Three. There's also an adventure. I think they said some settings would get a few additional sourcebooks as well, depending on demand, but I don't think we'll see anything like 4-6 books per year like for 3e. We will especially not see setting-specific rules expansions, like Magic of Faerûn.
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Forgotten Realms 4e reviews?
- Thread starter jdrakeh
- Start date
Obryn
Hero
On the other hand, if you just want a fresh start, the Campaign Guide is more than sufficient to give it to you.
DMs can utilize or ignore the DDI materials as much as they want, since this new iteration is more or less starting from scratch.
I know I plan on filling in the Spellplague-related blanks as I see fit.
Then again, I vastly prefer barebones settings to those which are completely fleshed-out. (Monte Cook's Diamond Throne would have been about perfect if it had had a better map - if anything, 4e FR is a little more info than I need for my DMing style.) All I want in my setting books is a little basic background, dominant society notes, a few adversaries, and tons of adventure hooks. When I see part of the map that's not described, I don't think "Darn, I need to know what's there!" I think "Oh, nice! I know just what will fit in that spot..."
-O
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
Roger that.
I prefer to add in my own stuff as well. My FR campaigns have always been homebrewed versions. I was mostly talking about people who want to run a strictly canon campaign, or are just interested in having all of the "official" material. Personally, I even change or add timeline events to suit my needs.
(However I really did want a timeline of those 94 years
. Whether I use it or not, I do like reading the "official" Realms stuff. I just don't like the fact I need to get a DDI sub in order to do that.)TheWinslow
First Post
Roger that.
(However I really did want a timeline of those 94 years
Grand History of the Realms?
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
Grand History stops at 1385 DR. 4E Campaign Guide picks up at 1479 DR. However, it's been said that WoTC is going to make updates to Grand History with articles on DDI (I don't recall where or if anyone said this officially however). Apparently, as the novels are written and fill in the events in this time period, they will update the timeline on DDI (of course, after the free preview is up, you'll have to pay for these articles and info, which traditionally, was in the Campaign/Setting Guides).However, most of this has been covered in other threads. I actually like what they've done with the Realms (for the most part), but I homebrew the setting to taste anyways.
Shades of Eternity
Hero
finally had a chance to read the fr game proper.
while better written, it doesn't hold a candle to the awesome quality of the FRCS for 3.0.
however, it is better to the old 1st edition box set and is about on par writing to the 2nd edition box set.
and you know what the change reminded me of: rifts.
it was basically what if the coming of the rifts came to the FR and the implications.
hell, they rewrote the words for ley line, but the gist is still the same.
The plaguelands are basically wild magic zones renamed and jacked up.
this is FR after the apocalypse.
Because of the background of the environment, they fair better.
Some of the progression is very logical.
szass tam has finally succeeded in controlling Thay at last, although his conquering of the world fell short...again
. In fact it was kinda neat how the red wizard's convents are for all intents and purposes on their own, which allows them to be concerned with their own well being.
Didn't like the fact the simbul survived, but greatful she's nestled elsewhere. Really kinda hope the rest of the seven sisters don't rear their ugly head. Althought having sylune the ghost around could be neat.
After they retconned the sarurkk as being there before even the elves and dwarves, It's kinda neat seeing a kingdom of them, even if it's a tad too far north. I like the arrival of okoth.
elves of evermeet hinted that they would be returning from evermeet, and I guess the spellplague gave them the window to reconquer the elven court.
Dwarves got seriously shafted in 4th. After the potential inspiration of the thunder blessing and the fact that dwarves could be spellcasters now, I was really hoping for a named dwarvern wizard that would scare the hell out of ya. Instead they basically brought them back to 2nd edition, bordering on extinction. In fact, as far as I can tell, there are pretty much only 2 enclaves left: the east rift and mithral hall. It was very disappointing to put it mildly, especially when contrasted with the numerous elven holdings.
the cosmology is odd. while start They even made fun of the old cosmology by listing the great wheel under the gates of the moon. plus they tried to duplicate norse mythology by adding frieking giants --- must be a touch of the new mythology.
as for the gods themselves, I am glad selune is finally a greater god again. apparently she reabsorbed mystra (and possibly elistree). Disappointed by the loss of helm. as far as I'm concerned, lolth, the gothic cheerleader should never have become a greater god, but thanks to the drowamania of the realms, it's not surprising. kinda odd that asmodeus is a good now and he's known as the god kill. didn't quite catch which gods he killed edit ooh azulth, does that mean the devil lord is now the god of spellcasters?). Cyric killed mystra and then is basically sealed away for his creating of the apocalypse.
also kinda like the use of exarchs who are for all intense and purposes, saints. Fzoul is the one who has really earned it, although dying to the 2nd generation netheril was annoying.
As for places in specific, it's kinda sad how the blood stone lands ended up as the demon lands considering what the damarans went through. The blood stone series is one of my favorite of the old 1st edition modules.
Wiping out mulhorand kinda bugs me. it was one of my favorite kingdoms and with it's connection to thay seemed like an awesome living kingdom. I did like the return of imaskar to the surface, but did it have to come at the expense of mulhorand?
it's kinda neat how even though their are no rules for psionics yet, they are already talking about a series of ruins in the vilhon reach that were a psiocracy.
Calimshan feels like it has been returned to it's past with the battle of the genies returning. it is both neat, and kinda limiting. glad the twisted rune is still around and still being very scarry in spite of the genie war.
One of my biggest diappointments was the shining south. now known as the scarred south. besides smucking thee largest dwarvern population in the realms, they destroyed halrurra, returned dambrath to barberian rule (which really bugs me, I thought it was one of the neatest kingdoms the fr ever did and was kinda hoping to see it evolve), and lurian is underwater. they turned the shining lands. however, kinda like the beastlands and their kenku influence.
the dragon princes kinda feel contrived in murghom, when they already have their own land.
chetessa feels less greek, but what the biggest change for me is the fact that luthchez went from an extremely antimagic xenophobic town, to a comparative distaste. I guess their lack of magic saved them from the worst of the spell plague.
chult was a disappointment. After the awesome sourcebook and neat spins on old concepts, it feels like they threw out everything that made it distinctive. it's been reduced to a generic magic jungle and/or 2nd rate version of the isle of dread and that bugs me, especially after changing it to an island. still they remembered the flaming fists, so I guess that's something.
if their is one place that seems to be fairly untouched and may even have prospered in this period it is cormyr. same with the dalelands. they got the elven court back for protection, even if they lost the el gang. really a pity about the saurials, but they were merely driven from their homes, rather then smucked, so I fully expect 4th edition stats at some point (the finder stone trilogy is one of my favorites).
I am glad to hear that kara-tur still exists. maybe we'll finally hear what's happening on this side of the world.
kinda cheezed, but not surprised luskan got zapped. they were a fairly powerful and evil wizard town that got smucked by the spell plague
like the orcish settlement many arrows and glad it exists with a fairly prominant effect.
kinda sad the moonsea got zapped. I liked the zhents and it's a pity it's a shadow of it's original self.
Unlike many people, I get why a kingdom of serpents ended up near the high moor. they've hinted at this since first edition and it was talked about in serpents kingdoms. since their trying to be more blatant in the universe.
netheril is overrated. it was a retcon in 2nd edition that has taken a life of it's own. while I can understand them wanting to bring this kingdom of wizards back, especially with thay now undead central, I never had a real appeal of this area. I know why they brought them back in 3.5, but I actually prefered the socklike phrenium as my big bad. I can see the spellplague affecting them, but I remember when they were 30th level minimum, and they've been gradually nerfed since them.
the raurin has long been a favorite since desert of desolation modules, and I am glad they didn't change it so much.
I really like the aboleth and now that they are a big bad via the soverignty. It's one of the changes I liked eventually, especially their own version of ry'leth.
as for the rest of the sea of fallen stars, I've always kinda found it odd how their was a sea over a sea. It actually makes more sense now.
sembia was always supposed to be the plug and play kindom for the gm to play with, basically a sand box. I don't like the subjecation by netheril one bit.
most of the rest is more or less the same. really wanted an update on nimbral, which I always liked, as well as lantan.
as for abeir I like the new continent, but it feels kinda the same overall. compared to the deversity of toril, it feels kind limited. it feels like one touch dragon rulers, one part bad norse mythology. Hopefully it will diversify over time but right now, when compared to toril, it's really generic. It also kinda cheezes me that that if they had an entire continent, I wanted at least one hobgoblin kingdom. I also would have left hints of anachrome, especially the flaming fist port.
To be honest, I think I'd rather see abethir with the kingdoms that got ported there (mulderand, maztica, zakara) mixed with what's there then what was presented to us.
now we get to the underdark.
this is what really bugs me about the drow. they went from quite a bit of variety to clutching at the goth cheerleaders thong again. I loved how their were drow horking stuff from the elven court to against the goth cheerleader.
really glad blindingstone is coming back. I like gnomes.
and always loved the giant sentient fungi patch.
and really glad I found the third dwavern community.
as for threats
1. the church of bane is still a player and I so want them to kick them should be spellplague asses .
2. the church of shar if anything is about the same. they lost the shadow weave, but gained a bunch of netheril wizards.
3. cult of the dragon are a favorite, no real changes here.
4. the eminance of araunt is neat new concept. I like it and it's a neat spin on the typical tomb raid.
5. I am glad there is at least some remaints of five companies and their legendary flying ships. even if they are pirates.
6. the order of the blue fire is a fun conspiracy type villian
In conclusion, unlike in 3rd edition, which made me stand up and applaud over the changes, the 4th edition forgotten realms feels like they threw a good chunk of the baby out with the bathwater. I'm not saying they had to keep everything, but what they kept really lowered some of the things I really liked about the realms.
while better written, it doesn't hold a candle to the awesome quality of the FRCS for 3.0.
however, it is better to the old 1st edition box set and is about on par writing to the 2nd edition box set.
and you know what the change reminded me of: rifts.
it was basically what if the coming of the rifts came to the FR and the implications.
hell, they rewrote the words for ley line, but the gist is still the same.
The plaguelands are basically wild magic zones renamed and jacked up.
this is FR after the apocalypse.
Because of the background of the environment, they fair better.
Some of the progression is very logical.
szass tam has finally succeeded in controlling Thay at last, although his conquering of the world fell short...again
. In fact it was kinda neat how the red wizard's convents are for all intents and purposes on their own, which allows them to be concerned with their own well being.Didn't like the fact the simbul survived, but greatful she's nestled elsewhere. Really kinda hope the rest of the seven sisters don't rear their ugly head. Althought having sylune the ghost around could be neat.
After they retconned the sarurkk as being there before even the elves and dwarves, It's kinda neat seeing a kingdom of them, even if it's a tad too far north. I like the arrival of okoth.
elves of evermeet hinted that they would be returning from evermeet, and I guess the spellplague gave them the window to reconquer the elven court.
Dwarves got seriously shafted in 4th. After the potential inspiration of the thunder blessing and the fact that dwarves could be spellcasters now, I was really hoping for a named dwarvern wizard that would scare the hell out of ya. Instead they basically brought them back to 2nd edition, bordering on extinction. In fact, as far as I can tell, there are pretty much only 2 enclaves left: the east rift and mithral hall. It was very disappointing to put it mildly, especially when contrasted with the numerous elven holdings.
the cosmology is odd. while start They even made fun of the old cosmology by listing the great wheel under the gates of the moon. plus they tried to duplicate norse mythology by adding frieking giants --- must be a touch of the new mythology.
as for the gods themselves, I am glad selune is finally a greater god again. apparently she reabsorbed mystra (and possibly elistree). Disappointed by the loss of helm. as far as I'm concerned, lolth, the gothic cheerleader should never have become a greater god, but thanks to the drowamania of the realms, it's not surprising. kinda odd that asmodeus is a good now and he's known as the god kill. didn't quite catch which gods he killed edit ooh azulth, does that mean the devil lord is now the god of spellcasters?). Cyric killed mystra and then is basically sealed away for his creating of the apocalypse.
also kinda like the use of exarchs who are for all intense and purposes, saints. Fzoul is the one who has really earned it, although dying to the 2nd generation netheril was annoying.
As for places in specific, it's kinda sad how the blood stone lands ended up as the demon lands considering what the damarans went through. The blood stone series is one of my favorite of the old 1st edition modules.
Wiping out mulhorand kinda bugs me. it was one of my favorite kingdoms and with it's connection to thay seemed like an awesome living kingdom. I did like the return of imaskar to the surface, but did it have to come at the expense of mulhorand?
it's kinda neat how even though their are no rules for psionics yet, they are already talking about a series of ruins in the vilhon reach that were a psiocracy.
Calimshan feels like it has been returned to it's past with the battle of the genies returning. it is both neat, and kinda limiting. glad the twisted rune is still around and still being very scarry in spite of the genie war.
One of my biggest diappointments was the shining south. now known as the scarred south. besides smucking thee largest dwarvern population in the realms, they destroyed halrurra, returned dambrath to barberian rule (which really bugs me, I thought it was one of the neatest kingdoms the fr ever did and was kinda hoping to see it evolve), and lurian is underwater. they turned the shining lands. however, kinda like the beastlands and their kenku influence.
the dragon princes kinda feel contrived in murghom, when they already have their own land.
chetessa feels less greek, but what the biggest change for me is the fact that luthchez went from an extremely antimagic xenophobic town, to a comparative distaste. I guess their lack of magic saved them from the worst of the spell plague.
chult was a disappointment. After the awesome sourcebook and neat spins on old concepts, it feels like they threw out everything that made it distinctive. it's been reduced to a generic magic jungle and/or 2nd rate version of the isle of dread and that bugs me, especially after changing it to an island. still they remembered the flaming fists, so I guess that's something.
if their is one place that seems to be fairly untouched and may even have prospered in this period it is cormyr. same with the dalelands. they got the elven court back for protection, even if they lost the el gang. really a pity about the saurials, but they were merely driven from their homes, rather then smucked, so I fully expect 4th edition stats at some point (the finder stone trilogy is one of my favorites).
I am glad to hear that kara-tur still exists. maybe we'll finally hear what's happening on this side of the world.
kinda cheezed, but not surprised luskan got zapped. they were a fairly powerful and evil wizard town that got smucked by the spell plague
like the orcish settlement many arrows and glad it exists with a fairly prominant effect.
kinda sad the moonsea got zapped. I liked the zhents and it's a pity it's a shadow of it's original self.
Unlike many people, I get why a kingdom of serpents ended up near the high moor. they've hinted at this since first edition and it was talked about in serpents kingdoms. since their trying to be more blatant in the universe.
netheril is overrated. it was a retcon in 2nd edition that has taken a life of it's own. while I can understand them wanting to bring this kingdom of wizards back, especially with thay now undead central, I never had a real appeal of this area. I know why they brought them back in 3.5, but I actually prefered the socklike phrenium as my big bad. I can see the spellplague affecting them, but I remember when they were 30th level minimum, and they've been gradually nerfed since them.
the raurin has long been a favorite since desert of desolation modules, and I am glad they didn't change it so much.
I really like the aboleth and now that they are a big bad via the soverignty. It's one of the changes I liked eventually, especially their own version of ry'leth.
as for the rest of the sea of fallen stars, I've always kinda found it odd how their was a sea over a sea. It actually makes more sense now.
sembia was always supposed to be the plug and play kindom for the gm to play with, basically a sand box. I don't like the subjecation by netheril one bit.
most of the rest is more or less the same. really wanted an update on nimbral, which I always liked, as well as lantan.
as for abeir I like the new continent, but it feels kinda the same overall. compared to the deversity of toril, it feels kind limited. it feels like one touch dragon rulers, one part bad norse mythology. Hopefully it will diversify over time but right now, when compared to toril, it's really generic. It also kinda cheezes me that that if they had an entire continent, I wanted at least one hobgoblin kingdom. I also would have left hints of anachrome, especially the flaming fist port.
To be honest, I think I'd rather see abethir with the kingdoms that got ported there (mulderand, maztica, zakara) mixed with what's there then what was presented to us.
now we get to the underdark.
this is what really bugs me about the drow. they went from quite a bit of variety to clutching at the goth cheerleaders thong again. I loved how their were drow horking stuff from the elven court to against the goth cheerleader.
really glad blindingstone is coming back. I like gnomes
.and always loved the giant sentient fungi patch.
and really glad I found the third dwavern community
.as for threats
1. the church of bane is still a player and I so want them to kick them should be spellplague asses .
2. the church of shar if anything is about the same. they lost the shadow weave, but gained a bunch of netheril wizards.
3. cult of the dragon are a favorite, no real changes here.
4. the eminance of araunt is neat new concept. I like it and it's a neat spin on the typical tomb raid.
5. I am glad there is at least some remaints of five companies and their legendary flying ships. even if they are pirates.
6. the order of the blue fire is a fun conspiracy type villian
In conclusion, unlike in 3rd edition, which made me stand up and applaud over the changes, the 4th edition forgotten realms feels like they threw a good chunk of the baby out with the bathwater. I'm not saying they had to keep everything, but what they kept really lowered some of the things I really liked about the realms.
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