Which version of the FR do you prefer, and why?

[diaglo]

the 1edADnD Grey Boxed set.

 

[3catcircus]

Now, now, not all of the Purple Dragon Knights (the organization) are actually purple dragon knights (the prestige class). I'd use the PrC solely for commanders and otherwise elite PDKs.

But I agree that the tree cosmology sucks.

Demiurge out.

Actually, all the Purple Dragon Knights *are* Purple Dragon Knights. However, not all Purple Dragons are Purple Dragon Knights...

 

[seankreynolds]

Interesting . "Silver Marches" is a great book. Did it reach the set sales goal? I'm not that sure about it, if I look at the "Unapproachable East"...

I dunno, it went on sale after I left WotC. Clearly WotC is still supporting FR, so....

I think the reason so many people object to the Great Wheel (do a search for a poll I did about the Great Wheel and the realms a while back, I'd put up a link to it but I don't have a CS account so I can't search) is that it's such a radical change of an integral part of the setting.

I agree that it's a radical change, disagree that the planes are integral to the setting. Plane-hopping may be the norm for higher-level campaigns, but just as most of the campaigns we heard about were centered in Faerun (particularly Waterdeep, Cormyr, and the Dales), almost none of them went to the planes. The FRCS team felt that the focus of an FR campaign was the _Realms_, not the planes, and chose to rework the planes into something that was made for FR (rather than something made for Greyhawk twenty years earlier with a different campaign archetype based on Law vs. Chaos inspired by Moorcock novels, and FR forced to cram itself to fit that planar model because of the dictates of TSR's owner Lorraine Williams).

Hehe . One problem with the tree model is that nearly all traffic between outer planes has to go via Toril. I know of all these heroes protecting portals in the Realms, but somehow this doesn't go well with me.

That's not a _problem_ of the tree model ... it was done deliberately to explain why FR always had these planar travelers popping up on Toril. FR is a very "Swiss cheese" material plane, with many many portals, and if it's easier to go from A to B without passing through Toril, why is there so much planar traffic on Toril?

Actually, all the Purple Dragon Knights *are* Purple Dragon Knights. However, not all Purple Dragons are Purple Dragon Knights...

Not true, actually. If a common member of the Purple Dragons is knighted, he doesn't instantly gain a level in the prestige class. If a person is given an honorary knighthood in the Purple Dragons, he doesn't instantly gain a level in the prestige class. You have to distinguish between the D&D term Purple Dragon Knight and the Cormyrian term Knight of the Purple Dragon. The former is a game mechanic and involves levels in a certain prestige class. The latter is a matter of status that carries no supernatural powers or game mechanics.

 

[Eremite]

I like the current version and one of the reasons is that I much prefer the new cosmology. At least now the powers are no longer residing on the "wrong" planes as, frex, Bane and Cyric did in 2E.

Another reason that I like the current incarnation is that I really, really like the 3E/3.5E ruleset. Finally D&D makes sense in a way that appeals to my semi-autistic mindset....

However, the novels driving the metaplot still pose a problem for me as a DM. I was tempted to simply start my campaigns two or three years behind the current FRCS date but I really like Bane's return so that's not an option. What I have decided to do now is simply ignore all future novels and hopefully resist the temptation of reading them (this shouldn't be too hard as I actually don't like fantasy fiction).

 

[Davelozzi]

I like both the old grey box and the new 3e book, for reasons others have stated. The old grey box provided just enough detail to be an evocative glimpse into this other world, and the cover painting of a figure on horseback shrouded in mists complemented this feel.

But with all the details about the Realms that have been published in to the past 17 years, it would be pointless to try to provide a bare bones view, and it'd be inpossible to recapture that original feel anyway. A big book, organized in a useful fashion as a central reference for both rules and setting info was the way to go, and the FRCS accomplishes that most admirably.

 

[Arnwyn]

Guess I'm going to be the odd one then and say I prefer the 1e and 2e material over the 3e material. As many have said about 3e, even for FR, it's just missing that "something" that existed in the old material. Well Silver Marches and Serpent Kingdoms and parts of the FRCS have that "something" but the rest of the 3e books? They just sit in my FR box collecting dust while the older material gets used all the time.

I will absolutely, unequivocally, agree with you. Right down to the Serpent Kingdoms having that "something" that the earlier 3e FR books did not.

So, as to the original poster's question: I don't know about the number of "versions" of the Forgotten Realms, but I prefer the "Ed Greenwood/Steven Schend/Eric Boyd" version over any other.

You are of course entitled to your opinion about the FRCS cosmology,

Indeed. Count me as another 3e FR cosmology 'hater'.

but understand that it was never Ed's intent that FR be crammed into the Great Wheel cosmology,

Strange, then, that he wrote about the Forgotten Realms cosmology as being part of the Great Wheel way back in early issues of Dragon - long before FR was was even a twinkle in TSR managers' eyes.

While I don't purport to know what's inside Ed Greenwood's head, I look upon your statement with heavy skepticism.

 

[Nisarg]

I dunno, it went on sale after I left WotC. Clearly WotC is still supporting FR, so....

I agree that it's a radical change, disagree that the planes are integral to the setting. Plane-hopping may be the norm for higher-level campaigns, but just as most of the campaigns we heard about were centered in Faerun (particularly Waterdeep, Cormyr, and the Dales), almost none of them went to the planes. The FRCS team felt that the focus of an FR campaign was the _Realms_, not the planes, and chose to rework the planes into something that was made for FR (rather than something made for Greyhawk twenty years earlier with a different campaign archetype based on Law vs. Chaos inspired by Moorcock novels, and FR forced to cram itself to fit that planar model because of the dictates of TSR's owner Lorraine Williams).
.

While that's a noble concept and all, you still end up with a fairly pissed off fanbase as a result of this action.
Why?

Because, you release the Manual of the Planes, which is hailed as a really great book, and then end up making both of your real supported settings for D&D (FR & Eberron) COMPLETELY INCOMPATIBLE with the Manual of the Planes.

See the problem there? Its the "D&D Manual of the Planes", and yet both of the settings Wizards actually gives a crap about (the old elvis and the new elvis, let's call them) use totally different cosmologies... meaning that the MoTP is useless if you're playing in FR, and that if you really want to use the cool stuff in MoTP you have to set your game in Greyhawk, a setting that has had about as much support and popularity as the Natural Law Party.

To top it off, looking at it from the pov of the FR fan, you're telling the FR fan, "Yeah we know there's this great big sourcebook on the planes, but instead, because we feel its "inappropriate", we're going to make you use the two-and-a-half page description of the special FR planes instead... oh you already spent money on the MoTP? Sorry, too bad.."
That, plus the fact that they haven't actually come out with a book on the FR planes (unless I missed it), would be enough to piss me and a number of other FR players off.

Of course, I just say the hell with it and use the great wheel anyways. So all that the FR "great tree" accomplishes is that it unnescesarily complicates my gaming, because any of the scant material on the planes that does show up in the FR books I have to go and convert to fit the cosmology in MoTP.

Nisarg

 

[Razuur]

While the 3e version is the most beautiful (graphic design wise) and complete campaign setting I have seen for 3.x, my favorite is still the first edition.

Filled with the unknown. Fraught with danger. Not Magick psycho....

The first edition still hearkens to me. But the third edition is just too much.

Strange dichotomy, eh?

Razuur

 

[Mystery Man]

<snip>
So all that the FR "great tree" accomplishes is that it unnescesarily complicates my gaming....<snip>

Bully for you, it neccessarily enhances mine.

So there.

 

[Pants]

That, plus the fact that they haven't actually come out with a book on the FR planes (unless I missed it), would be enough to piss me and a number of other FR players off.

Player's Guide to Faerun. Why it's in a player's guide... I don't know, but it is out there.

And I completely agree with Sean. About the biggest problem I have with the new cosmology is all the ret-connecting that has to be done. Aside from that, each campaign world should have it's own cosmology. Trying to pigeon-hole it into the Great Wheel destroys some of the feel of the setting.

Jamming Midnight or Eberron into the Great Wheel cosmology would absolutely destroy the settings for me.