D&D 4E Slight Rant on 4E FR So Far and Where It May Go [SPOILERS]

[Dinkeldog]

That might be my problem--I haven't had the time and energy to keep up with the novels.

 

[WarlockLord]

Do we have any confirmation on that 'Drow will be just like other elves' thing?

 

[Brian Compton]

Do we have any confirmation on that 'Drow will be just like other elves' thing?

Comments made in developer updates indicate that Drow will be a race detailed in the PHB.

With that, though, will Elistraee become part of the main pantheon, or will she still be unique to FR?

As for the novels issue, I agree that people who don't follow all the novels tend to get lost when it comes to updates in game supplements, unless changes are detailed (the Silence of Lolth has gotten some good description in the Player's Guide and Grand History, but a lot of other things, I couldn't tell you where they came from). You'd think, though, much as they did with Azoun's death, that if WotC was going to release a novel involving the death of one of the biggest characters in the Realms, they'd have made a little more hay about it.

It was a lot easier in the past to follow the novels because there weren't that many authors to follow, and you usually knew what you liked. Ed wrote about Elminster, the Seven Sisters, and the Dales; Elaine Cunningham did Danilo Thann, Elaith Craulnober, and Arilyn Moonblade; and R.A. did Drizzt and crew. There were the Harper novels, the Moonshae novels, and the Alias novels, and if you liked them, great, but they didn't drastically affect the Relams (other than elevating Finder Wyvernspur to god-status). I don't know when that changed- maybe around the time of the "Threat from the Sea" series- but at some point I stopped trying to read every Realms book I could get my hands on and instead focused on the few authors I liked. Hence, I've missed a lot of details. Oh well.

 

[Zaukrie]

I've never understood the "too many powerful NPCs/good organizations" issue.

If there are gargantuan dragons, and cabals of evil wizards of great power, and entire nations of evil humans, and so on, it seems to me pretty stupid for there not to be powerful NPCs. Otherwise, would the evil just overrun the good civilizations while waiting for the PCs to get powerful? The PCs in a "real" world of magic and powerful monsters would be players, but not the only players on an entire world. If the campaign was limited to a valley, or country or region, maybe. But, and entire world of good and bad guys, there's no way the PCs are the only powerful people. That doesn't mean they have nothing to do, just that they don't do everything.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I actually think <i>this</i> was always the real problem with FR: if you don't follow the novels, you don't know what's going on in the continuity. After a year, some new rulebook comes out referencing an event from a novel and, if you haven't read it, you're lost.

And I think that the real solution for that was always just not playing in the Realms. It works fast (not having to wait for them to change the setting to fit you) and has the added benefit to give them who want such a detailed setting what they want.

The novels are also what drove the über-ness for Drizzt and Elminster, among others. Honestly, the novels are what makes FR so popular, not the setting itself. People play in the setting to play in the same sandbox as their favorite NPCs from the books. It's only folks like us, who hang out on gaming boards, that really follow the setting itself.

I don't know whether this is a smart move, then. Changing the setting the novels take place in. Depending on how far they're jumping ahead, many of the heroes from those novels will die, and they can't write any more novels for them.

And it won't fix the problem: They'll obviously continue to write the novels that are the Realms' big attraction, and new guys will be lost again in short order.

 

[The Little Raven]

And I think that the real solution for that was always just not playing in the Realms. It works fast (not having to wait for them to change the setting to fit you) and has the added benefit to give them who want such a detailed setting what they want.

I prefer the way Exalted handles this stuff. Novels will always take place before the "zero year" of the setting, and will always help flesh out history and backstory, rather than changing the default assumptions about the world.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I've never understood the "too many powerful NPCs/good organizations" issue.

Neither did I.

If there are gargantuan dragons, and cabals of evil wizards of great power, and entire nations of evil humans, and so on, it seems to me pretty stupid for there not to be powerful NPCs. Otherwise, would the evil just overrun the good civilizations while waiting for the PCs to get powerful?

Exactly. It never made sense to me: The heroes are the only high-level characters on the whole world. Except the BBEG and most of his minions, of course.

 

[Brian Compton]

I've never understood the "too many powerful NPCs/good organizations" issue.

Likewise. I've heard similar complaints specifically about the Chosen, Drizzt, or one of Ed's original PC's being involved in campaigns. There are plenty of stories to tell that don't involve any big-name NPC. If you want to play in a "geek-out" game where you get to interact with Elminster or Drizzt or any of the other characters, find a DM who will run such a game and don't pester your DM to make it so for your sake. Personally, I'd rather not have them in my game- I've tried using them when I DM, and it never lives up to player expectations.

I think that's what gets people about the Realms- they've had an experience where somebody criticized their running of it because they didn't play NPC X a certain way or didn't incorporate events from Novel Y that takes place in the same region. I'm guessing you get similar problems with a Marvel or DC-based supers game. I can see how that would turn people off to the Realms.

But essentially hitting "delete all" doesn't fix the inherent problem, which was my original point. It simply removes what a lot of people do like about FR.

 

[Arnwyn]

I've never understood the "too many powerful NPCs/good organizations" issue.

Indeed, because there is no issue. Those who think there is a problem simply have no inkling of FR's size, geography, population figures, and demographics.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Indeed, because there is no issue. Those who think there is a problem simply have no inkling of FR's size, geography, population figures, and demographics.

That's not true. I have an inkling. However, if I have the ability to predict the future, travel instantly anywhere in the world, have a network of spies and information gathering in almost every major city in the world and the support of a god(or 15) who are extremely powerful and know most things, then I'm likely going to know where and when important things happen.

Now assume that there are a good 20 or 30 people with that level of power and resources in the world.

Now, it's easy to assume that these people aren't concerned with any threat in the typical "heroic" range, like anything that would likely be appropriate for level 1-10 characters. Some orcs who pillage a small town or bandits or the like.

However, a bunch of them have ties to the major cities such as loved ones who live there, they are the rulers of them, etc. So, they have even more reason to stop things that happen in these areas.

So, let's assume there are only 20 people who have the power and inclination to show up wherever they want in the world and help and they'll only help with high level problems. Let's assume 75% of them are taking the day off. So, there are 5 of them "on duty" who can show up due to ties to the area, random chance, being told to go their by their gods/friends, etc. Now, are there more than 5 high level threats that affect Faerun on any given day? And how many of them take more than an hour or two to resolve for 30th level characters?