D&D 5E Ellywick Tumblestrum's Ballads of the Forgotten Realms (hypothetical FR Setting Book)

[Henadic Theologian]

I think both approaches are valid. I think for newer DMs, who aren't sitting on a backlog of old FR books, a tight focus on an area is more useful at the table.

But if Eberron can get a big overview, Faerun can as well. (I would ignore the non-Western areas at the edge of the map, as all need between a modest and an overwhelming amount of work to be brought up to contemporary standards.)

You mean Kara Tur and Zakhara? Like I said it's likely to be Faerun focused for space issues.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I think the Candlekeep alternate cover is a great direction to take. Instead of being an old library book, Faerun should get a (fake) leatherbound travel journal, stained and road-worn.

Whose the person who did the covers for Ravenloft and Tasha's? That could be good too.

Or outside of the usual artists, a gorgeous, stylish, yet detailed, wrap around map of Faerun on the front cover and back cover of the book.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You mean Kara Tur and Zakhara? Like I said it's likely to be Faerun focused for space issues.

And the Setting That Shall Not Be Named that rhymes with "Shmaztica."

 

[Shardstone]

Ehhhh I think we need more Sword Coast information. That region feels pretty incomplete so far

 

[Henadic Theologian]

And the Setting That Shall Not Be Named that rhymes with "Shmaztica."

LMFAO at the very least they will have to explain what happened to it and what happened to the land it replaces, as the SCAG was weird and vague about that, but it's an important part of the Spellplague and Sundering.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Ehhhh I think we need more Sword Coast information. That region feels pretty incomplete so far

That is the single most sarcastic thing I have ever read LMFAO.

 

[Mercurius]

First of all, no Ellywick Tumblestrum - I might not buy it just on that name alone.

I'd love for them to go back to "vintage Greenwood" - get him involved, try to double down on "Greenwoodian" flavor.

Secondly, unlike some, I'd like a bit more info on the non-Faerun continents. Not crazy detail, but a page or two on each to give the gist.

That said, I think they should strike Kara-Tur, Zakhara, and Maztica from the record. Not for the "problematic" issues, but because they were pasted on to begin with. They could still have the equivalents for the real-world analogues, although I'd probably replace Zakhara completely (even though I like it) as it doesn't make sense to have two Arabic regions. Maybe something more South Asian-flavored. But the point being, I'd start afresh.

Finally, something new. We've had all the Realms material several times over. Obviously it would be geared towards newbies who haven't seen it before, but I'd like to see something they haven't done before, if only in format. Not sure what that would be.

 

[Ibrandul]

I specifically said biggest setting book in my comment.

I have near-zero interest in how "updated" or "expanded" the FR lore is. What I want is that lore collated and simplified, so when I flip to the section on Amn, I can understand how to actually run a game there. I don't want an encyclopedia, the FR wiki exists and does a great job. I want enough lore that I understand how the people of Amn behave and how they feel about certain things (foreigners, adventurers, monsters, etc). I want to know how society functions, and how the laws are created and enforced. And I want tools to apply that for a game. That means stuff like tables, adventure hooks, key npcs, that sort of stuff.

Give me a game book, not a history book.

I agree with every word of this—and that’s exactly why I hope they would cover the Sword Coast in such a book, because this is not at all what SCAG (or really any other WotC book since 3e) does.

On the other hand, given WotC’s current practices (for example, the fact that so much of Tasha’s Cauldron is reprinted from other sources), if they do cover the Sword Coast in a 5e FRCS, I fear the whole section would probably just be straight up reprints from other 5e books.

 

[R_J_K75]

there are older edition books for that, so that will make it easier to explore Faerun more fully.

Which in theory negates the need for a new FR book in theory.

 

[Demetrios1453]

You mean Kara Tur and Zakhara? Like I said it's likely to be Faerun focused for space issues.

Kara-Tur and Zakhara would probably get coverage similar to Xen'drik did in the Eberron book - a few pages to get an overview without going into too much detail...