Keep your filthy points of light away from me!

[Turjan]

Oh, and that "points of light" thing? Awesome. I'm glad that's the default assumption. Vastly more interesting from an adventuring point of view.

In principle, I agree. As long as the FR don't end up being something like a wasteland overrun by demons (like, to explain where all those tieflings suddenly come from), I'm okay with it. If the FR become a playground for outsiders, I'm out.

 

[The Little Raven]

If the FR become a playground for outsiders, I'm out.

So, then, you ditched it in 3rd Edition when it introduced 6 kinds of planetouched as core races?

 

[BryonD]

Oh, and that "points of light" thing? Awesome. I'm glad that's the default assumption. Vastly more interesting from an adventuring point of view.

I agree.

I will admit that I've never been one to give a flip about canon. And I love FR because it is such a wonderful setting to rip things out of. I've almost never actually played a game really set in FR. So I love POL and don't see any personal significance to FR story/history/canon. So this piece works for me.

 

[Turjan]

So, then, you ditched it in 3rd Edition when it introduced 6 kinds of planetouched as core races?

My main point was "wasteland overrun by outsiders", like, you march out of the city gate and are ambushed by a group of devils. Wilderness is fine. But I don't like settings that are mostly in the hand of evil outsiders. Points of Light as "beacons of civilization in a vast dangerous, hardly populated land" is good. Points of Light as "few outposts of good-aligned (demi)humans besieged by a sea of evil outsiders and their humanoid minions" is bad.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Damn it, you win.

Next time, Mister Anondson! NEXT TIME!

PS: My setting is pretty much already a Points of Light kinda deal. Humanity is just a few nations on a big world surrounded by terrestrial monsters, and that whole world is just a bright spot in the archipelago of worlds Fallen to Demonic or Diabolical plots, and even those prison hell-dimensions are at least islands of order and sanity amidst the infinite ocean of raw chaos...

FWIW, that sounds pretty darn awesome, I'd play there. Not sure it works as 4e FR for the masses, but I'd game in it.

 

[Hammer_of_Tyr]

I've been playing in FR for a LOOONG time, Our GM balanced it pretty well and made it feel real and gritty. His watchwords were he wanted us as players to be brushing the dust and grime off ourselves after every encounter. So I don't have allot of experience with playing in a "candyland" style realms. We try to follow the original style and feeling Greenwood set out all those years ago.

But the reality is that the FR has always been TSR and now WotC's cash cow. Anytime either company wanted somethign to make money, no matter how ridiculous it was they would just slap a "Forgotten Realms" logo on it and it would sell. FR fans have had every badly conceived turkey rammed down our throats for years. Both companies have used the FR logo as an excuse to print money.

On the other hand, the points of light sounds like a cool idea for a single campaign. Who wouldn't want to travel into the post apocalyptic future FR and go exploring the ruins of Old Waterdeep. Or retrieve the pieces of a broken mythal from the future ruins of Evereska. Hell, I could write that module. But as the saying goes, I wouldn't want to live there.

What I think were dealing wiht is a completely NEW campaign world, designed to help "sell" 4E. that maximizes stuff that works with 4E but bears little resemblance to "our" FR. As I stated before, the FR logo is just there to sell product. It's a brand name with reader loyalty. and that's what WoTc is banking on.

 

[catsclaw227]

I like the FR, and I like FR lore -- that is, what little I know of it. You see for me, the PoL idea, as well as the reset, allows a long time gamer like me to get back into the realms without any worry about a hunk of canon dragging me down like a ball and chain.

Yes, I know, I know... I have heard all the arguments that I can ignore the canon and play my own style of FR, but have you ever tried that when you get players that know canon and read all the books? You become a mostly wrong and bad-fun DM in their eyes for screwing up their realms.

I want to DM the realms, and I welcome the changes.

This whole "WOTC is killing my FR" argument is getting old. How many more threads do we have to see before the FR fans figure out that they can run their 3.5 realms all they want. If, as they claim, there are many uncharted regions and WOTC shouldn't change it, then they can play in these regions.

If you want official support, then accept the changes, they aren't going anywhere and complaining isn't gonna fix anything.

Otherwise, enjoy the FR! It still exists as a 3.x product and the books won't be self destructing anytime soon. Heck, they still have a third book in an adventure trilogy that is yet to be released (for 3.5!!!) and unless as an FR DM you have exhausted every possible campaign idea, steal from other sources, change the names and locations and put them in the realms. Take 3.x adventures from Goodman, Necromancer, Green Ronin, Atlas, Paradigm concepts, Kenzer, (and on and one) and convert them to the realms. There's enough 3.5 adventuring available to last a lifetime.

 

[Grimstaff]

So, then, you ditched it in 3rd Edition when it introduced 6 kinds of planetouched as core races?

Edited in the interest of world peace.

 

[Grimstaff]

Since I run Wilderlands instead of FR, I don't have to worry about this whole "points of light" nonsense, so...wait, Wilderlands is already a "points of light" setting.

 

[EATherrian]

I'm with Kae'Yoss on this. It is being rammed down the throat of most Realms fans.

Let's use the analogy of making your home renovations.

Changes to the Eberron home - let's put this nice shelving unit over there. Done.

Changes to the Forgotten Realms home - let's toss out the furniture. While we at it, lets tear out the walls, wiring and plumbing. In fact, lets take it down to the framing studs and start over.

The latter is only desirable if you want a complete makeover. However, it is not desirable if you just wanted a new hot tub and to put in some new track lighting.

Change in the Realms is a given... and expected. Hot Tub, track lighting please.

The contractor is coming in and tearing out my walls and telling me that I will be happy with results. All I wanted was the frikkin' hot tub and track lighting...

Changes to the Greyhawk Unit: Hey, let's tear that house down and use the pieces on others houses with no regard to fit or function.