I finally figured out what I dislike about 4E Forgotten Realms

[Daniel D. Fox]

...I know, I know. Yet another "Thread of Spite" (tm) regarding the new Realms. But let me preface by stating I do not run Forgotten Realms. As a matter of fact, I haven't ran this setting since the grey box set when I developed my own homebrew.

Despite that, I've kept up on the release of Forgotten Realms books. I absolutely adore the 3E stuff; beautifully detailed yet not entirely concise. And granted, that's what I love about the 4E book. It's extremely concise, but missing all of the little details. It's focused more on plot hooks than background information. That's not what I dislike about it though...

Are you ready?

I hate the fact that there wasn't a single adventure leading up to the Spellplague.

...

The Time of Troubles had adventures published around that event, and other major events throughout 3E. But what about the damnable Spellplague? Not a single iota of supplimental Dungeons and Dragons gaming material, beyond the fan-to-first party published Grand History of the Realms, and a pre-4E Drizzt (bleh) novel. Nothing was set into the players, or gamemaster's hands, to help facilitate their 3E campaigns over to a 100 year later Realmpocalypse(!).

Maybe that's the thorn in thr proverbial lion's paw that people are upset over. Seems to be that's the underlying issue and why detractors are not accepting the radical changes to the Realms. For me, it doesn't really change my games since I don't run Forgotten Realms anyhow. Yet it does make me wonder - what were the developers thinking? Where is the supplimental material leading up the Spellplague? Will prequel adventures be published at some point?


My 2 cents,
daniel

 

[Ander00]

They might not lead directly up to the spellplague, much less take place during it, but aren't FR1-FR3 (Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave, Shadowdale: The Scouring Of The Land, and Anauroch: The Empire of Shade) meant to be a prelude of sorts?


cheers

 

[Keefe the Thief]

Oh god, no. Please, no official RSE adventures. I just remembered the Time of Troubles adventures... I´d rather cut off my arm with a buzzsaw than play those again. "Watch happen you cannot change or influence."
No thanks.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

"Watch happen you cannot change or influence."
No thanks.

Sort of like the Spellplague?

 

[Particle_Man]

Well if there are no adventurers leading to the Spellplague, then you don't watch happen without controlling it. Instead, happened, in the past. Isn't the Realms moved forward 100 years?

I could see some people grumbling about having to translate their characters into 4e and advance them 100 years, assuming they don't start with new characters.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

While it's far from the only or the biggest complaint, one of the complaints IS that we have no clue what happened in those hundred years. We're told "Spellplague happened" but there's nothing we know other then that.

 

[thatdarnedbob]

Sort of like the Spellplague?

There's a difference between background history and events that happen in game which the PCs can't influence.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

There's a difference between background history and events that happen in game which the PCs can't influence.

Perhaps your memory has slipped or you didn't play the modules, but PCs clearly could influence events by playing Cyric, Mystra, Kelemvor and others that would ascend in the Shadowdale/Tantras/Waterdeep trilogy. They were riddled with plothooks for crafty DMs who wanted players to play their own characters against the background of events, too.

This is the sort of module I was (wistfully) hoping to see to illustrate in-game the transition from old to current Realms...

Carry on!

 

[DM_Jeff]

They might not lead directly up to the spellplague, much less take place during it, but aren't FR1-FR3 (Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave, Shadowdale: The Scouring Of The Land, and Anauroch: The Empire of Shade) meant to be a prelude of sorts?

Only barely. They set up a few ideas but nothing in there really has anything to do with how the spellplaque or whatever actually happens or the fallout thereafter.

-DM Jeff

 

[questing gm]

IIRC, the designers would be filling in the missing pieces of what happened during the past 100 years during the Spellplague in future installments of, probably in Dragon or Dungeon.

Besides, there is the Spellscared which is a reprecussion as a result of the Spellplague so that is sort of a lead-in to the Spellplague (and the Order of Blue Flame).