Keep your filthy points of light away from me!

[Uzzy]

And of course, Ed may be just writing backstory and the history of the Realms. Though we just don't know. BlackMoria is 100% correct in his previous post.

 

[Li Shenron]

Who else doesn't like that 4e forces the Points of Light campaign philosophy down our throats?

It may be nice for some campaigns, but I can't be the only one who thinks that it's not the only way you can set up a world.

I think I've been having a PoL framework in my mind practically in all campaigns I run, so I certainly like the idea.

But I really see no chance that PoL can be forced upon other! It's just not possible. Actually, I think that 3e did the opposite, that it forced a highly populated, full-availability of knowledge, vibrant economy with everything-on-sale-at-walmart framework to all campaigns, particularly because it made it almost mandatory for every character to be rich, to have a very strong and costly equipment, and to improve it and customize it continually during level advancement. That was almost mandatory. And it caused as a consequence that everything that has a price must be on sale anytime, and could be bought and sold in the blink of an eye. That kind of framework is irritating for those (like me) who don't like it, because it's very hard to get away from it in 3e.

Instead, if they really manage in 4e to make equipment only a minor part of a character's strength, then this doesn't force everyone to not have the same vibrant economy if the like it more than a PoL. It's just that it won't make a huge difference to the PCs' equipment.

 

[Kesh]

By making the Forgotten Realms "more forgotten", they're forcing it to conform to the PoL concept (whether or not that's a good thing remains to be seen).

Actually, no. They said recently that parts of FR are going to be more PoL, not the whole setting. My reading-between-the-lines says that certain areas may get devastated, but the major epicenters of FR life are going to be intact.

 

[Malachias Invictus]

Points of Light makes a lot of sense to me. The MM is full of beasties that are bigger, meaner, faster and stronger than humans. Surely hordes of orcs, gobbos and other critters would have acted as a check on any developing human nation? It's nice to see a diversion from the tired Eurpoean feudal model.

Interestingly enough, those hordes of orcs and goblins are probably acting as a check on the bigger, meaner, faster, stronger beasties as well (or at least providing them with an alternate food source).