Points of Light and the Forgotten Realms

[BlackMoria]

A number of people wanting a reboot have stated the principal reason is the uber NPCs.

But has been gleaned that Drizzt & Elminister are still around (the Elminister reference is from a blog or some Q&A session with WOTC staffers) in this post Spellplague world. Who knows how many other NPCs will survive the transition?

For people who are put off by uber NPCs, Drizzt and Elminster are the top of the twinky pile, judging from comments I have heard over the years. Yet, they will remain.

This tells me that whatever the future holds for the Realms, is will probably be less than satisfactory for a majority of people and only will satisfy a minority. Those wanting a reboot without the uber NPCs are already going to be disappointed because Drizzt and Eliminster (that we know of) will remain. Those not wanting the Realms nuked to the point of nearly being unrecognizable will be disappointed.

I like to know what the hell they are thinking in Renton, because based on the limited information to date, the changes are not going to be satisfactory to a whole lot of people, based on comments on this thread.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Drizzt has never really been a problem, and I'm not sure that anyone in this thread is really complaining about him beyond "Drizzt is extremely lame". He's a high-ish level (but not epic-level, afaik) Ranger, sometimes multiclassed, with some slightly munchkin magical items, one of which I'm sure will be rendered more as a "cohort" than a magical item, these days.

As there's only one of him, and last I checked, he ain't even level 20, and he ain't a wizzzzzzzzzard, nor Chosen, nor anything else horrible, he's just a minor annoyance. Most parties in the mid-late teen levels and beyond cound beat him up and take his stuff, and he's not able to take on things that they ARE able to take on.

That's fine with me. He's a div but he doesn't cause problems beyond making people want to make Drow PCs (even me, once, sniff, I blame being thirteen!).

Elminister could go two ways and easily stop causing trouble:

1) He could have lost all or most of his powers in the "spellplague", and no longer be a "chosen" of Mystra - This is the "Dumbledore" route, basically. He should be dead of old age if it's 100 years, but eh... If he's physically crippled, particularly by old age (which isn't easily curable ), that could help.

2) He could have ascended as some kind of demigod. This also takes him "out of the picture", and would be the most efficient way to be rid of him. Plus he could indulge his appetites in a Zeus-like fashion... best not to think of that...

If, though, we hear:

1) The Seven Sisters

2) Various high ranking Harper-types

3) The Simbul

4) Assorted other chosen of Mystra

5) The Obaskyr family line

6) That filthy spellfire witch

7) Various Knights of Myth Drannor

And so on are all still alive and well, then, yeah, well, it's pretty much buggered, isn't it? I anxiously await further developments.

 

[William Ronald]

I do not have a problem with a setting having powerful NPCs -- rather, what matters is how they are used. We should also recall that the World of Greyhawk has NPCs like Mordenkainen, Tenser, Robilar, and Rary.

To my mind, most worlds should have people who are more capable than the characters. Yet, the time may come inside of each individual campaign where the player characters equal or suprass the NPCs of note. In which case, a DM can decide to retire an NPC, kill of the NPC, or pursue other steps that allow the PCs to handle the threats that the NPCs may have faced in the past. (In the case of regional NPCs, like Drizzt, this is not as important if a Realms campaign is set near Halruaa or Var the Golden -- far from the Silver Marches.)

In a homebrew campaign, one of my characters ultimately reached the point with the rest of the party that they equalled the power of NPCs handling the major threats. The NPCs who handled these threats in the past died. (I ultimately left the campaing do to balance issues, and the DM introducing his own uber-NPCs of the same class and far greater power than my PC. That and there were balance issues among the player characters that the DM refused to address. As it stopped being fun, I left. So, I can understand about having an NPC overshadow a PC, as well as more balanced ways of handling NPCs)

So, in your Realms campaign, Elminster may be supplanted by a PC. In which case, do with Elminster what you want. Rather than being forced to rely on canon, it is up to each DM and the players to breathe life into a campaign. It is also up to DMs to chose how they use NPCs -- as the stars of the setting or as part of the background with which characters interact. In the Realms, I suspect NPCs will be the focus of the novels -- but it is up to each DM to make sure that the focus of a campaign is on the PCs.

So, I suspect that Elminster and Drizzt will be around in the next FRCS. However, I think that the focus should be on the player characters. There have been some suggestions on how to handle this. So, use Elminster and Drizzt as you wish in your version of the Realms -- whether as NPCs who interact with the PCs or as NPCs to kill off. The choice is yours.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I do not have a problem with a setting having powerful NPCs -- rather, what matters is how they are used. We should also recall that the World of Greyhawk has NPCs like Mordenkainen, Tenser, Robilar, and Rary.

Fortunately, most of those are Neutral Crazy and support the status quo instead of good, so they're not really motivated to get involved unless it affects them personally or unless every apple cart in town is likely to get overturned. I find their Neutral Crazy alignment to be a bit odd -- especially given how many of them behave this way -- but it makes for a better gaming environment than superheroic good-aligned characters who mysteriously always have to be down at the DMV whenever the villains roll into town.

So, I suspect that Elminster and Drizzt will be around in the next FRCS. However, I think that the focus should be on the player characters. There have been some suggestions on how to handle this. So, use Elminster and Drizzt as you wish in your version of the Realms -- whether as NPCs who interact with the PCs or as NPCs to kill off. The choice is yours.

I think everyone agrees that DMs can and should keep the focus on the player characters. But in the Realms (and to a lesser extent Krynn), where the novels are big, big draw, having to come up with a reason why they aren't involved over and over again becomes a bit farsical eventually.

Much better would be to tweak Drizzt and Elminster during this jump forward. Maybe Elminster lost people he cared about and has become reclusive and bitter -- and doesn't get over this by the end of the first novel. Maybe Drizzt is wounded or cursed and is less Batman than he once was, and he's NOT the natural figure to step in and solve a problem in the Silver Marches any more.

It's not necessary to have these big name characters set up in a way that's disruptive for DMs. The line editors just need to keep the tabletop game in mind during the development and editing process.

 

[William Ronald]

Different things can happen in a large area, so that would be sufficient to keep Drizzt or another character busy.

Also, I imagine that if the Realms is shook up greatly, there will be even more reason to keep the big name NPCs busy elsewhere -- with perhaps a hint of what is going on elsewhere. So, if Elminster needs to keep an eye out of whatever is happening on Myth Drannor, or deal with other problems, that is where he should be. So, I think a few ready made explanations on what the big name NPCs are usually off doing might help some DMs and add some credibility as to why they are not doing the work of the PCs. (Maybe these can be a few things to give DMs adventure ideas.)

As for the Greyhawk NPCs, I think that since the Flanaess is a busy place with a lot of people, they would still be busy with a bunch of things even if they were all of good alignment. Remember, not all problems can be solved by blasting it. In some cases, tackling a problem head on can be counterproductive.

 

[Mortellan]

I missed something, who/what are the CCC?

 

[William Ronald]

I missed something, who/what are the CCC?

Go to http://www.rasalvatore.com/ and read the excerpt of the Orc King set some 100 years from the current Realms timeline.

 

[Davelozzi]

I missed something, who/what are the CCC?

Spoilers:

Spoiler

They are a KKK-esque racist organization that attacks the orcs wearing black robes and hoods. Apparently 100 years into the realms future there is peace between the orcs of the Citadel of Many Arrows (under King Azoun VI) and the other races of the area (elves, humans, dwarves) thought it's not necessarily an easy peace as there are plenty of folks on both sides who hang on to the old prejudices. All of this comes from the prologue chapter of Salvatore's The Orc King linked earlier in this thread.

 

[Mortellan]

Ah this makes more sense now. Wow. Times are a changing indeed.

 

[BlackMoria]

I wish the CCC had the anocrym KKK. Then I could call them the Knights of the Krispy Kritter.