Have you been disillusioned by the Forgotten Realms?

[Aaron L]

being of a particular FR subrace like drow or gold elves...

Well, I dont think gold elves are all that exotic in the Realms, and I certainly wouldnt lump them together with drow...

 

[MrFilthyIke]

Nope, but have'nt played it in a while. Still a nice world though.

 

[Kilmore]

I don't mind the posse of high-level NPC's so much. It's easier to explain where they came from if you need from what is available rather coming up with a 22nd level necromancer who's been hiding under a rock for the last seven years of game-play. Plus having high level characters around makes it more believable when your party is high level and you get an equally high level PC joining the group from out of nowhere.

 

[Iron Sheep]

The Forgotten Realms is the one published setting that I want to run a 3.5 game in that I haven't (I've used Greyhawk as a default setting, but usually use a homebrew).

That said, while I like the 3rd edition sourcebooks, I would set the game in the era of the 1st edition gray box. I always have thought that the Time of Troubles stuff was stupid, and although there have always been novel tie-ins with FR, they seem to be more and more dictating the setting.

In my mind, because of FR's breadth and scope, its not really designed for world-spanning epic "avert-the-cataclysm" and "change-the-world" adventures: there are too many well-established NPCs who would deal with the problem more effectively than any non-Epic party; and there's too many different and distinct areas within the Realms to give a proper feel for the consequences of epic events.

Rather, the Realms ought to be about bands of heroes making their corner of the world a little better. When you want variety, you start a new campaign in a different corner of the world. The huge amount of published material that you can mine allows you to make this sort of adventure very effective with minimal work, but you also have the backdrop of well-developed distant lands should you choose to drag things that way.

So I'm not really disillusioned: the 3rd edition FR supplements are excellent. But I also am disillusioned: FR as a setting has gone to hell in a handbasket since the novels started dictating large-scale events.

Corran

 

[danbuter]

I gave up on the Forgotten Realms in general during the Time of Troubles. It was a ham-fisted story that you couldn't ignore if you bought any later products.

 

[frankthedm]

There is nothing wrong with the realms a Far Rælm incursion could not cure.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

· How do you feel about the setting now, and why do you feel that way?

I buy the books, I play in it, but it’s like a bastard child to me... I put up with it mostly cause its really the only 2nd setting being supported by WotC and I would like to think its as good and wonderful of the settings I would really like to see supported...

· Are you as happy with it as you are Greyhawk and Eberron, the other two supported settings?

Greyhawk, gets supported? That's news to me... As for Eberron, new setting, alot of stuff is untouched that needs to be flushed out still so it getting more books than FR isn't an issue with me... Besides FR has like 15 books out for it.

· Are you as happy with it as you used to be? Alternately, are you as unhappy with it as you used to be?

I never liked it in 2nd edition so I'm probably happier with it now... :\

 

[Li Shenron]

While I'm not a huge fan of FR, I'm definitely not disillusioned by it. I think I know enough which are the pitfalls of the settings (uber-NPCs who steal the show, the metaplot with too much deity intervention) to be able to avoid them and concentrate on the player characters.

It also sounds to me that many gamers are disillusioned because in the years the setting has been overloaded with too much stuff that might have watered it down, but since I came to know Faerun only with 3ed, to me it has started as an already overwhelming setting, and I got used to it.

 

[Shemeska]

I like the realms. I like them alot. The books, with rare exception, in 3e have been well written and put together, and those that have been, I've purchased them and gotten decent use out of them. I don't regret buying useful, well written material in the 3e Realms(especially given that I don't have access to all of the more expansive 2e books for the setting).

But...

Retroactive cosmology changes with no in-game explanation... They bite and I simply don't swallow the paltry reasons given for them. Repeat after me: "It's always been that way" is a poor poor way to say 'I didn't like something so I just up and changed it. Deal with it and buy it anyway.'

I'll still use the realms, I'll buy many of the books because outside of that point above they're typically well done. But some design is going to royally tick off your buyers regardless of how you dress it up and then fail to explain it after the fact. I can only say that it's a testament to the writing quality of certain 3e FR authors that I didn't wash my hands of the setting after the 'it's always been that way' mess.

 

[Turanil]

Nnnope. I never was illusioned to begin with.

Ditto. I knew what to expect from the FR (from friends having told me about it) before getting any book of it, that I would not have been interested in buying anyway.