El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
Second this 100%. It's the huge damn elephant sitting in the room, that no matter what I tell myself, just can't be ignored. I wish I could though, I just can't.
I finally figured out what I dislike about 4E Forgotten Realms
- Thread starter Daniel D. Fox
- Start date
Second this 100%. It's the huge damn elephant sitting in the room, that no matter what I tell myself, just can't be ignored. I wish I could though, I just can't.
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).
That's really one of the worries of 4e. That stuff that's neccisary and would've been considered standard in the books will now be found only online, forcing people to get the online stuff.
Lord Xtheth
Explorer
I'm glad I orchistrated the total and complete destruction of everything cool in FR in my last big campaign before 4E. I don't have to worry about what happened, I know... I "wrote it myself".
On a side note, isn't it funny how in the FR campaign setting even Elminster doesn't like the new rules and stopped playing?
On a side note, isn't it funny how in the FR campaign setting even Elminster doesn't like the new rules and stopped playing?
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
Nice.
Henry
Autoexreginated
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!
I have to disagree; even by playing the main characters, you were locked into certain events. Mystra was GOING to die against Helm, whether you helped her or not. Bhaal was GOING to die on that bridge; Myrkul and Bane were GOING to die at their predetermined points, unless the DM rewrote the module. You might have changed what they said, or the order in which they did things, but the main events of the story were still milestones that had to happen according to the plotline.
Compare to, say, Sunless Citadel. If you didn't stop the evil druid, he was going to do his thing, and do it well. However, you completely have the chance to shut him down if you act in a timely fashion. You could have killed the kobolds, worked with the kobolds, heck, took Meepo on as a personal assistant if your DM was willing.
But the major events of that module were fully shapeable because there was no major outcome riding on it. You could NOT have stopped or even prematurely ended the Time of Troubles if you wanted to -- unless the DM rewrote the story and you broke with the established timeline.In my opinion, it's probably betterjust for the DM to create a side-plot that involves your PCs that don't impact the main story, so they can "chew the scenery" however they wish.
Mouseferatu
Hero
Maybe it's my White Wolf background, but I don't consider this sort of thing "necessary" at all. Just like the Mournland in Eberron, I prefer when campaign settings don't give out all the answers.
Now, I don't have the FRCS yet. If what happened during the years of the Spellplague is supposed to be common knowledge, yet the books don't give it, then yes, that could be a problem. But if it's intended to be a mystery, if it's something that people aren't sure of, then I'm more than happy to have the books leave it blank for DMs to decide on their own.
Shroomy
Adventurer
The FRCS does tell you what happened during or immediately after the Spellplague (Halruaa go boom, Maztica bye bye), but at a relatively high level (generally at a country or regional level). However, the book just doesn't supply any detail at the encyclopedic level of the earlier supplements.
Fallen Seraph
First Post
Lol, it could be thanks to my love of White Wolf books, but I also prefer this method. I have always liked having room to fill in the blanks myself.
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
I like the idea of mystery and room to expand also, and definately appreciate it's value as a DM. The only problem is, in the FRCS, they lightly encourage you to not necessarily end your old campaign, and continue playing on from 1385 DR and work your way up to 1479 DR. But without more information, other than a very general overview, and absolutely no timeline of major events in those intervening 94 years, it's kind of hard to do this and avoid conflicts with future material covering this period. Now, I understand, no-one is forcing anyone to follow canon, but for those who want to it's very dificult. On the same track (although I said this in another thread), it kind of sucks to have paid almost $40 for THE sourcebook of this campaign, only to find out I have to get a DDI subscription to get the rest of the story (information that IMO, should have already been provided).
Shroomy
Adventurer
I don't know, I'd rather get on the short article treadmill than the much more expensive splatbook treadmill, especially for books that I would only use a portion of. Personally, while I think that the Grand History of the Realms is a good book, I'm not sure if I need or want a massive timeline. A shorter, more focused timeline provided like what was provided in the Cormyr Backdrop article is more too my liking.
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