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<blockquote data-quote="Laeknir" data-source="post: 6494308" data-attributes="member: 33994">The other thing that bothers me about the Realms is the highly campy quality of people and places everywhere.For example, if you do include Elminster even as a quest giver, you have to pretty much play him as a sanctimonious asshat that will always try to put PCs in their &quot;place&quot; by talking down to them, using some over-powerful spell at a key moment to steal their thunder, and so on.&nbsp; It's pure camp, because he literally is overpowered all the time, and involved in everyone's business.But it extends to cities as well.&nbsp; If you are in Cormyr, a kingdom with a supposedly long and amazing history of surviving wars and coups and so on, the books show that the nobility are all extremely stupid and prancy.&nbsp; Not just a few, 99% of them - except for the one or two outliers that are used as characters in the novels.&nbsp; Additionally, the palace guards and police force are ALWAYS portrayed as incompetent Keystone Kops.&nbsp; The wizards working for the crown will bury you in paperwork, endless questions, and subject you to constantly being followed and having the occasional telepathic mind-reaming to record all your secrets.&nbsp; It's ridiculous.More than that, every time the gods are portrayed as novel characters (which is often, they'll even show up for lunch still today - see the last book of the Sundering series), they are always incredibly short-sighted and do really boneheaded things.Back in the day of 1E and early 2E Realms it wasn't like this at all.&nbsp; There wasn't a giant metastory, Elminster was just a mage kinda like Mordenkainen, and mostly a sage in a remote town.&nbsp; At least, we weren't aware of all the goofy Chosen people and the insanely campy BS going on in Cormyr, because it hadn't been published.&nbsp; And the novels were all low-powered and fun, but not epic or world-shattering.&nbsp; At least not until the &quot;Time of Troubles&quot; when the floodgates opened to the endless goofy junk.What many people don't realize is that the Realms changed at that moment. It didn't really change with 4E or even the Sundering, except superficially.&nbsp; It's all just been more layers of overpowered random stuff plus the kitchen sink since then, just bigger and campier each time.&nbsp; The &quot;golden age&quot; of the Realms when it was good and useful and playable has been LONG over for more than 20 years.&nbsp; They almost got rid of the superheroes in 4E, but they had to also jumble up the cosmos, kill gods, and other silly stuff.&nbsp; And &quot;fixing it&quot; now, they're bringing all the superheroes back and adding yet more unnecessary cosmic metastory with an overgod &quot;teaching those naughty gods their lesson, darn it!&quot;&nbsp; It's endless ridiculous camp, all in service to their terrible &quot;epic&quot; novels.&nbsp; It hasn't been a good game setting for decades.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Laeknir, post: 6494308, member: 33994"] The other thing that bothers me about the Realms is the highly campy quality of people and places everywhere. For example, if you do include Elminster even as a quest giver, you have to pretty much play him as a sanctimonious asshat that will always try to put PCs in their "place" by talking down to them, using some over-powerful spell at a key moment to steal their thunder, and so on. It's pure camp, because he literally is overpowered all the time, and involved in everyone's business. But it extends to cities as well. If you are in Cormyr, a kingdom with a supposedly long and amazing history of surviving wars and coups and so on, the books show that the nobility are all extremely stupid and prancy. Not just a few, 99% of them - except for the one or two outliers that are used as characters in the novels. Additionally, the palace guards and police force are ALWAYS portrayed as incompetent Keystone Kops. The wizards working for the crown will bury you in paperwork, endless questions, and subject you to constantly being followed and having the occasional telepathic mind-reaming to record all your secrets. It's ridiculous. More than that, every time the gods are portrayed as novel characters (which is often, they'll even show up for lunch still today - see the last book of the Sundering series), they are always incredibly short-sighted and do really boneheaded things. Back in the day of 1E and early 2E Realms it wasn't like this at all. There wasn't a giant metastory, Elminster was just a mage kinda like Mordenkainen, and mostly a sage in a remote town. At least, we weren't aware of all the goofy Chosen people and the insanely campy BS going on in Cormyr, because it hadn't been published. And the novels were all low-powered and fun, but not epic or world-shattering. At least not until the "Time of Troubles" when the floodgates opened to the endless goofy junk. What many people don't realize is that the Realms changed at that moment. It didn't really change with 4E or even the Sundering, except superficially. It's all just been more layers of overpowered random stuff plus the kitchen sink since then, just bigger and campier each time. The "golden age" of the Realms when it was good and useful and playable has been LONG over for more than 20 years. They almost got rid of the superheroes in 4E, but they had to also jumble up the cosmos, kill gods, and other silly stuff. And "fixing it" now, they're bringing all the superheroes back and adding yet more unnecessary cosmic metastory with an overgod "teaching those naughty gods their lesson, darn it!" It's endless ridiculous camp, all in service to their terrible "epic" novels. It hasn't been a good game setting for decades. [/QUOTE]

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