D&D 5E Campaign Settings 5e- Why I want to Forget the Realms

[GMforPowergamers]

Which isn't a problem. The only NPCs in your world are the ones you want.

yes in MY world... but this isn't MY world... see me and 5 friends (back in the day 8 or 9 friends) sit down and agree to things ahead of time, including who will DM and what world (90% of time I DM it Is MY OWN WORLD) so when I say "Forgotten Realms" then that is what we are playing... so no I don't get to abatraly change things my players want in the game with some over the top authority...

reread the problem I brought up your solution is not one that fits my complaint. You are making up some other complaint and finding a solution witch is no better then telling me my opion is fake because something is popular.

So please go back and actually read the issue before you try to make up something...

My dislike of the realms is based on what is in the realms, if I change everything I dislike, I would like it...I fully 100% agree to that, the same way I do not like Mac and Cheese, but if I make my own tomato sauce and my own pasta I love it... I make pasta with home made sauce all the time, I don't see reason to buy mac and cheese, make my own sauce then add it to the macaroni instead of the cheese... or worse yet Invite friends over that LOVE mac and cheese for mac and cheese and serve the pasta with my sauce...


edit: [MENTION=6791375]KingsRule77[/MENTION] tell me, if you sat down expecting a realms game, and I started the game in the city of Asher Hieghts on the coast of shards where king max the white dwarf lived and ruled, and his main enemy the white queen of the north and her seven concubine knights, and then gave you a list of my 7 goods that were all basicly remixes of the 7 deadly sins, would you think it was really a Forgotten Realms game?

 

[hawkeyefan]

I think it can be a problem if the players expect the characters they know from novels and sourcebooks to be present in the world and possibly accessible to their characters. For me the Realms are not a problem because my players' knowledge of Realms related lore is less than my own, which is pretty rudimentary itself. So it's not an issue.

For a DM whose players know more about the Realms than he does, I can see it being an isssue. It can be addressed by establishing what will be present ahead of time, for example a DM can hold up the 3E FR Campaign book and say "anything in here is canon, anything else is not." But even that could cause problems because maybe a player in the group really loves the Spellplague or something.

I think the DM has most of the power when it comes to what is allowed, and what NPCs are present, but the players have plenty of input.

 

[Cristian Andreu]

I actually avoided Forgotten Realms for the past 20 years until I started DMing 5e. Now I'm happily running a campaign about pirates, flying towers, and surfing wizards from Nimbral (using AD&D 2e's version of the setting, though).

It's been a blast, and I can't wait to incorporate more FR into my main Planescape campaign (an extended visit to Waterdeep is scheduled a few sessions down the line).

 

[cmad1977]

yes in MY world... but this isn't MY world... see me and 5 friends (back in the day 8 or 9 friends) sit down and agree to things ahead of time, including who will DM and what world (90% of time I DM it Is MY OWN WORLD) so when I say "Forgotten Realms" then that is what we are playing... so no I don't get to abatraly change things my players want in the game with some over the top authority...

reread the problem I brought up your solution is not one that fits my complaint. You are making up some other complaint and finding a solution witch is no better then telling me my opion is fake because something is popular.

So please go back and actually read the issue before you try to make up something...

My dislike of the realms is based on what is in the realms, if I change everything I dislike, I would like it...I fully 100% agree to that, the same way I do not like Mac and Cheese, but if I make my own tomato sauce and my own pasta I love it... I make pasta with home made sauce all the time, I don't see reason to buy mac and cheese, make my own sauce then add it to the macaroni instead of the cheese... or worse yet Invite friends over that LOVE mac and cheese for mac and cheese and serve the pasta with my sauce...


edit: [MENTION=6791375]KingsRule77[/MENTION] tell me, if you sat down expecting a realms game, and I started the game in the city of Asher Hieghts on the coast of shards where king max the white dwarf lived and ruled, and his main enemy the white queen of the north and her seven concubine knights, and then gave you a list of my 7 goods that were all basicly remixes of the 7 deadly sins, would you think it was really a Forgotten Realms game?

Given my lack of knowledge of the Realms canon or whatever I'd go with your vision.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

I think the DM has most of the power when it comes to what is allowed, and what NPCs are present, but the players have plenty of input.

l meant to give XP for your post, not to laugh at it.

You did a much better job stating what I was trying to get at earlier: player expectations can do a lot to help or hinder a game set in the Realms, depending on what it is the players are trying to get out of the game.

One of the things I learned while DMing the Realms is that a DM has got to make the campaign story his own right from the start. Use the Realms as much as you need to, but don't feel hidebound to change things as novels and sourcebooks are published. Introduce your own ideas and things from other sources as much as possible.

That, and the players need to be at the center of the story. This way, if or when they do meet a famous-outside-the-campaign NPC, it's easier to portray the NPC in whatever manner the DM needs and not in whatever manner the players at the gaming table assume is correct.

In my case, that meant disabusing the mistaken belief a couple of my players had that El and the Chosen always ride in to save the day when big problems arise in the Realms. They just don't do that, whether in published content or in my campaigns.

That, and it's fun to role play the Simbul as being terrified of something, and to have the Blackstaff decide the PCs need to be relieved of excess magic.

Having players loathe the big name NPCs because of something the NPC did in game is so much better than having the players constantly think of these NPCs in an out of game context.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I think it can be great to play around with how the players feel about an NPC. If they hate a certain guy, make it so that he has info that is key to their victory. If they love an NPC, have him betray them.

It can be fun to play around with expectations like that.

 

[Queer Venger]

A few points, and remembering two things- first, campaigns are personal preferences. Second, your user name includes Graz'zt.

If you had picked a few of the names (Duchy of Geoff), I could maybe understand that. But Furyondy? Woolly Bay? Those are neither better, nor worse, than other fantasy names. Some of your objections don't even make sense (an Ulek isn't a vacuum cleaner, and it's not Flanges, it's the Flanaess).

Regarding the size, the Flanaess is part of Oerth, and is the size of Europe. Perhaps you think playing in something approximately the size of Europe as the primary campaign setting is limiting, but it's also true that early Europe is kind of a model. And you would note that, for example, the Baklun empire (to the West) stretches out, as do the jungles to the South, and the unexplored territory past the Sea Of Dust, if the DM wants to create other areas (1983 boxed set) or use supplements that sketch them out. And, um, there's other continents. Right?

I appreciate that you like FR! But where you see "flat," others see sketched-out possibilities that are alluded to. I happen to think that everything Elminster was terrible, and the Dragon magazine articles were what originally turned me off.

That said, I agree that the Gord stuff (thinly veiled, and badly written, Gray Mouser) was terrible. But, unlike FR, it's not like there's hundreds of books of different types of Gords.... *smile*

Graz'zt does not belong to Greyhawk, he belongs to the ages
And yes, I realize its Flannaes, but my computer auto corrected it to Flanges; thinking about it, Flanges sounds more original

Drizzt is no Gord my friend, not even close.

LONG LIVE the REALMS! And btw, Oh wait, its getting a brand new setting book and video game release unlike Greyhawk

 

[Irennan]

LONG LIVE the REALMS! And btw, Oh wait, its getting a brand new setting book and video game release unlike Greyhawk

Heh, I too love the FR, but this is kind of an a** thing to say, don't you think?

 

[Queer Venger]

How? Is it a reportable post? Im making a factual statement

 

[Irennan]

How? Is it a reportable post? Im making a factual statement

Of course it isn't, but c'mon, you get what I mean. No need to rub salt in the wound.