FR survivalism

[grimslade]

Elminster must really have messed up your game! He never interfered in nine!

But he did interfere in ten! ;P

I would like to play a campaign in the recent aftermath of the Spellplague. It would give a whole Fall of Netheril or Jamdaath sort of vibe. I would probably set it in Thay or Algarond.

THe 4E FRCS will probably be set between the Spellplague and the Orc King prelude. You would need enough time for the traditions to arise and replace the defunct schools. Thay gets Tattoo for a focus and Rashemi witches get Masks for foci. The different traditions will create new Zulkirs except for Szass Tam. A lot needs to settle before the new campaign can commence.

 

[Terraism]

That's actually better than dead.

I'd accept that in a heartbeat.

Cheers, -- N

Damn. So would I. That's actually a really nifty way of dealing with Elminster.

 

[ChaosShard]

A member of Candlekeep ran into Chris Perkins at the Digitial Life convention and asked a few questions. One of the questions was how much a timeline jump.

Chris said that they have decided on how far forward the timeline will move, but he wasn't at liberty to say.

When asked 'Can hints be gleaned from The Orc King?', his response was "Yes."

Based on that, it is widely felt the timeline jump for the new FRCG will be 100 years.

Based on hints from the Orc King, the Spellplague was a catastrophe that lasted a number of years and the chaos of that event persists 100 years later.

So the Realms will be in a world of hurt for 100 years.

So, your choices are probably play 'into' the Spellplague and call it a campaign at some point. Or your can pick up 100 years later with new characters and a new campaign. It is extremely unlikely you will be able to play 'through' the Spellplague given its assumed duration.

All this, of course, is supposition based on reading between the lines on comments from Chris Perkins, the Grand History of the Realms and the book, The Orc King.

As for myself, I am waiting for more info before deciding what direction to take my campaign.

Hey! That was me!

Yes, Chris Perkins did say that hints could be gleaned from The Orc King, and I do get the feeling that they're pushing approximately 100 years after the Spellplague. This allows them to rebuild the pantheons, alter civilizations, establish borders, etc. and (I imagine) wrap up most of the immediate Spellplague fallout.

A few more things of interest:

They are heavyweighting the story towards the triumph of evil forces in many places, something they didn't feel they could do midway through 3.X campaigns.

"Fans of The Chosen (of Mystra) won't be too happy with us." and "We're going to provide a less omnipotent force for good." He also stated that the PCs will be the primary movers in a given campaign world.

Regions that they feel aren't played much (as his blog states) wil get hit hardest by changes.

The fate of the various Mythal cities (Myth Drannor, Evereska, Silverymoon, etc.) has been decided. Some "weather the storm better than others." This is part of a "big reveal". I'm hoping it will come at or before D&D Experience (which I'm hoping to drag the wife to )

Eladrin: Will they be something of a city (moon/high and sun/gold) Elf PC race, as opposed to the standard "woodsy" Elf pc race? "Yeah, pretty much, yeah."

So yeah, there are big things afoot... My advice (worth less than the time it takes for you to read this) is to avoid setting things during the Spellplague, and instead start with the info in the FRCS 4e, if you're into the 4e thing. Since they've already stated the the Spellplague will not have supporting novels (which, IMHO, sucks) you'll be stuck trying to work through what happened until after the FRCS is out anyway.

 

[William Ronald]

Interesting news, kheris!

I think that we will not only see a few triumphs of evil, but a few bold stands against evil that will serve as inspirations to PCs whether because they were successful or at least showed courage. (On another thread, I speculated that PCs might want to visit the site of the Symbul's Last Stand or other places where heroes of a bygone age suceeded or failed in their endeavours.)

The Realms does have a history of the rise and fall of civilizations, so there is some precedent for some major changes.

Also, another thread indicated that there would be areas of the Realms which would be left undeveloped. If you look at one of the internal maps in the FRCS, there are regions which are undeveloped currently. So, hopefully there will at least be a few undeveloped areas for DMs to tinker with on their own. (The "Here Be Dragons" scrawl on the map on some areas may or may not be accurate.)

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

As DM, do you have a plan to get your adventurers through the Spellplague and its aftermath?

Depends a bit on what WotC publishes by way of an explanation in the 4E FRCS.

Also, time doesn't move all that fast in my Realms Campaign as it is, so 4E could very well arrive with us still playing in 1375 or 1376.

I think if there's potential for good Epic Level adventures I'll work to advance the timeline and then play through it. If not, I'll keep things slow and take a few real life years (should our campaign continue that long) to plan it all out.