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<blockquote data-quote="timbannock" data-source="post: 3827323" data-attributes="member: 17913">I don't run FR anymore because I have had a couple players that read all the novels (and sourcebooks, thanks to Barnes &amp; Noble's comfy chairs and late hours) and if I ran something set in FR, they would always question &quot;where is such-and-such,&quot; or &quot;maybe we can recruit so-and-so.&quot;&nbsp; And so on.Now, before you tell me my players are bad players and I should kick them out of my group, the fact is that they often asked these questions completely honestly.&nbsp; It wasn't like &quot;Where's Elminster so he can do our work for us,&quot; but more like &quot;Where's [insert similarly-leveled NPC from such and such book here] so we can hire him/ask him about [insert event that happened in the novel; or about an item from the novels/sourcebooks&quot; or whatever.&nbsp; Anyway, I don't have a good example, but the point is, they were solid questions.But because I didn't read and memorize everything, I'd say &quot;I don't know about that.&quot;&nbsp; Good DM or no, saying &quot;I don't know...&quot; about anything gives off a certain perception.So, I don't use published settings, or at least ones that the players know more about than I do.&nbsp; That way, they only know what I know, if not less.&nbsp; More fun for them to explore, more chance of me knowing what the hell I'm talking about.Maybe this is all just my need to be superior knowledge-wise, but the point stands at least to some degree: FR (and many other established settings besides) are difficult to run because you might have players who know it better than you.If you change it around (&quot;This is MY version...&quot;), they lose any sense of familiarity with what they thought they knew.&nbsp; I think some of the subconscious disconnect caused by these issues is what people harp on, fairly or no.Also, I still feel like FR's villains are often very 1-dimensional.&nbsp; Maybe that's just me, but their motivations are &quot;I'm evil because I'm evil, so I do bad things.&quot;&nbsp; IMHO, that's boring, but I know a lot of D&amp;D is pretty black &amp; white, so that's definitely just a personal issue.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="timbannock, post: 3827323, member: 17913"] I don't run FR anymore because I have had a couple players that read all the novels (and sourcebooks, thanks to Barnes & Noble's comfy chairs and late hours) and if I ran something set in FR, they would always question "where is such-and-such," or "maybe we can recruit so-and-so." And so on. Now, before you tell me my players are bad players and I should kick them out of my group, the fact is that they often asked these questions completely honestly. It wasn't like "Where's Elminster so he can do our work for us," but more like "Where's [insert similarly-leveled NPC from such and such book here] so we can hire him/ask him about [insert event that happened in the novel; or about an item from the novels/sourcebooks" or whatever. Anyway, I don't have a good example, but the point is, they were solid questions. But because I didn't read and memorize everything, I'd say "I don't know about that." Good DM or no, saying "I don't know..." about anything gives off a certain perception. So, I don't use published settings, or at least ones that the players know more about than I do. That way, they only know what I know, if not less. More fun for them to explore, more chance of me knowing what the hell I'm talking about. Maybe this is all just my need to be superior knowledge-wise, but the point stands at least to some degree: FR (and many other established settings besides) are difficult to run because you might have players who know it better than you. If you change it around ("This is MY version..."), they lose any sense of familiarity with what they thought they knew. I think some of the subconscious disconnect caused by these issues is what people harp on, fairly or no. Also, I still feel like FR's villains are often very 1-dimensional. Maybe that's just me, but their motivations are "I'm evil because I'm evil, so I do bad things." IMHO, that's boring, but I know a lot of D&D is pretty black & white, so that's definitely just a personal issue. [/QUOTE]

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