D&D 5E Campaign Settings 5e- Why I want to Forget the Realms

[MonsterEnvy]

is this a joke? because the example was a TV show, one that takes place in a modern setting with cell phones, it was to show that EVEN in TV shows the issue comes up...

It was partly a joke. I just wanted to point out that communicating with dudes you don't know in the realms is hard.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

It honestly looks more like complaints about something just because it's popular.

That’s exactly what it is.

If a group of players have played in the Realms before and either didn’t like it or had a DM that sucked and so are soured on the place, then a new DM would be wise not to set his or her campaign for this group of players in the Realms.

If one or two players have played in the Realms previously, and they’re more interested in playing D&D than in being jerks (read: Realmslore Nazis), then a DM can probably wring a good game out of the setting, without having to resort to using the likes of Elminster or Drizzt (unless that’s what his or her players want—in which case go for it).

If none of the players have experienced the Realms, or some of them have in novel form only, then a competent DM stands a good chance of wowing his or her players with a great campaign, provided he or she puts the campaign first and draws on the Realms only for what he or she needs.

Regardless of what world a DM uses (published or homebrew), a campaign will suck if the DM doesn’t invest him or herself into it.

The value of the Realms comes from the fact that it provides DMs with a nigh-endless supply of dangling plot threads, adventure hooks, NPCs, locations, dungeons, regions, cities, city states, towns, gods, types of magic…you name it, that a good DM can build on and use to build good adventures and great campaigns with.

All a DM needs to do is pick and choose what he or she needs from the Realms for the campaign, and then ignore the rest.

This is how the Realms was always meant to be utilized.

 

[Mephista]

Agreed. Also, the frequency with which they apparently deal with Realms-shattering disasters successfully is one of the classic Mary Sue traits, "Incredible Deeds Done Off-Screen".

Well, its not -quite- done off scene, since we have novels and other media covering it. So, I think they avoid that Mary Sue trap by virtue of the simple fact that the Realms are a crappy place to live, constantly under the threat of some evil force bringing an end to the world. I mean, hells. The forces of light have just been -lucky- so far with all the crap going on. All they need to do is lose one battle, and the world is covered in darkness. Stretches believability after a while, but there it is.

Right, but if your storyline is Tiamat going on a rampage over the Sword Coast, one of them takes on a bit more urgency than the others.

The loss of the Weave is very urgent. Or do you want Shar the dark goddess to be ascendant as well as Tiamat? And, frankly, to the people of the three dwarven kingdoms, two human city-states, and one elven forest battling the orcs feel that starving to death from a seige is kind of an urgent problem to them. After all, if its not solved, they'll be dead faster.

Tell them to priorize all you want - they already have their priorities. Its just not the same ones. You want to complain about people without urgency? How about the dragons and the factions bickering over how to fight the Cult of the Dragon? They're already on the scene.

Which is the issue with ultimately, the NPC's HAVE to get involved, because it's not like they're just going to let the party fail and see their world get destroyed. Even if the PC's run in there and blow themselves up, an NPC is going to be concerned at some point, come in, and presumably not let the bad guys win. And then go back to killin' orcs.

If they failed their personal mission, it'd be the end of the world for a lot of folk.

And I detect no small amount of disdain for orcs. Lets take a moment and reflect - orc warlords are world threatening disasters. Take a look at them in other settings. Sauron is the inspiration for Gruumph One Eye. Gannon from the Legend of Zelda games is basically an orc warlord. There's some people that don't think there's danger from the orc hoards, but the simple fact of the matter is that, storywise, they're as much of a threat to everyone as a goddess or demonlord made manifest. Evil Overlords are bad, no matter the flavor.

At that point, why bother with the Realms at all? Why not just write your own campaign setting?

Because there's more to the Realms than two NPCs. And that's really the issue here, I think. People aren't complaining about Everis Cale, Farideh, or Manshoon. Or any of the other random archmages or power players in the game.

Put another way, the uber-NPC's were written as exceptional characters, but any PC ranger is a ranger in a world where Drizz'zt is already a ranger, any PC wizard is a wizard in a world where Elminster is already a wizard. And neither of those two yobbos is supposed to be what the story you're telling at your table is about, but they're also kind of impossible to avoid.

They're actually absurdly easy to avoid. See, its not a question of uber-NPCs at this point. Its a question of the PCs ever bothering to do anything but run away and get help from someone bigger than them. Why help the village under goblin threat if you can go to a local city-state and request troops? Other than the time involved, the difficulty in finding said help, need to actually convince them to actually help and not do something else, all the while leaving said village expodesed to being raided and slaughtered?

Really, any enemy in the game can be brought down with enough longbows and people to shoot them. Why don't we go get a militia for every problem, then? Going for help is not a reaction that most adventurer parties develop. Let alone tracking down some large name and dragging it in. And, during the times when that happens, do you know what I like to call it? Plot hook

The Simbul is not good. She is Chaotic Neutral. She is also sort of insane. And the main reason Thay avoided attacking. Her subjects are terrfied of her too.

Might as well tell you she is not Queen anymore.

She's actually beyond dead. Her soul has kinda been obliterated, so good luck with her doing anything at all anymore.

It honestly looks more like complaints about something just because it's popular. It's "hip" to hate Elminister. It's Geek Cool to bag on Drizz't. In a setting where you have tens of thousands of pages of details - an entire Encyclopedia Britannica level of detail about the setting, getting fixated on two characters seems a bit myopic.

Agreed.

There are actually three novel lines going on right now - Drizz't, Elminster, and Farideh (Chosen of Asmodeus). During the Sundering, we had three other Chosen come into play - Everis Cale (Chosen of Mask), a Kleef (Chosen of Helm), and Stedd (a Chosen of Lathander). Each has a set of powerful allies. These are all heroes that are active in the Realms right now.

Why is no one complaining about Farideh, Everis, Kleef, or Stedd's group ruining everything? What about Minsc and Boo? They're back and hanging out in Balder's Gate, last I checked.

 

[Irennan]

She's actually beyond dead. Her soul has kinda been obliterated, so good luck with her doing anything at all anymore.

I think that she has become a voice in the Weave. Her soul/silver fire was absorbed by Mystra and became part of the Weave. The soul/consciousness of many poweful spellcasters remain in the Weave and with Mystra, according to ''Spellstorm'', so she should still be there.

Either way, your point stands, as she can't do much in that state.

 

[Mephista]

I think that she has become a voice in the Weave. Her soul/silver fire was absorbed by Mystra and became part of the Weave. The soul/consciousness of many poweful spellcasters remain in the Weave and with Mystra, according to ''Spellstorm'', so she should still be there.

Either way, your point stands, as she can't do much in that state.

From the Forgotten Realms wiki - "In order to heal Elminster, she sacrifices herself by restoring the Old sage into his original body and giving him her silver fire, causing Alassra's body and soul to dissipate into nothingness." So, take that as you will.

 

[Irennan]

From the Forgotten Realms wiki - "In order to heal Elminster, she sacrifices herself by restoring the Old sage into his original body and giving him her silver fire, causing Alassra's body and soul to dissipate into nothingness." So, take that as you will.

Yes I know, but the Silver fire that the simbul gave to Elminster was then given to Mystra, possibly leading to what I said in the other post. Ed Greenwood himself commented on Candlekeep, saying that the Simbul's story wasn't fully told yet.

 

[Mephista]

Huh. Well, that's what I get for relying on public wiki, I guess.

See, now this kind of conversation is the stuff I like about FR. Talking about characters, and the twists and turns in their stories.

 

[Irennan]

Huh. Well, that's what I get for relying on public wiki, I guess.

See, now this kind of conversation is the stuff I like about FR. Talking about characters, and the twists and turns in their stories.

The FR wiki can be a valid tool, when it cites its references. There are some really nice articles over there. IIRC, in the book, it appears that the Simbul vanished, but what was left of her (her silver fire, that she sacrificed), carried by Elminster, was then given to Mystra alongside all the other blue-flame magic that he had gathered to help the goddess recover. So, while what is written in the wiki is understandable and rather accurate, in truth the Simbul's fate is still up in the air, as said by Ed Greenwood (and reading the little passage about the ''Voices in the Weave'' in Spellstorm, I'm betting on that).

 

[GMforPowergamers]

right now[/I].

Why is no one complaining about Farideh, Everis, Kleef, or Stedd's group ruining everything? What about Minsc and Boo? They're back and hanging out in Balder's Gate, last I checked.

I complained about ALL the chosen and ALL the big npcs... SO IT ISNT NOBODY!!! Now why didn't I mention them all by name? Because I don't want to spend the time researching stuff I don't like...if I was going to research 500+ books (novels and supliments) I would like the realms and use it... We are talking el munchkin because he is the worst...

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*