D&D 4E FR 4E SPOILER - Grand Histoy of the Realms info

[Banshee16]

On the other hand, maybe the changes are as good as some of us think.

Maybe. You can't make everyone happy....some people aren't going to like the changes. Some aren't going to like them, simply out of resistance to change. Some don't like the realms, and these changes won't reverse that, whereas others will find something they like out of the new FR.

They're definitely taking a big chance with the setting though. The changes of the Chaos War, and the SAGA edition tanked Dragonlance as a setting, and cost them a lot of the fan base. And others liked it. The setting did end up dying though, so I suspect more people disliked it than liked it.

Banshee

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Honestly I think it's just a poor excuse to turn over the setting, just because there's some rule changes. Most DMs would probably just be like, "well magic has always worked that way" and be done with it.

But this is the Forgotten Realms and it does need a cataclysmic event with every edition change, otherwise no one would buy it.

 

[The Little Raven]

Isn't FR sort of the *most* cookie cutter of them? I like the setting, but it's always been my definition of a cookie cutter, generic quasi-medieval setting.

This became even worse in 3rd edition, when it began to steal shticks from the other settings, like the Lantan gnomes suddenly turning into Dragonlance-style tinker gnomes, and all the planetouched taking a break from Planescape to make an appearance in the Realms.

The fact is that the Realms has always been the super-generic-steal-from-any-other-setting world, and these moves look like they're finally breaking with that tradition in order to make it distinct.

As for the actions of the gods... it's nothing we haven't seen for thousands of years in real-world mythology. Love. Heartbreak. Betrayal. Murder. Tragedy. It worked for the Greeks, and it'd be nice to see the Realms take a somewhat more realistic approach to these things.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Glad to see my Cthulu Comes to Town campaign has become core....

 

[EricNoah]

Thing I don't like about a "skip ahead" type of reboot is the PCs miss the most interesting stuff. The Bane/Xvim stuff last time was pretty interesting but was over by the time the setting "started" -- it bothered me so much I took an entire campaign to fill out that event and get the PCs involved in it.

Actually, the upgrade to Monte Cook's Diamond Throne setting (AU to AE) did the same thing. "Two years later, the dragons have returned." If I'd stuck with my AU game, you can bet the PCs would have been involved in that.

 

[The Little Raven]

Thing I don't like about a "skip ahead" type of reboot is the PCs miss the most interesting stuff. The Bane/Xvim stuff last time was pretty interesting but was over by the time the setting "started" -- it bothered me so much I took an entire campaign to fill out that event and get the PCs involved in it.

This is why I kinda liked White Wolf's Time of Judgement series. When they elected to do the biggest, world-changing events ever introduced in their setting, they made them into sourcebooks that could be used to run the events with the PCs directly involved.

It'd be great to see an adventure sourcebook that deals with the "fall of the old world," so you can participate in Mystra's murder (maybe you get tricked into helping), the whole misunderstanding between the gods, and the deaths of the non-human pantheon members.

 

[psionotic]

How did those who have the book get it...? No one in my city has it, and everyone I ask tells me it doesn't come out until Tuesday...

 

[EricNoah]

How did those who have the book get it...? No one in my city has it, and everyone I ask tells me it doesn't come out until Tuesday...

Probably through time travel...

 

[TBoarder]

How did those who have the book get it...? No one in my city has it, and everyone I ask tells me it doesn't come out until Tuesday...

Just found at my local bookstore. The chain stores may not have been given a street date for it (Those are usually reserved for big releases) and it could've just gotten an early shipment.

 

[Glyfair]

Thing I don't like about a "skip ahead" type of reboot is the PCs miss the most interesting stuff. The Bane/Xvim stuff last time was pretty interesting but was over by the time the setting "started" -- it bothered me so much I took an entire campaign to fill out that event and get the PCs involved in it.

But the AD&D to 2E transitions for FR and Greyhawk were loudly criticized for this approach. I can see why WotC would want to avoid it.


That said, most of the complaints were that both the transitions were essentially railroads. The DM knows things that have to happen for the rules change, and that restricts player choice.

Of course, that doesn't prevent DMs from going back and playing through the transition period. After all, with Eberron we were giving a starting point a few years after the Last War, but that didn't stop a lot of people from deciding to run campaigns set during the war.