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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 3937369" data-attributes="member: 5143">Yeah, you are probably right that he isn't important.  I just went to him because I started reading the novels the the Crystal Shard series and followed by the Dark Elf Trilogy like a lot of people.  I tend to mention Drizzt when I think of prominent NPCs in the Realms.But the thing about FR is that often the campaign setting comes out and it doesn't mention any details about a town.  Then an author decides to set a novel in that town a year later and creates an NPC for his story who lives there.  Then a year later, a sourcebook comes out about that area with stats and information on that NPC.  Then another author reads the sourcebook and decides to use that NPC in another novel.However, if you've just read the FRCS you don't know anything about that.  In the FRCS it was just some small town with no real background.  But if you start a game set in that town without having read all the novels and all the supplements you might be missing stuff.  Which is a feeling I don't like.  I like knowing everything there is to know about an area.  I just don't have time to do that much reading, as much as I'd like to.This is a good idea.  I think they probably won't want to do it however, as no one is going to buy novels if you can read a document that summarizes them all.That's not what I meant.  I mean there shouldn't be SO much information that things like "You didn't know that this country was at war with this one?" is a surprise to me after reading the FRCS.  Or maybe that isn't even so bad but when I hear "You didn't know that the elves had a tree where all of their souls go when they die and that it is what powers magic on their island?  It says so in this novel here." is a surprise.Recently I've taken a great interest in learning more about the Realms since I became one of the LFR administrators.  I haven't had time to read through my Grand History yet, though I'm trying.  It's just so dry and bland to read.No, it is not the fault of the setting at all.  I was just saying that everyone seems to think that fans who really like FR are much better at getting new players into the game instead of changing the game so that players can get themselves into it easier.  It isn't true.But it lacks so much information.  The Eberron Sourcebook tells you basically everything you need to know about the world.  The later books are all about smaller details that you may or may not want.  If you don't buy Dragonmarked you might not know that some people who have Dragonmarks can do some different stuff with them than usual, but that isn't a big deal.If you don't buy one of the FR novels you may not know that the King of Cormyr died or that an evil wizard has placed a curse on an entire country or any number of big deals.They could have addressed SOME of them, I admit.  However, the pure weight of the Realmslore won't go away without a reset.  They could come out with a new LGCS that just avoids going into details about the world so that it looked easy to learn.  However, they would still get players showing up at a table who had read all the 1st, 2nd and 3rd ed stuff about the Realms and wouldn't hesitate to correct "mistakes" that DMs and other players made because they don't know all the details.If, on the other hand, you tell all those players "All that stuff you know, it's no longer true.  You have to learn new stuff just like everyone else.  And here is a basic outline of the NEW Realms which assumes everything has changed."  All players then start on a level playing field.  Luckily it will take another 20 years and 2 more editions before we will likely build up as much lore again.</blockquote>

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