I empathize with people having whatever problem they might be having in their campaigns, but I am quite frankly shocked at the outright abuse heaped on Ed Greenwood in this thread.
It makes perfect sense that some designers and authors may not produce material that is to everyone's taste. In fact, I think that is the biggest sticking point that people have in the
FR debate, the gap between people that view the setting as having the "job" of being "generic D&D hosting ground," and the people that are fans of the setting divorced of a specific set of rules.
I don't have any problems with players and DMs that don't want the level of detail that the
FR offers. Its just a different style of game. Its not right or wrong. I do think that
WOTC, and TSR before it, have made a mistake in trying to put the "job" of "generic setting" before the setting itself, given that they allowed it to become more detailed and develop a fan base that was dependant on those details.
On the other hand, it is rather reprehensible to make personal attacks on Ed Greenwood, and to make broad generalizations about his games or his players based on campaign moments taken completely out of context for the express purpose of somehow showing how "wrong" his thinking is.
On top of all of that, one of the saddest things of is is that I rarely see designers that have worked with Ed and have stood on his shoulders building on his work, and not just in the Realms, but on all of the various things that he has contributed to D&D over the years, that never seemed to be moved to defend the man when the long knives come out.
On that note, I have seen the designers at Paizo defend Ed and his long history with the game, but outside of them I've seen only blank space when a paragon of the industry is mauled, personally. I don't care of anyone wants to say "I don't like Ed's NPCs" or "I don't like this about his settings," but the assault to his professionalism, ability to entertain his own friends, and the attacks on his character all really go beyond the pale.
Like the Realms or hate them, defend the
4E version of them or not, but please, don't attack the man in the hopes that it somehow proves your point about the setting he created.
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