D&D 5E How do you feel about the Forgotten Realms?

[The Mirrorball Man]

Well the thing about "distinct vibe" is that it can only really be described by itself, so the Realms' distinct vibe is "Realmsian" - it is just the feeling of the Forgotten Realms, from Waterdeep and Khelben Arunsun to Anauroch to the Dalelands and the Zhentarim, to the Harpers and Selune's Tears. The distinctness isn't obvious like, for instance, Tekumel or Talislanta. It is relatively subtle, or at least more so than more obviously unique or exotic settings. But distinctness need not be obvious, just as originality need not be blatantly novel.

Thank you for your answer, but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If there's something distinct about the Realms, even if it's subtle, one should surely be able to express it in some way. And if it's one of these things where one has to experience it in order to understand it, well, I've experienced it, and didn't find anything distinctive about it.

 

[Wolfskin]

I like it, in spite of its flaws, though this is probably because I never suffered the misfortune of having a Realms-lawyer at my table.

 

[The Hitcher]

I dislike it in theory (whenever I read straight-up lore my eyes glaze over). But I always seem to enjoy it in practice. I guess my experience is that it's a conceptually dull world where interesting stories invariably end up happening.

 

[meomwt]

The Realms is not my favourite place (hello, Greyhawk), but it's not objectionable. I've played Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate on the PC, but there are times that the setting feels invisible, just another generic fantasy world.

I'm quite happy to use the Realms to mine for ideas and transplant where needed.

 

[DaveMage]

I love the realms up through 3E. 4E's realms shall never be recognized as existing.

 

[Jester David]

I liked original grey box and 4e and nothing inbetween

I HATE THE GOD MODE MARY SUE NPCS or as i like to call them the Justice League Midnight (formerly the Justice Leauge Mystra but they killed the goddess of magic and replaced her with a good aligned mortal who never really made a diffrence)

You mean like:

 

[DMZ2112]

I made a real effort to get to know the Realms during D&D4, because I considered the Spellplague a good opportunity to start fresh. In the process, I came to learn a lot of the history that had kept me away for so long, and I'm glad I did, because the setting has a D&D lore wrapped up in it, and ultimately that's what I really care about. At the end of the day, outside the Moonshae Isles, it's not my thing, but maybe that's the point -- you're not supposed to like the whole of the Realms, just part of it that sings to you.

I'm not sure why the Realms don't occupy a larger tract of shelf real estate in my collection, but part of it is that I've never been able to find the hook. It occupies a middle ground between Greyhawk's dusty, bloody, low-magic fantasy and Dragonlance's robed, scaled high-magic fantasy that doesn't grab me in the way both of those settings do.

Take as a comparison Greyhawk's Celene, the Realms' Cormanthor, and Dragonlance's Silvanesti. Celene is literally just another political body on the Flanaess -- it just happens to be a nation of elves. That's compelling. Silvanesti is the exact opposite -- a huge forested enclave cut off from the rest of the world and inhabited by elves as fae as they could get in D&D prior to 4th Ed. That's also compelling. Myth Drannor is... kind of a political body? Kind of a fae enclave? I'm not sure -- and I've done the reading.

So, final word: I wouldn't say I dislike the Realms, but I'm definitely not a fan. I've just never been grabbed by the setting.

Except for the Moonshaes, holy crap. Holy crap, the Moonshaes. I want to build a summer house there.

 

[Razuur]

I loved the grey box in the 1980s and the original 16 or so gazeteers. I pretty much played with that for a decade. It was *my* Realms back then with enough detail to inspire, and enough openness to make my own. Honestly, I missed most of the 2e Realms stuff, and never really read many of the FR novels, because they didn't feel like *my* realms. I picked up the 3e core and liked it, but didn't like all of the gonzo magic - genasi as PCs? just walking around? Didn't really fit my style, but I could still keep what I wanted, and dump the rest. That said, I never really played much in the Realms during 3e.

The Realms have the same problem that DnD has - there are a wide variety of play styles, and whenever the system attempts to enforce one over the other, they lose folks. The realms ARE the archetypical DnD, and like DnD they shoudl start with generic, and then provide optional styles to plug in. And it doesn't help that they are so tied to the novels.

Now I have enjoyed reading the 5e stuff so far. I am trying to make this a fresh start. I am excited about gaming with 5e and gaming in the Realms again -- and making it mine. I don't want 5e to take that away from me. Right now is a wipe the slate clean moment for me, and build it the way I want. I want the line to give me options and ideas, not dictate. I am going to set it back before the "time of troubles" and essentially reboot the realms and make them mine. I would love it if 5e would do that as well and basically start over with plug and play goodness.

P.

 

[Zaukrie]

I just use the realms as the backdrop, and ignore the stuff I want to ignore. I have never understood why people feel canon matters. Not criticizing those that do, just saying I don't get why people care. Also, had Greyhawk stayed the default, it would suffer from too much canon.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Not the biggest fan. I liked the 1987 set and had a lot of material for it, but it just got too much baggage with all the novels driving the setting. I think I'm going to run a 5e game there though since its too much hassle to convert Tyranny of Dragons to Greyhawk IMO.