Review of Ed Greenwood Presents: Elminster’s Forgotten Realms by Wizards of the Coast

so is this 4e or DDN or neither?

 

[Morik]

But it's called Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms. Why would he include all of that other stuff?

Well... okay... we are simply on different sides here I'm afraid.

For me... if he wants to show his own version of the Realms he should do that in articles in the Dragon magazine and not go for a official supplement. I just expected something I can use in actual Realm-Campaings... and I need something updated in the vast world of the Realms... it's really overdue now.

As it is for now shall I have to wait for the upcoming Neverwinter, a Free-to-Play MMO? Even there I only would find information about the region of Neverwinter and the immediate vicinity of that city/region. And besides... I already own the "Neverwinter" supplement.

No... really... IMO Ed Greenwood should have thought of all the players and DMs who liked to find out something new about the Realms, as it appears now. Small section dealing with that should have been enough.
I mean, they blew almost the whole world up and I have to look up some WIKI-Realms Stuff to find out what the new realms looks like? Come on...

I feel like I was just left out!

 

[JeffB]

Well... okay... we are simply on different sides here I'm afraid.

For me... if he wants to show his own version of the Realms he should do that in articles in the Dragon magazine and not go for a official supplement. I just expected something I can use in actual Realm-Campaings... and I need something updated in the vast world of the Realms... it's really overdue now.

As it is for now shall I have to wait for the upcoming Neverwinter, a Free-to-Play MMO? Even there I only would find information about the region of Neverwinter and the immediate vicinity of that city/region. And besides... I already own the "Neverwinter" supplement.

No... really... IMO Ed Greenwood should have thought of all the players and DMs who liked to find out about the new Realms. Small section dealing with that should have been enough.

I feel like I was just left out!

You did not read hard enough then. There is no crunch for any edition but much of the material is useful no matter what era of play.

And FWIW, tbe vast majority of Realms fans hate the spellplague era, so they *are* thinking of the bulk of the fans who have not had anything to buy for the past 4 years. I understqnd your frustration,but like 4e itself all these radical changes of the past 4 years did not go over nearly as well as expected and they are righting tbe ship, so to speak. Critizing this book.for not beingna 4e book, is like blaming a hot dog for not tasting like a hamburger.

 

[Balesir]

Spam reported (if that's what it is - I think so...)

 

[Morik]

And FWIW, tbe vast majority of Realms fans hate the spellplague era, so they *are* thinking of the bulk of the fans who have not had anything to buy for the past 4 years.

I understqnd your frustration,but like 4e itself all these radical changes of the past 4 years did not go over nearly as well as expected and they are righting tbe ship, so to speak. Critizing this book.for not beingna 4e book, is like blaming a hot dog for not tasting like a hamburger.

For someone who "understands" my frustration you do slap me a lot in your post above.

Besides.. I AM one of the Realms fans who dislike the spellplaque nonsens. But... it is official and the upcomming novels and supplements (and all the other stuff) will have to deal with it. And I do like to be updated... I didn't realise that this is a shame right now, sorry for that (I thought after years of Windows Updates every two days human society are finally got used to it).

So... I am not saying that the stuff within the Greenwood Realms Book is not good... it is as far as I am concerned, BUT all I said was, that Greenwood would'nt have hurt anyone if he just had included some chapters with 'past-spellplaque'-sections... after the detailed and very rich information of his belowed and 'own-weekly-campaign' world, presented within in his new book of the Realms.

What with the DMs and their campaigns who simply can't go back to the times before spellplaque? For them the Greenwoods new Realms Book is plain useless.

And... well... I am complaining here on very slippery ground for I didn't implement the spellplaque events yet... in my campaign... but my new module will... and my group is just in the middle of it.

They will eventually enter the "Tower of Twilight" and get time-travelled into another future time of the realms (without knowing) for I want to skip the whole aftermath-thing coming right behind the spellplaque... and the group will have to face a time-skip about 100 years (roughly the time in which the actual R.A. Salvatore books are happening).

So I am the type that always like to play the official actual thing.

But... as it is... maybe I will do some Realms Stuff besides my actual campaign with no spellplaque... and therefore I will buy Ed Greenwoods new thing... I always do...

Before the spellplaque events I would loved to get my hands of this book... but for now its just an outdated thing for me.

I mean.. HALLO? Even the Time of Troubles didn't happend... its plain strange for me that I buy a book from a DM which turns his weekly campaign world into a official book of the realms... when all the other official material is 1.000 years ahead of it (and has nothing do do with it anymore).

 

[YRUSirius]

You know that you can buy the 4th edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide for all the infos about the Post-Spellplague-Realms?

-YRUSirius

 

[Morik]

You know that you can buy the 4th edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide for all the infos about the Post-Spellplague-Realms?

-YRUSirius

I have it... but it's behind the new revelations of the R.A. Salvatore Books (Gauntlegrym and more)... and these books are not very new you know).

And... besides... the new Campaign Guide was mostly "game-tech"-like... a book dealing with the ordinary life and paths beyond the obvious (like the new book of Greenwood) would have been a very good thing regarding the new social landscape of the Realms...

Some new stuff is overdue. But maybe you are right... maybe that's a thing for some Dragon Articles... an updated section (maybe from the master Greenwood himself) would be nice.

 

[Mercurius]

Well... okay... we are simply on different sides here I'm afraid.

For me... if he wants to show his own version of the Realms he should do that in articles in the Dragon magazine and not go for a official supplement. I just expected something I can use in actual Realm-Campaings... and I need something updated in the vast world of the Realms... it's really overdue now.

....

I feel like I was just left out!

And therein lies the rub. You didn't get the product that you wanted, I get it. But realize that WotC was very clear that this was going to be Ed's Forgotten Realms - they even over-emphasize that by putting it in the title of the book! How much clearer can they get? Let's be clear: your frustration is based upon a misunderstanding on your part, that you expected/hoped for a product that WotC was not intending to give you.

The reason I'm "calling you out" on this is that WotC gets a lot of this, which essentially boils down to a fan misplacing their frustration from their own faulty expectations onto WotC. This worsens their already poor reputation (much of which they are to blame for). When fans get pissed about something that, quite frankly, they shouldn't because it is based entirely on their own misconception of WotC's intention, then I think it should be seen for what it is.

You didn't get the product you hoped for, even though WotC didn't say they were going to give you that product. So you feel left out. That doesn't mean Ed Greenwood should avoid creating products that many other folks will enjoy, because you feel that such material is more suited for Dragon magazine.