D&D 5E Ed Greenwood to write 5E's Forgotten Realms

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

No, recapturing the magic is not possible. But it does not have to fail either.

 

[Ihsahn Satyricon]

The Realms rule. Always have, and always will. Ed's magic will make the Realms even better than before.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Too much has been mangled too thoroughly to ever make sense of the Realms again, and gee golly whillikers, Ed's getting old and probably pretty tired too.

You wouldn't know it, for all the Realmslore Ed has been producing lately and the answers he's providing in response to Realmslore queries at Candlekeep.com.

 

[Ihsahn Satyricon]

Hell yeah! Go for it ED full throttle! Make it the best realms ever! I'm liking what I'm hearing with 5th edition so far!

 

[Rocinante]

Don't try to "recapture the magic". Make new magic. 1st Edition AD&D is a quarter century dead. It was good, but quite honestly, it had massive flaws. I'm sure some will disagree, but I personally believe that "late-model" AD&D 2nd Edition was the high watermark of the DnD brand. When the Players Option books were on the market but before the D20 system infested the game. I've said for years that D20 is the Windows of RPG Systems: Ubiquitous, Useless, and Developed in Washington.

High level published NPCs have never been the problem. GMs misusing them is the problem. Yes, the over-use of Elminster and his ilk in modules during the 90's was horrifically grating for us old-timers, but you know what? We survived it. I despise Elminster, so you know what I do? I almost never use him unless my PCs specifically seek him out for some reason. And when they do meet him, he often isn't like he is portrayed in the novels and I've been called out on that on occasion. I've always said that he isn't like he's portrayed in the novels for two reasons: 1) I'm not the author who wrote that portrayal, so I'm naturally going to have trouble portraying him the same way and 2) I look at all novels as fictionalized accounts of events that took place within the realms. Accounts fictionalized by Harpers, so naturally Elminster is going to come off looking better than he really is. If you read those same novels written from a Red Wizard's or Zhentarim's point of view, old El wouldn't come off looking nearly so awesome, I imagine.

Personally, I dislike the Simbul even more than Elminster, as she seems to exist solely to one-up everyone else including Elminster. Oh, and she's grim-dark psycho-edgy too! Sometimes I think Rob Liefailed came up with her.

Oh yes, while I'm certain I'll be alone in this, can we please kill Planescape and bring back Spelljammer?

 

[Plane Sailing]

Don't try to "recapture the magic". Make new magic. 1st Edition AD&D is a quarter century dead. It was good, but quite honestly, it had massive flaws. I'm sure some will disagree, but I personally believe that "late-model" AD&D 2nd Edition was the high watermark of the DnD brand. When the Players Option books were on the market but before the D20 system infested the game. I've said for years that D20 is the Windows of RPG Systems: Ubiquitous, Useless, and Developed in Washington.

Welcome to EnWorld!

It is good to have you here, but we need to ask you to avoid making deprecating statements against things you don't like. It is the kind of thing that starts 'edition wars' which we frown upon.

Thanks

 

[Rocinante]

I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Aaron L]

For me, when they killed Mystra and destroyed the Weave, one of the VERY few things about the Realms that made it unique from all the other generic fantasy settings out there, and turned the setting into "Forgotten Realms: After The Bomb!" is when I completely lost interest. And the whole bringing in new continents on top of the old ones... well, let's just say that I absolutely despised everything about 4E, and especially 4E Forgotten Realms.

So this news about Ed fills me with hope and excitement.

And for the people complaining about the place of Elminster and the other Chosen: the existence of Superman does not negate the need for Batman. Nor of Robin. Nor Animal Man nor even John Constantine. Superman deals with threats on levels that require his attention. The others deal with threats on their levels. And when PCs attain levels where they rival the Chosen? Well then step right up and take your place beside them! I for one get SICK of games that are constant "save the world" scenarios over and over and over and OVER again. What ever happened to people playing adventurers out for loot? And tackling small problems they run into? Most campaigns should NOT be one long quest from 1st thru 20th level with the goal of saving the world. That gets old real fast.

And for the lamers who keep beating the very, very dead old horse of Elminster being Greenwoods Mary Sue, let me repeat something that has been common knowledge for YEARS amongst those of us who care to listen to what the man has to say, instead of just constantly screeching about how much the Realms sucks. Greenwood created and used Elminster for the exact purpose stated in the Old Grey Box: to be a guide and adviser to the PCs. The power-ups and streams of stories about him were at the directive of TSR and then Wizards, apparently because players demanded it. It was not Ed Greenwood's idea, nor (from what I've read) did he particularly want to do it.

So now we'll be having Ed back in the saddle, without all the people who injected a that unwanted nonsense in the first place. I always imagined Ed's Forgotten Realms to be mainly set in the Dales and Myth Drannor, since the Knights of MD were his players, right? And some travel into Cormyr and over to Waterdeep occasionally.

I am VERY excited to see where this will go!

 

[Walking Dad]

For me, when they killed Mystra and destroyed the Weave, one of the VERY few things about the Realms that made it unique from all the other generic fantasy settings out there, and turned the setting into "Forgotten Realms: After The Bomb!" is when I completely lost interest. And the whole bringing in new continents on top of the old ones... well, let's just say that I absolutely despised everything about 4E, and especially 4E Forgotten Realms.

Your opinion. I like 4e and its de-emphasis on high level NPCs, less save havens and getting away from the weave, that existed either only in the background or was annoying.

So this news about Ed fills me with hope and excitement.

And for the people complaining about the place of Elminster and the other Chosen: the existence of Superman does not negate the need for Batman. Nor of Robin. Nor Animal Man nor even John Constantine. Superman deals with threats on levels that require his attention. The others deal with threats on their levels. And when PCs attain levels where they rival the Chosen? Well then step right up and take your place beside them!

As said previously, there is bad precedence in the old official adventures and the Baldur's Game computer game, which had (of course) an Elminster appearance...
BTW, naturally Superman doesn't negate the need for Batman... Batman is acting more effectively and more globally and Superman teams up with him (and the JLA) to stop the real big threads.
But how often is Superman introduced saving kids from car accidents or stopping fleeing bank-robbers? Perfect jobs for less powerful/established heroes.

I for one get SICK of games that are constant "save the world" scenarios over and over and over and OVER again. What ever happened to people playing adventurers out for loot? And tackling small problems they run into? Most campaigns should NOT be one long quest from 1st thru 20th level with the goal of saving the world. That gets old real fast.

But despite of your opinion, Adventure paths from 1st to at least 14th level are one of the main selling points for Pathfinder, which is quite successful.

...

So now we'll be having Ed back in the saddle, without all the people who injected a that unwanted nonsense in the first place. I always imagined Ed's Forgotten Realms to be mainly set in the Dales and Myth Drannor, since the Knights of MD were his players, right? And some travel into Cormyr and over to Waterdeep occasionally.

I hope not. I really like Kara-Tur, Maztica and Zakhara.

I am VERY excited to see where this will go!

I'm very cautious about where this will go...

 

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

I hope not. I really like Kara-Tur, Maztica and Zakhara.

I like them too, but they can exist independently of Forgotten Realms.

I'm very cautious about where this will go...

I am too old to be optimistic. I am... mostly indifferent.