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JF
Acolyte
5 Posts |
 Posted - 01 Feb 2005 : 00:57:00
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Damara saved by a 21st level Paladin NPC.
Citadel of Many Arrows reclaimed as Felbar by an NPC army.
The Horde Campaign defeated by Azoun IV in single combat.
Hellgate keep defeated by two NPC Harpers.
The list goes on...
Has the persistant time line come to the point where the Realms are more background for the novel line as most of the tempting adventure seeds offered in the realms setting material are completed?
What will be left for players of the game as the novels slowly cover the remaining seeds?
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 01 Feb 2005 : 02:06:08
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Nope.
The Realms is a huge setting, and there are thousands of untold stories that have barely been hinted at -- and countless more that haven't been hinted at.
So things happen in novels. Well, I think that's good. Otherwise, the setting would be static and boring, like another TSR/WotC setting I could name. Instead of a setting that never changes, we have one that is dynamic and ever-changing, which simply provides more and more opportunities for adventure.
Further, there's only a handful of novels every year. There's no way that even the most comprehensive novel could hope to cover even a fraction of all possible events. And with each event that happens in a novel, there are repercussions... Things spread out from there, allowing for more possible adventures later on. You can't change one thing without it affecting others, often in unforeseen ways.
Another thing is that the novels have offered more than a bit of inspiration to more than a few people. One detail or throw-away line in a novel could become the focus of a DM's campaign.
Lastly, most of the events you mention didn't even happen in novels -- they happened on the sidelines, in various modules or game supplements.
The more that happens in a setting, the more that can happen. The last thing we want is no tales to be told, for then where would our inspiration come from?
Oh, and welcome to Candlekeep!  |
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 01 Feb 2005 : 03:22:08
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quote:
Originally posted by JF
What will be left for players of the game as the novels slowly cover the remaining seeds?
Quite a bit I believe as seeds still exist.
If one accepts your theory as sound, then there must exist less for players of these days to cover in the Realms than in the past since more novels are now in existence. However, nothing further can be from the truth. Get a map and you can go down the list of cities/town/villages/etc. that have endless opportunities for adventure.
Even at the steady pace of a good number of novels being published each year for the FR, I believe this fact will remain true. |
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Brother Ezra
Learned Scribe
USA
268 Posts |
Posted - 01 Feb 2005 : 14:45:10
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For every plot thread resolved by NPC's in a published adventure or novel, I think that at least twice that number of new, unresolved hooks are created. Therefore, more opportunities for player characters are generated.
Let's take your first example:
quote:
Originally posted by JF
Damara saved by a 21st level Paladin NPC.
Yes, Gareth Dragonsbane saved Damara from the Witch-King's armies and the machinations of Orcus. And now he's king. Which means that he is spending his time trying to rebuild his nation, and lacks the ability to run off and go adventuring. Meanwhile, he still has numerous lagging problems besetting his realm:
- Remnants of the Witch-King's forces still occupying portions of northern Damara.
- A large gathering of dragons at the ruins of Castle Perilous.
- A huge group of hobgoblins occupying the Giantspire Mountains.
These three hooks alone could create a campaign that spanned over several levels. As Wooly and Sirius have already mentioned, there are far more problems to fix than 'established' NPC's to fix them. |
"Suffering is the touchstone of all spiritual growth."
-St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred |
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 01 Feb 2005 : 15:15:45
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quote:
Originally posted by Brother Ezra
Yes, Gareth Dragonsbane saved Damara from the Witch-King's armies and the machinations of Orcus. And now he's king. Which means that he is spending his time trying to rebuild his nation, and lacks the ability to run off and go adventuring. Meanwhile, he still has numerous lagging problems besetting his realm:
Exactly. As Richard Byer's last novel showed, possibilities still exist for adventurers in that area. The only limits are a DM's imagination. |
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JF
Acolyte
5 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2005 : 00:20:50
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quote:
Originally posted by Brother Ezra
For every plot thread resolved by NPC's in a published adventure or novel, I think that at least twice that number of new, unresolved hooks are created. Therefore, more opportunities for player characters are generated.
Let's take your first example:
quote:
Originally posted by JF
Damara saved by a 21st level Paladin NPC.
Yes, Gareth Dragonsbane saved Damara from the Witch-King's armies and the machinations of Orcus. And now he's king. Which means that he is spending his time trying to rebuild his nation, and lacks the ability to run off and go adventuring. Meanwhile, he still has numerous lagging problems besetting his realm:
- Remnants of the Witch-King's forces still occupying portions of northern Damara.
- A large gathering of dragons at the ruins of Castle Perilous.
- A huge group of hobgoblins occupying the Giantspire Mountains.
Those are fine hooks if your players are willing to work behind the scenes on the loose ends of other great adventures. But, they lack the recognition of being "Gareth Dragonsbane vanquisher of the Witch-King".
One that I can think of would be challenging The Tower of the Arcane for control of Luskan.
quote:
From Wooly Rupert
Lastly, most of the events you mention didn't even happen in novels -- they happened on the sidelines, in various modules or game supplements.
Two are in novels, that's hardly most in supplements. But I'm not talking about just the novels changing the setting I'm talking about old modules and supplements being given resolutions in other words becoming past events. The Horde supplement is now an event in 1360DR and there isn't even an option for tracking down rogue Tuigians as the Zhent Orc army butchered them to a man the years following Azoun's slaying of the Khan. What is the point of adding new material to expand the Realms if they use the same material to close off other material and its developed areas?
Elves of Evermeet, designed by Prior, opened the island to exploration and introduced elven high magic. The later novels of Evermeet sacked the island and destroyed high magic. |
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Brother Ezra
Learned Scribe
USA
268 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2005 : 01:53:23
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quote:
Originally posted by JF
quote:
Originally posted by Brother Ezra
For every plot thread resolved by NPC's in a published adventure or novel, I think that at least twice that number of new, unresolved hooks are created. Therefore, more opportunities for player characters are generated.
Let's take your first example:
quote:
Originally posted by JF
Damara saved by a 21st level Paladin NPC.
Yes, Gareth Dragonsbane saved Damara from the Witch-King's armies and the machinations of Orcus. And now he's king. Which means that he is spending his time trying to rebuild his nation, and lacks the ability to run off and go adventuring. Meanwhile, he still has numerous lagging problems besetting his realm:
- Remnants of the Witch-King's forces still occupying portions of northern Damara.
- A large gathering of dragons at the ruins of Castle Perilous.
- A huge group of hobgoblins occupying the Giantspire Mountains.
Those are fine hooks if your players are willing to work behind the scenes on the loose ends of other great adventures. But, they lack the recognition of being "Gareth Dragonsbane vanquisher of the Witch-King".
One that I can think of would be challenging The Tower of the Arcane for control of Luskan.
quote:
From Wooly Rupert
Lastly, most of the events you mention didn't even happen in novels -- they happened on the sidelines, in various modules or game supplements.
Two are in novels, that's hardly most in supplements. But I'm not talking about just the novels changing the setting I'm talking about old modules and supplements being given resolutions in other words becoming past events. The Horde supplement is now an event in 1360DR and there isn't even an option for tracking down rogue Tuigians as the Zhent Orc army butchered them to a man the years following Azoun's slaying of the Khan. What is the point of adding new material to expand the Realms if they use the same material to close off other material and its developed areas?
Elves of Evermeet, designed by Prior, opened the island to exploration and introduced elven high magic. The later novels of Evermeet sacked the island and destroyed high magic.
There is a very simple solution to your dilemma. Start your campaign in a year before the plot threads you wish to include are resolved. If you want your PCs to be the ones to defeat the Witch-King, start the campaign in DR 1357 and have the PCs replace Gareth Dragonsbane and Co. There is even a series of published adventures (H1-4) that need only be updated to the current edition, and you have an instant, long term high level adventure that will result in your PCs becoming the rulers of Damara. Or begin an Evermeet campaign before the island is sacked, having the PCs as central players.
I think a lot of time people forget that it is their world. If you're going to stick strictly with the Canon storyline, you might as well hand your players a bunch of FR novels, and skip the whole roleplaying experience. At some point, you have to be willing to say "It stops being WotC's world, and starts becoming MY world now" |
"Suffering is the touchstone of all spiritual growth."
-St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred |
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2005 : 02:03:39
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quote:
Originally posted by JF
Those are fine hooks if your players are willing to work behind the scenes on the loose ends of other great adventures. But, they lack the recognition of being "Gareth Dragonsbane vanquisher of the Witch-King".
Why do they lack that possibility? Get the Bloodstone modules and run them for your group. If they are successful, one of them can be in Gareth's place.
quote:
Elves of Evermeet, designed by Prior, opened the island to exploration and introduced elven high magic. The later novels of Evermeet sacked the island and destroyed high magic.
Have you been keeping up with current Realms' events? The current situation presents a wealth of opportunity for characters from Evermeet. |
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2005 : 02:05:35
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quote:
Originally posted by Brother Ezra
At some point, you have to be willing to say "It stops being WotC's world, and starts becoming MY world now"
Thank you! Wonderfully said. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2005 : 05:58:33
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quote:
Originally posted by JF
quote:
From Wooly Rupert
Lastly, most of the events you mention didn't even happen in novels -- they happened on the sidelines, in various modules or game supplements.
Two are in novels, that's hardly most in supplements.
Two? Which two? So far as I know, the only one of those events that happened in a novel was Azoun's defeat of the Tuigan Horde.
Even if one other event was in a novel, that's still only half of the ones you listed.
And what's so bad about having some possibilities closed off? I'm sorry, but every plot thread can't be left dangling... And there's still a few gazillion possibilities left for crafty DMs. Even the not-so-crafty DMs should easily be able to find an unresolved hook, or come up with one of their own...
For example... We know Gondegal tried to carve out his own kingdom. We know he escaped, but was caught by the Mists and pulled into Ravenloft... What if he somehow gets out, comes back to the Realms, and tries again to create his own kingdom? With the way Cormyr is reeling after the attack of the Devil Dragon, it'd be a lot harder to stop him, so the PCs would have their work cut out for them...
There you go. A plot thread that was closed off, reopened with a simple tweak. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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JF
Acolyte
5 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2005 : 00:41:43
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quote:
Originally posted by Brother Ezra
There is a very simple solution to your dilemma. Start your campaign in a year before the plot threads you wish to include are resolved.
You may as well play with only the '87 grey box in that case. But not with the current setting book as it considers those events done and closed.
quote:
I think a lot of time people forget that it is their world. If you're going to stick strictly with the Canon storyline, you might as well hand your players a bunch of FR novels, and skip the whole roleplaying experience. At some point, you have to be willing to say "It stops being WotC's world, and starts becoming MY world now"
I see you agree with the problem of the story line. |
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Lysander
Learned Scribe
USA
183 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2005 : 02:22:21
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quote:
Originally posted by JF
quote:
Originally posted by Brother Ezra
There is a very simple solution to your dilemma. Start your campaign in a year before the plot threads you wish to include are resolved.
You may as well play with only the '87 grey box in that case. But not with the current setting book as it considers those events done and closed.
...
I see you agree with the problem of the story line.
Just because the 3E/3.5E book says its so, does't make it so. If you see it as a suggestion only, there's no problem with the story line. After all, as THO has said elsewhere, a lot of the stuff in 2E on forward (Such as, if I remember right, the entire Time of Troubles) that isn't in Ed Greenwood's game. Who'se right?  The answer, of course is whoever is DMing the game. |
Lysander
Defender of the Second Edition
Moderator, Project Gemengan, Worlds of D&D |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2005 : 05:20:11
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Everyone here is making excellent points, but to play "Devil's Advocate"...
quote:
Originally posted by Brother Ezra
There is a very simple solution to your dilemma. Start your campaign in a year before the plot threads you wish to include are resolved. If you want your PCs to be the ones to defeat the Witch-King, start the campaign in DR 1357 and have the PCs replace Gareth Dragonsbane and Co.
The DM is caught between the Scylla of not wanting to deviate too far from what is deemed "the Official Realms" and the Charybdis of wanting the PCs to have the glory of closing up these grand threads. Either the campaign deviates so far from what is established that new sources based on the old ones are unreliable, or the PCs are "reduced" to being Gareth's lackeys who have to do the dirty but necessary work of cleaning up the mess in Damara without being known as the Greatest Champions of Damara (it's not a crime to want that in a fantasy RPG, is it?)--after all, the "true champions" the rest of Faerun knows of were the NPCs who took back the kingdom, not the folks who swept up after them. So I see JF's point here.
Remember that new supplements and novels are based what has been established before. New storylines run headlong into old ones. If Gareth isn't the king of Damara, what happened in The Rite, then? Some of the elements of the plot depend on Gareth being who he is (in my opinion anyway). This is but one example, though. Yes, it is YOUR WORLD, but I don't think most FR players want to reject all the canon details outright--trying to compromise between making it "your world" and having your world still be The Realms isn't always an easy thing to do. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
Edited by - Rinonalyrna Fathomlin on 07 Feb 2005 05:23:18 |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4685 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2005 : 07:33:18
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The way _The Black Eagle Barony+ was presented in one module I was inclided more so to help him from the grasping Duke, even if the Baron allowed slavery. It a later module I learn the Baron was defeated.
About the only way one can go back to the canon of the setting is apply a bubble of event distortion. The PCs think they stopped or started a war or other realm shaking event. However actually had little effect on the entire world. While the speed of travel, with magic, is better then what was posible in RL 500 years ago it still is posible to think a problem was solved when in fact it was not.
The unsung heros live longer and Garth certainly could be raised from the dead (if actually killed). The PCs only can see a small part of the picture, even using a crystal ball all of the time they can not know all events that occurs and sometimes can get a misread on is looked at.
Not a perfect answer for your complaint of "going off the map" which has not even been drawn yet however the best answer I can offer you.
Dragonlance was worst, where DM instructions were if arcg villian was defeated make the aparent death/defeat in such a manner that there was some way to live/escape because they would show up later.
Things like falling of cliffs, however fall long enough to teleport awa.
The fire that consumed the building killing everyone, did not kill the mage because he polyed into a salamander.
If the home campaign wanders it should not be a major concern, however what the party sees and believes to be true certainly could have been a deceptiopn, illusion or just poor intel if one wants to head back to the grand history.
Oh also you can kill the PCs to prevent them from chaging history not yet written as well.
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2005 : 11:32:46
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
New storylines run headlong into old ones. If Gareth isn't the king of Damara, what happened in The Rite, then? Some of the elements of the plot depend on Gareth being who he is (in my opinion anyway). This is but one example, though. Yes, it is YOUR WORLD, but I don't think most FR players want to reject all the canon details outright--trying to compromise between making it "your world" and having your world still be The Realms isn't always an easy thing to do.
If you're going to have trouble with details in each novel such as the one described above, than I don't see how you can enjoy the FR world. So many novels are different from my world now, I'd go insane if I obsessed over every element. Instead of looking to the novels for validity of my campaign, I prefer to see them as inspiration only.
If Gareth isn't King of Damara in your world due to H1-H4 being run then it's whichever PC was closest to a figure like him (In fact I seem to recall the module that started the romance with Christine mentioning attributes in who she would set her eyes on). I fail to see how that can affect the novel or your game world. |
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Brother Ezra
Learned Scribe
USA
268 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2005 : 17:09:37
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quote:
Originally posted by SiriusBlack
If you're going to have trouble with details in each novel such as the one described above, than I don't see how you can enjoy the FR world. So many novels are different from my world now, I'd go insane if I obsessed over every element. Instead of looking to the novels for validity of my campaign, I prefer to see them as inspiration only.
I'm in complete agreement with Sirius. If you stick with slavish adherence to the story lines as set forth in the novels, you are faced with the problem of justifying or explaining events that occur in future novels, events which potentially conflict with what has already occurred in your campaign. For example, let's day you run a campaign in Cormyr where Azoun V eventually becomes king, and you design your world based on that premise. Then, a new novel or sourcebook is released in which Azoun V is kidnapped by Zhentarim agents and killed while still an adolescent. What do you do? You've already established that Azoun V is the king of Cormyr. You either have to retcon all of the previous events in your campaign to bring it into alignment with the "official" story line (thus straining the believability and continuity of your campaign), or you proceed by ignoring the published events, and allow your Cormyr to develop along the lines you've designed.
One of the most important things for a player in a long-running campaign is the feeling that they've accomplished something, they've made a difference. These accomplishments may be small at lower levels, but can increase at high levels where their actions have direct impact on large organizations, governments or powers. By adhering to official events, you remove any hope of the players having a significant impact in the campaign world, and create a feeling of impotency among them. No matter what they do, the FR story rolls inexorably onward, heedless of their efforts. |
"Suffering is the touchstone of all spiritual growth."
-St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2005 : 17:24:41
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As much as I defend and discuss official canon on the boards, which is why I'm a "canon nazi" :), I toss any and all official canon material when it gets in the way of my version of FR. I've DM'd in FR for over 10 years now and my version is no where near official canon. I try to incorporate some of the official canon material but there are times I can't.
For example, I couldn't kill Azoun IV when those novels and the module came out because my Cormyr was different because of the actions of PC's. So any new material that comes out about Cormyr, like the Return of the Shades, I have to tweak so it fits into my FR.
I don't use ToT's either so its a lot of work, in my version, on tweaking everything so things make sense. But I absolutly love the advances of the time line and the events, if they make sense and don't make more errors in the setting. :) |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4685 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2005 : 17:37:08
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| The only other way to stay with canon fully and there is even risk there, is to keep campaign severval years lagging from current events. Even this can cause problems, because a location visited/described might be revisited later by an NPC. |
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Lysander
Learned Scribe
USA
183 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2005 : 21:10:00
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quote:
Originally posted by Kentinal
The only other way to stay with canon fully and there is even risk there, is to keep campaign severval years lagging from current events. Even this can cause problems, because a location visited/described might be revisited later by an NPC.
Oddly enough, I set up (but haven't run) a 'historical campaign' to determine cannon for a later campaign. Then again, they both would revolve around an empire that simply doesn't exist in FRCS-cannon  |
Lysander
Defender of the Second Edition
Moderator, Project Gemengan, Worlds of D&D |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2005 : 23:21:14
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I agree with you all, in effect, but I just don't agree that it's as simple and easy as some of you are making it out to be.
Besides, would it really kill the developers to leave some plot threads open? I don't think so. I think that may be what JF is getting at. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 08 Feb 2005 : 04:55:56
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Besides, would it really kill the developers to leave some plot threads open? I don't think so. I think that may be what JF is getting at.
Haven't they done so? Are all the plots and rumors in the FRCS used up? |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 08 Feb 2005 : 05:15:32
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quote:
Originally posted by SiriusBlack
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Besides, would it really kill the developers to leave some plot threads open? I don't think so. I think that may be what JF is getting at.
Haven't they done so? Are all the plots and rumors in the FRCS used up?
Not just those -- look thru the hundreds of other Realms supplements, and you'll find hundreds of plot hooks left open.
Besides, what's wrong with asking a DM to actually use his or her imagination when dreaming up a new campaign? |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 08 Feb 2005 05:20:07 |
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 08 Feb 2005 : 05:26:16
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Besides, what's wrong with asking a DM to actually use his or her imagination when dreaming up a new campaign?
Crazy talk  |
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Brother Ezra
Learned Scribe
USA
268 Posts |
Posted - 08 Feb 2005 : 06:06:22
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quote:
Originally posted by SiriusBlack
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Besides, what's wrong with asking a DM to actually use his or her imagination when dreaming up a new campaign?
Crazy talk
Utter nonsense. |
"Suffering is the touchstone of all spiritual growth."
-St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 08 Feb 2005 : 11:18:00
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quote:
Originally posted by Brother Ezra
quote:
Originally posted by SiriusBlack
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Besides, what's wrong with asking a DM to actually use his or her imagination when dreaming up a new campaign?
Crazy talk
Utter nonsense.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Lysander
Learned Scribe
USA
183 Posts |
Posted - 08 Feb 2005 : 19:40:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Brother Ezra
quote:
Originally posted by SiriusBlack
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Besides, what's wrong with asking a DM to actually use his or her imagination when dreaming up a new campaign?
Crazy talk
Utter nonsense.
Eh, Vhat kind of mishegas is this, expecting a DM to imagine such a thing! Unheard of! Unthinkable!
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Lysander
Defender of the Second Edition
Moderator, Project Gemengan, Worlds of D&D |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2005 : 00:39:24
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Guys, guys, I never said there was anything wrong with it (or implied it)--I can understand trying have a laugh at my expense, but come on..
*sigh*
I've thought about this though, and maybe you're right. Maybe I do care too much about what's "canon" and what isn't. However, remember what I said, I said you all made good points...it was my intention to play Devil's Advocate, which is something I often enjoy doing. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 01 Apr 2005 : 06:37:44
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I do think sometimes all of us of the DM persuasion risk obsessing over relatively "little" cannon infractions. Example: New game product comes out and says gnolls have never lived in Cormanthyr, but your players fought a small tribe of them when they were 2nd level. OH MY GOSH! Really, either a tribe wandered in, or maybe the party THOUGHT they fought the gnolls outside of Battledale, but they really fought them a month later when they found that portal to the High Forest. Unless the encounter was a major part of an ongoing plot, such matters are just not that important.
As far as affecting the "BIG THINGS" that happen, I hate to point this out, but as far as the Realms are concerned, your characters aren't going to be carving out their own kingdom at 4th level. They might get a pat on the head from the local lord for stoping the bandit raids, but thats about it.
At higher levels, someone has to be killing/driving off dragons, giants, and other "mundane" monsters while the Tuigan, Sauagin, Drow, Shade, etc are invading. And even if you want to be more "up front" there is no shame in killing Yhamun Khahan's son that leads a second force into Rasheman, or being the field commander that defended some of the towns in the way of the Phaerimm army during Khelbun's march to Evereska.
And while we all love to hate them, don't forget you can make up your own RSEs. Using the Dragon magazine plot point from a year or so back, your characters might be the ones that defend Waterdeep or Silverymoon from a Githyanki invasion, or to use a more recent idea, a rogue Shade Arcanist could open up a cerebortic blot in Anauroch that sends out hordes of nightmare creatures to whatever border region you want your PCs to save. And I can almost say with surety that those two events won't pop up to be contradicted in any novels.
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Songrimm
Acolyte
Germany
38 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2005 : 02:15:40
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In my campaign, a historic one, i try to incorporate the cannon. but
i will not break my back about it, if it is not fitting. my players
can participate at some of the main events but sometimes they will
not be the big heroes. for example i will try to get them to the
end of the horde campaign but in the end azoun will slay the khan.
sometimes the big ones just have to show why they are the big ones.
my players can not levy an army (or so i hope, do not know what they
are up to ) so they will be commanders or some such and have a part.
sometimes the players have to stay back and let someone else rule the show and sometimes they will be the big fishes. depends all on
the adventures they want to play. |
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Effects of the Persistant Timeline
