D&D General Forgotten Realms - why do you still like running games here? +

[aco175]

I did get a lot of use from the Cloak and Dagger book from 2e with the evil societies.

 

[SableWyvern]

I've only liked the idea of running games in the Forgotten Realms for less than a year (including a single, solitary session so far, with the second scheduled for this weekend), so I'd say it's a bit early for me to bored or over it.

I am using the 1e boxed set and FR5 Savage Frontier as my primary materials, with Rolemaster as my ruleset.

I have zero interest in the current iteration of the Realms, but I've been very pleasantly surprised by what I've found in the Savage Frontier -- it's a magnificent product that provides a framework for a somewhat gritty, high fantasy sandbox in a points of light setting.

A big shoutout to @Yora, whose blog and posts here went a long way towards moving me from, "Rolemaster Forgotten Realms could be fun," to, "I need to do this."


Edit: To address question five from the OP, while I read some of the novels back in the day (mostly the Icewind Dale stuff), I barely remember any of it. However, one of my players is well versed in the details of those novels and the old Gold Box games set in a similar time period and, even though my campaign isn't going to play much attention to the events portrayed there, they do like the fact they get to play in this world they've known about for decades.

 

[gban007]

I also shouldn't understate impact of Baldurs Gate 1 and 2, coming out around when I first started playing in the Realms, and both great games that also got me hooked.

 

[gban007]

How do you approach the setting? What I like is in; what I don't is not. I twist, change, pick and choose at my own liking. That way, the long history ceases to become a chain and becomes a toolbox. I lean into the aspects that interest me, steal from other settings, change bits here or there that I think make it more evocative, etc. I do forbid my players from browsing the FR wiki and enforce such forbiddance stringently; any knowledge they get about the setting comes from me.

While I understand this, especially if making tweaks, one of the reasons I like DMing in published settings is that the players could know as much as I, and we explore it all together. They may as a result know more than a PC does, but at same time have a better likelihood of knowing what a PC would than starting afresh in a new unknown world, where they know less than a PC would.

 

[gban007]

And another thought sorry! While not one of my favorites these days, Spellfire really gave be an early feel of the atmosphere- that there are plenty of dangerous places, and lots of adventurers getting in and out of trouble, not all of whom will survive.

 

[Clint_L]

There are quite a few classic adventures set there, most particularly Lost Mine of Phandelver, and it's a good, fairly generic high fantasy setting which makes it easy to plug and play.

 

[Weird Dave]

I've been running D&D for 30 years now, and while I acquired many of the 2E Forgotten Realms boxed sets and accessories in the 90s, for many years my only connection the setting was the novels. And there were a lot, and they ranged all over the place, which felt for me like established ground. I didn't want to use the setting for my game because it felt like all of these named, story-based NPCs were already there. And for a period of time, it felt like everything was tied to Drizzt Do'Urden to a nauseating degree.

The 3E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting was (heck, still is) an absolute treasure in terms of usable content for building campaigns set almost anywhere in Faerun. Sure, there were stats for some key hero NPCs, but they didn't bother me. The setting had so much rich lore and the maps were so gorgeous and evocative. I ended up picking up many of the 3E supplements, but for the most part they were fun reading material due to life circumstances. I did try to get a City of the Spider Queen campaign off the ground but it died in session 0 due to lack of player interest (interest in gaming in general at the time, not specifically FR). I still have the metal drider miniatures from Reaper I bought for that campaign painted up and ready to use! Some day ...

Fast forward a bit and I started running games for Adventurers League at GenCon 2014 with the launch of the 5E rules, and the adventures were fun, plain and simple. Sure, as DMs we had to wear horribly itchy cult robes for the con, but I had so much fun running players through the one hour mini adventures. Phlan was a fun setting, the factions were iconic, and the adventures did a great job of empowering the DM to make it their game at their table. My home game turned towards FR as well, partly because the content being released was set there - I ran Legacy of the Crystal Shard for my home group, which was a total blast! AL was my main game for many years between GenCon, GaryCon, Gamehole Con, and Origins, and I ran games at my FLGS for a few years too. Undermountain and Myth Drannor are my two favorite places in the whole Realms, but Vaasa, Cormyr, the Moonsea, Sword Coast, and more are interesting, evocative places to set adventures.

I've found myself enjoying Forgotten Realms thanks to its rich details and high fantasy spirit, along with its villains and powerful factions. I love the sense of adventure that permeates each corner of Faerun. I wish I had players that were invested in the setting since it's readily accessible, but I've learned my home group just doesn't lock into settings. Which is fine, totally fine, I'm fine.

 

[Tonguez]

Why? I run games in FR because it is a near-endless spring of ideas. Many brilliant designers, creators, novelists and worldbuilders have labored on FR, each adding a twist or bit, and now I'm spoiled not only for adventure ideas but by variations of the campaign setting. There's a kernel in each major character, nation, faction, or region that will interest you, even if you discard the rest.

I dont use FR per se, but its so expansive that I will refer back to its Lore and use its locations, factions and characters and set pieces as inspiration for my own games

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I use it for most campaigns because it is familiar with vast lore to draw upon available on a handy wiki, but nobody I play with is actually invested enough to care when we change something or make up our own stuff.

Also it's so kitchen sink and cosmopolitan that it can accommodate almost whatever the hell people want to play among 5e rules and somewhat beyond. Go ahead, be a homebrew furry race bloodhunter with a pistol and a meme name. In the Forgotten Realms I don't care, there can be some village where that is normal and if not you're not the first interloper from elsewhere in the multiverse. You're not messing up the aesthetics of my own curated fantasy setting or one I care about, or that most people I'm likely to play with are inclined to care about.

Meanwhile you try that crap in a Middle Earth campaign (or some other setting people are highly invested in, possibly because they created it) and half the table is going to be livid. Also both DM and players feel more reticent to just make stuff up in the imagination game if it is a setting that people are highly invested in. Even if one of them created it then everyone else is going to not feel entitled to make it their own without direct encouragement from that auteur.

So counterintuitively my players and I usually stick to the Forgotten Realms because we don't really care about the Forgotten Realms and that makes it a good backdrop for D&D. If I ever actually were to play with someone who was super into the realms, who had read a slew of FR novels, knew the "main characters" of the setting well, and was generally likely to be offended by lore changes I would suggest we play in a different setting.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

A positive post about this setting which is simultaneously legendary and divisive. Over the decades we've read endless posts about the high level PCs (overblown, imo), the world shattering events, the neverending pages of canon that weigh the setting down etc. etc.

Yet many people still game here. Some never left.

So for those of you who still choose to run their games here:

1. Why

It’s fun, and most of my players have some aspect of the setting they like.

2. How do you approach the setting (everything is in, stick to one edition, gray box only etc.)?

My FR continuity pretends 5e didn’t happen, and continues on from 4e, with some tweaks like pretty much no spellplague leftover areas, and it’s less points of light. Basically the vibe is similar to the 5e realms but the canon is closer to 4e. Netheril hasn’t fallen and is instead in the midst of rebellion, but Cormyr doesn’t have the 4e edgelord changes or additions like a prison city.

3. How long has it been your campaign setting of choice?

It isn’t, but it’s been one of many for about 20 years.

4. What are your favorite game supplements?

The 4e Neverwinter book, the Baldur’s Gate games…

5. Do you like any of the novels? Which ones? And do you use the novels for game material?

The Everis Cale books are good, and I like the ES De Bie books, and Elaine Cunningham, and others I’m forgetting. The Elminster books are fun.