[FRealms] Change in tone from 1E to 2E?

[Faraer]

It's an understandable impression, but it's wrong. There are novels, in which the protagonists, as in commercial fiction generally, largely win out in the end. But throughout the lore there are many times more examples of evildoing that's either not dealt with at all or by PCs in modules; and the published lore mentions a tiny fraction of all the many-stranded happenings in Faerûn.

There are also many more evil and self-interested power groups than good-aligned ones. Here's another example of the difference between the Realms and its presentation: a closer reading of the sources shows that they consistently over-stress the well-known (to us) groups over the smaller, local ones such as merchant cabals, whose combined influence is just as important.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The good thing is that it's quite easy to run the 1e-feel FR using the 3e FRCS. Just ditch any named NPC above 9th level, retcon a few items (the destruction of Tilverton is one that stuck in my craw) and you're there. Easy to do if you have the grey box handy for comparison, but not too hard without it.

 

[marune]

I really don't understand something because many of the famous high-level NPCs were included in the Old grey box and were always part of Ed's Realms.

Of course the novels of the 2e era were probably too focused on them and it was an error.

However, they are an important part of what "the Realms" is and ditching them should not be the recommended solution.

The "I can't go in Shadowdale kill dozens of commoners if I wish" is not what I consider a good reason for ditching them