I Want the Old Realms Back

[JoeGKushner]

I do not see why, if they have changed a setting in a way that is not to ones liking that one is in anyway obliged to follow then in the change.

The info in the older books is largely system independant and can still be used.

Depends on where you look.

If you're running the Realms in 4e using the 4e, then no, the information was rendered pretty useless. The massive advance in the time line took care of that. It was one of the things that even with the Avatar crisis, you could kind of gloss over in a lot of areas because the timeline advancement wasn't that big. Ditto for 3rd ed.

Now if you're looking at 3rd ed FR books, they are heavy in crunch. That crunch is now fairly useless and a lot of the things that were unique about the Realms havent' been updated to 4e and probably, at the rate they're going, never will.

The spells, magic items, and monsters of the Realms, had a lot of life, detail, and quirks. 4e doesn't handle the later very well, although it is proving capable of handling the former.

 

[caudor]

I feel like I'm the only one who likes what happened to the Realms.

Of course, I'm often moved to shake my ant farm for good no reason at all.

 

[mudlock]

The massive advance in the time line took care of that. It was one of the things that even with the Avatar crisis, you could kind of gloss over in a lot of areas because the timeline advancement wasn't that big. Ditto for 3rd ed.

What? How does moving the story--the fluff--forward ruin all the old fluff? Use the old fluff! The history is still history. I <3 my 3e Lost Empires; 99% fluff, all still good.

Now if you're looking at 3rd ed FR books, they are heavy in crunch. That crunch is now fairly useless[.]

The spells, magic items, and monsters of the Realms, had a lot of life, detail, and quirks. 4e doesn't handle the later very well, although it is proving capable of handling the former.

Rather than just say "Nuh uh!" I'm going to say "Such as?" Give me a couple examples, because there isn't any vital crunch that comes to my mind and is impossible, or even difficult, to convert.

 

[Dykstrav]

Do you really need any new mechanics to run the grey box realms? Just use the old grey box for fluff, and you're done.

For what it's worth, this is exactly what happened in the very first 4E campaign I played in. The DM basically said, "I don't like the changes, and we all know the grey box, right?" And that's how we rolled...

 

[the Jester]

With 5th Edition on the horizon

Seems like an awfully big assumption. Or did I miss an important announcement?

 

[john112364]

I do not see why, if they have changed a setting in a way that is not to ones liking that one is in anyway obliged to follow then in the change.

The info in the older books is largely system independant and can still be used.

I agree. Back in 2e days I had a gm who liked the realms but not dnd. So he ran his game with GURPS. If he can do that then 4e should be a piece of cake. Just pick a timeline that you like and roll in the fluff.

 

[Kzach]

This would make the GOOD content relevant again, and reverse most of the damage they did to the beloved setting.

No offence but you sound like you haven't been a fan of the Realms for very long given it's tawdry history in publication. It has been changed significantly for every edition. So if you don't like what was done to it in 4e, just go use the 3e books.

Personally, I love 4e Forgotten Realms. I think it kicks all sorts of ass over the 3e version. To me, the 2e and 3e versions of the Realms were boring. I liked the 1e version 'cause it was very Greyhawkey in the sense that it had some really great locations that were nicely fleshed out, and had lots of threads that could be pulled for a lot of other areas that weren't fleshed out. Then 2e/3e fleshed them all out and made it all kinda meh. Then 4e destroyed it all and turned the Realms into this massive sandbox of awesome.

 

[Stormonu]

Everything after the fall of Netheril was just downhill for the Realms.

In truth though, I wouldn't mind a return to the days of the Gray Box.

 

[delericho]

With 5th Edition on the horizon...

I think it's premature to say 5e is on the horizon. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it, but wait and see.

I think it would be best if they went back to the pre-Spellplegue Realms. They could fix some mistakes they made and perhaps shift emphasis on some things, but the core concept would be very close to what they had in 3e. This would make the GOOD content relevant again, and reverse most of the damage they did to the beloved setting.

If I were a fan of the Forgotten Realms, then I would be absolutely furious about what WotC has done to it in recent years. As far as I can see, the big attraction of the setting was all that detail and lore that had accumulated, and to see that thrown away because "it's too complex"...

That said:

I'm sorry, but the old Realms aren't coming back. WotC would just further fracture their customer base. Also, the Forgotten Realms are more than just an RPG setting - the novel line and (especially) the video games are far more profitable. And reverting to the old FR now would just really confuse customers of those lines.

Personally, I think the best thing that could be done with FR now would be to let the line drop for a few years, holding off on new novels and new video games (perhaps focussing instead on Eberron, Dark Sun, or other settings), wrapping up the Drizzt saga (which has long been running out of steam and become repetitive), and just stop.

Let the line lie fallow for a few years, possibly even the entire lifespan of any 5e (when it does inevitably come). And then, with the advent of 6e, it will be time to revive the Forgotten Realms. Not the 'classic' Realms you would like to see back, and certainly not the post-Spellplague Realms. Reboot the Realms, starting with a 'new' Grey Box, incorporating the best of the old without slavishly sticking to it, and then proceeding from there.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Depends on where you look.

If you're running the Realms in 4e using the 4e, then no, the information was rendered pretty useless. The massive advance in the time line took care of that. It was one of the things that even with the Avatar crisis, you could kind of gloss over in a lot of areas because the timeline advancement wasn't that big. Ditto for 3rd ed.

Now if you're looking at 3rd ed FR books, they are heavy in crunch. That crunch is now fairly useless and a lot of the things that were unique about the Realms havent' been updated to 4e and probably, at the rate they're going, never will.

The spells, magic items, and monsters of the Realms, had a lot of life, detail, and quirks. 4e doesn't handle the later very well, although it is proving capable of handling the former.

First off I really do not see a problem with running the 3.x Realms with 4e, more work than running 4e realms sure but I do not see it as very difficult.

As for the quirky magic items and stull. They are only an issue if the play balance between characters are things that bother you in the frst place.