Is it just me, or is evil winning in the Forgotten Realms?

[theodinheadbasher]

A simple solution to people who say that FR is too good ruled.


Don't use the NPC's.

Its a big realm, simply dont encounter them. What kind of ass DM tosses Elminister in whenever there is a BBEG? How fun is that to yer PC's? Not only fun, but how fair is it? I can understand why people wouldn't want to play FR. But look at it this way. Why would Elminister concern himself with an evil that a group of level 10's are going after? Seriously, he is Mystra's first Chosen. He has more dangerous and important things to worry about than an insurgence of Yuan-ti in say...the Sword Coast. As for Drizzt and his group, they are a very localized group. They more or less stay to either Icewind Dale, or the area just around Mithril Hall. Now ya in the books they roam wide and far, but alot of the time they are wandering it is just two of them together, and not all of them.

Now, if your are running epic level characters, then ya, elminister and the chosen are logically going to be interested/involved to some degree in the same things your PC's are, but its simple enough to limit their involvement. There is lots of evil out there, even if it isn't exaclty what has been published. I've always been a big promoter of the philosophy that what the DM says is law. If I say there is a rampaging army of giants that needs the PC's to take care of it, because the chosen are off saving the world from some OTHER giant evil, then thats the way it goes.

I just don't understand why these people dont just take the realm into their own hands. You're the one playing, no TSR police are going to kick in yer door and arrest you for not following the exact timeline of what is published. Its a game. Have fun, and if the rules are making it alittle too difficult to have fun, change them so you do.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

But look at it this way. Why would Elminister concern himself with an evil that a group of level 10's are going after? Seriously, he is Mystra's first Chosen. He has more dangerous and important things to worry about than an insurgence of Yuan-ti in say...the Sword Coast.

Exactly. Also, I read quite a lot of FR Novels (there are less than 50 I haven't read), and in most of them, Elminster doesn't show up, either. He doesn't just appear and save the day when the novel's heroes are in a tight spot.

Nor do the other big players.

Sure, there are a lot of heroes in the Realms, but there are also a lot of villains, and it's a large continent, so the chance that any of these heroes chooses your very band of adventurers to help them out is actually quite small.

You might meet some of them during your course, but not necessarily in the heat of battle. Maybe you're just on a market place in Silverymoon when lady Alustriel comes parading by and that's it. Or she makes a big announcement and you attend.

Now, if your are running epic level characters, then ya, elminister and the chosen are logically going to be interested/involved to some degree in the same things your PC's are

When you're surviving long enough to go beyond level 20, you can pull your own weight and the big wigs know it. So they let you solve your quests while they solve their own quests (since, there are also more than just one set of epic villains out there) so everyting gets done, or they just let you do the work and get a little rest (they've earned it: They've saved the world often enough, now it's your turn)

I just don't understand why these people dont just take the realm into their own hands. You're the one playing, no TSR police are going to kick in yer door and arrest you for not following the exact timeline of what is published.

Right again. Some people will want to chime in here and complain about the "sages" who will attack the DM at this point, saying that this isn't how it went in novel xyz or obscure old module yadayada. I want to point out that this is not a flaw with the FR, but a flaw with these people.

I know, I usually know a lot more about the realms than the DM, but I realize that he doesn't know as much as I do, and that he has to make things up, and that these things are real in his campaign, which is not, and could (or should) ever, be Canon FR. Maybe he did it on purpose, too, to better fit in his plans.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Evil will win in the Realms unless your PCs stop it.

And this is just as it is supposed to be. After all, they are the most important characters in your campaign.