Points of Light and the Forgotten Realms

[Lonely Tylenol]

This inevitably leads back to the current situation with FR. So many sourcebooks covering everything in detail that makes running campaigns there overwhelming to many prospective DMs. I'd much rather have a single sourcebook that covers everything in broad strokes. Plus, one or two regions covered in detail. Then everywhere else receives coverage in adventures, which could give greater detail to regions or leave them generalized.

Well, all I really want is a write-up of the important locations on either the Sword Coast or the Dalelands. Preferably without too many NPCs. It just seems to me that those are the most popular regions, and everything else is optional, so could be plugged in later. I'm not saying that future supplements should be 96 page single-region books either. If you want to cover everything east of the Silver Marches in one book, that might be preferable. Of course, sourcebook design will probably change a lot if feats and prestige classes and the like are changed radically. Which means we might see more region in the region books and less crunch.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Well, I'm thinking a 100 year timeline leap makes a bit more sense now reading the new Design Article on wizards.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drdd/20070917a

Wizards are getting pretty much an Extreme Makeover: Arcane Edition. I can see why having every arcane spellcaster go insane fits the description of the spellplague.

 

[grimslade]

It sounds to me like wizards foci replace the Weave. Raw magic is too powerful for a wizard to control but the foci enables the wizard to control it. It is a big campaign affecting change, in addition to the Realms specific changes. I like it, but it makes more of a different Realms than the spoilers in the Orc King and GHotC.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Which means we might see more region in the region books and less crunch.

God I hope so. The current FR books all seem to be so crunch heavy as to suffocate pretty much everything else. More setting, less crunch, in 4E, please. We can work out how to differentiate people from different places without a million feats, packages, and so on, thanks.

 

[Athenon]

Dr. Awkward said:

I, for example, like the Realms, and would like to see the following changes made:

1. Kill off all characters over 20th level.
2. Shake up the political situation to the point that a DM can say "okay, this part of Daggerdale has been turned into a new duchy under Duke Steve," and not fear contradiction or even doubt from his FR-fan players.
3. Make it easier to import new material, like Tome of Magic classes or Psionics. The proposed changes to the Weave might just accomplish that neatly. They seem to be designed to accommodate the 4E changes to spellcasting.
4. Less Drow. I'm so sick of them, and they're so everywhere in the Realms. Drow, half-drow, reformed Drow...too many Drow.
5. Cover a single region in detail in the FRCS, rather than trying to list every place on the continent in a passing manner. Save the other regions for later supplements. Give me a place to base a campaign, and some tools to do it with.

I say to Dr. Awkward: VERY well said, sir!

 

[Gwathlas]

I understand that the point of any business venture is to make money, and that even the people that I hang out with online and off aren't indicative of either D&D fans or FR fans as a whole, but it does bum me out and pretty much kills the setting for me. I'm not saying that they are evil or horrible for doing it, but it does seem a bit like gambling on a greater influx of new people while accounting for fewer leaving the setting, and I'm not sure that betting on getting people into the setting that never liked it is the best way to go, but it may work.

It also seems like the assurances that "Drizzt and Elminster are still there" are the concessions to trying to keep older fans, but to be honest, I'm less worried about those two than I am having Cormyr, Waterdeep, the Dalelands, and the like with their "feel" intact. That goes way beyond NPCs that very few people in my campaigns over the last 20 years have run into.

I'm in total agreenment and having most of the supplements I'd be greatly irked if the Lost Empires no longer fit in. One can also ask what becomes of all the elven races?

 

[MisterWhodat]

I think I represent the majority of thought which goes like this: I love the Realms and I've spent the majority of my DMing and playing there. I intend to continue this because, even though there are parts which can be tiresome, it's still the best campaign setting that's ever been published.

Further, I'm not afraid of proposed changes to the setting. Anything that might update the setting and make it more fresh could be great. A new FRCS sure beats substandard products like Champions of Ruin/Valor or Mysteries of the Moonsea. Bring on the Realms 4E! Rich Baker and company are doing great work and desrve to be congratulated.

Cmon, you didn't like Champions of Valor? or Mysteries of the Moonsea? Well all I can say is you just didn't know where to look to get the most out of them. So of course your not afraid of the proposed changes, you are cattle that follows whatever hay WoTC throws out for you. Be a man and stick with 3.5.

And for the record the best campaign setting thats ever been published was Dark Sun, so get your facts straight.

 

[Athenon]

WhoDat's Bunk-Ass Campaign

Well,

I did NOT like Champions of Ruin. How does that make me "cattle?" I don't know. What I do know is the following (having played in Who Dat's regular Friday night game in Cow Island, LA):

• While I don't pretend to be able to compete with you on Realms trivia, I do feel I know a good bit about the setting. I still contend that Greyhawk is NOT on the far side of Toril, no matter how much you protest.

• I always thought your modifications of Dark Sun were strange. I mean, most of the time I don't envision Athas featuring Kender running around on mechano-stilts and all worshipping Thor.

• I think 3.5 modifications like the one you made to Waterdeep is really problematic. It doesn't work well in the middle of the desert! That always seemed kinda clownshoes to me.

• I guess most distrurbing to me on this whole thing was how every character you played ended up marrying a Chosen of Mystra - I mean seriously. What's that about?

 

[Rel]

Cmon, you didn't like Champions of Valor? or Mysteries of the Moonsea? Well all I can say is you just didn't know where to look to get the most out of them. So of course your not afraid of the proposed changes, you are cattle that follows whatever hay WoTC throws out for you. Be a man and stick with 3.5.

And for the record the best campaign setting thats ever been published was Dark Sun, so get your facts straight.

Hello, MisterWhodat. Welcome to ENWorld. At ENWorld, we pride ourselves on NOT calling our fellow posters "cattle" for looking forward to WotC products or considering them to be lesser men for not sticking with 3.5. We also don't tell them to "get their facts straight" for expressing an opinion. So, ya know, don't do that stuff anymore.

 

[3catcircus]

I, for example, like the Realms, and would like to see the following changes made:

1. Kill off all characters over 20th level.

And what will this accomplish? Now, the Elminsters are 19th level. Seriously - if you, as a DM, can't control your NPCs, than this isn't gonna help you.

2. Shake up the political situation to the point that a DM can say "okay, this part of Daggerdale has been turned into a new duchy under Duke Steve," and not fear contradiction or even doubt from his FR-fan players.

So - you want to introduce a political RSE vice a religious RSE as was done in the ToT... Any change to the geopolitical structure of the campaign world that *isn't* done by the DM is a bad idea. Greyhawk had the same problem when they had the Greyhawk Wars and suddenly you had to keep track of all of these kingdoms that were added/deleted/changed.

3. Make it easier to import new material, like Tome of Magic classes or Psionics. The proposed changes to the Weave might just accomplish that neatly. They seem to be designed to accommodate the 4E changes to spellcasting.

Hmm - I've never seen the Weave being a hindrance to introducing new material. Frankly, in my campaign, the PCs don't know that the Weave exists. Magic just "is."

4. Less Drow. I'm so sick of them, and they're so everywhere in the Realms. Drow, half-drow, reformed Drow...too many Drow.

Where? They are only where the DM chooses to place them. Don't want to have a lot of Drow? Don't use them. Make the major non-human bad guys hobgoblins or something.

5. Cover a single region in detail in the FRCS, rather than trying to list every place on the continent in a passing manner. Save the other regions for later supplements. Give me a place to base a campaign, and some tools to do it with.

Bad idea. This limits a DM (especially a DM new to the realms) to only one region. Which region would you detail? The Dalelands? Cormyr? Silver Marches? What about someone who grew up playing Baldur's Gate II and wants to adventure in Amn? Should they have to wait a few months or years for the region book detailing Amn to be released? That is not gonna attract players to the campaign setting. DMs need a minimum level of detail about the entire campaign world to start a game. Those who *want* more detail will buy supplements. Thos e who want to detail things themselves have a base to go upon.