I Owe Wizards an Apology

[Majoru Oakheart]

As a side bar, I would get to this point like you did but my next line would differ slightly...

Me: "This one's not afraid of water how odd...what's your AC again?

Our group would just never stand for a DM doing something like that. We always had a rather adversarial relationship with our DM, however.

I can see how this conversation would go:

Player: "It's not afraid of water? But they were created with a fear of water by the great wizard, Falstaff when he created their race 2000 years ago. ALL of them are afraid of water. They explained that in Book 3 of the Falstaff Trilogy. An archmage attempted to use magic in that book to remove their fear of water and found out it was impossible.

I find it EXTREMELY unlikely that this one managed to find an Epic level Wizard with the power to remove this limitation considering the only Epic level Wizards on the planet are Elminster, Blackstaff, Joe the Plumber, and Megatron. Elminster is currently battling his way out of hell as per the book Elminister versus the Devil, Blackstaff is evil and hates Minotaurs, Joe the Plumber is currently in a deep sleep for the next 100 years, and Megatron cares too much about Energon to spend time curing Minotaurs.

Look, it's obvious that you are just making things up rather than running this campaign setting properly. You had no idea that that type of Minotaur was afraid of water. That's fine. I'm sure he's really an Orc or something rather than a Minotaur. But next time you should really read the books before running a game set in this campaign world."

DM: "Umm...yeah, he's an Orc."

But our group always worked on the assumption that anything published in a book was LAW. Game books or novels alike. If the DM made a mistake and you pointed out the correct answer, the DM was obligated to follow the "correct" source. Even if it screwed over their game. If it screwed over their game, maybe they'd try harder to prepare for their game.

I no longer believe these things, for the record. That was when I was much younger and barely knew how to play D&D. But the people who taught me how to play D&D in the first place all believed that's the way the game worked.

 

[Luce]

First, do the characters even know a minotaur if they see one?(I would at least ask for a knowledge check) If not i describe him as very tall humanoid with prolonged face, shaggy fur and horns holding an axe.

Second there is always the new magic item/spell defense, FR is magic rich so it is not implausible.

Third, illusion/polymorph might be the answer.

Or it is a new race- Goatian, (hey it is my setting! Lifeblend spell might be available)

And if the players still insist on making it hard I will just casually reach and pull SpellJammer. It unifies most of the other D&D settings and provides a canonical method for allowing characters/creatures from one setting to travel to another.

 

[Psion]

I want to see the thread were a publisher that mangled a setting had his favorite setting mangled and apologizes to the fans.

 

[Ariosto]

The 1993 Forgotten Realms boxed set lists 43 novels and short story collections published in 8 years. Extrapolating that rate, there should now be about 130 -- but I don't know the actual current figure.

Also listed are 54 game products for the main region; 9 for Kara-Tur; 4 each for Maztica and the Hordelands; 6 for Zakhara (Al-Qadim); an atlas and two trail maps; and (a bit frivolously) Tom Wham's The Great Khan Game. Again, that was the state of "canon" (apart from Dragon magazine articles) 16 years ago.

Zounds!

I don't want to have to get a Ph.D. just to DM a game, and I don't think freelance writers get paid enough to go through that either.

Nor do I expect players to read something on par with Proust's Remembrance of Things Past or L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth.

 

[wayne62682]

No, but they should understand the basic setting. Nobody says you have to be intimately familiar with every novel written for a setting, but the major ones and major events you should understand so your writings don't contradict commonly known things.

If some obscure novel from several years ago says in a sentence on page 165, second paragraph, that minotaurs of a certain clan are afraid of water then it's forgivable to not be familiar with it... if the campaign setting book says it, however, then there's no excuse other than being a lazy writer.

 

[Wrox]

As long as the publisher does the due diligence and puts the call out for freelancers that have that kind of experience. I bet there are more subject matter experts out there than you realize. But hey, if you get no interest then at least you tried, right?

 

[AllisterH]

No, but they should understand the basic setting. Nobody says you have to be intimately familiar with every novel written for a setting, but the major ones and major events you should understand so your writings don't contradict commonly known things.

If some obscure novel from several years ago says in a sentence on page 165, second paragraph, that minotaurs of a certain clan are afraid of water then it's forgivable to not be familiar with it... if the campaign setting book says it, however, then there's no excuse other than being a lazy writer.

As Ariosto pointed out, what do you do when the main campaign book actually points out that all these other sources are canon in the setting?

 

[Doug McCrae]

I bet there are more subject matter experts out there than you realize.

Yeah but they are mostly crap writers.

 

[Bumbles]

As Ariosto pointed out, what do you do when the main campaign book actually points out that all these other sources are canon in the setting?

Play it smart, both as a player and a GM. As a player, be careful on what bothers you. While you can have valid concerns, nagging the GM will only ruin the game. As the GM be responsive to what your players are bothered about, treating yourself as being always right will only ruin the game.

In short, it's like life in general, there are no easy answers.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Allow me to add to the "Kudos" (and XP) for being able to see both sides of the issue...and admitting it!

I just hope that you didn't make changes just to make changes- its those kinds of things that really grate on the nerves of a setting's "True Fans."

(As you just admitted you realize!)