Forgotten Realms...build up/bash

[S'mon]

What I don't like about the realms: The celebrity characters feel kind of cheesy, and don't contribute much.

This is what caused my hat of RF to now no limit - back in 1e I bought the grey box Forgotten Realms set and found it to be full of the cheesiest most godawful 'celebrity' NPCs. Inevitably my attempts to GM the setting turned into celebrity-killing sprees - I gave up pretty fast.

Edit: Sorry Ed Greenwood fans, but he is just an awful world-builder. His female NPCs in particular suck (or blow). IYKWIMAITYD

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I just think it's dull. Admittedly, the very fact that it's so standardised to D&D's sensibilities is part of that - it's just too pseudo-Tolkien/pseudo-European/pseudo-Renaissance/pseudo-everything ever for me. I like settings to have strong unifying feeling to them, and the Forgotten Realms are too old and have been overseen by too many creators and writers for that.

Plus, my God, the ELVES.

 

[S'mon]

Also I think that having the Realms' signature character & its creator's in-setting avatar be a randy ripoff of Gandalf has to be the worst design decision ever. Who doesn't hate Elminster (who isn't Ed Greenwood)?

Elminster reminds me of the aged gunfighter in Unforgiven, with one difference:

"I've shagged every living thing that walked or crawled..."

 

[Ultrazen]

Also I think that having the Realms' signature character & its creator's in-setting avatar be a randy ripoff of Gandalf has to be the worst design decision ever. Who doesn't hate Elminster (who isn't Ed Greenwood)?

Elminster reminds me of the aged gunfighter in Unforgiven, with one difference:

"I've shagged every living thing that walked or crawled..."

Elminster is mildly amusing once you realize he's completely mad.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

The Forgotten Realms are the stereotypical fantasy setting. It's not terribly original (though part of it may come from the fact that it established many of the sterotypes of D&D...), and it is often not very logically consistent.

But in the hands of the right DM it can be lots of fun, and its numerous stereotypes make sure that players have an easy time of getting into the setting.

Forget all your quibbles about the weird demographics, the numerous high-level NPCs, the multitude of available magics that nonetheless make less of an impact on society than one would think.

Just relax, don't worry too much about these things, and have fun adventuring - whether your foe this week is a young half-fiendish silver dragon or Alchemical Killer Zombie Chicken(TM).

 

[Vanion]

@ wingsandsword

I get what you're saying, and the modern analogy certainly wasn't the best one to use. But as Felon said, FR simply takes it too far, especially since the local situations in a lot of nations aren't made out to be nearly as bad as real mediaeval and renaissance counterparts were.

To whoever mentioned Greyhawk, it's probably my least favourite setting. Most designed with broad appeal simply aren't anything vaguely realistic.

 

[Shemeska]

I started in 3e, I'll judge versus quality of any edition

I like it and I've used it as a rather frequent stopping spot in some of the side plots in my 3e Planescape game.

And therein is one of the two things I don't like about FR:

1) Overly active deities who meddle far too much in the lives of their worshippers.

2) They F'ing ruined the planes for FR in 3e. They split it off into its own universe with the only attempt to explain away the invalidation of 20+ years of planar material being "its always been that way". The 'new' planes are poorly fleshed out shadows or outright mockeries of the former planes or deific domains of the realms gods.

Everything besides the planar material is still well done, but it's made me return at least one book (Players Guide to Faerun) because of the trainwreck they created with the FR planes.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

2) They F'ing ruined the planes for FR in 3e. They split it off into its own universe with the only attempt to explain away the invalidation of 20+ years of planar material being "its always been that way". The 'new' planes are poorly fleshed out shadows or outright mockeries of the former planes or deific domains of the realms gods.

After one of my players wanted to take the "Sensate" prestige class from the Planar Handbook, I decided to switch back to the Great Wheel cosmology. About time I get some use out of my huge Planescape collection, too...

 

[Desdichado]

Obviously. I started gaming in the Realms with 3e. I don't see why I should judge it by its old supplements .. just like I don't judge D&D by 1st or 2nd editions, which I absolutely hated

You shouldn't. But you have to think that other players who've been involved for a long time with the Realms are affected by its legacy of older products. If I could play FR with a bunch of folks who didn't have loads of background on 2e products, the tone of 2e products, the reams of historical and novel information, and all that, it'd be a very different experience than if I can't. The first is at least sorta appealing; the second is not at all.

 

[Desdichado]

2) They F'ing ruined the planes for FR in 3e. They split it off into its own universe with the only attempt to explain away the invalidation of 20+ years of planar material being "its always been that way". The 'new' planes are poorly fleshed out shadows or outright mockeries of the former planes or deific domains of the realms gods.

I thought it was one of the better things they did with FR in 3e. Why try to tie all their campaign settings together under the umbrella of some uber-setting? I thought that was the cheesiest design decision made in TSR days. I like that the FR now has a unique cosmology. IMO, every good setting deserves one.