What should happen to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting?

[BlackMoria]

The poll says it all. What should WOTC do with the FR campaign setting?

Kill it, change it, leave it the same, or sell it off?

I want it left the same but if the only way the product line can remain profitable is by changing it radically, I'd rather WOTC sell the setting off to someone who cares about it and can do it justice.

My two coppers...

 

[Randolpho]

Sell the setting off rather than killing it slowly by changing everything that makes FR the Forgotten Realms

I'm confused... what exactly is it that makes FR FR? I always thought it was designed as hodge-podge potpouri fantasy.

 

[Zot_Wyzo]

As with city hall, you can't fight the Bean Counters.

Sell it to somebody who loves it.

 

[novyet]

I would like it if they kept it as it is now, but if it requires massive changes to make it attractive for hasbro to keep, then sell it off to a 3rd party d20 group and let them run with it.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

I'm confused... what exactly is it that makes FR FR? I always thought it was designed as hodge-podge potpouri fantasy.

I thought so too. The only defining characteristic is Extreme High Fantasy.

I'm guessing that we're talking about how the books are constructed, i.e. having lots of history/character/flavor/etc. instead of just crunchy bits. But that's a characteristic of the books, not the setting.

 

[BlackMoria]

It is true that the FR suffers from a 'too many cooks' syndrome but that is to be expected given the popularity and the longevity of the setting.

Not to mention that the setting went through the rough times of the decline of TSR and the acquisition by WOTC and a straight clear vision for the setting was not always maintained.

What makes the Realms the Realms?

Nothing I can really put my finger clearly on. It is a feeling more than a cognitive thing.

It has a regional feel, similar to our world. You have the feeling of a variety of cultures having evolved and carving out their place in the world. It has sometimes gritty feel to it and it can be wild and wooly even in civilized areas.

It has (to me at least) a sense of history and a sense of mystery - that all seems on the surface to be revealed and yet not revealed.

It seems an alive world, where events and history go always onwards, weaving a colorful trapestry of places, things and people.

That is the Realms to me. Others mileage may vary.

 

[GreyOne]

Forgotten Realms was good back in the days when Ed Greenwood wrote his articles in Dragon about it. That was before the release of the first boxed set. I used to love reading those articles with all the cool names. I incorporated lots into my old campaigns. The articles on swords, spellbooks, the gods of the Realms article, etc., all added to this mysterious place called the Forgotten Realms.

Then it got commercialized. I liked the first boxed set, but then the quality starting going down. It became, as everyone says, a potpourri of ideas, good and bad and the lustre was lost.

 

[Sejs]

Big rock, preferably from space.



then sell it off to someone who can give it the love, attention, and money to make it a good setting again, like it was in the early days.

 

[bushfire]

My vote was for cancelling the setting. But they might as well milk the cow for all she is worth first.

I am sure the FR fans will buy a lot more expensive books before they become disillusioned. No sense wasting a good cash cow.

 

[Paka]

I run a game in a homebrew setting but I think the Forgotten Realms books amazing.

The crunch is well done and the story is mediocre but what blows me away is the organization. FR is such a vast world and I think they break it down to what it is supposed to be in an amazingly organized way.

Forgotten Realms' "core ethos sentence" is really apparent throughout the main book and its support books.

Anyway, they are the best things coming out for d20, don't muss it up.