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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DrunkonDuty" data-source="post: 3901162" data-attributes="member: 54364">It's hard to pin down exactly what I don't like about the Realms. The things you mention are part of it. The excessive number of high level NPCs and such is a bit disturbing. I like a low and gritty campaign to be honest. My preferred class to play is fighter/thief because I like the combo of being able to do "stuff" and hit hard from in front or behind. So I guess I just like a campaign that can accomodate that. Lanhkmar and Hyboria come leaping to mind as my ideal fun places to play. And my bias as a player overflows into my bias as a GM. Or possibly the other way around.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> The blanket coverage of the setting, by which I mean the way in which every little nook and cranny is covered in detail somewhere, leaves little for me to contribute. This is fine for many people, and I'm sure a selling point for the product. But not what I'm after, or, I suspect, you or Reynard. Back to that high level thing. It really changes the style of the game. Instead of having challenges that the heroes can overcome through ingenuity, hard work or just plain luck, the prevalence of powerful magic available means that heroes will have to have the correct counter spell(s). It lacks in dramatic tension. The spell will work 100% of the time unless blocked by the specific spell that blocks it. So in turn the bad guys need to have a counter to the counter. It quickly turns into a game of trumps. Teleporting to bypass mundane and location oriented defenses, anti-teleport wall to block teleports, armour piercing teleport to penetrate anti-teleport wall. OK I made that last one up, but how long till it happens? This is the fault of the magic system: the least over-hauled thing in all the editions and most difficult to implement in a satisfactory manner. And I don't mean the Vancian system. Although that has it's flaws and is slowly being done away with. I mean the lack of cohesion within the spell descriptions. So many spells are presented as the ultimate (at whatever) until someone else writes up a spell that is more ultimate. <sigh> The thing that really irks me here is that certain spells do have simple, workable mechanics that allow for variation/challenge within the spell itself. Dispel Magic presents a simple mechanic that can be made to fit many many situations. Many more spells could use this caster vs caster level mechanic but don't. I have heard of, but not read, Spell Compendium re-creating the magic system in a more cohesive manner. I should check it out. (I think it's Spell Compendium.)But this is all getting a bit (a big bit) off topic. Your question was presumably more about the historic/cultural settings within the Realms.Well they're there at least. But everything is larger than life. SOOOOO much larger. There's nothing everyday and human about any of it. Queens who are the goddess of magic personified (or something like that, I don't know the exact details of the Simbol/Cymble/Symbol and can't bring myself to care.) Even the next door neighbour can turn out to be a world-shatteringly powerful wizard. Not only that, despite being an old, grumpy, ugly, know-it-all with a penchant for endless rambling he never-the-less pulls all these amazing hotties. I guess power is an aphrodesiac. Mary Sue much?As to the Realm's history: it's all so monumental. Entire kingdoms vanishing off to other planes thanks to magical catastrophes caused by their megalomaniac wizard-kings. Correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't this happened to more than one or two kingdoms in the Realm's past? I mean one Atlantis parallel is enough surely?  And let's not forget the day to day interference of Gods. ANd their occasional exile to the world as well. What about the "boring" mundane stuff like wars of succession or barbarian migrations? Or famines? Or plagues? Or petty things like Baron X is jealous of Baron Y and his hot wife Z: a war results.The day to day life of people seems impossible without major and constant interference from Elminster and Co. Or the Red Wizards depending on who is your local big boss. I imagine the crops couldn't grow without a high level druid to cast the right spells. What about commerce? How can it survive without high level magical protection. And if it has it why do we need caravans or ships? You'd ship everything via teleport portals. I can live with a world that does this and accepts magic as technology and the world changes accordingly. Eberron f'rinstance. But the Realms has magic both more powerful and more ubiquitous than in Eberron yet everyone lives these quasi medieval lives. Oh yeah: quasi medieval. It's like that Kevin Costner Robinhood movie. No mud. No illness or disfigurement. None of the bad things that would lend a bit of realism to the setting. Presumably magic makes all the bad go away. Again the local Elminster looks after us all. It reminds me more of Star Trek than anything. Effectively infinite amounts of energy that can be turned into literally anything. There's no reason for anyone to struggle for anything.Something about the way adventuring companies are done. Just doesn't feel right.And as you mentioned: where are the shades of grey? Bad guys are all bad, good guys all good. It's too simplistic. OK an outgrowth from the alignment system but you don't have to be quite so slavish to it do you?Hell, even the art work has a certain over done/over produced quality to it. It's almost comic bookish. Which, now I think of it, is a fine analogy for the rest of the setting.So to sum up: it's over the top, super-heroics, lacking in flavour (macdonalds is not a flavour), simplistic and twee. Not sure where you call home, but if it's the States then "Twee" is a dialect word. Means something along the lines of wishy-washy, overly cute  and just generally too nice and trying too hard to be nice.WOw, that's kinda long. As I said: kinda hard to pin down exactly what I dislike about them. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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