What's so special about Forgotten Realms?

[Theron]

It's fantasy gaming comfort food, a deep pot-pie of delicious ingredients. None are particularly novel or flashy, but it's warm, and filling, and makes you feel good. That's what makes it special.

(Also, it has my 13th level Sunite paladin, Valentyn. And his less reputable cousin.)

 

[Leatherhead]

I don't think you'll find many people who like 4e FR and liked FR in previous editions, if simply because, to many people, 4e FR took away everything that they liked about FR; it killed what made FR stand out.

The same could be said of any edition. I, for instance, didn't like FR in 3.x, because there was simply too much stuff (like Custom PrCs for everything). I started playing FR back in 2nd, when there was noticeably less stuff.

And I am positive that someone would say "Man I hated all the stuff that was added to FR in 2nd"

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Just an incidental question:
Does the 3e Campaign Guide cover the whole world (even if only briefly)?

 

[Riley]

I know nothing of the contents of the novels, but the things I love about the Realms are:
- A nice set of deities - particularly the evil ones. I've stolen a few of those to replace some of the less-memorable evil Greyhawk deities. Love Shar vs. Selune. Love Bane (as per the 4e Dragon Magazine).
- lots of flavorful stuff
- some corner of the world or another will inspire just about any gamer. For me, it's the "Unapproachable East."
- Love the backstory of Netheril.
- Love the 3e FRCS. Both the flavorful character options, as well as the world overview. Probably my favorite accessory for 3e - even though I haven't played a Realms game since 2e.

 

[Riley]

Just an incidental question:
Does the 3e Campaign Guide cover the whole world (even if only briefly)?

Yes. (tangents like Maztica and Al-Qadim excepted, IIRC)

 

[Thanee]

Yes, it does. Briefly.

There are plenty more detailed region books out there as well, but the whole world (maybe except some really exotic places) is covered in the FRCS 3e.

Which is part what makes it such a great book, it feels quite complete, even though it certainly isn't, as it can only touch each region at the surface. But there's enough information in there to get a good idea about each region.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Desdichado]

Since the question has been asked and answered about Greyhawk I decided I wanted to find out about D&D's other really big setting.

What makes Forgotten Realms unique?

Eberron? Dragonlance? Both are just as big. Dragonlance is still doing the novel business like crazy, and Eberron is going strong. Stronger than Greyhawk, arguably.

I thought FR in its original, grey box, is one of the better "generic" fantasy settings out there. Much like with Greyhawk, it has an excellent map with varied terrain. The booklets give the perfect amount of information - enough to spur the imagination, but not so much that it overwhelms the DM. It also left vast areas open for DM development.

But that's just it. There wasn't anything "special" about Gray Box FR. The level of detail, while it turned off some people, is really the setting's claim to fame, and you've gotta admit, an awful lot of gamers really want that. So, I think FR fills a very useful niche from a marketing perspective. Even if that doesn't happen to be what I want.

I don't think you'll find many people who like 4e FR and liked FR in previous editions, if simply because, to many people, 4e FR took away everything that they liked about FR; it killed what made FR stand out.

And I think you would. Stand-off. Do you have any data to suggest that, or are you just citing your own opinion and that of three or four gamers you know as "evidence?" I freely admit that I don't have any.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

And I think you would. Stand-off. Do you have any data to suggest that, or are you just citing your own opinion and that of three or four gamers you know as "evidence?" I freely admit that I don't have any.

Easy there, tiger. Third word in is "think." To use it in a sentence, "I don't think blah blah blah."

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Eberron? Dragonlance? Both are just as big. Dragonlance is still doing the novel business like crazy, and Eberron is going strong. Stronger than Greyhawk, arguably.

My bad. From my perspective they do seem really big, as they feel, to me, like they get mentioned more often than Eberron and Dragonlance.

 

[Minicol]

The level of detail. OMG the level of detail. The world is massive, its history is extensive and very detailed. I know making an epic (in scope) campaign is FR may be hard for some people cause they simply end up thinking that some NPC should take care of it. But if you like reading through a setting more for the flavor of the setting than for actually playing in it, FR is amazing.

I used to be a FR completist. I ran a weekly campaign with a difficult bunch of players. Whenever I dangled a plot hook in front of them, they would choose to ignore it and take some other tangent. Luckliy for me, between all the detail in the books and DUNGEON (the excellent print magazine) I was always able to imrpovise something at the last moment, and stay in spirit to provide an enjoyable experience to all. I was never dry, there was always an adventure to run.

Lasted some five years.

Even if I bothered to try, I do not think this would be possible with the 4e realms.