How much support do you want for your favourite campaign setting?

[Simon Magalis]

I don't think anyone helping to develop FR has learned much of a lesson at all actually. I thought the breakup of the Harpers, the Manshoon Wars and Manshoon's takeover of Westgate, and the emergence of the Shades in the Anaurach was very pushy. Its not only that they introduce these problems... they SOLVE them as well. For instance, in Cloak and Dagger the Manshoon Wars were introduced and left alone for DM's to deal with (I thought)... then as soon as the FR sourcebook came out for 3e, Manshoon has "rejoined" the Zhentarim for no known reason. They will probably deal with it in a module or another 30$ sourcebook (they certainly didn't explain it in Lords of Darkness). I have just begun to keep my campaign as far as I can from these events. I don't necessarily ignore them, I just create campaigns in which my PCs are not directly involved in ANYTHING WotC can do. Sometimes of course, this is not possible.

 

[Green Knight]

4 books a year _now_; it used to be much more. I'm more referring to that glut than today's healthier scheme.

Yeah, but that was then and this is now. I know it used to be much more, what with the glut of Volo's Guides and whatever else, but it's not like that anymore. And if that's the kind of support that you gave as a choice, then you should've clarified that in your original post. Otherwise, people're gonna assume you're talking about the support that Forgotten Realms is receiving NOW.

I don't think anyone helping to develop FR has learned much of a lesson at all actually. I thought the breakup of the Harpers, the Manshoon Wars and Manshoon's takeover of Westgate, and the emergence of the Shades in the Anaurach was very pushy. Its not only that they introduce these problems... they SOLVE them as well. For instance, in Cloak and Dagger the Manshoon Wars were introduced and left alone for DM's to deal with (I thought)... then as soon as the FR sourcebook came out for 3e, Manshoon has "rejoined" the Zhentarim for no known reason.

It's not "for no known reason". They assume either A) The DM has run this and the PC's have resolved the situation, or B) The DM hasn't run it, in which case some other random party of adventurers in your world has resolved this. What, do you expect the Manshoon thing to be up in the air forever? It's like the Grand Conjunction for Ravenloft. They weren't about to leave the resolution to that up in the air forever. Otherwise it'd be impossible to advance the time line. They just assume A) the PC's in your group have resolved it, or B) they didn't, and some random PC group in your world has resolved it. Either way, it's resolved and time to advance the timeline.

As for the Shades, they're there to give the PC's more bad guys to fight, and make Anauroch more interesting. I don't see how it interferes with anything.

They will probably deal with it in a module or another 30$ sourcebook (they certainly didn't explain it in Lords of Darkness). I have just begun to keep my campaign as far as I can from these events. I don't necessarily ignore them, I just create campaigns in which my PCs are not directly involved in ANYTHING WotC can do. Sometimes of course, this is not possible.

I doubt it. Again I point to the Grand Conjunction. In later Ravenloft supplements, whenever they refer to it, they refer to "a group of adventurers" who were involved in the events. That's it. The assumption is that they're the PC's in your game. Same thing, here. The assumption is that your PC's were the ones who dealt with it. So they won't be describing it.

 

[Simon Magalis]

They are already doing things with the Shades in a novel series which has nothing to do with my PCs unless we all read them. If it weren't for the novels, I would agree with you about the Shades but I am willing to bet that they don't just leave it alone for us to resolve nor will they allow the DM to decide what the Shades are trying to do.

 

[Davelozzi]

I prefer the level of detail that Birthright received (not including the various Player's Guides). One well-done sourcebox for each major area of the campaign world, done in a consistent style (okay, the last one diverged a bit), a few sourcebooks on how the different classes/types of magic fit in the world, and not much else.

I prefer adventures that are fairly generic but with a some cool plot hooks, like the old Giants/Drow series or the new adventure path modules (although some of the new modules aren't as good as others, they all have a decent level of genericness that makes them easily adaptable).

 

[MerricB]

I prefer adventures that are fairly generic but with a some cool plot hooks, like the old Giants/Drow series or the new adventure path modules (although some of the new modules aren't as good as others, they all have a decent level of genericness that makes them easily adaptable).

I'm with you there. I actually think the Adventure Path series is superb (with one or two exceptions). If there is one problem with the series it is that it takes a superior Dungeon Master to really run them properly.

Similar to the GDQ series really, or Keep on the Borderlands: the basic material is there, but if you spend the time to develop it further to fit your campaign, it can become really special.

(So far, in two years of campaigning, the two favourite modules my PCs have gone through have been Vecna Lives! and the Speaker of Dreams).

Cheers!