[FR] Campaign Setting interpretation diatribe

[shadow]

But never forget the GRIT! Never! I have what I call my "filter." When I run a camapign I run it through the filter. If I am using a setting I work hard to incorperate canon and make it work for me. Anything that is not logical as a result (this is rare) I axe. The results I get are ussually really good.

True. When I say Fairy Tale, I mean very much like the original Fairy Tales, not the bastardized Disney versions. Many of the original fairy tales, although whimsical, were also very grim. (For example in the original Cinderella, the step sisters cut off parts of their feet to try to fit them into the glass slippers.)

 

[jester47]

*thanks Adlon for the kind words* Btw Darrin, just so you know I'm glad you enjoy FR but Oathbound is still a great little setting too.

I would say, of actively published settings (meaning you an buy it at a store, Greyhawk barely counts and the LGG is only the tip of the iceberg so out of respect I am not counting it) Forgotten Realms, Scarred Lands, Oathbound, and Kalamar are all great and wonderful settings. I am just partial to FR with a sprinkling of SL. They got some good ideas that fit nicely in places!

Aaron.

 

[Celtavian]

Re

Jester,

What happens whenthe magic sewer system starts manifesting water elementals?

They would call in a "repair" wizard...)


The only point I am trying to make is that the FR does magic differently than we have seen in many other published worlds. They don't shy away from it.

Magic is very prevalent in the same way that technology is prevalent in our culture.

They have Mage Fairs, magical duels, magic colleges, magic shops, magic militaries, magically enchanced cities and homes, many, many arcane politicians and leaders, and just a plethora of magic.

From all the literature I have read, this seems a unique way to handle magic. I found it refreshing. I very much enjoy the way the FR handled magic for their CS.

 

[jester47]

Re: Re

Jester,




They would call in a "repair" wizard...)


The only point I am trying to make is that the FR does magic differently than we have seen in many other published worlds. They don't shy away from it.

Of course they would call in a repair wizard. After the elementals had caused some damage and loss of life and once the wizard could get there (assuming he has some way to get there quick, which not all wizards have) the mess could be cleaned up. But the job would not be easy or quick, and the magic that wasthere might have to be shut down while the wizard fixes it. Woe be to the city that made it an important piece of infrastructure. Thank gods the sewers are only used for stom drainage (which does include the waste dumped into the streets.)

Then it is agreed that the people of Faerun do not shy away from magic. That is what I am saying too. It does not mean everyone uses it...

Magic is very prevalent in the same way that technology is prevalent in our culture.

They have Mage Fairs, magical duels, magic colleges, magic shops, magic militaries, magically enchanced cities and homes, many, many arcane politicians and leaders, and just a plethora of magic.

But,

I agree with this but only to an extent in in a certain way. Technology has a way of getting cheaper due to mass production. This mass production is non-existant in the Realms especially for magic. So I think magic would be as prevalent as technology before the industrial revolution. Note this is not knowledge. One could make a lightbulb in the renaissance if you knew what you needed to do. Just each one would be hand crafted.

Anything but minor magic would be out of the reach of the common man. Waterdeep (the nation) has a population of 1347840 at best 10% have the potential for high level spellcasting ability. That is 134,784 people with POTENTIAL high level magic use. That is still a lot of spell slingers! More live in the city than in the countryside. So given that the means of magical production are similar to technological production pre-industrial revolution, then you get the idea that magic is accessible but by no means as in your face as technology is today.

Mage fairs would be like Industry conventions (E3, or COMDEX to cite some modern examples). Mage duels (non-lethal) would probably be more like major league sports events (With obviously smaller crowds...). Magic colleges while they exist would be hard to get into. Better to use the more accessible apprentice system if you are not rich. Magic in militaries goes without saying...

So I think what I am saying is that the ammount of magic in the realms is indeed high (when compared to other CS). However the distribution is skewed to the rich and powerful, and even then it is only as prevalent as the means of production, which is no where near the volume of what our technology has reached today but rather closer to that before the industrial revolution.

Aaron.

 

[Zarrock God of Evil]

slight RttToEE spoliers.
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I just finished running RttToEE in the Realms. My previous exposure to the realms before this came from reading everything by RA Salvatore plus about 10 other realms novels by other authors and playing icewind dale and Neverwinter Nights. My players all have various experience with the setting ranging from none to slightly less than me.

What attracted me to the Relams was the fact that everytime I set down to create a homebrew world it ended up looking 90% like the realms so I finally decided that it would be easier to fit my own original creations into the realms than the other way around. The other thing that attracted me was the fact that several of my player were sort of familiar with the setting. So when a player decided he character was from Badur's Gate, he kew what he was talking about. I also like the fact that if the players suddenly decide to go to "X" for any reason, I can quickly reference the FRCS and decide what's there.

So in my RttToEE campaign, the PCs spent much of their time in the middle of know where in the Western heartlands [which is were I put Hommlet and the major dungeon of the adventure]. None of the this was particularly tied to the realms but when the player found a power evil artifact in the course of the adventure they thought "Where do we take this?" They came up with Waterdeep, teleported there and I referenced the FRCS to see who it would make since to talk to. When they met Khleben Blackstaff, it didn't seem cheesey because he didn't introduce himself and only one player recognized the character. There have been several other situations like this one.

So, um....in short ...what jester said...

I'm playing through RttToEE in the Realms as well (placed in Chondath/Sespech) and the dark module fits the setting perfectly. And - in response to the original post - I make extensive use of encounters during travels or during sojourns in the wild. The party has been waylaid more times than they like at the rim of the Chondalwood (spooky place that) and the foreboding canyons of the Firesteap Mts.

So in short, I agree. The Realms have large untamed and mystical areas - travel here can be deadly...

-Zarrock

 

[mrswing]

This thread made me realize what I dislike most about the Realms, from the very first grey box. They never felt real to me, no matter how many NPCs and cities were detailed. And now I see why this is so :

No politics.

We get all these different countries and societies, but apart from the Evil Worldthreatening Organizations tm, there is really no information about, say, the relations between Cormyr and Amn. Everything is written in terms of James Bond-like secret societies and hyper-powerful madmen hidden away in impregnable lairs. Kalamar and Scarred Lands both DO include this information, and are far more real-seeming because of it. Both settings have 'metaphysical' conflicts, Scarred Lands especially, but they also have real-world conflicting interests, economical and ideological in nature, which make the world truly come alive.
The best Realms supplements either did take this sort of information into account (Old Empires), or were self-sufficient campaign settings (Moonshaes), or managed to introduce some spectacular new ideas (Anauroch) which were very cool. But as a whole, this setting remains a grab-bag of unrelated, unrealistic ideas to me (and I've played in them several times).
Oh, and of course there's Elminster too, the most insufferable character in RPG history...

 

[Celtavian]

Re

mrswing,


Have you read about Cormyr's and the Dalelands political conflicts with Sembia? Have you read about the internal politics of Cormyr?

The Realms is highly political. The Silver Marches was created when Alustrial begin politicking the leaders of the various nations and strongholds that existed in that area. Pick up The Silver Marches, there is a lengthy discussion on the politics of the area and the key political figures.

Then there are the politics of the elves. Evermeet and Evereska and their relationship to the Realms.

Drow politics in the Realms are very well documented between the ruling houses and regular society. Many of the novels and supplements go into explicit detail about drow society, especially the politics.

Even Halruaan politics are discussed in a series of novels set in Halruaa.

The realms is very political. I can only suggest that you read some of the novels and past and present Realms source books. You would quickly change your opinion that the Realms lacks politics.

 

[RObiN-HoOD]

I agree with you but the problem is that if someone has not read the novels, usually don’t get all the facts.

The problem is that the campaign supplements as well as FRCS do not include political info in a serious manner. Perhaps a future book will cover all that. Nobody can really expect that everyone read the novels. The FRCS should be sufficient even without the novels, and that’s something I like about the Realms. But if you want to get into real realmslore then you got to read more.

 

[Celtavian]

Re

I admit that past supplements did not discuss politics in depth, but The Silver Marches was fairly in-depth about the politics of that area.

Maybe WotC will do this with all future region books.

 

[mrswing]

Celtavian,

I've not yet read the current FR supplements (though I do own them all), but have read most of the old ones, starting with the grey box. So if Silver Marches is a change from the old style, I'm all for it. As for novels, a few - Death Of The Dragon, the first Shadowfire, the original Drizz'ts, the current return of the Shades, a little Harper stuff... Generally I've not been too impressed - though I thought that Prince Of Lies was excellent, not just as a FR resource but as a fantasy novel in itself. All I can say is that I do not get the same 'vibe' from Realmsian Politics as I do in some other settings (Kalamar, SL, the From The Ashes-landscape of Greyhawk). For me, the Realms have never felt real because of this - but to thousands of other gamers, not to mention Ed Greenwood, they do. It's just my personal taste (and that of the group I used to play with many many moons ago). It doesn't mean I'm not interested in the Realms (I've spent thousands of dollars on them...) just that there are other settings which I prefer.