New listings on the WotC 2007 product page!

[Mouseferatu]

And are you going to have a say in what is done about it Ari? You seem to be on the cover of every second book WotC releases these days!

Olaf the Stout

Nah, not every other. Maybe every fourth or fifth or so. I just happen to have a lot of stuff releasing in clumps.

Anyway, ask me again when my name's on the cover of every book.

 

[Faraer]

Lord of the Rings was your comparison! I think Wizards is handling it smarter in many ways, and I expect things to improve with the merging of the game and book teams. Still, more one-shot things have been blown in WotC's two timeline years (bodily return of Netherese and Sammaster etc. etc., Rage of Dragons, destruction of Elminster's Tower, revival of Cormanthor) than is wise for the long-term health of the setting, plausible, or sustainable. They know these arguments and decide to keep with the bang bang, though most of the fiction is relatively small-scale.

Back to these modules. The promo copy is sensational and exploitative, which promo copy often is. It seems to be getting people's attention, for whatever reasons. I suspect they're not the use of publishing resources I'd prefer. I'm sure they'll be well-produced, interesting, lore-consistent and they'll probably be good scenarios overall. We'll wait and see.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Lord of the Rings was your comparison!

Yes, and I don't think they've DONE Lord of the Rings in 3E up until now.

Back to these modules. The promo copy is sensational and exploitative

"Exploitive?" Did someone paint a naughty portrait of a teenage Shadowdale girl?

 

[Taren Nighteyes]

Ummmm......

"Exploitive?" Did someone paint a naughty portrait of a teenage Shadowdale girl?

Link please?????


Taren Nighteyes

 

[theemrys]

Truer words on this topic have ne'er been uttered.

It was all those books that "changed the world" that drove me away from FR years ago. I loved Birthright while it was alive... used it more as a setting than the player's running regents. They had novels which were great, but were able to contain them to the history of the land, or minor side events.

Now I'm big on Kalamar. It's a rich setting, quite a few awesome supplements, but a BIG TIME focus on the player's being the heroes of the land (assuming that's their style... anti-heroes would work too...). No novels but a rich history of the setting and LOTS of room for grand adventure and plenty of material for DMs and Player's to work with. The campaign book is a bit dry if you just get that and start reading it, but once you get more into the setting (especially the Player's Guide), going back to the campaign book is much better.
Beside, you got to love a setting that did dark elves (drow) in a way that doesn't suck!

 

[BadMojo]

Beside, you got to love a setting that did dark elves (drow) in a way that doesn't suck!

Do you mean Eberron?

Anyway, as a longtime FR fan (and more recent Eberron fan) I think the new trilogy of adventures sounds pretty cool.

My Realms lore might be a bit off, but it seems like the last HUGE Realms event was the Time of Troubles.

PCs playing in Rashemen or Damara may have little to no awareness of the elves returning to Cormanthyr. People in Sembia or Amn most likely weren't effected by the return of the Shadovar and all the Phaerimm stuff.

Point being, you could easily run a campaign away from the "trouble spots" and almost completely ignore past RSE's (with the exception of the Time of Troubles).

Now, the question is: will the new Weave adventures let the PCs do something meaningful or just stand around and watch Important NPCs do Important Things (like the 2E Time of Troubles adventures). That's just a question of good or bad adventure design. Luckily, there seems to be a talented bunch working on the Cormyr and Shadowdale.

 

[theemrys]

Do you mean Eberron?

NOpe... That being said, I don't have a lot of experience with Eberron. What little I know does sound a bit promising for Drow... at least they have broken some of the stereotypes.

I will be the first to admit that the Kalamar take on Drow (known as Shadow Elves) is different, but still "Official D&D" so does not break any of the "canon". That being said, it's well adapted for a setting that doens't have racial pantheons but instead just one (large) panthon and each race has they're on interpretation. The book is a great read and great history.

As a DM I've rarely (if ever) used drow in a game since I ran the G, D, and Q series way back when. I was big on the realms in the "early years" of it, but bailed after too many books derailed my game. I'm just not a big fan of settings where the NPCs tend to overshadow the PCs. I'm not bashing it or "hate" it, but just not my preference.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Anyway, as a longtime FR fan (and more recent Eberron fan) I think the new trilogy of adventures sounds pretty cool.

My Realms lore might be a bit off, but it seems like the last HUGE Realms event was the Time of Troubles.

PCs playing in Rashemen or Damara may have little to no awareness of the elves returning to Cormanthyr. People in Sembia or Amn most likely weren't effected by the return of the Shadovar and all the Phaerimm stuff.

Point being, you could easily run a campaign away from the "trouble spots" and almost completely ignore past RSE's (with the exception of the Time of Troubles).

My thoughts exactly.

And, frankly, I think anyone betting that Elminster is going to eat it in this trilogy or that Shadowdale won't be on the road to recovery by the time the third adventure wraps up better get some pretty favorable odds, because they're likely to lose their shirt, IMO.

Now, the question is: will the new Weave adventures let the PCs do something meaningful or just stand around and watch Important NPCs do Important Things (like the 2E Time of Troubles adventures). That's just a question of good or bad adventure design. Luckily, there seems to be a talented bunch working on the Cormyr and Shadowdale.

Yeah, the Stand Around Watching NPCs adventures are easily the worst. (That's the only thing that hurts the otherwise fantastic 1E adventure Cult of the Reptile God, for instance, even if it's only one moment at the end.) At the levels characters are likely to be by the end of the trilogy, I sure hope they'll be considered capable of doing what's necessary.

 

[BadMojo]

And, frankly, I think anyone betting that Elminster is going to eat it in this trilogy or that Shadowdale won't be on the road to recovery by the time the third adventure wraps up better get some pretty favorable odds, because they're likely to lose their shirt, IMO.

I doubt Elminster will be eliminated too. Still, I'd hope that the ranks of the Chosen of Mystra would get thinned out a *bit*. There really are quite a few of them.

I certainly wouldn't want the designers to kill off every high level good-aligned NPC in the setting, but it would be nice to thin the ranks a bit to allow PCs to easily get, uh, promoted.

I'm also kind of jazzed since Shar has always been one of my favorite FR deities.

 

[WildWeasel]

For now. Wait for the "Drizzt of Eberron" to appear and tha almighty clamour for stats that will ensue. Eberron will go the way of FR - it's inevitable.

How can we argue with logic like that.