WotC's Chris Perkins Talks Realms & Sundering

Den of Geek has a lengthy interview with Chris Perkins about the Forgotten Realms and The Sundering. He also very briefly touches on other settings, indicating that WotC hopes that other worlds will be covered in the future if the right story comes along. On past controversial changes to settings, he says "Our guiding principle is to embrace the past and not pass judgment or rewrite history. We’d rather let the fans tell us what they like about the Realms and focus on those elements going forward." (thanks to MerricB for the scoop!)

 

[D'karr]

I also don't want a Realms purely designed to sell novels.

Good luck with that.

 

[Barachiel]

I do agree. There are plenty of other draconic gods to use instead of Tiamat.

What about Null? (Isn't he sometimes depicted as a massive dracolich or something? That's very Realms-related since dracoliches originated in the Realms) It could be a cool massive Shadow Dragon-like being. Still a Dragon. Not Tiamat. Very Realms.

Garyx is another to use. Heck, why not do what the Realms does best!? Ancient stirrings rising up to make a place for themselves in the current era. That's a recurring Realms-like theme and I would have used one of the long gone draconic deities. Like Zorquan or Kalzareinad.

I get Tiamat is iconic to D&D...but she is not iconic to the Forgotten Realms. Null would have been perfect to toy and play with, maybe his darker side (the Falazure aspect) tries to corrupt and take over or something.

I think that's the problem. The adventure is not a "Forgotten Realms" book. They don't market it as such. There is no Realms logo on the book covers. It just uses the world as a setting. Yeah, the events are considered canon but...well, for some reason WotC's flexes their very wacky marketing skills once again and muddles things up.

 

[Irennan]

I want to know how they plan on bringing back places like Halruaa and Maztica?

I hope to god they don't do the old "abracadabra" poof there she is thing.

''But Ao... and THE SUNDERING...''

More seriously, at this point the Realms is so full of cheese and ridiculous stuff happening all over the place (I mean, look at the premise od the Sundering) that -personally- I don't really care that much anymore about the how, just that what was thrown away is now restored (and that once that happens the setting can move on without blowing stuff up just for shock value or just as a deus ex machina to implement whatever change the devs want).

 

[aramis erak]

I also don't want a Realms purely designed to sell novels.

The whole RPG line is essentially there to support the novels, now.

 

[Barachiel]

The novels leave a gaping hole in the game, I believe. I don't have time and money to read and memorize all the game information from the novels, yet there is so much stuff I wish were in the game books from the novels.

I wish there was a site that broke all the novels down into game material; descriptions of locales and their spot on the maps, names of NPCs, info on the magic, creatures, and lore in the novels.

If you want a story, read them. If you want info for your game world in the setting, there should be a place that collects that.

 

[Beleriphon]

I wish there was a site that broke all the novels down into game material; descriptions of locales and their spot on the maps, names of NPCs, info on the magic, creatures, and lore in the novels.
If you want a story, read them. If you want info for your game world in the setting, there should be a place that collects that.

Not quite what you're asking but...

forgottenrealms.wikia.com

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

...he types a few days after discovering what WotC's plans for 2013 for Realms were going to be before the new edition and the fourth iteration of a Tiamat-focussed adventure path became the priority....

Well, we know that Greenwood works on the plotting, details and background lore for adventures as well as novels.

We also know that WotC plans adventures, novels and all other products well in advance, meaning the work on them is done in advance of their publication.

That said, if you have proof that WotC's plans for the Realms were put on the shelf in 2013 in lieu of releasing adventures, I'd like to see it. Always curious to know how WotC works.

 

[TarionzCousin]

In my humble opinion, the Time of Troubles was worse than the Sundering.

Of course, I've somehow managed to ignore both in my Realms campaigns.

 

[HobbitFan]

Another thing that has me confused about 5E is how WOTC can have open, honest communication about the game during development but they can't be bothered to talk about the Realms.

 

[aramis erak]

Another thing that has me confused about 5E is how WOTC can have open, honest communication about the game during development but they can't be bothered to talk about the Realms.

Just spitballing, but quite possibly because of contractual obligations that restrict fan input on the Realms, or that Greenwood isn't listening and has final say, etc.

In many ways, it might have been better for the game (but not the D&D brand as a whole) to have come up with a new setting without the baggage, and then have novelists write for it... kind of like what Sweatpea did for the (supposedly rather lame) movies. (On the other hand, Ken Whitman once mentioned that Courtney is in fact a gamer.)

Oh, and someone leaked a link to a playtest copy of the Epics module; it appears that the Epics modules will shape the "future" of the setting involved for their AL seasons.

Which tends to indicate that, from a certain point of view, Organized Play is becoming the way that the future of the setting is being influenced by gamers. (Note: A former WotC parter, AEG, has been doing this for their flagship game for a decade: L5R CCG... the winner of the big tournament helps determine the nature of the changes based upon a combination of their deck in finals and how it plays out. But they weren't the first, either.)