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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Banshee16" data-source="post: 5296316" data-attributes="member: 7883">One of the things I both like and dislike is the "swing" you get in character motivations etc.  For instance, elves aren't necessarily all good tree huggers, unlike the core assumptions.  You've got ones that are nasty, arrogant, politically motivated and power hungry....and you have your tree huggers, and various other combinations.One thing I *didn'* like in the past was that, at least in the novels, the evil power groups were kind of like keystone cops.  I think they really tried to fix that in 3E.I don't play 4E realms (or 4E), but I've flipped through the book, and there are *elements* that I think are cool inspirations, and that I've thought of integrating into my own game.  For instance, I think the idea of the nation of Sarifal is pretty cool.  Sucks for the Moonshaes, but that area has been ignored for years.  And I'm currently reading through Tad Williams' Shadowmarch series, which details the "end of the world", as it is overrun by a resurgent faerie folk army......and I've been wanting to find a way to integrate Bastion Press' book "Faeries" into the game, so I'll likely take the inspiration of Sarifal from 4E realms, replace the Eladrin with Feorin (Faerie nobles) and Faerie from the lands of Between, and have a dark invasion of inhuman faerie displacing the humans, and getting revenge for having been overrun millenia ago.Mulhorand.  Incarnate Kings.  Minions of Set.  Check.  I love all those ideas.  Very cool section of the realms.The Harpers as an organization of do-gooders that really aren't.  I mean, I don't think they're evil.....but they don't always do "the right thing" either.  They're kind of some weird mishmash of spy service, diplomatic force, balancing neutrality, elements of communism, and some other things.  I think if the Realms were dominated and controlled by the Harpers, it might be a stable place, but not necessarily pleasant to live in.Lots of other interesting groups like the Twisted Rune, Daemonfey, and the Shades.I like that the population levels seem more accurate than most other settings.  IMO, in many other campaigns, populations have been set unnecessarily low...to the point that they might not be able to support the technological and financial development necessary to support the setting itself.By no means are the FR perfect.  But I think they're a pretty decent vanilla setting.  The novels, like many D&D novels, vary.  I like some of Salvatore's novels, as well as several of Elaine Cunningham's and Ed Greenwoods.  Many of the others I don't care for as much.  I do appreciate interesting characters like Arilyn Moonblade, Finder Wyvernspur,  and Drizzt.I've never been one to have the Chosen show up in game.  But I can say that I appreciate that in the realms, there are other powerful characters.  It only makes sense, given the population levels involved, and I find it's far less tempting for the players to think that they can take over the kingdom since they're higher level than the kind.  "Let's just kill him and take his throne.".  That's not always possible when the court wizard is lvl 18.  It's always given a more realistic feel to the world.BansheeBanshee</blockquote>

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