Forgotten Realms Player's Guide?

[jadrax]

For people not planing on using the 4e Realms, how compatable is it with earlier itterations of the Background? (I.e. - how much stuff is speciffially tied to ideas new to the realms?)

 

[Jeremy757]

For people not planing on using the 4e Realms, how compatable is it with earlier itterations of the Background? (I.e. - how much stuff is speciffially tied to ideas new to the realms?)

I would say its pretty backwards compatible. There are a couple of things you may have to give different explanations or histories for but the majority of it should work as is.

 

[jsaving]

For people not planing on using the 4e Realms, how compatable is it with earlier itterations of the Background? (I.e. - how much stuff is speciffially tied to ideas new to the realms?)

I would say there are large differences but also substantial similarities. On the one hand, half the deities are dead or depowered, much of the world map has been revamped and/or replaced, most of the powerful NPCs have been taken out of active adventuring in one way or another, and just about all the kings and queens have lost power (mainly through death). So if you're running a high-level campaign and want to be 4e-compatible, you'll have a lot of work ahead of you.

On the other hand, certain popular areas like Baldur's Gate and even Cormyr are still recognizable as what they were a century before (i.e. in 3e). So if you're running a low-level campaign in the Sword Coast, say, you could probably keep the campaign going as is for quite some time without needing to worry much about compatibility issues.