D&D General MtG Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Spoiler Thread

[Urriak Uruk]

This isn't maintained by WotC

I know, I'm just pointing out that even the massive fans that maintain that wiki admit that the Orbs of Dragonkind were made on Krynn, not on Toril. I don't know why WotC would have the opposite opinion.

 

[Parmandur]

So they added a few cards that aren't really FR at all because if we really stuck to strict setting lines, Mord and Acererak would probably never get cards because Greyhawk is not going to get its own cardset ever.

Never say never.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Never say never.

I'd at least think Greyhawk gets a setting book before a card set, but I guess who knows!

 

[Cadence]

Never say never.

Wait, this isn't a Greyhawk set? I thought most of the cool cards in it appeared there first?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Yeah, I just don't agree.

I looked through all of the cards that don't really make sense for FR (or really, only FR).

• Mordenkainen
• Orb of Dragonkind
• Acererak the Archlich
• Eye of Vecna
• Hand of Vecna
• Book of Vile Darkness

Mordenkainen and Acererak have both visited Forgotten Realms, but neither use it as their main home even in 5e (Mord has a tower in Avernus, and Acererak leaves FR after being foiled in Tomb of Annihilation). The Orbs of Dragonkind have also been on FR at times, but the Forgotten Realms wiki acknowledges they were probably formed on Krynn. The Book of Vile Darkness has some copies in FR, but the original was penned on Greyhawk. The Eye and Hand of Vecna have never been in FR that I have seen, and Vecna has no worshippers there.

It seems that by your definition, any character or item that has been on FR once suddenly becomes primarily FR property, which I don't hold to. Even if that was somehow true, it still doesn't apply to the Eye or Hand of Vecna which are present despite not having any relation to Toril at all.

So no, I don't think WotC actually considers these 6 characters/items "FR IP," but I do think they are all just too iconic to D&D for the team to skip on when making a D&D card set. So they added a few cards that aren't really FR at all because if we really stuck to strict setting lines, Mord and Acererak would probably never get cards because Greyhawk is not going to get its own cardset ever.

Your missing my point, its not that I think anything that pops into FR Property, I previously concidered Mordy, Vecna, and Acererak to be Greyhawk tourists to FR. Its what WotC thinks of them as and given they straight up said they excluded stuff from other settings, like Strahd and other characters, which means THEY concider Vecna an FR character (which makes me wonder if they are are planning on adding Vecna to FRs Pantheon).

And the book of Vile Darkness started being written on Greyhawk, but Vecna was not its only author and so its origins are multiplanar, including FR.

I'll add that Vecna also gets mentioned in Frostmaiden, because he stole the secrets of the Obilesks from the Weavers on Toril and I think the Netherese stole it from him somehow (I don't own that book so my memory might be fuzzy.

 

[Bolares]

I don’t know… I’m just happy to have my chocolate and peanut butter together. Is it perfect? No. Nothing is. But over all this set has been a slam dunk to me. Some times we get obsessed with the little things and loose sight of cool stuff happening around us.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Your missing my point, its not that I think anything that pops into FR Property, I previously concidered Mordy, Vecna, and Acererak to be Greyhawk tourists to FR. Its what WotC thinks of them as and given they straight up said they excluded stuff from other settings, like Strahd and other characters, which means THEY concider Vecna an FR character (which makes me wonder if they are are planning on adding Vecna to FRs Pantheon).

And the book of Vile Darkness started being written on Greyhawk, but Vecna was not its only author and so its origins are multiplanar, including FR.

I'll add that Vecna also gets mentioned in Frostmaiden, because he stole the secrets of the Obilesks from the Weavers on Toril and I think the Netherese stole it from him somehow (I don't own that book so my memory might be fuzzy.

I mean, I simply just think this is a case of WotC saying on thing and meaning another. Sure, they say this is a Forgotten Realms set, and it almost is entirely. But there are a handful of cards that aren't really FR.

The cards I listed all happen to be characters that have once visited FR, or are items in the DMG. So I think the designers just really wanted to include these cards, but also really wanted to use the Forgotten Realms name... so they went ahead and did both. Which I'm fine with, I don't think it's a big deal.

What's annoying to me is that folks are using this as "proof" that now WotC considers these characters/items officially as part of Forgotten Realms beyond their origins... which seems like a big leap to me. The characters and items are cool, which is why they put them in.

I'll add, I think the reason they put in Mordenkainen and not Strahd, is because WotC considers Ravenloft a strong brand that could one day support a card set in the future... but they don't consider Greyhawk as such, so they took their favorite Greyhawk bits and put them in this cardset. Which I find a little disappointing, but not surprising either.

 

[Charlaquin]

Elminister is the symbol of Ed Greenwood's presence in FR, the signature character of the setting, its a painful reminder that Ed Greenwood has been discarded shamefully by WotC while WotC milked his hard work potentially for billions of dollars once the movies and TV shows start coming out. They don't even let him write FR novels anymore despite the fact that was part of the original contract deal where he sold FR to TSR.

I guess it felt like another attempt to push Ed Greenwood out, I don't like or appdove of how WotC has been treating him since around Death Masks. I mean they didn't even invite him or Erin Evans or any other writers whose hard work they milked to particapate in this, instead having internet randos and minor media outlets do all of the card previews.

I think you’re bringing a whole lot of baggage to a character that hasn’t been center stage fo quite some time just not getting a card in a gimmick set. It’s fine to be disappointed a character you like isn’t getting a card, but I don’t think assigning all this symbolic weight to him is… healthy,

 

[Parmandur]

I'd at least think Greyhawk gets a setting book before a card set, but I guess who knows!

Why not both...?

I know I said earlier I would think an Eberron Magic Set would be good tuff, if this Set is a massive hit, the turnaround for a follow-up is about 2024. 50th Anniversy for D&D: Greyhawk book, Greyhawk Magic Set?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I mean, I simply just think this is a case of WotC saying on thing and meaning another. Sure, they say this is a Forgotten Realms set, and it almost is entirely. But there are a handful of cards that aren't really FR.

The cards I listed all happen to be characters that have once visited FR, or are items in the DMG. So I think the designers just really wanted to include these cards, but also really wanted to use the Forgotten Realms name... so they went ahead and did both. Which I'm fine with, I don't think it's a big deal.

What's annoying to me is that folks are using this as "proof" that now WotC considers these characters/items officially as part of Forgotten Realms beyond their origins... which seems like a big leap to me. The characters and items are cool, which is why they put them in.

I'll add, I think the reason they put in Mordenkainen and not Strahd, is because WotC considers Ravenloft a strong brand that could one day support a card set in the future... but they don't consider Greyhawk as such, so they took their favorite Greyhawk bits and put them in this cardset. Which I find a little disappointing, but not surprising either.

Hence they started stuffing Greyhawk Refugees into FR BEFORE this set. Personally I think they've taken it too far, some crossover is fine, but when they start bumping FR characters out of slots in FRs first set its gone too far.

That being said I think they have future big plans for Vecna in FR.

As for those who have commented on Elminister's sex life, I'll point out both the Book of Vile Darkness and Book of Exalted Deeds were mature titles with drugs, nudity, torture, BDSM and other subjects of an adult nature. Both got cards.