Future Forgotten Realms Novels: Canon or Not?

[humble minion]

The problem is not that the novels are considered canon, it's what's written in the novels that is the problem. The continual string of RSE's, one after the other (and recently, overlapping. I.e. The Year of Rogue Dragons and the Elven Crusade novels) makes it hard to keep up with the changes in the Realms, and lessens the impact of them.

Now, if the FR novel department concentrated on smaller scale plots for the majority of their novels, I think it would be great. Adventurers setting out to meet local challenges, detailing the various cities and towns around the Realms. I'd happily buy those novels. They are even quite doable in the 'current' Realms. It's been proven by the Sembia series, the Wizards/Rogues/Fighters series etc.

However, we have a situation where we are getting RSE's nigh on constantly. That's not to say RSE's are necessarily a bad thing, but all things in moderation. Cutting down the RSE's to maybe once every two or three years in real time would be nice.

I was writing something similar, but you covered it all perfectly.

Don't care if they're canon or not, just stop having them intrude so violently on the rest of the setting. It's a pretty damn sad situation when the FR novel head honchos can't come up with interesting stories to tell in the Realms without blowing up Cormyr, or Thay, or resurrecting Myth Drannor, or whatever.

(And considering the volumes of a novel trilogy tend to be released over a 2-3 year period, I'd probably make the frequency of RSEs less than that. But that's just me.)

 

[Faraer]

Agreed, too. Missing the point to decanonize books like the Knights of Myth Drannor and Songs & Swords series on account of the RSEs.

 

[Dacileva]

Agreed, too. Missing the point to decanonize books like the Knights of Myth Drannor and Songs & Swords series on account of the RSEs.

The point, though, is that if the books aren't canon by default, that lets you use what you like from novels, and skip what you don't.

I run Eberron. I have read all the Eberron novels that aren't hardcover (much, much harder to do with Forgotten Realms, unless you've been at it for decades). I like most of them, and I'm sure that (for instance), if my Eberron game ended up in Sigilstar, and the Silver Flame church came up, I'd probably use the magistrate/prelate from the "Legacy of Wolves" novel as the church authority, because he was a memorable character. Similarly, if the party needs help in an adventure, and I don't have any good party NPCs ready, I might base one off a character from one of the novels, because I'm familiar with them and they're already Eberron characters.

While you could do this with the Realms, too, the treatment of novels as canon by the setting makes things much more difficult, and tends to fragment the setting's fans.

For instance, I've run the Realms in the past, and I said, "Everything in the setting book is true. However, anything you know from novels? Ignore it. This is my Realms, not Cunningham's, or Salvatore's, or anyone else's." Now, if I was still running it for 3e, I'd have the same problem. None of the big RSEs would have happened in my campaign, so when 4e came around, and my players wanted to use material from the 4e FRCS, I'd have to accept all this novel canon that contradicted much of how my game worked, or rewrite huge swathes of the 4e FRCS. Luckily, I'm bored with the Realms anyway, and don't plan to return there.

Thus, I voted "No".

 

[jdrakeh]

Gawd, no.

The most noticeable past impact of FR novels being designated "canon" was the introduction of several rule-breaking NPCs into the setting and the subsequent placement of said NPCs at the center of every major setting conflict, thus hopelessly overshadowing PCs both mechanically and thematically.

The second most noticeable past impact of FR novels being designated "canon" was to constrain both game designers and Dungeon Masters in regard to setting development, requiring both to incorporate events of the novels into FR verbatim in order to sustain an "official" setting status.

Both of those things harmed the setting immeasurably, IMHO.

 

[Uzzy]

The point, though, is that if the books aren't canon by default, that lets you use what you like from novels, and skip what you don't.

This is true. However, if the canonical books are smaller scale, then they are easier to ignore in your game. Canon or not is not the issue here. The problems mentioned by those in this thread can be solved just by changing the emphasis of the novel line.

Songs and Swords, Knights of Myth Drannor and the Sembia series deserve to be canon. They are all written with a real feel for the setting, and don't go about destroying it. As canon, they add considerably to the setting. As you said Dacileva, you'd use some of the memorable characters from the Eberron books, as they are a good base. Well, so are many of the smaller scale books in the Realms. Want a feel for Waterdeep? No better books to read the Songs and Swords. Want to know about Cormyr? No better book then Cormyr, the Novel. (Sure, there should be a proper sourcebook for Cormyr, but that's another discussion!)

(And considering the volumes of a novel trilogy tend to be released over a 2-3 year period, I'd probably make the frequency of RSEs less than that. But that's just me.)

True. I'd use RSE's in a different way though. Take the Elven Crusade, for instance. I'd not just have a four book novel line (Counting Realms of the Elves), but I'd release a sourcebook for it. Adventures relating to the campaign. Maps. New art. Heck, Force Dispositions, new magic. The whole nine yards. Make the RSE's a real big event, worthy of the name! But, keep them infrequent. The exact gap between each RSE isn't important. 2, 3 or even 5 years.

 

[Belorin]

This is true. However, if the canonical books are smaller scale, then they are easier to ignore in your game. Canon or not is not the issue here. The problems mentioned by those in this thread can be solved just by changing the emphasis of the novel line.

Songs and Swords, Knights of Myth Drannor and the Sembia series deserve to be canon. They are all written with a real feel for the setting, and don't go about destroying it. As canon, they add considerably to the setting. As you said Dacileva, you'd use some of the memorable characters from the Eberron books, as they are a good base. Well, so are many of the smaller scale books in the Realms. Want a feel for Waterdeep? No better books to read the Songs and Swords. Want to know about Cormyr? No better book then Cormyr, the Novel. (Sure, there should be a proper sourcebook for Cormyr, but that's another discussion!)

This would be a good thing, but how many authors can really write a small adventure well? Or want to? Most (and I generalize here) feel they need big storylines to make the story exciting. True, some can and do write the small story exceedingly well, others not so well.

True. I'd use RSE's in a different way though. Take the Elven Crusade, for instance. I'd not just have a four book novel line (Counting Realms of the Elves), but I'd release a sourcebook for it. Adventures relating to the campaign. Maps. New art. Heck, Force Dispositions, new magic. The whole nine yards. Make the RSE's a real big event, worthy of the name! But, keep them infrequent. The exact gap between each RSE isn't important. 2, 3 or even 5 years.

Great idea and one I would like to see implemented!!

 

[MisterWhodat]

The idea that a game world, in this case the Forgotten Realms, can not be run effectively because of uber NPC's is a cop out. I and another DM share a game, and we have been doing so for going on ten years, all in the Realms. I can count on one hand the amount of times we have run across an uber character from the novels. Until our characters get to high levels most might not even have heard of them.

Sure in our Silver Marches game most of the players had heard of Drizzt, but none of us ever met him. In a Waterdeep campaign, we actually did go to ask The Blackstaff for help but were turned away very rudely, putting the onus on the party to get the problem solved. The point is, no matter which side you take in this there are any number of ways to use the novel characters, or not to.

I am in the middle of the second book in the Twilight War series, and there is a paladin of Lathander that I think would make a cool NPC, not to overrun the party but to add flavor to a setting.

I agreed with an earlier post that said why read the book if it's not canon and affecting the game world, but on the flip of that if I don't care for the book I just don't allow it to be canon in my version of the Realms. There is room for everyone in this argument I just wanted to throw my nickel into the fountain.

Can’t wait to see the end result, I hope the good far outweighs the bad.

 

[howandwhy99]

I'm against torture, murder, and that stuff. But for the word "Canon", I might be persuaded to change my mind.

It's the opposite definition to RPG.

 

[WayneLigon]

No, they shouldn't be canon. Indeed, I think they should just do clean install. Drop everything and say 'nothing in the novels ever was canon'.

 

[Faraer]

This would be a good thing, but how many authors can really write a small adventure well? Or want to? Most (and I generalize here) feel they need big storylines to make the story exciting.

Most Realms novels aren't large-scale like RSEs, and I don't have any sense that authors clamour to write them over smaller books. If anything, the reverse: it took 20 years for Ed to get to write novels with his own choice of protagonists.