Kara-Tur and Zakhara, are they going to be released as portions of FR?

[Alzrius]

The more they tinker with the FR cosmology, the more I hate it.

Hear hear!

From this statement, does this mean there are multiple metaphysical systems in play in the FR universe as outlined in the PGTF?

Not having the book, I'm not really in any position to answer this, but I'll take a stab at it.

What I interpreted that as meaning was that the new FR cosmology admits that there are planes beyond those of the Tree, those planes being the ones that are important/relevant to the peoples of Kara-Tur, Zakhara, and Maztica.

As it stands, the "default" Astral Plane is the one that connects Toril to the planes on the Tree. Likewise, there is a separate Astral Plane linking Toril to the Maztican Planes, and a third Astral Plane linking Toril to the Zakharan Planes, and finally a Spirit World plane linking Toril to the other Kara-Turan Planes. All of these still fall within the scope of the single FR cosmology though.

Would you say that's right KaeYoss?

Is there anything in it giving details on using a great wheel option as opposed to the "tree" system?

Heavens do I hope so. I'm not optimistic though. From a listing of the Table of Contents I saw a while back on the WotC messageboard, what we get is almost exactly the opposite...there is, IIRC, a sidebar/behind the curtain section where they justify why they're using the alternate cosmology and not the Great Wheel.

 

[Olive]

The more they tinker with the FR cosmology, the more I hate it. From this statement, does this mean there are multiple metaphysical systems in play in the FR universe as outlined in the PGTF? Is there anything in it giving details on using a great wheel option as opposed to the "tree" system?

And the more I hear the more I like it! I see my asian section of the campaign world as having a seperate cosmology, and I can mine this for ideas! wucked.

 

[Dragonblade]

Nope, sorry.

WotC has stated that they will not be releasing 3e versions of Kara-tur, Maztica, or Al-Quadim. If you want to get hold of the old 2e versions of those settings, try RPGNow or WotC's web site.

I recall something about no "immediate" plans to release these settings. Though, I think we may see them perhaps make an appearance in Dragon in much the same way that Dark Sun will. Or even come out further on down the line in the future. At least I can hope.

Personally, I was peeved that Rokugan was made the default setting for Oriental Adventures. It should have been Kara-Tur like it was in the original Oriental Adventures.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

The more they tinker with the FR cosmology, the more I hate it.

Actually, they don't tinker with it, they really give us a complete cosmology here. And while I didn't like it before, now I kinda like it, as we get more info on it.

From this statement, does this mean there are multiple metaphysical systems in play in the FR universe as outlined in the PGTF? Is there anything in it giving details on using a great wheel option as opposed to the "tree" system?

The outer planes are different for the other cosmologies.

The World Tree (for celestial realms) and the River of Blood (for fiendish realms) is the official cosmology for the FR. There are no options to use the Great Wheel instead. Note that in the FR cosmology, most of the planes have a "faith" trait - everyone who doesn't worship one of the resident deities gets some light penalties. The strong version bestows even more severe penalties to worshippers of certain deities (in the demonweb pits, it's Seldarine Worshippers). The planes in the FR aren't about alignment, but about the gods, and they dictate the alignments of the planes, not vice versa.

The only thing it says about the Great Wheel is that you can reach it through the Deep Shadow (they explicitly mention the Great Wheel and Greyhawk).

Of course, you can use the great wheel yourself, if you don't like the present cosmology, but that's completely house ruled, then.

 

[Katowice]

Me too, but I would have preferred that Oriental Adventures featured NO settings whatsoever. They could have followed the model of the d20 Modern RPG book, which had a chapter on campaign settings (three of them) and highlighted some ideas and a few prestige classes. That would have been much better.

Personally, I was peeved that Rokugan was made the default setting for Oriental Adventures. It should have been Kara-Tur like it was in the original Oriental Adventures.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Me too, but I would have preferred that Oriental Adventures featured NO settings whatsoever. They could have followed the model of the d20 Modern RPG book, which had a chapter on campaign settings (three of them) and highlighted some ideas and a few prestige classes. That would have been much better.

Could have lived with that, though I probably wouldn't know Rokugan if now for OA, which would be a loss. Unless they had introduced it shortly (as well as Kara-Tur)

 

[Mystery Man]

If they even think about making a statement regarding the re-release of these products as part of the Realms I'll burn the whole place to the ground.

I've said this before but...

Every time I see wish for Maztica, Kara-Tur, or that other Arabian themed Realms highjacking settings I want to scream.

You already have Calimshan, you already have the Endless wastes, you already have the Jungles of Chult.

Quit it!

Those setting were attached to the Realms to make them appealing to sell! They have never had anything to do with the Forgotten Realms WHAT-SO-EVAH!!!!

Besides it's complete and utterly hopeless, wishful thinking. They've already come out and said that this will never happen...

and you can quote me. PTUI!!!

 

[Sir Elton]

and you can quote me. PTUI!!!

Okay, you've been quoted as hating Kara-Tur, Chult, and Amn.

 

[JPL]

I suspect Paizo will see a nice spike in sales from the Dark Sun crossover next month.

While WotC might not be interested in reviving any of these fringe campaigns, that doesn't rule out more materials in Dragon and Dungeon/Polyhedron.

I think Paizo will try to do something like this about once a year, and they'll surely consider bringing back some of the other dead settings.

I think Al Quadim is the more likely candidate for a Paizo reload, simply because Oriental Adventures already covers Asian D&D.

 

[Arnwyn]

Huh...I didn't realize that. I'd guess then that they're racial deities of the stingers. Powers know you can't have a self-perpetuating race without it having some deity of their own.

Yeah, that was my assumption as well. But then I groaned, thinking "what? More deities?" And quickly ignored it. Just new names for Zaltec, IMC.

Of course, you can use the great wheel yourself, if you don't like the present cosmology, but that's completely house ruled, then.

And one of the best house rules I've ever made. I am pleased that other FR products (such as Underdark) make references to locations on the Great Wheel (such as Pandemonium and its layer of Cocytus, for example).

If they even think about making a statement regarding the re-release of these products as part of the Realms I'll burn the whole place to the ground.

Uh, okay... that's overreacting and weird...