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Imperial Star Destroyers are too big to practically map in their entirety, but see Star Wars Incredible Cross-Sections for the general layout.

OK. If I understand right, you're (a) valuing the integrity of the setting (broadly understood) and how it works, and (b) giving the game rules a large role in maintaining that fictional world. The first of those is fairly uncontroversial, the second is one of a spectrum of preferences about...

I've noticed that a few people use 'balance' in this context in the same self-righteous sense that a few people talk up, say, narrativism or gameism, as if there's some single healthy correct balance that everyone should gravitate to. The term 'balance' conveys a spurious objectivity -- who...

The Knights of Myth Drannor trilogy, starting with Swords of Eveningstar, is the big one as far as Realms novels go, one that anyone with any interest in the Realms will want to read: the core story of its greatest heroes. The tale of the Knights of Myth Drannor (along with that of the Company...

FRQ1 Haunted Halls of Eveningstar?

In S1's setting, i.e. Gygax's World of Greyhawk, any character who's legitimately survived to high level through (among other things) dungeon-delving would have learned such problem-solving techniques -- that world has that kind of dungeon, and I can't see where knowledge characters wouldn't...

And why doesn't the fireplace have any secret compartments?

Well, editorial controls we know of have included restrictions on multiple plots and characters (cutting of original Spellfire), line-by-line cutting for length (reissued Spellfire), deciding characters' fates (Hand of Fire), requirements of fast light action, assigned titles and subjects and...

Damn, I'd forgotten about Silverthrone. We know the editors have a large input into the Realms novels, as is usual with franchise fiction, but we rarely know the details. Not that I want full disclosure, but I'd like to see an interview with Peter Archer letting us know a little of their...

Sit on a nice comfy chair and make the players sit on tiny wooden stools.

Writing a good Realms novel has two parts: 'novel' and 'Realms' and a sourcebook writer (Jeff Grubb, Richard Baker, Stephen Schend) may well be better qualified to write a Realms novel than an established author new to the setting; the style compromise and versatility needed for writing in...

Spellfire is largely a plot device so Ed Greenwood's protagonist in Spellfire, Crown of Fire, and Hand of Fire can get into and survive a variety of dangerous situations and thus show off areas and power groups of the Realms. Even the original game writeup tended to turn it into just another...

J., I just don't recall much of the canon-worship that you talk about, and not by the novel-board jerks in any case.

What a terrible world in which only the most commercially popular media existed. Yes, publishers should produce RPG books, and short stories, statless world sourcebooks, poetry, play scripts, and so on.

Gary Gygax (who conceived the Ghoul King in the first place) and John Creffield's version of the Ghoul King is described in The Slayer's Guide to Undead.

Right, so what seems Gygaxian to someone depends on what their norms are and how Gary's differ. Of course, Gary's have been mispresented here quite a bit, but most of that has been pointed out.

John, can you comment on what the people who commissioned WG7 were thinking? It reeks of malice to me. And how would you do The Moonsea (parts of which I recently reread) differently now?

DM_Matt, lay off slurring Ed Greenwood. BadMojo is talking about the published one, in which (if you glance at the scale on the maps) there's no particularly great density of high-level characters. You're talking about the bogus one certain people gossip and gripe about on messageboards.

Also in the Realms -- a thirst of stirges.

In the Realms: