What do you think about the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Book

[DEP]

It is a fairly decent book, not great, but I still enjoy it. The lack of information does not really bother me as it gives me freedom to do as I want. I have all the 2ed books that I would use, and a few 3e books as well to draw some info on.

The race thing doesnt really bother me, as I can ignore it and make it so they are still there.

All in all, this actually makes me want to run a FR game, which I will be doing. In 3e I tried, but god it was a hassle. This however will be a bit easier.

*still not my favourite world, but it will do

 

[Fenes]

Does it go into details of what happened to Thay, Unther, Mulhorand and Chessenta? That's about the only reason for me to buy it, to get some possible plots for my 3.0 campaign (of course, as plots the players can foil, not some cheap railroaded "and so it came to pass, so enjoy the raid" adventure).

 

[DracoSuave]

I think the blame for the focus on the gods lies with 2E's Time of Troubles and also 2E's Faith and Avatars....

I thought it was the fact that every NPC from Elminster to the damn page of some noname duke was a Chosen of Mystra. Seriously, count the number of Chosen of Mystra in the main 3rd ed book.

Look, Midnight, I know you were lonely after Kelemvor's post-mortem snub, but you don't have to go around 'Choosing' every man, woman, and child you bump into who happens to wear a pointed hat.

That sort of indescriminant 'Choosing' will just end up getting you killed--


--OH WAIT

Seriously, it was -hard- not to walk away from the 3rd edition Realms stuff without thinking the entire setting was just a bunch of messy pies from all the god's dirty fingers poking in them.


That reminds me, how's Halastar doing?

 

[Jack99]

That reminds me, how's Halastar doing?

Didn't he die in 3.5 already?

 

[Penguinised]

Well I've got to say as a newcomer to FR (yeah I know, someone who's played D&D and never used the biggest campaign setting?) it's fairly good if a little thin. It inspires a lot of ideas for adventures I could run and I really like the way the gods are organised. I figure that the Players Guide will have the rest of the stuff I feel is missing so overall I'm pretty happy with it

 

[Obergnom]

@penguinised: How much does the constant speaking about X changed like this during the spellplague bother you?

I thought it was rather anoying, I would have prefered them to just describe the setting as is, without constantly referencing the old one. Which I know very well, thus my question to you, as you do not even know what they are talking about.

 

[Shroomy]

Does it go into details of what happened to Thay, Unther, Mulhorand and Chessenta? That's about the only reason for me to buy it, to get some possible plots for my 3.0 campaign (of course, as plots the players can foil, not some cheap railroaded "and so it came to pass, so enjoy the raid" adventure).

Yes, it does provide details about what happened to those countries, but other than Thay, all the major changes were caused by the Spellplague. Chessenta is still around, but its only half its size; the other half is now taken up by the genasi kingdom of Akanul, which came from Returned Abeir. Likewise, the dragonborn country of Tymanther basically fell on top of Unther in a huge cataclysm. The Spellplague left Mulhorand devastated and mostly devoid of life; colonists from Deep Imaskar emerged and reclaimed the land as High Imaskar (I think that the reborn sarrukh lands of Okoth also claimed some of the land). Thay was pretty much turned into an undead wasteland by the lich Tam, who was trying to attain godhood via a ritual; it failed, but not before destroying much of the life in Thay and thrusting the entire plateau upward. Many living Thay expatriates were driven north into Algarond.

 

[Fenes]

Yes, it does provide details about what happened to those countries, but other than Thay, all the major changes were caused by the Spellplague. Chessenta is still around, but its only half its size; the other half is now taken up by the genasi kingdom of Akanul, which came from Returned Abeir. Likewise, the dragonborn country of Tymanther basically fell on top of Unther in a huge cataclysm. The Spellplague left Mulhorand devastated and mostly devoid of life; colonists from Deep Imaskar emerged and reclaimed the land as High Imaskar (I think that the reborn sarrukh lands of Okoth also claimed some of the land). Thay was pretty much turned into an undead wasteland by the lich Tam, who was trying to attain godhood via a ritual; it failed, but not before destroying much of the life in Thay and thrusting the entire plateau upward. Many living Thay expatriates were driven north into Algarond.

Well, Spellplague can be replaced with any other cause one can think of. Phlan was shifted to another plane once, and some high-magic rituals caused the world to shake.

Still, I am not convinced the material therein is worth buying the book. If they have as few details as was said, I'd have to make up 99% of the relevant details anyway, and the ideas I already can take from this thread.

 

[soulcatcher78]

Didn't he die in 3.5 already?

They whacked him at the beginning of Exp. to Undermountain but with all the odd happenings in Waterdeep (as of 4E FRCS), I am keeping my fingers crossed for his return.

Even if they don't, I will.

 

[Penguinised]

@obergnom: Yeah I guess it was a bit confusing, but seeing as they are only really just references and don't hold any entirely vital info (as in there are no "your Magic X used to be blue and now it's pink" but not actually describing Magic X) it didn't really bother me. It just lets me know that there is a vast cannon already there (admittedly I would have to have been living under a rock not to already know that it's there) which I can look into if it interests me and I want to find out more.
I think it is a pretty brave thing they've done to change such an established setting in such a dramatic way. The massive stink that some are kicking up about the lack of historical data in the book seems a bit odd to me. Why put more information in a new book about times and places and people that everyone (except me obviously) already knows inside out? To break new ground, effect some really fundamental changes and to keep that level of mystery hanging over the last 100 years are very bold moves and I'm pretty interested to see where the game books and novels take it from here.