D&D 4E FR 4E SPOILER - Grand Histoy of the Realms info

[catsclaw227]

My copy of the book will likely ship Tuesday, so I will have to make some time to read through it over the next month or so.

 

[Fobok]

I don't get why some people are calling this a 'reset button'. That would imply that all the history is getting wiped out. That isn't true. Sure, Luskan may be destroyed, but they aren't suddenly saying it was never there. Sembia may be in chaos by the time of The Orc King's prologue, but given the way that it was described it could just mean, possibly, a civil war. In any case, the history is still there, no matter what happens.

Empires of old may lay in ruins now, but there's nothing new about that in the Forgotten Realms. New ones will rise up from the ashes, I'm sure. If they haven't by the time of the FRCS book, that just gives a campaign goal.

NPCs may be dead, but most are mortals, and thus there's no reason to expect they'd all live through a time jump. Many others will probably do still live. We know at least two do. (Drizzt and Elminster.) Those complaining about the frequency of the RSE's suddenly have at least 10 years to play in without worrying about having to keep up with novels, (because you now have the timeline of events to reference in the Grand History), possibly 100 after FRCS comes out.

Is it a big shake-up? Definitely. I welcome it, though, because even with what little I know so far I have many, many story ideas. And, if having fewer deities and NPCs around brings in more people to the setting, all the better.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

I don't get why some people are calling this a 'reset button'. That would imply that all the history is getting wiped out. That isn't true. Sure, Luskan may be destroyed, but they aren't suddenly saying it was never there. Sembia may be in chaos by the time of The Orc King's prologue, but given the way that it was described it could just mean, possibly, a civil war. In any case, the history is still there, no matter what happens.

It's a "reset" because even though all that history remains, it doesn't remain relevant.

 

[Malhost Zormaeril]

It may be an artifact of me starting out in 2e, but I always thought it was interesting to have a Good-aligned deity of magic. It broke the pattern of every other single D&D pantheon I've seen, where the deity of magic is constrained to be LN or N...

And yes, colour me unimpressed by yet another great catastrophe barely a decade after the last one. I guess it's unavoidable to some extent, as it's not just the Realms (Dragonlance and Star Wars are major offenders as well), but I wish that writers had less of a need to top the last catastrophe with an even greater one...

Finally, I'm a bit stumped by others here complaining about retconning. After all, the vast majority of campaign settings (Greyhawk, Mystara, Lankhmar, Eberron, etc., etc.) don't feel the need to explain away why things work differently from one edition to another. I guess it's convenient to sell more novels...

 

[Fobok]

It's a "reset" because even though all that history remains, it doesn't remain relevant.

Why not? Did, after World War II, suddenly all the history that existed before it suddenly no longer get discussed? Because I remember taking history classes that went on at great lengths about it, and how what happened then shaped the world as it exists today. The cold war's over now too, but we're still feeling the effects of it.

Some empires may be gone, but the fact that they existed, within a century, still leaves tons of story opportunities. And, it's not like all kingdoms in the world may be gone. Sure, you might have the Kingdom of Many-Arrows in the Silver Marches, but Silverymoon and Mithril Hall are still there. What's to say Waterdeep, Amn, Tethyr, Cormyr, etc. aren't still there too?

 

[Fobok]

Finally, I'm a bit stumped by others here complaining about retconning. After all, the vast majority of campaign settings (Greyhawk, Mystara, Lankhmar, Eberron, etc., etc.) don't feel the need to explain away why things work differently from one edition to another. I guess it's convenient to sell more novels...

Actually, it's pretty much a necessity of selling novels. Many novel readers don't even look at D&D, and they'd brush off possibly good novels as bad writing if suddenly wizards (who make up a large portion of novel characters) work their magic differently with no explanation.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Why not? Did, after World War II, suddenly all the history that existed before it suddenly no longer get discussed? Because I remember taking history classes that went on at great lengths about it, and how what happened then shaped the world as it exists today. The cold war's over now too, but we're still feeling the effects of it.

Some empires may be gone, but the fact that they existed, within a century, still leaves tons of story opportunities. And, it's not like all kingdoms in the world may be gone. Sure, you might have the Kingdom of Many-Arrows in the Silver Marches, but Silverymoon and Mithril Hall are still there. What's to say Waterdeep, Amn, Tethyr, Cormyr, etc. aren't still there too?

Historical events could still be discussed, but they don't really affect lives, or more importantly, adventures. For example, when is the last time you went to some sort of get-together because of Pearl Harbor? Now what about 9-11?

As time passes, and other major events happen, events of the past become less impacting on daily life. That's what I'm talking about.

Got a player who can quote the name of every major NPC in the Realms? Does that mess with your plot ideas? Well fear not, most of them are dead now.

 

[BlackMoria]

I will wait to see just how much of a car wreck all this is, but as it stands right now, they driven my favorite setting into the ditch.

Seems like they very nearly blew the Realms up, figuratively speaking, taking the information from the Orc King and this into account.

I dread what 5E will bring if this is how the Realms gets smashed to fit into the 4E box.

Color me disappointed.

 

[Fobok]

Historical events could still be discussed, but they don't really affect lives, or more importantly, adventures. For example, when is the last time you went to some sort of get-together because of Pearl Harbor? Now what about 911?

Neither, since I'm not American. But, Remembrance Day is a big deal every year, schools give presentations, TV networks change their programming, and so on. And that was about the end of World War I.

And, remember, 100 years may be a lot for humans, but in a setting with elves, dragons, liches, and many other things who live many centuries, it's not so far in the past.

Got a player who can quote the name of every major NPC in the Realms? Does that mess with your plot ideas? Well fear not, most of them are dead now.

Actually, I'm the only one around here with that much knowledge of Forgotten Realms.

 

[Arnwyn]

Hey, look! It's the Time of Troubles v2.0. A fantastic idea, because the first one was loved so much.

I haven't read a FR novel in about a decade.
I think I'll keep the trend going after reading this thread.

Wow, I used to love the Realms too.

Word. I stopped in 2000, and haven't looked back. Thank goodness, if this is the crap we're being saddled with.

Big thumbs down. (But then, I'm a big non-fan of RSEs, so that's my bias showing.) No more FR purchases for this consumer - but I'm sure this new FR will be good for all the newcomers.