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Drunken Master
Acolyte

USA
39 Posts

Posted - 11 Oct 2007 :  16:36:17  Show Profile  Visit Drunken Master's Homepage Send Drunken Master a Private Message  Delete Topic
In case you haven't seen this, here's Chris Perkins' latest blog entry from the Wizards Developer Boards- all about the 4th Edition Realms:




For the past year, we've been seeding our books with hints of what's to come, but rumors and spoilers really started to fly with the recent release of The Grand History of the Realms (which advances the FR timeline by 10 years) and R.A. Salvatore's The Orc King. Both books make reference to something called the Spellplague.

Before I talk about the origins of the Spellplague, let me back up. As R&D began work on 4th Edition mechanics and world-building, we knew that decisions made would have a ripple effect on our existing campaign settings. For example, changes to the 4E magic system would require us to revisit how magic behaves on our shared worlds.

Two years ago at Gen Con, members of the R&D and Book Publishing teams (Bill Slavicsek, myself, Phil Athans, Rich Baker, and others) met secretly with several FR novelists (including Ed Greenwood and R.A. Salvatore) to present our thoughts about 4E FR, gather feedback, bat around ideas, and talk about "the big stories" that could be told in novels. Following this summit meeting, Phil Athans (our manager of Book Publishing), Rich Baker, and Bruce Cordell started to put together a first draft of the 4th Edition FR Story Bible, which FR novelists could then use as a reference guide. This bible contained, among many other things, the first words written about the Spellplague.

The Spellplague is an event that allows us to incorporate 4th Edition elements into the existing scheme of the world. The Grand History of the Realms very briefly describes the events that trigger the Spellplague, so I won't steal that book's thunder here. However, I believe the Spellplague is a very elegant way to merge the current campaign setting with 4E. It allows us to keep all the things about FR that are good about the Realms and jettison the things that are bad for the Realms or haven't gained much traction with the FR community.

There are things about the Spellplague that we deliberately haven't revealed — yet. Once we realized the impact of 4E revisions to the FR world, we dove deep into existing Realmslore to find something that would enable us to merge 4E and FR in a way that didn't involve gods stomping across the face of Faerūn. And we found it. We even dropped a hint in the final print issue of Dragon magazine earlier this year. Don't believe me? Check out the "Unsolved Mysteries of D&D" article in Dragon #359. (Hats off to the fan on the FR message boards who actually picked up on it.)

We've also dropped a hint or two in recent book products, including Expedition to Undermountain (which ties the fate of Halaster to the impending Spellplague) and the adventure trilogy of Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave, Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land, and Anauroch: The Empire of Shade.

Hints aside, I'd like to take a moment to share 10 important things worth knowing about the 4E Forgotten Realms:

(1) It's a D&D campaign setting and an FR campaign setting. It feels like FR, but also it uses 4E game mechanics and incorporates all 4E races and classes. The Spellplague and its effects on the world enable us to integrate new 4E mechanics and world elements into the setting in a manner that doesn't require us to ignore canon or rewrite history. Large parts of the world won't be affected horribly. We're not going to destroy Cormyr, level Waterdeep, or blow up Silverymoon, for instance. We like these places as much as anyone. However, there are some parts of the world that aren't quite so beloved and don't have much happening in or around them. Many of these areas are likely to undergo some level of change.

(2) 4E FR embraces, at least in part, the "points of light" concept talked about on D&D Insider. There will be places in 4E FR that haven't been explored or mapped. Some of these "dark areas" may be explored in novels; most will be set aside for DMs who want to insert their own cool stuff into the campaign setting. In effect, the Spellplague allows us to put some of the "forgotten" back into the Forgotten Realms.

(3) In 4E FR, the PCs matter. The PCs are the ones accomplishing the truly heroic quests. There aren't a bunch of high-level NPCs running around who can step in to clean up the PCs' messes or do things the PCs can't.

(4) FR novels will remain part of the FR canon. As with previous editions, DMs are free (even encouraged) to run FR campaigns that ignore canonical elements that don't suit their individual campaigns.

(5) Running adventures and campaigns in 4E FR doesn't require encyclopedic knowledge of Realms history. Anyone who reads the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide will feel like they can run a Realms-based adventure or campaign without treading on thousands of years of history. The Grand History of the Realms nicely encapsulates all of the setting's pertinent historical moments; the 4E books will focus more on the present and provide DMs with the tools they need to run exciting FR adventures across all of Faerūn.

(6) The 4E FR setting will have a smaller pantheon. In general, there will be less overlap in the gods' portfolios. Consequently, some 3E deities have been 'demoted,' effectively becoming agents or emissaries of more powerful gods. A handful of deities have been killed off. There are also a few new deities to fill holes.

(7) Elminster and Drizzt are still around in 4E FR, as are several other iconic FR characters (including many popular campaign villains). On that note, FR wouldn't be FR without the contributions of Ed Greenwood and R.A. Salvatore. Two years ago, Ed and Bob expressed some initial concern about advancing the FR timeline; however, they quickly realized that the change gave them the "space" to tell more interesting stories, reveal some new characters, and write about some new places in the world. Ed and Bob are on deck to receive the 4E rules documents shortly, and in addition to his other FR commitments, Ed will be contributing 50,000 words to the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide releasing in August 2008.

(8) Writing of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide began in early 2006 with the geography chapter, and we intend to have a complete first draft before the end of the year. The book's format is much more user-friendly; the book also features an index.

(9) 4E FR will receive a lot of continuing support on D&D Insider, in the form of an official wikipedia, regular Dragon® articles, Dungeon® adventures, and online tools (including FR race options for the D&D Character Creator). In all, there will be more Realms support online than we were ever able to provide in the printed magazines, largely because we're no longer limited by page count.

(10) Numerous individuals have contributed to the shaping of 4E FR. If you don't like what you hear, I urge you to point your accusing finger at me. I am the D&D story manager, so world design pretty much falls to me and collaterally to my team of designers.

Closing Remarks
Some FR fans have accused Rich Baker of killing FR with this latest revision, probably because Rich has been R&D's voice to the FR community for the past several years (a role he fulfills voluntarily, I might add). I don't know anyone who loves the Realms more than Rich save Elminster himself, so let's not wallow in ignorance here. As I said above, there is no one person leading the 4E relaunch of the FR campaign setting. It's a team effort. Rich has certainly been involved in 4E FR from the start, but so have Bruce Cordell, James Wyatt, and others. Rich, Bruce, and James all report to me, so if you have issues, send them my way. That said, we in R&D are tickled by the "Rich Baker must be stopped!" campaign. In fact, we're thinking about getting t-shirts made. (Our "Scott Rouse must be stopped!" t-shirts are looking a bit worn out.)

Seriously, guys, Rich is tremendously invested in the Realms (his FR novel Condemnation made the New York Times best-seller list, ya know!). Please don't make him wish he was an Eberron fan!

Let me close by saying that we'll be shedding more light on 4E FR in the coming months (mostly on D&D Insider), as we get closer to the release date. The story we've cooked up for the Realms is really cool — I'm talking Hollywood blockbuster cool — and I guarantee that new fans and old fans alike will have good reason to play in FR campaigns.

Erik Nowak
Graphic Designer, Blackdirge Publishing

The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31701 Posts

Posted - 11 Oct 2007 :  17:04:46  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message
I'm going to seal this scroll... since both Kuje and Kentinal have already posted the majority of Chris's comments, in the "4e FR" scroll here at Candlekeep.

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