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

[Henry]

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

(emphasis mine)
Strangely, I think it's what they're doing.

How many people complain on messageboards that the Realms are too "history-bloated" and that it's too tough to buy into the setting with all that has come before? How many people in various threads have expressed absolutely NO interest in Chessenta, Chult, The Golden Plains (or whatever the area southwest of Unther) and for that matter, Unther and Mulhorand? How many have expressed annoyance that there are too many high-level NPCs running around (whether justified or not)?

My answer to these is: I have seen A LOT of people, between here and the WotC forums, express just these sorts of complaints. Candlekeep and similar forums, not so much - the fans that are happy with it as it was didn't have much to complain about. As a result, I think it may have been a victim of "damning with faint praise." I can hazard a quess that, for all the hardcore fans outraged over the changes listed, they weren't making enough of a difference saleswise to keep things going exactly as they were. So, all those things complained about were changed. Notice their claim that they didn't harm Waterdeep, the Dales, etc. -- those lands most widely gamed in by the people who used the Realms!

Only time will tell whether it turned out to be a good thing. Heck, in a twist of irony, for al we know people upset with the changes may wind up buying the books just to read them and have more info to complain about, and thereby driving the reboot's success.

As far as the Realms as it was, I'll always have my FRCS, and all my 2nd edition stuff to paint a game-worthy picture. At the least, I might get some interesting ideas out of the reboot, but as it is now, I have too much previous material and too many other peoiple DMing to really need to buy the August 2008 reboot, so it's not as big of a deal to me.

 

[Saeviomagy]

My hope is that it's balanced against normal D&D so the material is useable.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I'd like to see:

1) High-Powered NPCs be lessened.

2) Things actually spread out, it feels like you can't walk 2 meters without tripping over some long, lost empire newly restored.

3) The feeling of there being wilds in FR return. It used to be that Icewind Dale, was WILD! now everyone and their family is adventuring in it.

Fear:

1) That Calimport/Calimshan no longer exists, or at least not in a recognizable form. It is my favourite place in all of FR.

 

[Boarstorm]

I hope the swordmage class is worth $40.

I fear that it is not.

The rest of the book doesn't concern me.

 

[RandomCitizenX]

I hope the swordmage class is worth $40.

I fear that it is not.

The rest of the book doesn't concern me.

This... but also add in Genasi (sp?) being a decent race since I have liked them for a while now (and want to use a fire one as a major NPC for my campaign)

 

[Khairn]

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.

I agree with everything but your vanilla comment.

On the changes ... the facelift they gave to FR makes Elminster look like Joan Rivers.

On the new rules ... they forced FR into the 4E magic system and justified it with some very lazy and poorly written storytelling. Yes I'm looking at you Spellplague!

I'm not worried FR will look to vanilla ... not with the floating landbergs, magical storms, destroyed realms, merged planes and the new realms they've introduced. My concern is it will become even more of a drugstore setting than it was before, including every possible chaotic and outlandish concept that can be conceived and thrown into the pot.

Like BlackMoria, my hope is that the setting isn't as bad as WotC has made it out to be. But with personal campaigns in the Vilhon Reach and in Unther / Mulhorand, the 4E version of FR has done a pretty good job of stomping out the regions that I enjoy using. The new setting would have to be an absolute home run to garner any interest from me. And given the quality of the writing I've seen recently from the Realmslore, the e-zines etc ... I have serious doubts that WotC can bunt the ball, nevermind hit it out of the park.

 

[kennew142]

My group has played in FR since 1e. Several of us own a copy of every supplement published for the setting and most of the novels.

We love the changes in FR and are looking forward to running many new stories in the setting. It looks like they are reinvigorating the realms and restoring the Forgotten in the title. In all fairness to several posters here, we have never had any interest in Mulhorand, Unther or the Vilhon Reaches. Waterdeep, the Old North, Swordcoast, Dales, Cormyr, Cormanthyr, Silver Marches and the Moonsea is where most of our interest lies. They're preserving the areas we're most interested in.

I believe FR had flying ships and dinosaur men long before Eberron came out.

 

[Grimstaff]

I believe FR had flying ships and dinosaur men long before Eberron came out.

True, but this was also from the same design period that gave us Giant Space Hamsters.



Eberron can have them.

 

[Cirex]

I jumped into the Eberron board once it was released. Too many issues with FR for my taste...however, seeing as it was nuked, I may give it a try.

If the timeline has been advanced 100 years, does that mean that Cattie-Brie is dead? Because reading some spoilers, I see that she's being taught in the arts of magic...but with the spellplague and the 100 years I don't know about her future.

In order to clarify my intention, let's say that I never thought that I would hate a fictional character like I hate her.

 

[MinionOfCthulhu]

I jumped into the Eberron board once it was released. Too many issues with FR for my taste...however, seeing as it was nuked, I may give it a try.

If the timeline has been advanced 100 years, does that mean that Cattie-Brie is dead? Because reading some spoilers, I see that she's being taught in the arts of magic...but with the spellplague and the 100 years I don't know about her future.

In order to clarify my intention, let's say that I never thought that I would hate a fictional character like I hate her.

Cattie-Brie and Wulfgar are both humans, so by the time 4th Edition FR takes place, they should be dead. Brunor is getting on in years, and may very well be dead.
Three out of four dead. Just as planned.