D&D General How to reboot the Forgotten Realms (+)

[Uta-napishti]

(dupe post caused by login issues)

 

[Mecheon]

I know the current tendency is "everything in the PHB" can be used, but I would be more to the "no dragonborns, no tieflings either". An no, Abeir is not another thing elsewhere. Abeir-Toril is the real name of the place and Toril is just a short for it.

Dragonborn are popular, as are Tieflings (Which, let's be honest, already exist in pretty big numbers in FR). Are you honestly saying in FR, the setting that has all sorts of dragon-y stuff already like Dragonkin, there couldn't be Dragonborn around?

Plus like, the weird 3.5E Dragonborn already exist there anyway

Anywho

1: Wall of the Faithless is gone. It was blatently supposed to be gone in the same novel series that introduced it so this is just keeping with the original author's intent. If you really want an explanation, we destroyed it at the end of Mask of the Betrayer because that's basically one of the best D&D stories in a video game, almost on the level of Planescape Torment
2: Just ignore timelines. There's no more official "Its now year whatever". Its a vague, murky timeframe that works well enough. You want people interested in this setting, not 'oh god its year X i have to go and read up on everything that happened previously'

I understand these will absolutely piss off longtime fans, but, to make it work you've got to make things easy for people to use and FR at the moment is not easy. That's why they keep blowing the world up every edition: It becomes too kludgy and built on itself otherwise, nigh impossible for new people to penetrate

 

[Atomoctba]

Plus like, the weird 3.5E Dragonborn already exist there anyway

My ideal FR is more to 2e BEFORE the Time of Troubles, so 3.5e is already out (including, as I said before, the shades).

 

[bloodtide]

About dragonborns and tieflings: I agree with @Yora that fully returning to the Old Grey Box feeling is impossible without AD&D or an adjacent system (like OSE advanced). My personal reboot idea would not have the same feeling the OGB had, but the same density, as in a setting that you can understand all you need to run it using a single book/boxed-set, that's packed with plot hooks and adventure opportunities, and don't have a convoluted history of near world-ending events every decade.

The Setting has nothing to do with the system game rules though. I under stand the "feel" part, as most people feel they "must" have rules to "feel" things.

I play plenty of 5E hard core hard fun old school type games. In my game there are none of the common house rules like max hp at first level, max hp every level gained, easy foes and an easy button world. Players roll for hit points, and oh, you only got five, well, too bad. Even if they had 30 though it would not matter much as they are stillgoing to fall in the trap and be hacked apart by goblin skeletons.

 

[cbwjm]

For those wanting to roll back the timeline, what to do about FR Dragonborn, as they are a PHB race?

FR has always had mass migrations of people from other worlds, you could just make dragonborn a more recent one, have a large group of them fleeing their homework through a portal which has now broken.

 

[Laurefindel]

I love the FR but when I DM in it I too revert to a 2e state of the setting, with a much downplayed Time of Trouble (essentially, the once-mortal Bane/Myrkul/Bhaal who booted Jergal out made a mess and in turn got booted out by younger mortals; no need to implicate any other gods except perhaps Torm who slept on his watch and allow it to happen).

I tend to go back to a more medieval feel with many movements of population and cultural hybridation. Last time I played the about-to-become Silver Marches a bit like Skyrim with a Tethyrian/Illuskan rivalry, both conscious that they are living in the ruins of what was once a great human/elven/dwarven empire

 

[Azzy]

Maybe it's an unpopular opinion lately, but I actually like the Forgotten Realms setting. However, every time I start a campaign set in the Realms I see myself going back to the Old Grey Box. The amount of lore current FR has is overwhelming, and I think it would benefit from a reboot (soft or not).

My idea for a FR reboot: Remake the Grey Box. Reset the calendar back to 1357 and publish a new campaign setting box set with information about the Sword Coast, the Heartlands and the Savage Frontier. Add some new stuff to it, like tieflings, to align with the lore of the new editions. Then fill it with interconnected plot hooks, like the old Grey Box.

So, how would you reboot the Forgotten Realms?

(Note this is a (+) thread, so assume that you're on board with rebooting the Forgotten Realms (even a "soft reboot") and focus on how to reboot it, not whether it needs to be rebooted)

I'd do the same (reset to the grey box) because the Time of Troubles was when FR jumped the shark for me. :/

 

[Storyteller Hero]

1: Wall of the Faithless is gone. It was blatently supposed to be gone in the same novel series that introduced it so this is just keeping with the original author's intent. If you really want an explanation, we destroyed it at the end of Mask of the Betrayer because that's basically one of the best D&D stories in a video game, almost on the level of Planescape Torment

That's actually a misconception. The Wall of the Faithless was never explicitly removed by Kelemvor at the end of the Avatar series. The book text simply never mentions the Wall when the gods are brought to the gates of the city. They describe the new gates but simply do not have text describing whether the walls were changed or not. Gates are not a replacement for walls as they are entrances/exits through walls, so there is simply lack of text.

The 5e SCAG's omission of mention is also not a confirmation of wall removal, so there is no 5e text confirming whether the walls are up or not.

 

[Laurefindel]

Personally, my greatest issue with the wall of the faithless isn’t whether it should exist or not; it’s that people have to choose a patron god period, in turn insinuating that inhabitants (and PC) can ignore the other gods and dedicate their faith to one or a few gods and goddesses. I haven’t seen a lot of players make a prayer to Auril not because she’s their patron goddess (or even an ally of their patron) but because they need her blessing to survive their winter trek, or the bad guys praising Helm before standing watch.

I can’t remember how religion was handled in 1st ed but I have a feeling it wasn’t that different back then from the way it is now, which is more a collection of many religions that acknowledge but barely tolerate each other rather than a polytheistic religion.

 

[Mecheon]

That's actually a misconception. The Wall of the Faithless was never explicitly removed by Kelemvor at the end of the Avatar series. The book text simply never mentions the Wall when the gods are brought to the gates of the city. They describe the new gates but simply do not have text describing whether the walls were changed or not. Gates are not a replacement for walls as they are entrances/exits through walls, so there is simply lack of text.

I'm talking about the out of universe explanation. Because it sure seemed like the Wall was supposed to be removed at the end of Avatar it just.... Wasn't. Writer of the books even confirmed somewhere he pretty much just said 'oh yeah it was a bad thing I expected them to take out, didn't realise it was still around'

Wall sucks, should be removed, let Kaelyn the Dove fight and change the uncaring cruelty of the universe for the better. Just slap in a modified NWN 2 MotB ending, Mrykul's spirit eater curse ate the wall to free the last spirit eater from said curse. Bang, boom, plays into the irony Mrykul loves so much if you perma-kill him in that game