FR Update at WotC-Year of the Ageless One

[Sitara]

Whats the point of the changes if the Sword Coast (where most people play anyway) remains unchanged?

i would have preferred if they had destroyed Waterdeep, made Elminster go mad due to mystra's death and become a lich and a major setting villain, make Thay into a lawful good paladin/white mage stronghold, and have the Zhentarim completely destroy the Harpers and now be led by Elminster the LichLord.

Then the would go ahead and reveal that Elminsters successor is a wizard called Rajaat, with some very interesting take on wizardry. rajaat would go onto become a very powerful 'good' wizard, and recruit 12 apprentices of his own.

Soon, Rajaat would go on a crusade against 'evil' and start killing all evil races. he would be very popular in Faerun.

Meanwhile some adventurers would finally kill elminister the lichlord. (via published advanetures...aka your group would do this)

In dndn 5E they finally push the setting ahead 200 years, and now reveal that Rajaat and his 'champions' actually destroiyed most races; but their particular brand of wizardry somehow altered the fabric of the world. Also, Rajaat even drew upon the sun for power and thus has nearly killed it.

The setting would be renamed DarkSun, adn that would be FR's new future.

Thoughts?

 

[Shieldhaven]

I was a Realms fan for a long time, but I really disliked the direction of the continuing development of the world's flavor over the past few years. This article piques my interest again, particularly with the discussion of Cormyr and Sembia. There was a time when I didn't think I'd say this, but I'll be buying a copy of the 4e FRCS on the day of its release or very shortly thereafter.

Haven

 

[Kraydak]

What happened to dragons? The older dragons are powerful spellcasters, and thus one presumes would go insane. Unfortunately, dragon populations (especially at the older age categories) replenish very slowly (much longer than 100 years)...

Dragons are the most iconic race to have such problems, but I think a lot of races will.

 

[Kaodi]

I suppose it might be interesting to see what is in store for a middle-aged Driz'zt. A little less whirlwind of death, a little more thoughtful tactician might do him some good. And you know, with a hundred more years laid on, perhaps he will be a much more mature character now.

 

[Reaper Steve]

Looks like the FR fans on the WotC boards overwhelmingly hate these changes so far. I'm sure the 4e FRCS will still be a bestseller however.

Exactly.
Sorry, hardcore FR fans, but you've been fired. The truth is: FR as it stands has been driving people away (due to complexity and bloat) much faster than it has been attracting new players. Pretty much the only FR fans left are the hardcore fans. Left as it is, interest in FR will just dwindle away.

The big shakeup for 4E provides a new entry point and is geared to attract more new players than the number of old players it alienates. WotC knows full well that the hardcore Realms fan will think 4E FR is the suck... and they bid you adieu. They also know that despite the internet rage, many of you will eventually switch.

As an aside, I've noticed those in the 'against' camp seem to mutate their argument to remain against it.
Examples: 'OMG, they're changing the Realms!' When it's revealed that the parts of the Realms best-liked are relatively the same: 'Well, that's pretty pathetic and lazy.' Huh? You were upset they were changing it, but now you're upset that they didn't change the part you liked?
Further, while many cry that the changes are lazy, unbelievable, and poorly executed, I have yet to see one suggestion of how it could have been done better. I suspect the underlying statement is: 'they didn't change the Realms to match my exact vision of them.'

Am I defending 4E FR? Not exactly. (I admit I do like the changes and they are attracting me back to FR after over a decade.)
I'm more pointing out that the hardcore fans need to realize that they aren't the target market for this anymore.

 

[Voss]

Assuming you like the 4E rules but don't like the 4E FR, couldn't you just run 2E/3E FR using 4E rules?

Sure. If you can find other people who want to do that.

It reminds me all too much of the time of troubles. Poorly though out justifications for things that don't *need* justifying. Its much like trying to listen to Metallica after the Whiny Therapy Movie. All the weak points are rubbed in your face, and you can't quite remember what the original appeal was.

As far as the drifting earthmotes and aerial forests go, I was very tempted to make a Skyrealms of Faerun joke, but decided not enough people would remember Jorune.

 

[hopeless]

Let me get this straight...

The new FR timeline is set a century ahead...

No problem with that so far,

The spell plague causes many mages to go insane or just die outright with the dragonborn arriving from another world as a result.

Personally I'm going with those sorcerors said to have inherited their powers from dragons are transformed into the dragonborn, those with fey heritage become eladrin and those with infernal or abyssal heritage become tieflings... yes tieflings are already present but what the heck!
The deaths and insanity is because of this transformation and why those areas protected by mythals are uneffected since they do block this effect which everyone else thinks is the result of mystra's death and the breakdown of the weave, HOWEVER if that was the case the shade's city would have been expelled back into the shadowfell or whatever they call it now and the only effect on mages would be the lack of spells and liches and those dependent on magic for existance being pretty much wiped out of existance...

So I'm going with my theory, the dragonborn are local and have developed after a century of experiencing the same sort of ostracising as half elves do except people still don't like them and they developed their own communities as a result, the tieflings of whom i suspect Thay plays a major part here will be making their presence felt albeit so far the shades have been blamed since their physical change has left their true identities a secret for now.

The shades are still the bad guys they're seeking the Netherese lost legacies and had to rediscover how to cast outside of their protected city but their shadow mythal has given them a major advantage in that area as they are naturals at illusionary magic courtesy of Shar's benevolence (if you can call it that).

Anyway are they really razing hell on the wizard community boards about this?

 

[Minicol]

Sorry, hardcore FR fans, but you've been fired.

The big shakeup for 4E provides a new entry point and is geared to attract more new players than the number of old players it alienates. WotC knows full well that the hardcore Realms fan will think 4E FR is the suck... and they bid you adieu. They also know that despite the internet rage, many of you will eventually switch.

I'm more pointing out that the hardcore fans need to realize that they aren't the target market for this anymore.

Good points. You know, there 's solution to the problem : don't like something ? Do like me : don't buy it !

If you protest emptily before WOTC diktats and still keep buying their stuff, why the hell should they change their lines ? Their only weak point is their wallet, so roll a crit againt it !

 

[GVDammerung]

Whats the point of the changes if the Sword Coast (where most people play anyway) remains unchanged?

Sight unseen, of course, this is the crux of the matter to me.

I have not been a huge FR fan. As such, the 4e changes to the Realms presented the opportunity to let me reconsider the setting. I like what I've read of the changes in the Realms circa 4e but a number of the changes seem to affect only out of the way places while leaving the "core" Realms (Sword Coast, Dales, Cormyr) largely intact. Thus, it looks like the "core" stays pretty much the same but that the changes to the outer ring of areas give the core areas something new to deal with on their periphery. This is, I think, probably a "safe" strategy but hardly an inspiring one.

If the goal was to keep existing FR fans grooving but give them some new scenery at the edges, I think 4e FR works as described. If the goal was more to invite new players into FR, I don't see the changes to mainly just the periphery doing that.

IMO, the Sword Coast needed to change, and the Dalelands and Cormyr if 4e FR was not to be just 1-3X FR with a cosmetic change. "Its Malibu Stacy! And she's got a new hat!" Well, okay, but only existing Malibu Stacy fans will be excited/outraged that the same old doll has a new hat. Or would that be old hat?

 

[Darrin Drader]

I figured out what it is about this that's bugging me. It isn't that they're making fundamental changes to the setting, I mean look at the difference in the real world between 1908 and 2008. What's bugging me is that drastic changes are taking place too soon after "the present." In other words, heroes have been fighting and dying to make Faerun a better place, and what do they get for their efforts? The whole world goes mad and they have nothing to do with it!

I think this vision of FR is interesting, and actually makes me want to take a look at it, but they should have advanced the timeline further. Set it 500 years in the future, then give extensive notes on how things developed in the "modern" era for those who want to keep their games set there, and then start the 100 years of chaos at the 400 year mark. By doing it this way, it would only affect the longest living NPCs in the Realms since the others would have died by now, otherwise it would be a fresh new start.

So when do the Realms get flying cars?