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I personally prefer combat that is deadly and gritty. I am not too interested in 'heroic' or 'epic' play styles. My games tend to focus more on scheming, intrigue, plotting and story than combat, and as a result are often focused in a centralized region. They are also lower level. It would not be uncommon to see a level 12 NPC being proclaimed to be a 'great general' of an army who conquers nations. If PC's make it to that level, they are usually retired to NPCs or the game turns it's focus almost entirely toward politics and intrigue as they'd have underlings and what not.
I view play as more a form of collaborative story telling than anything else. As a result I generally encourage people not to become attached to their characters but rather to the story as a whole, of which their characters only play a role (but a critical role nonetheless). I have a general saying: "Every story has its ending and so does every character."
That's how I run the Realms. I am interested in how others here run / enjoy playing in the Realms.
The flavour of my Realms has a dash of Terry Pratchett's Discworld in it. I try to throw in some fun and comedic elements to lighten the mood. Recently I had some hiphopping fey, though the PCs didn't seem so impressed.
It's also a world on the verge of the kind of magic-powered technology seen in Discworld, though that's no great change from what we see in the [classic] lore already.
I don't hide the stupid bits, indeed, I emphasise them. A Cyricist wanders the Temple district Procampur with a placard calling for converts ("Worship Cyric or be doomed for all eternity!"). A Dragon Cultist hands out printed pamphlets to gain recruits ("The Dead Dragons Want You!"). Really, there's no curing these groups. Others I keep serious.
Otherwise, I try to stick to the baseline FR and traditions of fantasy, though with a focus on adventure (not necessarily action) and fun.
Anyhow, I like intrigue... lots and LOTS of intrigue. For every bad guy they take down, I want the PCs to realize he was just a stooge for someone else.
And so on, and so forth....
Players should never know if they are working for the good guys or the bad guys, or both, or neither.
And as soon as they think they have everything figured out, throw a new twist in and catch them totally off-gaurd again.
Whats more fun? Watching/reading something like The DaVinci Code or National Treasure, or watching Conan hack-up a few million peons?
Hacking is fun, but it gets old fast. ;)
As a player I prefer intrigue, and free form "do what you want with realistic consequences" sort of game. This implies both relaxing magic item rules, and encounter tables, as well as world spanning campaigns. As a player I could never have played in a campaign where my character turned into an NPC... Even if he turned a god at some point I would have wanted to continue. (I also prefer low magic, gritty stuff, but I think Faerun is horrible for that kind of campaign)
As a GM I don't care, and try to create a game as close as possible to what my players want. My players happen to want combat, combat, combat and don't care a pluck for story (except that it MUST make logic sense). As a GM my campaigns thus tend to go toward dungeoncrawls.
(I also prefer low magic, gritty stuff, but I think Faerun is horrible for that kind of campaign)
Not really. You just couldn't play in some of the more popular regions which pretty much boiled down too: Cormyr, the Dalelands (or at least some of the Dales), the Moonsea region (near Zhentil Keep), anywhere near Myth Drannor, Anauroch Desert (with the return of the Shade Empire), most areas of the North and Waterdeep.
Avoid those areas and you're pretty free of those types of things. You can play in those areas, but you'll have to focus narrowly on the region you're in - keeping track of ultra high level NPC's is a pain in the butt. However, if you narrow it down to a town or village, avoiding the major cities, you'll likely only have to explain away a few of those. The only two real places you need to avoid like the plague though is Shadowdale (more than just Elminster lives there) and Waterdeep.
However, most of the rest of the world is only detailed in 2E supplements. That's good and bad. It's good because it allows you to advance the timeline into 3E territory, giving you plenty of room to setup events. It's bad because there is less information focused on them and playing in them is less popular.
Generally speaking, if someone wants to play a Forgotten Realms campaign, and has read the novels, they're thinking Waterdeep, Shadowdale or somewhere in Cormyr. Those are pretty much the key areas you need to avoid if you want to run a "sane" campaign that doesn't involve oodles of magic, dragons and the like.
Amn is a great place to play in and Tethyr is a good substitute for Cormyr.
roleplaying dominates, Planescape style, lots of intrigue and philosophy, plots within plots
it takes a lot of time to reach epic levels, PCs have a very detailed history, sometimes playing over decades, centuries
the world is much changed, the ''core'' of the Realms is basically the same, Dalelands, Heartlands, Sword Coast, the North, Rashemen etc. other lands are more or less altered, like parts of Vilhon Reach, Shining South, Old Empires, Utter East and continents, overall much less real world copies. Planes have a different configuration, Playlife, Mechanus, Baator, xaOs, Outlands, Celestia, Soulhaven, Grey Waste, Blood Rift, Spiritworld, Dragon Eyrie and Jotunheim.
Anyhow, I like intrigue... lots and LOTS of intrigue. For every bad guy they take down, I want the PCs to realize he was just a stooge for someone else.
And so on, and so forth....
-Yes, this is how I run my own games. So far (10 Levels), they've killed two BBEGs (5th, and 10th). Each time, they've discovered that those guys were just the tips of the icebergs. They didn't follow-up on the first one (A former Paladin PC who left the game who I turned into a Blackguard, who fell in league with the Demon Eltab, and was currently brokering a deal with a Slaad), but they are starting to follow up on the second (A wizard who was digging for an ancient artifact of great destruction, who was being financed by a terrorist group in the Oriental part of my world, which is seeking to have the Emperor replaced by an Undead creature they are seeking to raise, who has blood ties to the royal family).
the non-4th edition realms
That's french 1st class cuissine. $th edition FR is a McDonalds hamburger with a living rat instead of burger.
The PCs spent dozens of game sessions escorting caravans for fun and profit until at one sad moment they found themselves with the unsavory task of burying your's truly. Since they were far from home and about chin deep in goblin territory, the DM said I had a choice, goblin or wait until they get somewhere more civilized.
I loved that little devil. He was chaotic neutral in alignment, so he didn't cause huge problems for the Pallyding of the group. It got to be a running gag about me sleeping in the stables with the horses because I could stock up on RATions there. Even after becoming a big name in the campaign's major city, Arabel, I think, he still acted like half the city wanted to string him up (and probably did want to).
I played that character to twelfth level, building a trading empire for another player's character. In the end, that party was retired, with my character last seen riding north to torque off the Zhent caravans in the goblin marches.
I like gritty, I like dark, I like campaigns where the markets can be just as deadly as the battlefields you raid an enemy merchant's caravans on, just not as overt. Epic? you can keep it, I think of anything past ninth level as high level.
That's french 1st class cuissine. $th edition FR is a McDonalds hamburger with a living rat instead of burger.
I happen to like rat, the $th ed FR, you can keep.
-Anyway, I prefer games that are realistic, descriptive, and feature more out-of-combat action than in-combat action. I prefer to keep things central to a specific area, but as characters rise in level, the loci and grow and grow. But, of course, the occasional foray to a far and exotic locale is fine.
I'd go with that, and supersize it:D
I'm curious to hear everyone's feelings on 'flavor' and how they play the Forgotten Realms. Do you prefer a game more focused on intrigue than combat?
Usually.
Do you house rule the combat system to make it more gritty and deadly?
I'm a player (so I can't house rule), and I focus on playing smart.
Do you prefer more heroic or epic play?
Either or! I'll play a 20th level game or a 1st level game and be happy in any of them.
Do you prefer games that focus around a central region, or span across the entire setting?
Something in-between, I think. It doesn't bother me if a game doesn't span across the entire setting. Yet part of the appeal of the Realms, for me, is getting to travel to all sorts of places.
It would not be uncommon to see a level 12 NPC being proclaimed to be a 'great general' of an army who conquers nations. If PC's make it to that level, they are usually retired to NPCs or the game turns it's focus almost entirely toward politics and intrigue as they'd have underlings and what not.
Realms.
That actually is pretty in-line with the Realms of the sourcebooks (especially the 2E ones). A lot of the "important folk" were "only" of mid-levels.
Generally speaking, if someone wants to play a Forgotten Realms campaign, and has read the novels, they're thinking Waterdeep, Shadowdale or somewhere in Cormyr. Those are pretty much the key areas you need to avoid if you want to run a "sane" campaign that doesn't involve oodles of magic, dragons and the like.
I'm not convinced that even those areas have to be a problem.
The PCs spent dozens of game sessions escorting caravans for fun and profit until at one sad moment they found themselves with the unsavory task of burying your's truly. Since they were far from home and about chin deep in goblin territory, the DM said I had a choice, goblin or wait until they get somewhere more civilized...
It got to be a running gag about me sleeping in the stables with the horses because I could stock up on RATions there.
That's funny (and rather cute).
I have to admit, the comments about 4E Realms gave me a laugh too.
That actually is pretty in-line with the Realms of the sourcebooks (especially the 2E ones). A lot of the "important folk" were "only" of mid-levels.
Yes, I know and I cleave toward that line of thought. It is one reason why I have trouble accepting super high level NPC's co-existing. These guys, the "real" movers and shakers, really don't have any recourse against them. If is logical that one of the epic NPC's would show up to prevent something a PC or an NPC is doing, and I know there is no recourse for the PC's or the NPC's to deal with said epic NPC... it frustrates me. It just feels wrong. I inherently don't like that level of power.
Don't get me wrong, playing an epic high-powered game can be fun. It's just that, due to the style of gaming I enjoy, it can become boring and tedious. Entire nations can crumble and fall to you with relative ease. Especially, if you play smart.
It's another reason I loved Powers of Faerun though. While not perfect, it offered great alternatives other than the standard methods of playing D&D. It's one book that I highly recommend for -any- pseudo-medieval fantasy setting, even though it's focused largely upon FR. It's something that anyone can take ideas from for their homebrew world or another campaign setting.
I'm not convinced that even those areas have to be a problem.
Those area's don't [i]have[/i] to be a problem, but they certainly can be a problem if you want to avoid having to keep track of very powerful NPC's. Additionally, those areas receive a lot of attention by novel authors, and thus if you want to keep things fairly close to cannon (so that you can use all the source books) it's best to avoid them. After all, if your campaign resulted in Khelben dying in 1372 DR, he wouldn't have been alive to help bring back Rhymanthiin 1374 DR.
And more often than not, if I were to include Khelben (or any of the other super powerful good guys) in my campaigns, they're going to die at some point just to shift the focus onto the PC's and make them feel as if things are now resting on their shoulders alone.
However, if you just focus your game more on the Sword Coast and the Lands of Intrigue, places that are still very interesting but largely ignored by the novels, you have a great deal more freedom - and you can still keep your game pretty close to cannon so you can use any new source books right out the box. In effect those lands grant upon you a larger sense of ownership and less of a feeling that you are sharing with others, rather than doing your own thing off in your own corner of the world.
You do not need to ignore the areas I listed, just avoid major changes (having Khelben killed, blowing up Waterdeep, causing the collapse of Cormyr, killing Elminster, etc.) Consequently, if I have PC's in those areas things are somewhat tightly controlled, the area they are focused upon is more centralized and the amount of "damage" they can do negated in various ways. So as a general rule, I don't like going to those areas often unless it makes sense or I am playing a -really- low level game.
I'm actually a little surprised by the responses, especially those who liked their Realms with more grit and darkness.
-Well, that's what "makes a game", assuming that you are playing a party of Good and Neutral characters, of course.
I have my plot ideas, adventure arcs ideas, monsters I want to use, things I want to happen in-game....but how those things come about and play out all depended on them and what they do at the gaming table.
Now that they all run Epic Level Characters, things like intrigue, Faerûn-spanning plots and the doings of the gods occupy them. When combat does happen, it’s usually quick and deadly or wide-ranging and catastrophic.
Definitely a collaborative play style.
I like to bring in as much Realms flavor and themes as I can. Aumanator figurers heavily in my campaign, as does the fate of Myth Drannor, Cormyr and the taming the Stonelands, portals/gates and interacting with powerful NPCs.
We also like a heavy dose of humor at the gaming table, however we can find it. These players of mine have learned how to laugh at and with each other.
Combat is important in our games, probably slightly moreso than intrigue to be honest, though it's more like 55-45% and it's not uncommon to go an entire 6 hour session without a combat. We just tend to have an agreed unspoken social contract that we should have at least 1 combat per session.
The highest level I've ever played is 14th, the highest I've ever DM'd 15th. We tended to stick within the sweet spot of 4th through 10th levels.
Sometimes I just wing it if it looks like I'm losing the players with whats planned.
Bel
I very original. I like the Sword Coast North and the dales
-Hey, you're allowed.
-Me, I like Evermeet, Calimshan, Kara-Tur, and Rasheman. Almost an extreme 'North-East-South-West' thing going on there.