James Wyatt + FR!?

[delericho]

The many years of FR canon is one of the major selling points of the setting. It is also simultaneously a great weakness, being a barrier for new players trying to come up to speed.

Basically, WotC are stuck either way.

 

[danbuter1]

I think WotC has screwed up. A whole lot of people are going to be unhappy if the Realms are really different. Heck, I was completely pissed about the Time of Troubles, and this looks more drastic. (Guess what, I don't own ANY 2e FR products. I finally came back in 3e).

Anyways, if they were smart, they would do a really nice hardcover that covers the Realms as presented in the 1e boxed set, but with 4e rules.

 

[The_Warlock]

Ya know, I didn't like what I read prior to this, and had already come to the conclusion that the "New" Realms wasn't going to be for me, not to mention which, I have plenty of resource material to use, well, forever.

But there was enough enthusiasm among some people that I might just have considered picking it up to look at, if only to "vote with the wallet", even if I disagreed with the stated reasons for the change, and the reasons many people who were looking forward to the change espoused as "good". That and a personal point of view that it's just not something to get worked up over.

This, however, strikes me as a fabulously polite piece of spin mixed with contempt for those who aren't looking for another catastrophe. The twin messages of "we do hear you" and "the decisions are made" say to me that they noticed, and don't care, no matter how eloquently the blog post is written.

And unlike anything else I've read about the tenebrous and unspecified changes shattering and reworking of FR, this blog post actually made me angry. As if a pedantic teacher is patting me on the head, saying, ~your concerns are irrelevant, and your thinking wrong, don't worry, I'll show you what's right.~

It certainly hasn't made me hate anyone at WotC, but the carefully cultivated marketing doublespeak that it seems to be (even if it isn't and is 100% honesty) rankles me so, that I'm now unwilling to preview their product. Especially (though logic suggests that there are relevant differences) following immediately behind the post of ~Hey Everyone, great news, the campaign setting I shepherd won't be changed because fans made hue and cry.~

Well, phooey.

I'm gonna go play some D&D....

 

[Belorin]

Now don't get me wrong, I am a fan of the FR line of novels, I read them regularly and i play in the Realms almost exclusively. However, I don't believe that they should be incorperated into the Campaign Setting, in the past and definitely not the future.
I understand from Mr. Wyatt's blog that the writers have regular or semi-regular meetings to plot the direction the CS and novels will take. And I know that there is a feeling that the Realms has gotten bloated with deities, high powered NPCs & so many secret organizations you can't turn around without bumping into one.
Now call me crazy, but it seems that the two might, just might be inter-related. You have already said that the changes slated for the Realms are set and I'll find a way to live with them.
But, please consider discontinuing novels as canon in the future, for the sake of the Realms and it's devotees.

I wrote this in response to James Wyatt's blog over on the Wizards Insider Forum for discussion of the staff blogs.

Bel

 

[Stone Dog]

*sign* He's actually saying that in the FR, the über npcs do the PCs work....

The connection between novels and game world is by far the Realms' biggest weakness IMO though.

Out of curiousity, weren't there published adventures in the early days that were basically the PCs following around heroes and watching them be cool? I think I recall a trilogy of those about the king of the dales or something like that. No hostility, I'm genuinly curious.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Ed has said before, basically, chop off everything outside of the sword coast, the heartlands, and the Dales, and you have most of it. There are people who don't realize how much stuff they like (e.g. the Moonshae isles, Doug Niles' baby!) were someone else's work.

Interesting. Because there is little outside the heartlands/dales/sword coast that I want to play with. (Excepting Damara/Vaasa). No place else in Faerun calls to me.

 

[MerricB]

Interesting. Because there is little outside the heartlands/dales/sword coast that I want to play with. (Excepting Damara/Vaasa). No place else in Faerun calls to me.

I agree.

I think the big difference is that those areas have been developed through a lot of play in, first, Ed's campaigns, and then, later, by other designers who have run campaigns there.

A lot of the rest of the setting really looks like, "you have to design this", so they did, but they weren't *playing* there.

Cheers!

 

[freyar]

The many years of FR canon is one of the major selling points of the setting. It is also simultaneously a great weakness, being a barrier for new players trying to come up to speed.

You hit the nail on the head; the development in detail of FR is what I like about the setting (well, and the high fantasy). What I don't quite understand is the "new player barrier" that keeps coming up. I'm running a campaign with 3 players who know nothing about FR, and they're fine. Not to mention the fact that even Eberron, which is a new setting, already has quite a few source books. Anyway, my question: why do people think they need to know everything about FR before playing (or even DMing) there?

 

[DandD]

You hit the nail on the head; the development in detail of FR is what I like about the setting (well, and the high fantasy). What I don't quite understand is the "new player barrier" that keeps coming up. I'm running a campaign with 3 players who know nothing about FR, and they're fine. Not to mention the fact that even Eberron, which is a new setting, already has quite a few source books. Anyway, my question: why do people think they need to know everything about FR before playing (or even DMing) there?

Because they want to make a character as "realistic" and believable that is possible, and this normally happens when you do have some background of knowledge about the world in which you live.

 

[rounser]

*sign* He's actually saying that in the FR, the über npcs do the PCs work....

Remember, Eberron is WOTC's baby, their chance to do things to the game setting-wise that they think are right. It was a good move to move the focus away from high level NPCs, but in other respects, if Eberron is a harbinger of what WOTC thinks is cool flavour as of 4E, then it'll be interesting to watch how things unfold.