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Tylkarius
Acolyte
2 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Jan 2010 : 01:45:28
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I was just wondering why the creators, or whoever is in charge of Forgotten Realms, decided to ruin the whole setting with the Spell plague? I was really into the books until the Spell plague came and changed everything. I hate the new storyline and I am pissed off. Why would you change things so dramatically and also don't even explain it? I would have been fine if they didnt screw everything up. Me and my brother were avid FR book readers but the new stories with the new settings, are just bad and uninteresting. I can't be the only FR fan who thinks this way. Can you explain why you did this please? Thanks.
Mod Edit: Since this really isn't a question *just* for Ed, I've moved it to the General shelf.
Mod Edit II: Altered scroll title to better reflect content.
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Edited by - The Sage on 10 Jan 2010 02:05:04
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dwarvenranger
Senior Scribe
USA
428 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jan 2010 : 03:12:11
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| You're not alone, but there's already been much discussion on this... |
If I waited till I knew what I was doing, I'd never get anything done.
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Tremaine
Seeker
United Kingdom
86 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jan 2010 : 11:59:32
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| is there a novel which explains the spellplague it's been a while since i read realm novel's and the two novels I've read recently city of dead and fall of highwatch which i enjoyed alot both have a tiny mention of it thanks for you help |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4430 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jan 2010 : 12:38:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Tylkarius
I was just wondering why the creators, or whoever is in charge of Forgotten Realms, decided to ruin the whole setting with the Spell plague? I was really into the books until the Spell plague came and changed everything. I hate the new storyline and I am pissed off. Why would you change things so dramatically and also don't even explain it? I would have been fine if they didnt screw everything up. Me and my brother were avid FR book readers but the new stories with the new settings, are just bad and uninteresting. I can't be the only FR fan who thinks this way. Can you explain why you did this please? Thanks.
I can only speak from my own experience and opinion from which I gathered from the various sources from WotC forums but the gist of why they changed the Realms so dramatically were for various reasons.
The first being that, from what I've heard mind you, the FR sales of source books just weren't selling very well. Many people just weren't buying the specific area books such as the Shining South or Serpent Kingdoms for example. It's probably one of the reasons they've turned away from print for additional information about a given setting (FR or otherwise) and instead put it into digital form, hence Dungeon and Dragon Insider.
The second being that with the drastic changes to the mechanics of D&D, it would be somewhat hard to incorporate races such as Dragonborn or Eladrin into the Realms without huge gaping holes in the continunity (more so than they are right now). One might think that they could've just left certain races out of canon FR (ie Dragonborn and Eladrin) but that just isn't the model WotC is going for. They're striving to make all races/classes easy to plug-in-play into any setting without much trouble.
The third reason was the "over-shadowing" of the numerious epic NPCs (aka the Forgotten Realms Justice League headed by Elminster). Personally, they've never posed a threat or problem in any Realms game I've played in but I can see their view on some level. So with the Spellplague, it was an easy-out for them to discontinue certain NPCs so the PCs could take the spot light. Again, this isn't something I totally agree with, but it is what it is.
Fourth would be to make the Realms more mysterious and new to adventure in. With the heaping amounts of lore in 2E and the attempt to pretty much give stats to every bartender, sheep-herder, and baker in the Realms, it sorta took the reins out of the DM's hand when it came to personalizing the Realms. Again, I know fully well people can change what they want but thats just the different side of the same argument. This also pertains to the 100 year time jump. Now, a DM can incorporate any sort of backstory, history, or whatever without screwing with the continunity over-much.
Fifth reason, it was a way to cull the rather large and over-lapping pool of deities that FR aquired over the past 20+ years. And even with the large amout of Gods taken out they still have far more deities than any other setting in published 4E.
Sixth reason was to remove undesired places of the Realms that didn't appeal to the larger fan base (areas like Mulhorand, Maztica, and Unther for example) and bring in more exciting places such as Returned Abier.
Basically in a nut-shell, the Spellplague was an easy "reset" button that was used to usher a newer, revamped version of the Realms. In my humble opinion I rather like the new setting because (to me) it seems fresh and exciting and I'm the kind of DM that likes to make things up on my own. |
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Cleric Generic
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
565 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jan 2010 : 17:58:12
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I shall second the words of Diffan.
Also, I've yet to have any difficulty in reintroducing any past lore into 4e, and have thusfar found it fairly entertaining to come up with novel ways to do so.
Also, I suspect that there is a measurable difference (on average, in general, etc) between Realms fans based largely on books and Realms fans based largely on RPGs. It's all in the vast catalogue of edition change discussions all over the boards. |
Cedric! The Cleric Generic and Master of Disguise!
ALL HAIL LORD KARSUS!!!
Vast Realmslore Archive: Get in here and download everything! http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archfr/rl
2e Realms book PDFs; grab em! - http://poleandrope.blogspot.com/2010/07/working-around-purge.html |
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Neil Bishop
Learned Scribe
Singapore
100 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jan 2010 : 09:18:43
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And I will third Dffan's comments.
I'm currently running a game set in Akanul, one of the newer lands from Abeir (but sharing a name from 1E!), and I am enjoying the relatively blank slate I have to work with while I get used to 4E.
At the same time as I am running the Akanul campaign, I am preparing my next campaign set in the Moonsea North which will be far more lore-intensive (including a planned return of the Sons of Vyshaan) and, frankly, will be a lot more rule-intensive as well (as it will include mass battles as part of a larger war). I also have plans for a campaign set in Myth Drannor/The Dalelands/Cormanthor which will be a homage to the D1-3 modules of 1E and thus include a lot of drow... and the Eldreth Veluuthra... and Malkizid, the Branded King... and House Starym... and Moander. In other words, these games will include a lot of old lore.
One of the great things about the timeline jump and the effects of the Spellplague is that any interesting site from 3.5E or earlier potentially becomes an interesting dungeon or other sort of adventuring site in 1479 DR with its own history etc....
Anyway, this is no attempt to persuade anyone of the merits of the post-Spellplague Realms; it's just one DM who started with the legendary grey box and who remembers Ed's original The Dragon articles saying how he is enjoying the latest version of the Realms also. |
Regards
NXB |
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Matt James
Forgotten Realms Game Designer
USA
918 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jan 2010 : 12:03:48
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| Diffan is spot on from everything I can gather. It was a business decision first, and I can hardly blame them. The Realms products were not selling to the larger market and with the new edition, opportunity was calling. The Realms are far from dead as I see a large new base being built with the Living campaign. Everywhere I go to judge or play, I see huge regional groups of players that previously knew nothing of the Realms (well, at least compared to this community). I still invoke lore into any of the games I run for LFR and people do appreciate it. In the long run, I think it will build support for the Realms instead of keeping it a niche. I've given my personal views of 4e Realms here enough that everyone knows I enjoy it as much as previous editions. I accept that things will evolve and while storylines may not happen as I always want; I'd rather see it survive. |
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Hey Question about the Spellplague
