Concerned about FR
I just had a thought about FR books to come. I mean, Races of Faerun added like 80 new feats or so, and any books tangential to the races involved will have those feats reprinted. This also goes for any books that feature villains, something from Lords of Darkness may be reprinted. The most sacred book is probably the magic book, as spells arent usually placed into Regional books in large quantity.
It makes me wish there was just a big book of Forgotten Realms Prcs, consolidating all of the ones from the myriad sourcebooks into one handy volume. Add in most every feat, and a full index of magical items and youve got a useful book. Of course, that information would continue to be recycled into new FR books.
I dont know, I can already see some of what Underdark will have.
Drow information, feats, prestige classes obtained from Lords of Darkness, Faiths and Pantheons, Races of Faerun, and City of Spider Queen. I guess what Im getting at is, every new book seems to have "new" fluff (info that moves the FR forward, or digs deeper into existing information) yet the crunch gets recycled (although most products have had a good ratio of fluff to crunch).
For instance, can they really release more feats and things for Drow? I mean, shouldnt that have been covered in Races of Faerun or Lords of Darkness or City of Spider Queen? The story and lore factors can always move forward or delve deeper, but wont people get tired of new drow feats, prcs, and spells (not to mention magic items).
Its frustrating enough that "Magic of Faerun" is lacking some spells from the Forgotten Realms. Hence the lists are incomplete, and cross-referencing is necessary. Ditto Races of Faerun, which doesnt have information about the Gnolls that the upcoming Unapproachable East book will have. It makes the "source" volumes that cover one issue weaker when new books are released with information that should have already been covered. Like how almost every new FR book has a couple more monster entries...Monsters of Faerun isnt all that useful, as youll be cross-referencing the Silver Marches to get a specific entry!
I suppose what I want would be a fully conceived rule-set which will then have specific books made which are appropriately all-encompassing. So, when they were prepping to make Forgotten Realms campaign setting, have the some odd 300 feats/spells/monsters/magic items they planned to print over the next 3 years, and then make sure the "source" books are all-inclusive. For example, if I buy Artifacts of Faerun, a book detailing magical items, magic item properties, magic item feats, artifacts, and so on, I have by and large ALL of the FR magic items that will appear in books to come.
Granted, any given FR book will reprint said items and other crunch, while furthering the FR line by adding depth and story, and they would reprint from many different books.
If your source (mostly crunch) books were:
Magic of Faerun
Races of Faerun
Monsters of Faerun
Evil Organizations of Faerun (Lords of Darkness)
Gods and Godly Prcs of Faerun (Faiths and Pantheons)
Artifacts of Faerun (forthcoming, j/k)
Then any given book about a region could include all regional information like Regional Feats pertaining to that region, Regional spells and magic items pertaining to that region, Evil organizations pertaining to that region, Racial information for the region, and strong deity prescences within the region. Additionally this book would contain a mini-module, and lots of "fluff" which delves deeper into the FR and moves the timeline forward.
Did that make any sense?
Technik