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althen artren
Senior Scribe
USA
780 Posts |
 Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 00:13:58
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Scrolls shared, Scribes:
Raelan, from you question on page 26 about this current scroll:
Quoted by SES:
Whatever you'd like him to do, frankly. You've got a lot of ideas on what he could do and whatever suits your needs, your campaign, or your concept of the character is honestly the best answer I can give.
That said, you asked my opinion on what Halaster would do, were he not meeting the fate set down by WotC for him. I'm not sure if I'm the best to answer that, but I'll at least touch on a few ideas of yours:
Would be raise another Imasakar? Highly unlikely--he fled that area, remember, to set up his own gig beneath what eventually became Waterdeep.
Would he manipulate others from behind the scenes? Most likely, as that suits him.
Would he bury himself in another hole in the ground? Only if he needs to or can't find a better way to ensure his safety (and remember that Undermountain wasn't always safe for him).
Allies vs. servitors? Since he's never really had allies other than one fella in Skullport, it's leaning toward apprentices/servitors.
Collect Imaskar artifacts? Only if it helps him regain power and doesn't draw more trouble to him.
Destroy the church of Shar? I haven't read exactly what happens to the Mad Mage, but he'd only go after the church if it did something directly to him.
Now go after the Twisted Rune due to their attacks on him? He'd definitely do that, as it's not enough that he has Priamon as a plaything; the Rune were the guys who encouraged his usurpation of Halaster to gain admittance to their number. Thus, they would easily reap the whirlwind of Halaster's hatred and revenge.
Would he be an evil Blackstaff in alliance with the Lords of Waterdeep? Wild idea, but very very unlikely unless the Lords serve a different purpose in your game.
The only thing for certain with Halaster (in my mind) is this: The only thing that matters to Halaster is Halaster. What is good for Halaster is good for the universe. That which thwarts Halaster is something that needs be destroyed.
Steven
who again asserts that this is all conjecture and opinion, not anything concrete or in contention with any decisions made by other designers using this character or its associated setting(s)
Hope this helps. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 02:08:44
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Hello again, fellow scribes. This time Ed responds to this question from Aysen: “With regard to whales, are the migration patterns similar to what is seen off the coast of the Americas (birthing in the warmer southern waters of the Shining Sea then migration towards the northern reaches of the Trackless Sea for food?) How does the migration cycle flow in the Sea of Fallen Stars?”
Ed replies:
Yes, whales birth in the warm southerly seas, but dolphins and the smallest whales are the aquatic species that use the Shining Sea; most whales calve just south of Mhair, in the Great Sea. Some species tarry for a time, feeding on the abundant life stimulated by the warm flows of water out of the Mhair jungles, and others depart swiftly for the Whale’s Flukes (which seems to be a gathering-place of sorts, and got its name from the frequent sightings of whales sporting on the surface or tail-slapping or surfacing and then diving again), to begin their journey north. Which always stalls for a fair amount of time in the Nelanther, for feeding, and only slowly moves - - with the vast schools of fish circling in from the west to feed their own ways north along the coast as far as the waters off Icepeak, ere they circle west again. Whereupon the whales follow them, in a great arc that passes either side of Araksa, and return southeast, to begin the circuit again. Whales often deviate from their usual routes on this circuit thanks to storms, but do keep to a circuit, until they pass beyond the ages at which they can give birth (as one can imagine, we’re talking a rare few, here) . . . at which time they seem to become restless, and head off on what can only be aptly described as “wanderings of discovery.” Some of their descendants always swim with them, and in this way whales spread throughout the seas to “new waters,” constantly replenishing areas where whales have suffered and dwindled for various reasons.
In the Sea of Fallen Stars, increasing undersea activity in the Vilhon has increasingly driven whales that traditionally birthed there north and east, to just off the coast of Chessenta. Whales in the Inner Sea DON’T follow a circuit; they just move north in warmer (summer) months, and south in cooler months, but otherwise wander all over the place like fishermen seeking favourite (or as yet undiscovered) “good fishing spots.” (Undersea activities and features tend to hamper whales far more in the Inner Sea than in the seas west of Faerûn, and whales move away from harassment and obstacles as a matter of course, and therefore can be found almost anywhere from time to time.)
One note: dead or dying whales may be beached, and severe storms (especially in the Neck, or the southern mouth of the River Lis) may occasionally drive healthy whales ashore (just as such furious storms hurl ships ashore), but “mass beachings” of whales seem almost unknown in the Realms. For reasons just as mysterious as what causes them, in our real world.
So saith Ed. Who thinks of almost everything, and creates links and stitchings whenever gaps in his thinking show up.
love to all,
THO
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 02:56:03
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quote:
Originally posted by crazedventurers
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
If it were me, I'd rule that a sorcerer could only get spells automatically if they were common
From a rules perspective that makes sense to me.
The Realms DM in me thinks this:
1) Mystra/Azuth have the final say-so over what spells any Art wielder can use regardless of how high or feeble their inteligence/charisma is. They can just cut the caster off from the weave in learning a specific spell as far as I am concerned.
2) Of course in this situation I would gladly let the PC have the 'sober up' spell, they will probably regret it as soon as the wider wizardly world finds out of course, because ahem.... "current clack has it, that the spell that <insert PC character name> cast tonight in the Dripping Dagger is a wizardly varient of remove poison prayer favoured by priests....." (or so the PC thief overhears later that night :)). This way the player is happy they have the spell and you're happy as a DM as you can build a whole series of scenarios around the PC and party as they dodge wizard after wizard turning up for a (ahem) 'copy' of the spell......
Just my thoughts
Damian
Oh, yeah, that's the way to do it! 
It's something that was far more prevalent in 1E and 2E lore than in 3E lore: the idea that almost anything could be an adventure hook. |
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GoCeraf
Learned Scribe
147 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 05:13:59
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quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
Ed, you've got an ethereal message coming your way. I would've asked it here, but 'tis likely to be mired deep in NDA territory, so I thought it best to ask it in private. Oh, and you'll likely understand my desire to speak of it privately when you read about the reason for my question.
Okay, I'm sorry, but...
"Ethereal message"...?
I've been broadsided by a number of puns in my day. Seriously, dude.
And on that note, a query from me...
What sorts of wordplays are popular in the Realms? In this case, I'm talking about local languages and dialects allowing for certain kinds of irony, alliterations, or even the dreaded puns.
All the best,
Wolfram |
Being sarcastic can be more telling than simply telling. |
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Zandilar
Learned Scribe
Australia
313 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 05:20:19
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Heya,
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by crazedventurers
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
If it were me, I'd rule that a sorcerer could only get spells automatically if they were common
From a rules perspective that makes sense to me.
The Realms DM in me thinks this:
1) Mystra/Azuth have the final say-so over what spells any Art wielder can use regardless of how high or feeble their inteligence/charisma is. They can just cut the caster off from the weave in learning a specific spell as far as I am concerned.
2) Of course in this situation I would gladly let the PC have the 'sober up' spell, they will probably regret it as soon as the wider wizardly world finds out of course, because ahem.... "current clack has it, that the spell that <insert PC character name> cast tonight in the Dripping Dagger is a wizardly varient of remove poison prayer favoured by priests....." (or so the PC thief overhears later that night :)). This way the player is happy they have the spell and you're happy as a DM as you can build a whole series of scenarios around the PC and party as they dodge wizard after wizard turning up for a (ahem) 'copy' of the spell......
Just my thoughts
Damian
Oh, yeah, that's the way to do it!
It's something that was far more prevalent in 1E and 2E lore than in 3E lore: the idea that almost anything could be an adventure hook.
The ultimate irony would be these NPC wizards spend all this time trying to capture said PC sorcerer, only to find they can't replicate the spell because sorcerers don't cast spells the same ways wizards do. They'd probably have far more luck just researching the spell on their own (but wizards aren't always wise, even if they are intelligent).
The game mechanics might be identical with regard to actually casting the spell, but a sorcerer learns spells by feel, while a wizard learns them by rote. That is why a sorcerer knows fewer spells, but can cast them spontaneously and more often, while a wizard knows lots of spells, and can only cast them as many times as they memorize them, fewer total times per day than a sorcerer.
Judging from your tone, Jamallo, it seems you don't like sorcerers. If you're the DM, you're under no obligation to allow the class in your game in the first place. As DM, you get to have the final say. For the current situation, you can always say "No" if you really don't want the PC to have the spell. You could also say "Yes but you need to research the spell first, or find someone to cast it in front of you a few times". You then need to apply that rule to all the sorcerer's spells, especially if you're already making wizards jump through hoops to get uncommon and rare spells - I personally think that's impinging too much on the sorcerer's greatest strength (flexibility), but you're the one making the rules.
And now I'll bring us slightly back on topic with a quick question for Ed... I'm not sure if you've answered this before, but is there a Realms expression equivalent to cocktail? |
Zandilar
~amor vincit omnia~
~audaces fortuna iuvat~
As the spell ends, you look up into the sky to see the sun blazing overhead like noon in a desert. Then something else in the sky catches your attention. Turning your gaze, you see a tawny furred kitten bounding across the sky towards the new sun. Her eyes glint a mischevious green as she pounces on it as if it were nothing but a colossal ball of golden yarn. With quick strokes of her paws, it is batted across the sky, back and forth. Then with a wink the kitten and the sun disappear, leaving the citizens of Elversult gazing up with amazed expressions that quickly turn into chortles and mirth.
The Sunlord left Elversult the same day in humilitation, and was never heard from again. |
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ErskineF
Learned Scribe
USA
330 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 05:49:52
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A few questions for Ed about his amazing 80k tome library. (That just blows me away.)
1) Is the library catalogued? (Huge style pts if the answer is yes.)
2) Is it spread all over the house, or does he have one area that serves as the library?
3) Custom built shelving, or modular?
4) Who dusts all those books? (A young lady in a French maid oufit?) ;)
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Erskine Fincher
http://forgotten-realms.wandering-dwarf.com/index.php |
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Aysen
Learned Scribe
115 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 06:27:17
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quote:
Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen
Well met, all!
I have a third edition rules suggestion request for Ed. In order to try to maintain a "Realmsian" feel to my game, I try to enforce a rule that "uncommon," "rare," and "unique" spells are just that, but a player of mine is now playing a sorcerer. This brilliant addition to the plethora of D&D "core characters" can -- as I understand the core rules -- just wish upon a star, or click his heels together, or run around in a circle flapping his arms to imitate his (supposed) draconic ancestors to acquire any spell on the (conveniently conjoined) wizard/sorcerer spell list. Never mind that it may have taken Larloch 600 years to develop a spell, according to the rules, if a sorcerer wants it, and has a slot available to "know" it -- pop! -- its in his head.
The difficulty is that the player wants to "know" a sober-up spell, and the only such spell I know of in the Realms is uncommon (at least). It has been cast once during play in the past three or four years of real time in my game, and the caster menacingly told the only witnesses to the casting that they shouldn't ever discuss the spell unless he chose to teach it to them. (The sorcerer's player wasn't one of the witnesses.) I can, according to the rules, restrict wizards from acquiring rare and unique spells unless they research them independently or someone teaches them the spell, but what is to be done about these hairy kobold-kin who rely upon their feeble and tenuous link to dragons to instantly "know" spells which no dragon has ever learned? Ed, will you put on your DM cap and suggest how I can keep rare spells rare without just eliminating the whole sorcerer class?
Before LHO delivers Ed's formal response Jamallo, I think that Steven Schend also offers an interesting take on how a sorceror develops and casts her spells, as seen in his novel Blackstaff . The sorceress, a half-elf, relies on the emotional triggers brought up by certain memories within her mind, in lieu of somatic/material components. Since sorcerors manipulate the Weave more by instinct and raw emotional willpower arising out of their lineage, I thought Mr. Schend's descriptions reasonable.
For instance, the sorceress thinks of the dual sounds of a hummingbird wings and a plucked bowstring for casting a magic missle spell, and recalls the frosty crackling of the surface of a freezing pond to enact a shielding spell. Later on, she witnesses an ice spell reflected back on an enemy and is able to innovate an icelance spell using the icy corona of the reflected spell.
With respect to a "sobering-up spell", IIRC the uncommon/rare example is Spendelard's Chaser (?) and is only available to wizards who study the spellbook, or are taught by another who had. Or, as you stated, they can research their own version through expensive trial and error. For a sorceror, maybe after a night of binge-drinking and vomiting, AND recalling seeing the priestly version of a "poison-purge" spell, the PC (after successfully making the appropriate game-mechanics dice-rolls) innovates a "purging spell" that leaves one sober, but as a tradeoff induces a fit of vomiting as the "purging method" to get the alcohol out of his system.
With respect to very uncommon or rare spells, maybe you could have the PC delve deeper into the background of his ancestry and bloodlines as a sorcerous analogy to "wizardly research". As the PC adventures and learns more about his background, he collects the necessary memories/life experience to draw out a particularly powerful/esoteric spell from the Weave. It also offers a nice way to enrich the character ("So...my ancestors were gem dragons...maybe I that's why I realized that crystalbrittle spell earlier than meteor swarm...")
Just another viewpoint, hope you don't mind  |
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Knight of the Gate
Senior Scribe
USA
624 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 07:14:17
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I hope that neither Ed nor the Mods feel that we've hijacked the thread by offering advice to Jamallo on his Sorc problem: I hope not, that is, since I'm about to add to the pile ;0)
While i agree (Heartily) with all the above-mentioned opinions about how to limit the sorceror in your campaign, I'd like to play devil's advocate in defense of the Sorc. knowing more 'rare' spells, if I may.
From a game balance POV, the sorceror is (IMHO) about 1/10th as powerful as a Wizard. He has less spells known (by a mile), less feats to spend on mastering magic, and (in most game-worlds) is vilified by Wizard's Guilds of all stripes (from the Red Wizards destroying them out of hand to the Halruuans disdaining them as 'second-class' wielders of Art).
My question (upon first seeing the class several years ago)was "Why are a group of people who are defined by high CHA so hated by other arcanists?". Part of the answer is (as suggested by Zandilar) that they bring no spells to the table: They can't teach Wizards their spells, so why bother letting them in the club? - the bigger part, though, (IMO) is that the spell the Wiz. just spent a year, untold gold, and several quests researching, the Sorceror 'just happened to know'.
From an OOG, DM's standpoint, letting the Sorc. know a few 'uncommon' or 'rare' spells just puts them on even footing: it lets them keep up with the Wizard whose ouvre grows every time the party defeats an arcanist with a spellbook in his treasure. From an IG POV, it explains why Wizards have so much animosity toward sorcerors: 'I'm twice as smart, I work 3 times as hard, I know 4 times as much, but he can cast the spell I have searched for my whole life just...because'.
In my game, I let sorcerers pick whatever spells they want (actually, I let them have 1 'uncommon' spell/ level and 1 'rare'/2), whereas the spells a Wiz. gets upon levelling must be common ones. I feel that it balances the classes, and makes Realmsense.
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How can life be so bountiful, providing such sublime rewards for mediocrity? -Umberto Ecco |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 12:26:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Knight of the Gate
I hope that neither Ed nor the Mods feel that we've hijacked the thread by offering advice to Jamallo on his Sorc problem: I hope not, that is, since I'm about to add to the pile ;0)
It's not a problem. But if you all want to discuss this point further, I would suggest opening a new scroll in the Running the Realms shelf, as it'd be more appropriate. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 15:31:22
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Hello again, all.
I bring you a brief and swift response from Ed to ErskineF’s queries: “A few questions for Ed about his amazing 80k tome library. (That just blows me away.)
1) Is the library catalogued? (Huge style pts if the answer is yes.)
2) Is it spread all over the house, or does he have one area that serves as the library?
3) Custom built shelving, or modular?
4) Who dusts all those books? (A young lady in a French maid outfit?) ;)”
Ed replies:
1. Partially. As in, I don’t catalogue spare used “lending out” copies of tomes, I’m woefully behind on cataloguing the “main sections” because of the literally thousands of tomes that arrive in the mail when judging major awards (the World Fantasy Awards two years back, the Sunbursts this year) - - and because I’m just too darned busy dealing with daily living and writing three novels plus game stuff plus short stories plus Candlekeep replies . . . not to mention READING everything. :}
2. It’s spread all over the house. I have a study on the upper floor that was at one point crammed to the ceiling with just a tiny passageway through it (sculpted to fit my belly as I edged sideways along it) left “open.” I’ve gradually been emptying this into . . .
My main library in the “new basement,” where I work.
Other major book loci are the old basement (that is, the low-ceilinged basement of the original farmhouse, which is linked to the new basement), the dining room (shelves all around the walls and a stack of boxes to the ceiling around which unboxed books are mounded), front hall, bathroom, three bedrooms (bookshelves in all, books hidden in wooden sidetable cabinets in one), the spare room (shelves, piles, books inside a cabinet), gallery (bookshelves beneath the paintings and prints), living room, kitchen (the cookbooks, naturally), office (more cookbooks, the gardening books) . . . and one of the bathrooms has the childrens’ books, on an easy-access floor to ceiling shelf facing the ceramic throne.
3. Everything. The old basement has white metal bolt-together utility shelving, the new basement is an entire room full of custom-built, crammed-in spruce shelving, and the other rooms have a variety of homemade wooden shelves, assembled wood kit shelves, and cheapie modular (the latter often modified by me to take the REAL weight of books, as opposed to the dried flowers, plastic statuettes, and three nice-looking, artfully-arranged books shown in glossy catalogues . . . which turn out to be the only weight the product can really hold up). Oh, and there are built-in shelves (as in: made by me) above almost every doorway in the house, both sides.
4. I dust them. And I’m afraid I can’t get into my French maid costume any more . . . and haven’t recently been trying to get into anyone else wearing one, either. I did once have a houseguest who brought and donned one to tease me and get her boyfriend wild with desire - - and it worked (and our dining room table proved up to the strain of their celebrations). And she DID get up on a stepstool with a leather duster to shake her behind in my face . . . but she didn’t dust a single book, darn it. (Seriously, I find that electrostatic, frequently-washed furnace filters do a lot to keep the dust down.)
So saith Ed. Providing a behind the scenes look at his house. He didn’t even mention the two cottages crammed with books, up in Muskoka, or the reading shelf of books that runs all the way around the sleeping hut deep in the forest of his backyard . . . That many books take up a LOT of space.
Love to all,
THO
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3563 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 16:45:54
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I glad she didn't do any dusting since you said she had a Leather duster.....I am sure it was put to proper use though?
Are you books grouped in any way or just as they arrive? And do you have a certain area for your "special" Books? Laslty do you have copies of everything you have written? |
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Edited by - The Red Walker on 06 Mar 2009 16:49:40 |
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Blueblade
Senior Scribe
USA
804 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 19:51:52
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Obviously Ed collects books, but is it ever for value? Or is it a "reader's library"? Does Ed ever hang on to books he doesn't like?
Just curious, so don't reply if you think I'm prying too far. Thanks.
BB |
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arry
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
317 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 19:55:24
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I would like to ask Ed. and the delicious Lady Hooded (actually I'm only assuming you're delicious as I've never tasted . . . I think I'm digging myself a hole here ), about magic items.
Are all magic items individual? What I mean by this is; if a mage enchants a common type item, a sword, a suit of armour or a shield, for instance, to make them a bit sharper, tougher etc. (in game terms giving them a +1 bonus), would they be different to items enchanted to a similar condition by another mage? Or do mages deliberately add extra magical 'touches' so to speak to their items so that no-one thinks that the item was 'made by that lackwit in Scornubel' for instance? |
Edited by - arry on 06 Mar 2009 19:58:03 |
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Zandilar
Learned Scribe
Australia
313 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2009 : 22:03:04
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Heya,
All these questions about books inspires me to ask another question - what do you think of e-books, Ed? They certainly seem to be the way of the future, but do you think they'll really catch on? Or will they lead to a decline in the quality of novels (since anyone can publish one without much difficulty), much like everyone was saying about vanity publishers like Xlibris years ago?
I'm not really sure myself. I love the feeling of a book in my hands, but having them in e-book format means no broken spines or otherwise falling apart paperbacks (I've taken to collecting Ed books in hardcover where I can get them!)... My other half (who had a Palm Pilot and now an iPhone) loves e-books, as you can buy them cheaper and can also get books that might otherwise not be readily available in Australia without ordering (for example, David Webber is exceedingly difficult to get, at least in Melbourne).
Feel free to chime in on the topic yourself, Lady Hooded One. |
Zandilar
~amor vincit omnia~
~audaces fortuna iuvat~
As the spell ends, you look up into the sky to see the sun blazing overhead like noon in a desert. Then something else in the sky catches your attention. Turning your gaze, you see a tawny furred kitten bounding across the sky towards the new sun. Her eyes glint a mischevious green as she pounces on it as if it were nothing but a colossal ball of golden yarn. With quick strokes of her paws, it is batted across the sky, back and forth. Then with a wink the kitten and the sun disappear, leaving the citizens of Elversult gazing up with amazed expressions that quickly turn into chortles and mirth.
The Sunlord left Elversult the same day in humilitation, and was never heard from again. |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 02:28:00
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I haven't run into this, mostly because I use a variant of my own which makes sorcerors 'obsolete' (I have my own spell-point system).
However, as a DM, I'd agree with Wooly 100%, and also add that if they wanted to learn an uncommon or rare spell, they would have to have seen it performed many times (meaning, a wizard would have to 'teach' it to them... sort of), or they would have to find a Wizardly scroll with the spell and study it. After a certain amount of time (20-Int+1d6 weeks; months for rare), I would say the scroll is 'used up' (just as if it were cast), or the Wizard doing the teaching is done, and the Sorceror may now attempt to cast it (probably make it a Wis check, since I already used Int).
Sorcerors and Wizards may have different methods, but both use the Weave (in 3e), and therefore some of the 'secrets' to unlocking a certain bit of magic should be cross-learnable (up to a point).
Edit: And as long as I'm in this thread, where is Aralent? If its on the current maps, then forgive my blindness, but Its mentioned in PftF - the Ilmater entry about the Tome of Torment (a pretty gross relic) - in passing. Its mentioned twice, in regards to an adventuring company leaving Hlondeth and heading there, and normally if samething is a ruin, you say it.
By the way, that particular entry was really chock-full of juicy stuff. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 07 Mar 2009 02:41:00 |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 03:03:03
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Thank you to all the scholars who've given input on the sorcerer's acquisition of "rare" spells. I think that your ideas are wonderful and each might be applicable in a given circumstance. Starting with Aysen and going more or less backwards (forgive me if I don't mention you by name -- you know who you are): I will require sorcerers to role-play what it is that makes them think of a spell to cast; then (d'uh!) require a spellcraft check to see if their minds can actually grasp the mechanics of how to manipulate the Weave to cast such a complex spell; then enjoy the fun and games as clack goes 'round that some adventurer can cast some particular spell.
Yes, it was, indeed Spendelard's Chaser that I had in mind. Following the collective wisdom here, I will ask the player to tell me what makes him think that such a spell is even possible; put him through a spellcraft check just as if he was a wizard attempting to invent the spell (not knowing that it already exists!); then, if he's successful, let the fun begin when people begin to regard him as a "saint" who can cast poisons from a body (probably through the grace of <fill in the name of whatever deity will provide the most amusement to me>) or a "spell thief" or a really soft target who may have a very potent spellbook at his disposal; and -- yes! -- have him stalked by wizards who want that spell! The latter is not cruel or unusual in my campaign: the PCs long ago came across part of a copy of Unique Mageries (don't ask what happened to the poor hobgoblin who was vigorously interrogated as to his bowel-moving habits over the preceding few days and the efforts of the scouts to reconstruct his path); they were told that the spellbook was so awesomely valuable that the only safe thing to do with it before the First Battle of the Golden Way was to have the PC wizard who was studying it subjected to a teleport without error spell to El's tower (El wasn't home, of course, but Lhaeo was there to accept the book, make tea, and read a scroll to send the PC back to face 100,000 angry Tuigan and 30,000 unhappy Shou conscripts); the PCs thus know the contents of the spellbook and are aware that some people might kill (or worse) to learn the contents; they should be able to infer that there will be consequences to the casting of other especially desirable spells.
Merci beaucoup to all! I consider myself answered unless Ed would like to weigh in himself with some other maneuver to "protect" spells which he in many cases, invented.
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 03:06:34
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Zandilar, Ed and I are of one mind on this: the POTENTIAL of e-books is just great, but the practice (thus far) has been anything but.
Here's the thing: as you folks in Australia know full well (Weber being a case in point), the old "bricks-and-mortar" bookselling model is badly broken; a lot of books just can't reach the public that wants to buy them. Publishers are losing money everywhere, paper prices are going sky-high artificially through near-monopolies over pulp mills, and the authors (except for the rare few who make BIG bucks) are getting scr*wed as badly as they always were.
However, e-books tend to be overpriced (considering they don't involve the printing, warehousing, shipping, etc. costs of physical books, why are they often as expensive or the same price? With the author getting even LESS of a share?) and most readers hard to read (earlier readers even had proprietary formats). More and more, authors may realize that they just don't need a publisher sucking most of the money out of their livelihoods for standing between them and their readers (after all, that's what going with a "big" publisher gains you over self-publishing: access to distribution).
So we are still "on the brink" (as we have been for about a decade now) of a potential explosion in e-book sales.
However, in the long run, consider this: a physical book can attract new readers just by lying around on beaches, bus seats, library shelves, flea market tables, and in doctors' waiting rooms. An e-book cannot.
A physical book needs functional eyeballs and light (like, ahem, sunlight). An e-book needs power, lack of dropping and breaking, and usually occasional access to the Internet (with credit card or PayPal account in hand). Language changes slowly enough that books that are centuries old are still useful. Good luck on playing that wax cylinder recording or even an 8-track, in most places; although an e-book has LEGAL permanence (i.e. "always in print"), in practice, it can be inaccessible/rendered obsolete much, much faster than a physical book.
Ed and I both have long and successful careers in publishing (he as a creator, me on the other side of the desk). Both of us have watched the e-book market TRY to develop, and noted the same root problems: publishers, be they traditionals or the new Net powers (Amazon, Google, et al), have tried to push various e-formats in order to dominate whatever the future of book publishing might turn out to be . . . and they risk losing control, big time. Which might be great for a lot of writers (those who can attract and hold an audience without good editors, massive publicity, and an active sales force). Writers typically get a VERY small piece of the publishing pie; take away the publisher, and even modest sales can net a writer much, much more cash than some of them "realize" right now.
So the publishers are going to have to tread VERY carefully, and one only has to look at Amazon (with the Kindle and their attempts to control Print On Demand editions), Google (and their current "we'll scan and sell ALL books unless authors opt out" efforts), Facebook (oh, by the way, we own everything you put on your Facebook pages . . . huh? Why are you all so upset?), and countless other examples to know that treading very carefully is NOT something they seem to have thus far been very good at.
Those who push e-sales, e-books, and the like continually belittle the importance of the VAST majority of the bookbuying public who either has no Net access or isn't comfortable shopping online, and WANTS to browse in a bookstore. These readers (whom the Net-savvy love to dismiss as "dinosaurs" or "the fading way of the past") remain over 90 percent (yes, you read that right, ninety percent) of bookbuyers. Grandparents the world over want to buy something TANGIBLE as a Christmas or birthday gift for those they dote on, not "here's a download card." (They may buy the download card if it's demanded, and may even by dumb luck or trying hard buy the right one, but they won't LIKE or be COMFORTABLE doing so.) So we're not yet at the "it's all inevitable, just sign up here" stage, and consumers are very wary at the moment, thanks to the economic downturn worldwide and their suspicions that e-books are going to be like buying movies to watch at home: Betamax no VHS, then competing formats of DVDs, whoops no, throw those old things away you want HD-DVD or no, Blu-Ray. A book they open, turn the pages, and look at with their eyeballs they understand; a welter of new formats, not so much.
There's an interesting old Isaac Asimov sf short story, "The Fun They Had," about kids enjoying these weird old things called books when their electronic "Teacher" breaks down, that points at this mindset from the other direction.
So that's the view Ed and I share on this right now. We're suspicious of publishers trying to push e-books as a format so they can "keep a book in print" forever, and do no publicity (we've both actually - - and separately - - heard publishing execs at different publishers say they're looking forward to e-books so they can fire their salesmen and do away with publicity costs, because "e-books won't need publicity; those kids hear about EVERYTHING on the Internet, so we won't need to do any"). We're suspicious of publishers mishandling all of this badly, and the various players who are interested in e-books to give them "control" over the market doing something that limits access of some readers to some books (many governments heavily censor citizens' access to specific Internet content, and even the so-called Western "bastions of freedom" countries have some heavyhanded new laws in their codes that they could use to censor in the same way; e-books will be much easier to "block" if the market for them isn't "shaped" properly).
We want everything to turn out for the best . . . but we don't yet see clear signs that it's even heading in the right direction to do so.
So we watch. VERY closely. Clinging to hope, and doing what little things we can to nudge things in what we see as the right direction.
We'll all just have to wait and see.
love,
THO |
Edited by - The Hooded One on 11 Mar 2009 01:12:05 |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 03:26:42
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Hi again.
Jamallo, I believe you've arrived at just the right roleplaying stance. Ed had "sorcerers" in the Realms long before the rules did (usually as "wild talents" of the Weave who could block/have immunity to one sort of spells [e.g. fire, lightning] AND could cast or launch one sort of magic.
Let me quote Ed's notes (these date from when a wizard was called a "magic-user" in the rules, and there were no official "sorcerers"):
In all cases where someone has a natural aptitude for the Art (a wild talent or someone successfully using non-spellbook "sorcery"), they MUST be able to clearly visualize an "end result" they want to achieve with magic, and successfully think through a way/sequence/method to call on the Weave to achieve that end result.
So a magic-user using a written spell from a spellbook, or being taught how to cast a spell by someone already experienced in its use, is "calling on the Weave" by a particular tried-and-true, already established (by someone else) method of combining incantation with somatic and material components.
In the case of silent "will-force" spells, with no audible incantation, such a magic user is "causing the magic to work" by achieving the right inner mental state - - correctly mentally picturing how to call on the Weave, and correctly mentally picturing what he or she wants the Weave to "do" for them.
A so-called sorcerer, who "thinks of" a magic rather than using a written scroll, material components (and sometimes without using verbal or somatic components, either) must do the same mental work in casting all magics.
If the mind-work goes awry, the magic either "doesn't happen" or magical chaos (a "wand of wonder" effect) results.
It follows that sorcerers who have less than aged, active veteran status will find it vastly easier to cast magics they have seen a magic-user cast, or craft magics to achieve a result they have seen happen previously (lightning striking a tree, a wall being shattered by some force, kindling bursting into flame). If you've seen it, you have a fair stab at duplicating it. If you think fuzzily "I want to be able to knock down yon castle!" you will have VERY little chance of doing that - - but if you can conceive, in detail and correctly, without exaggeration, of forces you have at least some passing familiarity with [a gale-force wind of the sort you've felt, for example], that you can use to make that castle collapse, you have a much better chance of affecting the castle.
So saith Ed, all those years ago (I'd say these notes are from 1981 or 1982). So if your sorcerer has witnessed a successful casting of Spendelaarde's Chaser [that's the correct spelling of the mage's name; "Spendelard" is a TSR simplification], they are far more likely to be able to duplicate it than a sorcerer who's just heard of a sobering-up spell. And a veteran sorcerer will have be more likely to easily and quickly cast a successful Chaser than a low-level novice.
love,
THO |
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Foxhelm
Senior Scribe
Canada
592 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 03:43:11
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One reason (perhaps the only one) that Ed might like E-books.
If all books are E-books, the can be censored or edited for the masses. Therefore print books could be as anti-establishment, or as an act of rebellion since they can speak the true and 'stick it to the man'.
Many young, attractive women like rebels and 'bad boys'.
So in this future...
Ed could be a counterculture rebel in his cabin in the woods with his old fashion printer/printing press. Publishing physical books with the help of curvy, bouncy, perky older teens and twenty year old.
Or Ed can dream it happening. A man can dream.
Hope he doesn't mind the imagery. |
Ed Greenwood! The Solution... and Cause of all the Realms Problems! |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 03:45:51
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quote:
Originally posted by Blueblade
Obviously Ed collects books, but is it ever for value? Or is it a "reader's library"? Does Ed ever hang on to books he doesn't like?
Just curious, so don't reply if you think I'm prying too far. Thanks.
BB
In the episode "Paladin of the Lost Hour" from "The (New) Twilight Zone," Gaspar (Danny Kaye) is asked if he's read all of the books in his private library and he replies to the effect of, "What's the point of having a library if you've read all the books?" Give Harlan Ellison a tip of the chapeau for writing that profound thought; he won a Hugo award for the novelette upon which the teleplay was based.
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 04:13:33
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Ed, Lady Hooded One:
!!!
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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ErskineF
Learned Scribe
USA
330 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 07:39:53
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Hello again, all.
I bring you a brief and swift response from Ed to ErskineF’s queries: “A few questions for Ed about his amazing 80k tome library. (That just blows me away.)
Thanks much Ed and THO for the quick reply. I especially liked the description of how the books are spread all over the house. I don't feel so bad now, except that, you know, I don't have any where near 80,000 of them. They do seem to multiply like bunny rabbits though.
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Erskine Fincher
http://forgotten-realms.wandering-dwarf.com/index.php |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 17:47:08
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What needs to happen FIRST is that Adobe needs to get together with Microsoft and Apple, and create a 'lock' on pdfs that do not allow them to be uploaded by anyone but the author.
Netbooks can't work because they get redistributed too easily.
Once you download a book, you should not be able to re-upload it to anyone (even to another of your own computers - oh well, buy another copy). The only way that would ever work is if the operating system itself locked you out of file-tampering - and even that isn't 100% foolproof, with things like Linus floating around.
And since Microsoft, Apple, and Adobe are highly unlikely to ever sit down at a table together (Billy Gates NEEDS to control everything, and Steve Jobs isn't a whole lot better), we will never get a universal, LOCKABLE format that is un-pirateable.
The best we can hope for is that one ort two of them (I'm seeing Apple and Adobe) come-out with something so incredibly brilliant that the other is forced to follow suit.
And on the other hand, I hate E-books... I have dozens of novels on my computer I have never read because I can't stand reading on my computer. Having a physical book in your hands is such a different experience (and WotC needs to learn this... but I won't go there), and I can't see a time ever where books will entirely fade from our culture.
But who knows? If they come-up with something that mimics a paper-book, but you can change the content, we may have a winner (they do make paper-thin flexible screens these days). |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 07 Mar 2009 17:49:51 |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3240 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 17:49:53
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| There are rumors about the next-gen iPod having a huge screen to be able to read e-books on. If that's true, then Apple may do for digital books what they did for digital music. |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Menelvagor
Senior Scribe
Israel
352 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 17:50:01
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Just a quick question I forgot, which has probably been asked already:
Where is Athlanatar these days? In which Kingdom? How was it conquered (or destroyed)? Is there any correlation between it being the 'Land of the Stag' and Cormyr's stag symbol? |
"Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly.
How much less them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation in the dust, are crushed before the moth?" - Eliphaz the Temanite, Job IV, 17-19.
"Yea, though he live a thousand years twice, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?" - Ecclesiastes VI, 6.
"There are no stupid questions – just a bunch of inquisitive idiots."
"Let's not call it 'hijacking'. Let's call it 'Thread Drift'." |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 17:53:18
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Yes, I am seeing Apple at the forefront, but they will need the major pdf-making software company - Adobe - to help create the software - with those two powerhouses backing a new format, Microsoft would be forced to follow along (after a brief period of them producing a competing, yet inferior, format).
If I can hold a device in my hands that feels like I'm holding a book (and some of that new touch-screen tech is off the shiz), then this 'old dog' may be able to learn a new trick. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Gang Falconhand
Seeker
United Kingdom
85 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 18:49:20
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quote:
Originally posted by Menelvagor
Where is Athlanatar these days? In which Kingdom? How was it conquered (or destroyed)?
Athalantar was destroyed in 342DR by an orc horde. Secomber was built on the ruins of the capital Hastarl. |
"If you have a quality let it define you." |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 19:57:44
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Also, its hard to pictue it correctly because the entire north was MUCH more heavily-forested at that point in time, and the High Forest itself literally wrapped-around the small kingdom.
The 3e-changes didn't help matters at all - I'm having a hard time figuring out where everything used to be, now that we've lost so much real estate.  |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 07 Mar 2009 21:23:00 |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 20:04:04
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Hello again, all.
I bring you once again the latest Realmslore from Ed of the Greenwood, this time in response to Markustay's anguished query: "Where is Aralent?"
Ed replies:
Unless someone has added it to the FR maps without my knowledge, Aralent has indeed been a "hidden" town-becoming-a-city of the Realms for all these years. Markustay, I'm not sure what maps you are most comfortable using as a "base," but if you have access to the old Fonstad print FR Atlas (1990 publication, very closely based on my master maps wherever they were available), and you use the projections appearing there rather than the later and wildly distorted 3e maps, you will be able to find, NNW of Assam across the Shining Plains, and due west of the southern end of the Lake of the Long Arm, an indentation or "cove" in the eastern side of the Giant's Run Mountains (a long and wide open valley between the eastward-thrusting shoulders of mountains that frame it to north and south). This is rural ranching and farming (and monster-roamed) country, ungoverned by any central authority.
Spang in the middle of that valley is the market-moot and temple-town of Aralent, unwalled and potentially as lawless as Scornubel - - but moderated from its earliest days by various fortress-temples to good- and neutral-aligned deities (such as Ilmater, Torm, Chauntea, Helm, and others) and their various forces of "temple guards," who police the market.
Early on, there were some fierce battles between these holy soldiers, but things reached such a bloody head that the high priests got together and hammered out a firm alliance, forcing their guards to work together (mixed-faith patrols) and trust each other . . . and over time, Aralent started to grow as more and more traveling traders regarded it as "safe." No one taxes you, and no one interferes with sharp business dealings, but the temple guards swiftly stop violence, blackmail, intimidation, arson, brawls, open thefts and robbery with violence, and the like. Wherefore Aralent is slowly growing larger (as a resupply base, safe haven, and trading-town), despite not having a large populace or industries.
The name "Aralent" comes from a long-dead "prince" of Chessenta (heir to a city-state), who fled would-be assassins who'd gravely wounded him with poisoned weapons, came here, settled into a new life as a stonemason, and eventually built some of the earliest temples. His earliest quarries now form some of the temple cellars.
I mention this because there's a ford of Aralent in Chessenta where he's locally believed to have been murdered by those assassin's, and a tor or crag known as Aralent's Tomb, where a local legend insists a grieving lover buried his remains. Neither of those are on the maps, either, largely because TSR seems to have lost or never received my detailed map of Chessenta (sorry! before you ask, they DO own it, so I can't reproduce it anywhere without their permission).
So saith Ed. Creator of Aralent, the Shining Plains, the Lake of the Long Arm, Chessenta, and . . . well, you get the drift. 
love to all,
THO |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2009 : 21:32:57
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Just... WOW. 
That is SO much more then I expected - thank you so much ED (and THO).
Now I REALLY need to do a newer version of the Erlkazar Campaign Map. 
And about those Chessenta maps... I don't want them.
I NEED THEM!!!
You don't understand - now that I know they exist, my life will never be complete without them. 
Besides, I already say that ALL my maps are WotC property, ergo, their propery just becomes their property all over again.
And since they seem to have lost them, I'd be doing them a favor. 
No? Drat... I didn't think that would work.... |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 07 Mar 2009 21:49:09 |
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Questions for Ed Greenwood (2009)
Topic Locked
