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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Primal" data-source="post: 4918083" data-attributes="member: 30678">I can't really say; reading between the lines (and this is my own interpretation) it does seem like some of the designers wanted to leave their own fingerprints all over the place. It may also be that the design team was unsure what to do with the more popular areas, and that is why they released regional books for more "exotic" areas. As you said, Cormyr, Dalelands et al. were already covered in 2E accessories, but still many DMs wished a 3E update on things -- after all, it had been a few years since the Volo's Guides had been published. Maybe RB had some insider knowledge of 4E even before the development began, and thus saw any regional development being counterintuitive to 4E design goals?  Anyway, I feel the design team really dropped the ball with the storyline, introducing a lot of weird RSEs (Return of the Archwizards, Rage of Dragons, the whole Shadowstorm events, etcetera) and clearly focusing on certain organizations and deities only (namely, the Shade and Shar). And they totally ignored the story potential in Xvim's ascension, the Manshoon Wars and other "seeds" the FR "Lorelords" had written. What I *do* know is that before 4E came out, the designers publicly admitted none of the staffers had been running FR campaigns in years, which says a lot; they didn't have any emotional attachment to FR, and it was just "work". If we take a look at Eberron (especially which sort of books they put out at the same time while replying to FR fans that "This sort of books wouldn't sell") it's a whole different story; it was pretty evident to me that the staffers liked Eberron a lot, and this is even more evident if we compare the FR and Eberron 4E books with each other.For FR, it was just plain work and hard business; for Eberron, it was what they thought would be best for the setting and its fans (being fans themselves). At least that's how I see it.</blockquote>

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