Rich Baker Comments on the lack of FR products in the 1st Trimester 08 Catalogue

[ruleslawyer]

Blech, don't remind me.

While Grand History of the Realms seems like a great book for a Realms fan to buy, it's rather lame that it's the ONLY source of Realms lore we have in 2007...and with no "crunch" in it either. Not that it should've had crunch material, but the fact that we had THREE hardcover adventures slammed into 2007 has pretty much lost us, what, THREE possible Realms-coverage books?

I guess I just have to wonder how much more "crunch" the Realms (or really any 3.5 setting) can do with. I haven't bothered cracking a sourcebook for "crunch" since Serpent Kingdoms (and that was for monster/NPC options) and my recent favorite (Power of Faerun) had very little in the way of usable crunch. In fact, to really think about it, I'd prefer if NO future FR books had any new PrCs, playable races, feats, or magic items. Grand History of the Realms seems perfect... if it weren't already out there on the Web!

Let's see what those three books COULD'VE been:

Giants of Faerun (3E version of Giantcraft)
Jungles of Chult
The Cold Lands
Old Empires
The Hordelands
Faiths&Pantheons 2
The Creator Races
Artifacts of Faerun
Cosmology of Toril
Beyond Faerun (224+page or more, should be Tome of Magic size, book on Zhakara, Maztica, Kara-Tur, and a little on Anchorome, Ossa, and the other Unknown Lands)

The list goes on in my head, but there's plenty of Realms coverage that needs to arrive

I have to confess that if it's already been done (well) in 2e, my interest in seeing it redone for 3.5 is substantially diminished. By that standard, the Cold Lands (c'mon Eric Boyd! More Demonlands details!) and Jungles of Chult (didn't like the 2e book) books would be top of my list for books I would want. Old Empires is probably worth a new look in light of the massive changes to the region, and also with the eye of shifting the nature of the region a little off "analogue to RW Egypt/Mesopotamia/Greece" and into more of a "brand new for the Realms" region a la the Vilhon Reach or the far South.

I may be a big FR fan, but I'd still be happier if the Giant book were a generic a la Lords of Madness. Details on giants in Eberron and giants in FR could be included, but I think a generic release would please more people.

The "Hordelands" and "Beyond Faerun" books would include a lot of stuff that I don't really think is very "Faerun-ish" (Al-Qadim, Maztica, and Kara-Tur are really analogues of RW cultures, and really are their own campaign settings in themselves); F&P 2 would likely be similar to its predecessor in being a weak rehash of the much better 2e deities books; Artifacts of Faerun might end up just duplicating a big chunk of Volo's Guide to All Things Magical; Creator Races doesn't seem like it would be very usable in most FR campaigns; and Cosmology of Toril has been covered about as deeply as I'd want to see it covered in the FRCS.

 

[Glyfair]

I wouldn't hold my breath. I'm 100% sure they will keep releasing the minimum amount of books required by their deal with Ed (I remember seeing a mention of such a thing - if I was dreaming of contracts, which happens quite often, I apologise) until kingdom come. The IP is just worth too much to let anyone else have it.

Given that in 2007 that have 34 FR novels scheduled, I think they could abandon the game line and still meet whatever requirements the contract has easily with just the novels.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

How detailed is the giant pantheon and history for GH?

There was this series of modules you may have heard of ...

 

[Nepenthe]

Given that in 2007 that have 34 FR novels scheduled, I think they could abandon the game line and still meet whatever requirements the contract has easily with just the novels.

*groan* Good point, I'd forgotten (no pun intended) about those.

 

[ruleslawyer]

There was this series of modules you may have heard of ...

...which have no information on the giant pantheon or on the history and/or sociology of the giant races.

Drow get a reasonably fair shake in terms of developed portrayal in the GDQ series. Giants don't, really.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

...which have no information on the giant pantheon or on the history and/or sociology of the giant races.

The G modules are history. They're the most important giant history in Oerth we've got, especially with the pass they got in 2E, explicitly having the giants declare war against a human nation.

 

[ruleslawyer]

The G modules are Sterich's history, not the history of the giant races. In fact, they tell you basically nothing about giant society.

 

[Dark Psion]

There is room for some more Realms books;

Core Beliefs: Forgotten Realms (nuf said)

Player's Guide 2: (or how to incorporate all the recent books into the realms. An expanded version of the recent FR web updates Here.)

Monster Manual: Forgotten Realms (update the previous one and add all the other "left behind" monsters)

Kara Tur: (if they are not going to do RokuganD20 any more, then lets bring back the original Oriental Adventures.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The G modules are Sterich's history, not the history of the giant races.

It's been a while since I read the modules, but I'm reasonably certain the giants were involved the giants' war against the nation. You asked for Greyhawk giant history and it exists.

In any case, a giant sourcebook of some sort is long overdue from WotC.

 

[ruleslawyer]

It's been a while since I read the modules, but I'm reasonably certain the giants were involved the giants' war against the nation. You asked for Greyhawk giant history and it exists.

I did? What I said was this:

[The G series modules] have no information on the giant pantheon or on the history and/or sociology of the giant races.

IIRC, they don't.

The mere existence of a series of encounters in a module doesn't constitute a history, ecology, or other study of that race. If it did, we wouldn't need Draconomicon (witness the 3.0 Adventure Path), Libris Mortis (at least half the modules out there have undead adversaries), or Lords of Madness (check out Night Below).

In any case, a giant sourcebook of some sort is long overdue from WotC.

Darn right!