D&D 4E 4E Forgotten Realms Hopes/Fears ?

[Grimstaff]

While I imagine the 4E FR setting book is already "in the can" so to speak, there is a slim chance that changes can be made, stuff added, etc.

So I ask, what do you hope to see in 4E FR?
What are you most afraid you'll see?

Personally, I'd like to see:
1) The setting focused on a manageably sized area. It would be nice if the south/east lands were saved for the inevitable expansion books and the new book stayed nice and tight in areas like the Sword Coast, the Ancient North, the Heartlands, etc. I think putting some boundaries on the setting would give it a much more cohesive vibe, and make venturing out past the borders feel more exotic.
2) An emphasis on the "Forgotten". There was an excellent splat out couple of years ago (Lost Empires?) that really drove home the FR notion of ruins built on ruins built on, etc. That book was full of adventure seeds and I hope the concept is built more fully into the basic setting book.

Fears? :
1) Too much "weird" stuff. With Greyhawk fading into the mists, FR is really the last bastion of currently-supported high-fantasy. Too much spice can spoil the pot, so I'd like to see dinosuar-people, genasi, flying ships, and snake-people left out of the core setting. There is plenty of that in Ebberon, if you want it. Leave us FR for our faux LotR campaign-arcs...
2) Too much crunch. With so much new crunch to absorb (the Core books will only have been out 3 months when this hits shelves, iirc) already, I don't want my players getting "rules-overload" right off the bat. I'd like 4E to focus on story, not bending story to fit these nifty new rules in the FR setting book.

Your thoughts?

 

[DandD]

They said they won't bring expansion books for the specific settings anymore, I believe. Only three books per year for each setting.

 

[Oni]

I hope I'll enjoy it as much as the 3e setting book. I've got a lot of books for various settings but FR is the only one that I look through regularly. Even though I've never played in the setting, it speaks to me in a way that no other setting really has. I'll be disappointed if I don't derive the same enjoyment from the 4e book.

Specifically I hope they keep the shades a major movers and shakers, I find them fascinating and would love to see even more about them. Also I like crunch in the setting books I think it helps to make settings a bit more unique.

I don't mind the setting changing, but if they lose that feel I like so much I'll be very sad.

 

[Vaeron]

Fears? :
1) Too much "weird" stuff. With Greyhawk fading into the mists, FR is really the last bastion of currently-supported high-fantasy. Too much spice can spoil the pot, so I'd like to see dinosuar-people, genasi, flying ships, and snake-people left out of the core setting. There is plenty of that in Ebberon, if you want it. Leave us FR for our faux LotR campaign-arcs...

You mean saurials, genasi, Halruuans and yuan-ti? Sounds like you're actually asking them to REMOVE stuff from the Forgotten Realms.

 

[TheSleepyKing]

I initially liked the idea of the time jump. It gave WoTC a chance to paper over all the events in the roughly 2 million FR novels that I haven't read and reset the realms to something that's usable and manageable again.

But then I saw the two DDI FR previews and became a little worried. They seem to be trashing some of the more "unusual" parts of the realms, and now I'm afraid that that the realms will become culturally homogenous. In 3e and earlier FR an adventure set in the Shaar or Mulhorand or Rashemen had a very different feel and flavor to one set in the Heartlands. The people, customs, races, history and architecture were very different. Now I'm afraid that every part of the realms is going to be just like any other part, so that all corners of the realms can play host to cookie cutter adventures published by WoTC. If they do make the realms bland and uniform, I'll no longer be interested in it.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

After the Helm/Tyr BS and the Lathander BS, I have no hopes left for Forgotten Realms. I didn't even like the setting that much, but it didn't deserve this.

Some people might get this, but the changes done to Forgotten Realms reek too strongly of horrible 90's comic books.

 

[BlackMoria]

My fear is the FR will be gutted so much that everything that makes it special and meaningful to me will be gone.

I am troubled that they introduced all sorts of changes to shoehorn the setting into the 4e ruleset and all for three published books and out, with any future Realms material only coming out in the DDI.

I am troubled that 4e FR will become so vanilla that those elements which make it special will be lost.

The current Realmslore is lackluster and lacking depth (Headless Zhent, I'm looking at you) and if this is a indicator of the 'typical' Realms article on the DDI, then my worst fears are confirmed.

My hope....that this will not as dire as it appears. But from my view in the cheap seats, it is not looking good.

 

[theredrobedwizard]

I hope that someday, people will realize that FR can't be everything to everyone. Some want it High Magic, some want it Low Magic, some want an LotR analog, some want a The Golden Compass analog, some want a setting where every inch is spelled out, some want lots of room to breathe, some want an FR where Elminster's favorite pudding is chocolate, some want his favorite pudding to be Yorkshire. It's hot, it's cool, it's tepid, it's amazing all-temperature FR.

Making an Ultimates/Post-Crisis FR is going to be good for the setting in the long run. Get rid of things that were tacked on, smooth things out, make the storyline consistent, and present a unified front. I hope FR ends up like a combination of the FR from Baldur's Gate and Conan; a high adventure setting with plentiful magic items and shiny things to plunder. Big, terrible evil brewing, but sill having a place for the common adventurer. The Big Stupid NPCpocalypse that was the Spellplague is great for the setting.

For the record, I'm a longtime FR supporter (financially, at least). There are dozens upon dozens of FR novels on my bookcase, as well as hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars worth of FR gaming products on it.

I want a redone Realms so that in order to get someone up to speed, I don't have to point to my bookcase and say "read all those, and you'll be halfway there".

-TRRW

 

[Shazman]

I hope that their Mad Max Beyond Waterdeep setting sells poorly enough to teach WotC that the customer truly is always right. Seriously, the desingers need to dump their egos and try to make products for the fans instead of trying to tell us what we should want.

 

[GSHamster]

I hope that their Mad Max Beyond Waterdeep setting sells poorly enough to teach WotC that the customer truly is always right. Seriously, the desingers need to dump their egos and try to make products for the fans instead of trying to tell us what we should want.

After seeing numerous FR threads, I don't think FR fans know what they want.