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

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Again we're faced with the question of whether a setting adjusts to fit the rules, or whether rules adjust to fit the setting. I tend to believe that setting and story come first, though there should be some amount of compromise.

We had the Time of Troubles to explain AD&D to AD&D 2nd ed.

We had retconning to explain AD&D 2nd ed. to 3e.

Excluding the idea of dropping the setting and not advancing into the next rule system so as to keep setting purity, 4e FR was going to do one or the other to explain the changes in the rules. Yet another cataclysm or yet another bout of retconning.

 

[SPECTRE666]

Wow WoTC really has some cast iron ***** to do what it looks like the are planning to do! I had kinda gotten burned out on the setting. I really think I can get with what they are doing. Trim the fat, of a BLOATED SETTING. Dont get me wrong I love the REALMS, it just got to be a little to much for me. Yeah my first post here at enworld. LONG LIVE THE REALMS!!!!

 

[Nyeshet]

Okay, the Weave is gone, but what about the Shadow Weave? Is Shar the new default goddess of magic? Also, wasn't the purpose of the Chosen to anchor the Weave so that - if Mystra died - it would somehow survive (in some form, at least until another took up the mantle of deity of magic)?

Also, are they still using the Roll Of Years? If we skip a whole 100 years to 1485 (or whenever), then it gets even crazier. We skip the so many interesting sounding years!!

1385 Blue Fire

The following years just sound so interesting! Allusions to Shar twice, the Phaerimm, the Shades, the Seven Sisters, and the Shalarins (whatever they are). If we only jump forward 10 years (to the Year of Blue Fire), it seems that the seven sisters will survive for at least another 40 years, as 1425 is named for them.

1406 the Blackened Moon
1410 the Eight-legged Mount
1417 the Phaerimm's Vengeance
1419 the Empty Necropolis
1420 the Dark Goddess
1422 the Advancing Shadows
1423 Thundering Hosts
1425 Seven Sisters
1427 the Shalarins Surfacing
1428 the Elfqueen's Joy

The 8 years of Silence (1432 - 1439)
1432 Silent Thunder
1433 the Silent Departure
1434 the Silent Crickets
1435 the Silent Bell
1436 Silent Shadows
1437 the Silent Flute
1438 Silent Waterfalls
1439 the Silent Tear

These years sound VERY interesting.
1440 Azuth's Woe
1441 Resurrections Rampant

1449 the Godly Invitation
1450 Holy Thunder

The odd 5 years devoted to elves.

1461 Three Goddesses Blessing
1462 the Elves' Weeping
1463 the Reborn Hero
1464 the Six-Armed Elf
1465 the Elven Swords Returned

The 12(14?) years devoted to circles.

1466 the Mages in Amber
1467 the Three Heroes United
1468 the First Circle
1469 Splendors Burning
1470 the Second Circle
1471 the Plagued Lords
1472 the Third Circle
1473 the Heretic's Rampage
1474 the Fourth Circle
1475 the Final Stand
1476 the Fifth Circle
1477 the Purloined Statue
1478 the Dark Circle
1479 the Ageless One

After 100 years, this is what we have to look forward to: Nether reborn?

1484 the Awakened Sleepers
(1485 the Iron Dwarf's Vengeance)
1486 the Nether Mountain Scrolls
1487 the Rune Lords Triumphant

What happened that Dwarvenkind was considered dead? Are dwarves somehow suddenly made fundamentally different?

1488 Dwarvenkind Reborn

I really really hope Xena is not suddenly a part of the realms. :j/k:

1489 the Warrior Princess

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All this said, I find Helm's death rather ignoble and lacking, the whole setup with Tyr and Tymora odd, the removal of Mystra and Cyric strange but understandable (esp if Kellemvor is also removed / replaced), and the death of most non-greater deities (and presumably the greater 'distance' between the Prime and the (planes of the) greater deities) thought provoking. I hope the timeline does not jump 100 years as it has some much potential for interest during those hundred years (from the names of said years), but I guess we will have to wait and see. On the other hand, can you imagine the turmoil of killing off 1/2+ of the deities of Faerun? Far worse than a mere Time of Trouble, scores of religions are rendered moot, their clerics powerless, their peoples at the mercy of the suddenly crazy and hyper dangerous world around them - especially as most magic casters, spells, and items are likely no longer working due to the death / chaos of magic. Possibly the only reason magic still exists at all is due to Shar and the few Chosen still alive, acting as anchors to various tatters of what is left of the Weave. A dark time indeed . . .

I also find interesting the fact that Sune, rather like a Fey Queen creating her own Court - seems to be creating a new pantheon around herself in Brightwater. With the destruction of some many deities, it would seem that any former organization of the faerun pantheon is in tatters, and just before it became so Sune drew to herself several from diverse portfolios. I'm guessing that rather than a single all pervasive pantheon for faerun, there will be several composed of several individuals (such as Sune's) as well as several deities not really associated with any pantheon.

 

[The Human Target]

I'm a pretty huge Realms fan, and this is all 100% fine with me.

Actually, I think its rather exciting, and I'll more than likely run a 4e Realms game at some juncture this time next year.

 

[Imruphel]

I've been a huge fan of FR since the original boxed set (actually, since the original Dragon articles) but I think this latest series of events is the proverbial "jumping of the shark". What I wanted from FR4E was a lot more smaller stories and far fewer RSEs. This set of events sounds even more appalling than the Time of Troubles.

Urghhh... time to find another campaign setting.

Anyway, I have stuck with D&D because I enjoy the FR world. I think this is the end of any chance of me picking up 4E products. I'm 38 now, happy with 3.5E and with enough products to keep me gaming over two or three lifetimes. This thread has thus gone and saved me a lot of money!

 

[mhacdebhandia]

1427 the Shalarins Surfacing - I bet this is

Spoiler

the coming of the aboleths mentioned in the new Drizzt novel.

 

[Perun]

While some of the changes show certain promise, I fear that FR will become the new Dragonlance.

Spellplague is the second world-shattering event in, what, 30 years? (ToT was somewhere in 1350s, right?)

IN DL they had Cataclysm, then they found the god, then there was the Chaos War thingie (which plummeted DL into the DL 5th Age Saga System), and the gods left, but they returned later on... etc. it's like a never-ending game of now-you-see-me-now-you-don't.

I'm all for tiding the Realms up a bit -- it's a complete mess right now, with a bunch of over-powered, barely interesting super-adventurer NPCs and utterly moronic foes (Red Wizards, I'm looking at you), with a smattering of other things of varying interestness (is that a word?) (naturally, this last bit is completely and utterly IMO, your opinions on the interestness matter may vary wildly).

So, now, quite suddenly, we have a bunch of gods, who have been coexisting (peacefully or otherwise) in the Realms for millennia, killing each other in a very short amount of time (even if the 4e FR officially starts in 1400s, what's a hundred years to a deity?), and the goddess of magic, frequently advertised as the most powerful deity in Faerun, ends up dead for the third time in the recorded history... :\

Meh. If this is the alternative, I'm all for retconning.

 

[Lurks-no-More]

Meh. If this is the alternative, I'm all for retconning.

Agreed. And the changes involved here are, IMO, both stupid and annoying.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I'll have to renew my ENWorld membership at some point so I can post a link to my "Die, Mystra, Die!" thread from earlier this year.

I've just done a search for you, and I can only find two threads by you with Mystra in it, neither of which are die mystra die - so I can only assume that your thread you are thinking of were lost in the great board crash of earlier this year, I'm afraid.

Cheers

 

[Tharen the Damned]

I'm all for tiding the Realms up a bit -- it's a complete mess right now, with a bunch of over-powered, barely interesting super-adventurer NPCs and utterly moronic foes (Red Wizards, I'm looking at you), with a smattering of other things of varying interestness (is that a word?) (naturally, this last bit is completely and utterly IMO, your opinions on the interestness matter may vary wildly).

Well, the Spellplague should take care of the Red Wizards.