Forgotten Realms "Canon Lawyers"

[Obryn]

its fine if you decide to use only certain things, but you would encounter problems in any shared setting. The problem with FR and not most other settings is the overload of canon from novels, but none of the examples given have really addressed problems with issues stemming from this canon.

What problems would I run into, if I ran a grey box only FR game?

-O

 

[Bumbles]

What problems would I run into, if I ran a grey box only FR game?

Besides the obvious conversion issues? Probably the herd of old school players beating a path to your door.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

What problems would I run into, if I ran a grey box only FR game?

-O

Players who expect you to incorporate later lore they are fans of?

 

[Obryn]

Besides the obvious conversion issues? Probably the herd of old school players beating a path to your door.

Hah!

No, really - Brother Richard mentioned "problems" and I'm confused what those would be. I love rolling with minimalist settings, and love picking up the loose ends and making them my own.

I don't think conversion would be a big issue, honestly. The grey box is largely system-free, as I remember - as are most of the original FR series booklets. It's mostly a map and a gazetteer, much like Greyhawk but somewhat more detailed.

It has been a few years since I've looked, though.

-O

 

[Obryn]

Players who expect you to incorporate later lore they are fans of?

I'd try to hold back my tears.

-O

 

[Bumbles]

Well, there's also the light brown print on pseudo-parchment paper. That might be a tad hard to read if you've advanced in years.

 

[Charger28Alpha]

You know, I've been following this thread but there's something I don't think either side has actually said (perhaps I missed it?)

What exactly should be considered "reasonable" information that a DM should know about the Realms...

That is very dependent on the DM and the players in each group that plays in FR. As was shown up thread, I find that what is available on the Wiki as a primary source, the 3rd Ed Campaign book, and two older regional books (free downloads from WOTC) which I referenced to flesh out stuff from the Wiki, were plenty for me. However, others like Underthumb want more detail.

For me this is why FR has been the flagship setting. If you want minimal background to build upon you can, and if you want a setting with a detailed intertwined history it is there.

Brother Richard, you keep refering to FR as a "shared" setting, and seem to be using FR being a "shared" setting as means to suggest limits on what can and can't be done by DMs and players. Since nothing done at any tables other than ones you, or anybody, plays at effects other tables, how is FR a "shared" setting? And since what happens at other folk's tables does not effect you, why should you care?

 

[JeffB]

Besides the obvious conversion issues? Probably the herd of old school players beating a path to your door.

Yup. I'd be knocking

And the OGB is relatively system free as I recall. Have fun. I sold mine a few years back but I'm seriously thinking of picking it up again-that or the 4E FRCG- they seem more similar than any other versions of the setting (i.e. here's a nice overview, now take the ball and run with it, which is the way I prefer my setting books)

 

[wingsandsword]

You know, I've been following this thread but there's something I don't think either side has actually said (perhaps I missed it?)

What exactly should be considered "reasonable" information that a DM should know about the Realms...

That varies widely.

The first FR game I ever ran in was very minimalist in what the DM knew. The DM didn't even have any core campaign setting material, this was the 2e era of the late 90's so the excellent 3e FRCS hadn't been published yet, and our FLGS didn't have the 2e-era FR box set in stock. So, it was run based on what the DM had pieced together from playing in a previous FR campaign under a different DM (which was pretty loose with canon), playing Pool of Radiance on the computer years ago, reading a couple of Realms articles in Dragon, and a few novels (Elminster: Making of a Mage, and a couple of Drizzt ones I think), and owning copies of Faiths & Avatars and Volo's Guide to All Things Magical.

So, from these scattered sources he ran a FR game that was just fine since none of the other players had ever played the Realms and only vaguely knew of it as another D&D setting. If you're playing to generic D&D players that don't know the realms, or novice players who don't know D&D at all, nor the Realms from novels, you can be as minimalist as you want.

If you've got a group of hardcore fans that are the aforementioned "canon lawyers" then you'd better be one yourself, at least if you want to make them happy. The good news is that I think they are pretty rare, all things given. Yeah, they're out there (and we've even seen them in this thread), but I think my initial assertion in the OP that they are fairly rare (but memorable) seems to have been upheld by this thread.

I guess it comes down to, just make sure you know as much about the setting as the consensus of your players. For most groups, read through the FRCS and if you're going to be spending a lot of time in one area read up in detail on that area and consider getting any region-specific texts for that area if you want to be thorough. Honestly, I'd consider everything outside the core box sets and core campaign setting books for each edition (assuming you're running in the normal time depicted with that edition) as the essentials, and all other suppliments, novels, sourcebooks, Dragon articles ect. as optional.

 

[Bumbles]

So, from these scattered sources he ran a FR game that was just fine since none of the other players had ever played the Realms and only vaguely knew of it as another D&D setting. If you're playing to generic D&D players that don't know the realms, or novice players who don't know D&D at all, nor the Realms from novels, you can be as minimalist as you want.

Indeed, and this can apply to most anything. I've look at fantasy art from book covers, or even the back cover book blurb, and come up with ideas that weren't similar to what was found within. Heck, I only had a vague idea what Dark Sun was about, but as I was considering buying the initial campaign set, I was thinking what Defilers and Templars were. If I'd made it on my own, there's no telling how different it would have been from the official version.

I wonder what ideas people would get if they were given 12 bullet points of an existing setting...