanising Bane? (I guess he forgot that he used to be human.) It's a brave move, and a good idea.
I found myself skimming the battles and action sequences; with Ciencin's confusing style, they were hard to follow, though not actually too badly written. I find combat to always be a chore in prose anyway, like a Later Salvatore, where battles read like an Ikea manual and feature just as many impossible actions. Only Robert E Howard ever did it well.
The Zhent invasion of Shadowdale. It's a lot like the Ewok defeat of the Imperial Stormtroopers, where a whole mess of preposterous traps take down the supposedely larger, stronger and better trained force, who've somehow taken leave of their senses and strategy manuals. I guess this is the start of the Keystone Kops portrayal I've heard about. (I get that Bane is driving them to their deaths, but still...)
As a result, it's hard to feel any sense of impending danger for Shadowdale, as they're ultra-prepared, the Zhents have been described as having already lost the battle before they even enter town, and they've already lost every engagement we see them in. The final sense of doom we're told about completely fails to materialise. As such, the sudden arrival of the Riders Of Mistledale and the Knights Of Myth Drannor feel less like the cavalry coming to rescue, but more like some gits who stroll up at the end to miss all the work but take all the credit. That their arrival or relevence was completely out-of-the-blue makes it the most useless deus ex machina ever.
Cyric oscillates from quiet but good-natured rogue to a bitter cynic who gets his jollies at the sight of death, for no reason whatsoever. Sure, he's got a tragic backstory, but so has Kelemvor, and you don't see him going nuts. Character Derailment, I knew it. Sigh. Now I want to introduce a Cyricist heresy that preach how Cyric really could have been, a CG trickster god.
It's odd that there's some attempt to signpost Cyric's path to godhood, yet not Kelemvor's. Nor even Midnight's, and she carried her amulet for a time.
Does Midnight ever get a backstory? Or did she just come out of nowhere a month before, hatching fully formed?
Mystra: Idiot. Mortal vs God - how did she think it was going to end? Helm: Idiot. Why would Helm refuse to let Mystra go see Ao when she has the vitally important evidence on who stole his precious tablets? The only sensible explanation is that Helm was in on the theft; perhaps Bane bribed him to look the other way, and he killed Mystra fearing she knew the truth? His reaction was extreme - when Labelas tried to ram past in the Realmsmaster in the comics, he only smashed the boat.
Storm Silverhand: stupid cow. How and why on Toril could she possibly think of accusing Adon, a powerless low-level priest, of murdering Elminster, super-mage even with the screwy magic, when everybody knows that Bane, a god, was gunning for him and they fought in that very room? Gah!
It was a surprise to see Bane, of all people, used as a viewpoint character for a god struggling to deal with human emotions. Like needing to eat and sleep and crap, and not wanting knowledge of this to colour his worshippers' perceptions of his divinity. Also, his friendship and grief at the death of Blackthorne. I mean, humanising Bane? (I guess he forgot that he used to be human.) It's a brave move, and a good idea.
I found myself skimming the battles and action sequences; with Ciencin's confusing style, they were hard to follow, though not actually too badly written. I find combat to always be a chore in prose anyway, like a Later Salvatore, where battles read like an Ikea manual and feature just as many impossible actions. Only Robert E Howard ever did it well.
The Zhent invasion of Shadowdale. It's a lot like the Ewok defeat of the Imperial Stormtroopers, where a whole mess of preposterous traps take down the supposedely larger, stronger and better trained force, who've somehow taken leave of their senses and strategy manuals. I guess this is the start of the Keystone Kops portrayal I've heard about. (I get that Bane is driving them to their deaths, but still...)
As a result, it's hard to feel any sense of impending danger for Shadowdale, as they're ultra-prepared, the Zhents have been described as having already lost the battle before they even enter town, and they've already lost every engagement we see them in. The final sense of doom we're told about completely fails to materialise. As such, the sudden arrival of the Riders Of Mistledale and the Knights Of Myth Drannor feel less like the cavalry coming to rescue, but more like some gits who stroll up at the end to miss all the work but take all the credit. That their arrival or relevence was completely out-of-the-blue makes it the most useless deus ex machina ever.
Cyric oscillates from quiet but good-natured rogue to a bitter cynic who gets his jollies at the sight of death, for no reason whatsoever. Sure, he's got a tragic backstory, but so has Kelemvor, and you don't see him going nuts. Character Derailment, I knew it. Sigh. Now I want to introduce a Cyricist heresy that preach how Cyric really could have been, a CG trickster god.
It's odd that there's some attempt to signpost Cyric's path to godhood, yet not Kelemvor's. Nor even Midnight's, and she carried her amulet for a time.
Does Midnight ever get a backstory? Or did she just come out of nowhere a month before, hatching fully formed?
Mystra: Idiot. Mortal vs God - how did she think it was going to end? Helm: Idiot. Why would Helm refuse to let Mystra go see Ao when she has the vitally important evidence on who stole his precious tablets? The only sensible explanation is that Helm was in on the theft; perhaps Bane bribed him to look the other way, and he killed Mystra fearing she knew the truth? His reaction was extreme - when Labelas tried to ram past in the Realmsmaster in the comics, he only smashed the boat.
Storm Silverhand: stupid cow. How and why on Toril could she possibly think of accusing Adon, a powerless low-level priest, of murdering Elminster, super-mage even with the screwy magic, when everybody knows that Bane, a god, was gunning for him and they fought in that very room? Gah!
As to shadowdale and BadCatMan's experience of it...
Personally one of the things I hated about that series is the rampant re-characterisation of those who had already had characters described by earlier writers... that and everyone seemed to have contracted the Mortal Stupid alignment. 
Enduring: Last week of my less than satisfiying job.
FR-Specific joy: Halfway through Downshadow; liking all the swooning
waterdhavian female lasses
