So give a counter example...an artical he wrote, and interview he gave where elminster...no change that...any of the big superheros of the realms where used in a way that the PCs mattered at all...I ask only 1 example becuse that is all I can give as well...
They almost never appear in Realms scenarios; on the contrary, it's always been indicated, for instance, that by default, PCs who knock on Elminster's door will usually find he's just not in (he spends much/most of his time walking other worlds). Still, there's the play guidelines in
The Seven Sisters,
"Realmslore: Storm Silverhand's Quieter Days", and the scenarios in
Spellbound. Elminster's principal role in Realmslore is not as any kind of NPC but as an unreliable narrator, one of several devices intended to further assure DMs that their campaigns needn't match published lore. On the other hand, in the short stories (and vignettes in
Elminster in Hell) Elminster is used in, the other characters clearly 'matter' very much -- indeed, one of the hallmarks of the Realms is a kind of humanistic egalitarianism in which common folk are quite as important as the bold and the mighty.
Your disproportionate focus on this handful of characters is understandable because TSR and Wizards have encouraged it, but that's not the same as the world of Toril.
There is worse than DMs badly imitating Ed with Mary-Sue characters, the ones trying to replicate this simulationist "roleplaying daily life is so much better than roleplaying combat" style.
I think the roleplaying-over-rules intrigue-heavy style is a perfectly fine one.
(Edit: Just as it's a valid preference to use highly detailed worlds, snide 'continuity porn' accusations notwithstanding).
Player-driven is a very good thing, but I'm not sure I am seeing this in THO's reports.
The basic structure of Ed's campaign is a layered web of rumours (the 'current clack' which was such a notable feature of pre-3E Realms sourcebooks and articles, like the month-by-month run-down of 1356 and 1357 DR in the Old Grey Box) and closer-to intrigue from which the players take up the things that grab them: everything from trials (as in an old
Dragon article on law in D&D) to dungeon-delving (for specific PC-chosen reasons rather than general exploration) to training apprentices or maintaining individual investments in distant cities. There's one particularly evocative post where Ed laid out a typical (actually simplified) set of situations and hooks from one point in the Knights campaign, but I'm having trouble digging it out.
