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Gyor
Master of Realmslore
1621 Posts |
 Posted - 06 Apr 2014 : 04:35:34
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As the Herald is the last in the Sundering series and is on clean up duty for the series, what do you guys expect to see and are you excited for the novel?
Do you think Myth Drannor will survive the seige?
Will the Novel end in the destruction of the Netherese Empire, the return of Selunarra, or the Liberation of Sembia from Netheril?
Will the southern parts of Faerun get any attention at all, like Mulhorand and Unther's return, what happens to the 4e additions like Tymanther, Returned Abier, and Akanul?
Does Thay return to it former glory?
Do any other resurrections get any special attention in regards to Gods?
Does Calimshan pull itself back together?
Do major cities and realms like Halurraa get restored?
Any other expectations?
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 06 Apr 2014 : 05:09:20
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I haven't been able to keep up with the story line (haven't found the books at my local B&N yet), but I think Selunarra returning would be a BIG mistake. It would be the same thing as Shade showing up, and thats one of the few things in 3e most people disliked.
If they truly intend to make FR have that 'Old Realms Feel', then adding yet another flying city of super-mages is NOT the way to go, IMHO.
Thay should be restored (somewhat - I still wouldn't mind just Thaymount sticking with the newer 'Walking dead' format). As for Mulhorand and Unther... *meh*. I miss them, but I have to ask myself, is it because I actually liked them, or is it because I am just feeling nostalgic? If they do return, I'd rather Ed put his own spin on them the way he envisioned them, and none of that derivative crap.
Same should go for Kara-Tur and especially Maztica - tone down the derivations and do something original (if they do anything with them at all). Just getting rid of them to replace them with flavors we already had elsewhere isn't fixing anything.
I think 'new Calimshan' wound up too much like Zakhara - something Steven Schend worked real hard to steer it away from. At this point, I'm not sure what they should do with it - having Zakhara in the setting kinda throws off all the other neo-Middle Eastern regions.
I guess what it comes down to is, whatever they do, I just want them to do it right. At this point its not the setting I fell in love with, and will never be that setting again, but if they do something interesting, maybe I will like the new setting as well. I'm really not all that interested in how it gets there, though... not really a 'novel fan' anymore. I only care about the end result. |
"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 06 Apr 2014 05:12:31 |
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Eilserus
Master of Realmslore
USA
1446 Posts |
Posted - 06 Apr 2014 : 05:10:29
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Now that's an interesting take and kind of fits the perfect balance there. The return of Selunarra to combat and/or contain Shade.
I'm rather torn on Myth Drannor. Loved the place as an adventuring ground. I wouldn't mind a mix and match of city to visit and ruins to explore either. We never really saw the rebuilt Myth Drannor detailed much. I don't know if it should be destroyed again. Can the elven psyche even take that happening again? |
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sfdragon
Great Reader
2285 Posts |
Posted - 06 Apr 2014 : 09:07:20
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| Myth Drannor should be the plhan of 5e... jsut leave it at that |
why is being a wizard like being a drow? both are likely to find a dagger in the back from a rival or one looking to further his own goals, fame and power
My FR fan fiction
Magister's GAmbit
http://steelfiredragon.deviantart.com/gallery/33539234 |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 06 Apr 2014 : 15:56:24
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I think others here were on the right track when it was being discussed - I like to picture Myth Drannor as a large, sprawling ruin, where certain factions have managed to 'retake' portions of it (for better or worse), such that it becomes an amazing adventuring locale where just about anything is possible, and you may find 'succor' in the strangest places (but at the same, you have to be careful abut the motives of the various groups that may offer help).
We need to find out what happened to Rhymanthiin, the City of Hope. It was created in a great to-do, and then completely ignored.
Oh... and get rid of the Goliaths. They really irk the hell out of me. Why is their a Christian biblical reference in a setting that has never heard of The Bible? So uninspired... I just can't help getting angry whenever I see them. |
"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 06 Apr 2014 16:11:26 |
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Irennan
Great Reader
Italy
3802 Posts |
Posted - 06 Apr 2014 : 17:10:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Gyor
As the Herald is the last in the Sundering series and is on clean up duty for the series, what do you guys expect to see and are you excited for the novel?
Do you think Myth Drannor will survive the seige?
Will the Novel end in the destruction of the Netherese Empire, the return of Selunarra, or the Liberation of Sembia from Netheril?
Will the southern parts of Faerun get any attention at all, like Mulhorand and Unther's return, what happens to the 4e additions like Tymanther, Returned Abier, and Akanul?
Does Thay return to it former glory?
Do any other resurrections get any special attention in regards to Gods?
Does Calimshan pull itself back together?
Do major cities and realms like Halurraa get restored?
Any other expectations?
It would be lame if Netheril was destroyed again IMO. I like the Shades, tuning their apparent invincibility -or adding something dedicated to oppose them, like Selunarra- would do just fine, as I see it.
However I would totally like to see Thay return to a form of Zulkirate, and Halruaa restored (one of the regions of Faerun I always found fascinating). |
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. |
Edited by - Irennan on 06 Apr 2014 17:12:24 |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 06 Apr 2014 : 17:31:29
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Honestly, I have no expectations. I hope it will be an interesting novel, and Ed is always good at making things interesting. But beyond that, there's nothing really to expect other than the Sundering (whatever it is) coming to an end.
There aren't really any loose ends to tie up from the earlier novels. At least, nothing Sundering-related. A few things have happened, like Netheril temporarily kidnapping various Chosen, the rains "filling up" the central sea to re-establish the prior map, Cormyr and the Dales baing at war with Sembia-Netheril, a famine happening and ending, some spellplague areas/beings being "cleansed" after a fashion, and the Underchasm getting re-filled with dirt. But those were all pretty much resolved within their own novels, except the ongoing war(s).
I -do- have some hopes for Salvatore's and Evans' future novels, and I really wish WotC would work out their issues with Kemp so he can write more novels, but right now the Sundering was pretty much a total wash IMO. It'll be nice if Ed can craft an interesting story, but I'm not excited for it because nothing really happened that needs resolution. I don't care about the Cormyr war because this really isn't the same Cormyr that I fell in love with, and I've disliked Netheril since they brought it back. This Cormyr has some king I don't know, plus a cast of supremely annoying War Wizards and useless self-absorbed nobles, so if it falls to war I'm not going to shed any tears. Same with the Dales, I don't know anyone there any more except Elminster and his new protege.
If they bring back Selunarra (sp?), that would be a GIGANTIC mistake. Similarly, if they re-destroy Myth Drannor it'll be a huge mistake. Thay has so many problems it needs a trilogy to straighten it out - but to be honest, I have no interest in seeing it done by Byers.
I'm glad Mulhorand and Unther will be back (at least, I hope so), but if it's just another silly land-mass transposition I'll be totally unimpressed. I don't care AT ALL what happens to Tymanther, Returned Abeir, or Akanul, other than I just want them wiped clean off the face of Faerun. Take the dragonborn and the genasi with them and have Abeir blow up. What is more likely to happen, though, is that they'll put Abeir into some pocket dimension and keep those areas around and accessible by some weird portal magic. Meh.
It'd be -very- nice if Halruaa were brought back, but I doubt that will happen.
Actually, I do have one expectation. And I hope I'm proved wrong about this, but I'm clinging to fraying threads of hope at this point. Given that nothing of real substance has actually happened in the Sundering other than some minor geographical repairs and a few dead gods returning, my expectation is that I probably will not like the post-Sundering Realms.
I really -do- hope I'm wrong and that some amazing stuff happens such that I'll love it again. But what I truly loved is the older historical Realms before the 1370s. Building on elements that I never liked, such as AO and the ToT, Cyric and weird god-dramas, and going with a "post cataclysmic (x3) future" that I never asked for (retaining the 4E elements as "history"), I'm really not excited for - nor do I think I'll ever game in - a post-Sundering Realms.
Unless the tone and presentation of the setting change dramatically, I'm way better off playing in the 1E-2E era before all of the top-heavy meta-stuff was plastered on top. I don't like most of the "historical" additions, chaos, damage, and the subsequent need for changes. Why buy into all of that unpleasant and unnecessary fluff if I don't like any of it, even if it's now just a page in history? There's SO much of it that it highly detracts from the better parts of the setting and is highly distracting to my player group. I have very little interest in spending hours figuring out what's changed back vs. what hasn't, when I could just sit down and play in an older era that has none of the offensive elements or history.
So I hope I'll like the future Salvatore and Evans novels, but I have a sinking feeling I'm just way beyond done with the game setting with all of the weird elements and multiple cataclysms.
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
Edited by - Eltheron on 06 Apr 2014 18:16:20 |
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Caolin
Senior Scribe
768 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 00:38:25
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I expect it to be a novel written by Ed Greenwood.
I just wish people would give up this quest to have the "Old Realms" back. The only way that will happen is if they do a complete reset. But you know what? That would absolutely kill the whole setting and WoTC knows it. So they try to throw this crowd a bone and are making attempts to put some of the old flavor back in. But people still bitch and moan. I just want them to tell me a story, a good story. Things change and that's a good thing. Let tell their story. |
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sfdragon
Great Reader
2285 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 03:17:42
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thats because they had their toys destroyed by wotc just to get many of the wowturd style players and all they did was if anything was alienated half the fanbase.
they want the other toys for the wowturd style removed and a reset.
people can gripe all they want and are free to do so. We ALL know however that a reset is not going to happen, just like destroying myth drannor again just to have it as a ruin and an above ground ruin is a bad idea, same with; atleast to some, bringing back selunaara and to so the destruction of netheril.
I think the 100 yr timejump and the spell plague was a bad idea, I think the axing of the goddess of magic for each edition is a bad idea....
that all said, its time to move on,a the feel of the old realms is what we're getting all with the good and the bad.
on that note, I would like that spell that made the tiefling always spawning a tiefling instead of deluting the blood to go away too .....( the dragonborn didnt bother me) |
why is being a wizard like being a drow? both are likely to find a dagger in the back from a rival or one looking to further his own goals, fame and power
My FR fan fiction
Magister's GAmbit
http://steelfiredragon.deviantart.com/gallery/33539234 |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 06:12:38
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It's an Ed book, so my expectations center on mining the book for Realmslore and (hopefully) information about Cormyr.
I have not read all the Sundering books so I can't speak to the state of Myth Drannor vis-a-vis the storyline. My gut reaction is to be annoyed that Myth Drannor may become a ruin again, but if the story turns out to be good, then I'd wager I won't mind as much--especially if it means I get new sourcebook material about the City of Song to supplement the stuff I've been using for the last twenty years. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6353 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 09:31:31
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Why have any expectations for any of the novels, this is really just another experiment doomed to failure. You can't bring back what was lost without making the whole thing seem forced and thats what we all didnt like about 4e (even those that liked the 4e ideas probably didnt like that it was just shoved in there). Almost everything in the previous editions flowed and evolved from one story or sourcebook to the next (RSE's excluded).
This will most likely be a flop and then they will hopefully just go back to 1372 or 1358, or 1365 like most people want and we can all pretend the whole horrific series of events never happened. I think most would agree a reset to before spell plague and before all the ridiculous RSE's which is about 1371/2 is the best solution for everyone. Even if people dont like the Time of Troubles the sourcebooks created during the Steven Schend era were too awesome to ignore, and quite a lot of the 3rd edition sourcebooks were great and for the most part ignored the RSE's anyway so they can still be used even if time was rolled back to 1371.
Time to use the Dallas dream plot i think where this whole nasty set of history was just a series of visions occuring in Bane's head as he tries to steal the tablets of fate.
And Myth Drannor should always have been a horrific open world dungeon as a reminder to the good races about the dangers of pride, arrogance, and racism, and to give them a goal to strive for (but never complete)
If you want the elves to make a comeback then thats what the Elven Court is for. By making Myth Drannor a city they yet again ended thousands of years worth of history and replaced it with only a hundred years. Even if they turn it back into a ruin Druth Daern is gone, the resting place of Lashan is gone, the baatezu brought in by Szchulan Darkhope are gone, the alhoon, the phaerimm, everything is gone and you can only replace it with monsters and magic items which could be found in any other dungeon in the Realms.
I dont doubt the novels will be nice and well written and good reads but i cant afford to wait another 30 years for them to make the realms interesting again (i would be 60 by that time) and i doubt Ed has that amount of time left either.
Admit the mistake and go back to the last point in time where everyone at least was united in loving the realms (even if they didnt always agree on what rules edition or timeline to play in they at least all played in it) |
Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Candlekeep Archive
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Alternate Realms Site |
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Thauranil
Master of Realmslore
India
1591 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 14:55:42
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| While I have not yet managed to read all of the Sundering novels, the few I have read have been very interesting and so I have high hopes for the Herald. I would like to see the return of Selunarra, it would act as the perfect foil to the Netherese who are often accused of being overly powerful. |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 15:05:38
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quote:
Originally posted by Caolin
I expect it to be a novel written by Ed Greenwood.
I just wish people would give up this quest to have the "Old Realms" back. The only way that will happen is if they do a complete reset. But you know what? That would absolutely kill the whole setting and WoTC knows it. So they try to throw this crowd a bone and are making attempts to put some of the old flavor back in. But people still bitch and moan. I just want them to tell me a story, a good story. Things change and that's a good thing. Let tell their story.
At this point, a re-set to 3E or even 1E wouldn't damage the Realms any worse than the slapped-on, multi-cataclysm metaplot we have now.
The Realms has been a good place to tell novel stories, but first and foremost the Realms has been a gaming world. When you have to create more metaplot to fix the metaplot, gamers will start to look elsewhere. Many people just don't want to wade through pages and pages of explanations about multiple cataclysms (e.g. this is destroyed, this is changed, those people are magic-plagued) and why the cataclysms are supposedly now over - just to get to a place where they can run a simple adventure.
Put in another way, it's not just about you as a novel reader. It's also about the thousands of gamers across the world who want a good shared-world gaming experience that isn't also loaded down with unnecessary metaplot driving the entire tone of their campaigns in directions they don't like. If I can't create the adventures I want in this setting because of the overarching tone and how it influences everything from gods to geography, I'm going to go with a different campaign world.
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
Edited by - Eltheron on 07 Apr 2014 15:15:20 |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6353 Posts |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3240 Posts |
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Caolin
Senior Scribe
768 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 17:50:04
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quote:
Originally posted by Eltheron
quote:
Originally posted by Caolin
I expect it to be a novel written by Ed Greenwood.
I just wish people would give up this quest to have the "Old Realms" back. The only way that will happen is if they do a complete reset. But you know what? That would absolutely kill the whole setting and WoTC knows it. So they try to throw this crowd a bone and are making attempts to put some of the old flavor back in. But people still bitch and moan. I just want them to tell me a story, a good story. Things change and that's a good thing. Let tell their story.
At this point, a re-set to 3E or even 1E wouldn't damage the Realms any worse than the slapped-on, multi-cataclysm metaplot we have now.
The Realms has been a good place to tell novel stories, but first and foremost the Realms has been a gaming world. When you have to create more metaplot to fix the metaplot, gamers will start to look elsewhere. Many people just don't want to wade through pages and pages of explanations about multiple cataclysms (e.g. this is destroyed, this is changed, those people are magic-plagued) and why the cataclysms are supposedly now over - just to get to a place where they can run a simple adventure.
Put in another way, it's not just about you as a novel reader. It's also about the thousands of gamers across the world who want a good shared-world gaming experience that isn't also loaded down with unnecessary metaplot driving the entire tone of their campaigns in directions they don't like. If I can't create the adventures I want in this setting because of the overarching tone and how it influences everything from gods to geography, I'm going to go with a different campaign world.
It may have started out as a gaming product. But novel sales are what make it a profitable asset. Try to convince yourself otherwise all you want, but this is true. Every setting out there sells novels to support the game product. Why is that? Because there are far more people who will only buy a novel than there are people who will only buy the game material. Most likely some of the novel readers will actually buy the game material. So you need to be thankful for the fiction because that's why you have a game to play.
And if you want to play in 1st Ed Realms, guess what? You can!! It's all there. Go buy an Old Gray Box from Ebay. The lore is still there. The maps are still there. You have a brain to make up new lore with. But no. I imagine that most of you don't want to be bothered with that. Except maybe Markustay. |
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Irennan
Great Reader
Italy
3802 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 18:12:47
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quote:
Originally posted by Caolin
And if you want to play in 1st Ed Realms, guess what? You can!! It's all there. Go buy an Old Gray Box from Ebay. The lore is still there. The maps are still there. You have a brain to make up new lore with. But no. I imagine that most of you don't want to be bothered with that. Except maybe Markustay.
Lol. Please, this is what everyone who likes 1-2-3e has been doing and there are countless lore-buiding threads here to prove it (if there even is anything to prove).
What people would like is more (new) stuff to read about the setting/events/characters they enjoy and that were discontinued (in fact they were abandoned -or destroyed in-setting with random, nonsensical cataclysms- by WotC in favor of the new Realms), just like you want to be told a good story (which, btw, can be told even in the previous Realms).
There's no need to act like you're enlightned and other people don't know what they're talking about or wish the end of a setting they enjoy. |
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. |
Edited by - Irennan on 07 Apr 2014 18:14:31 |
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Demzer
Senior Scribe
873 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 18:16:49
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quote:
Originally posted by Caolin
And if you want to play in 1st Ed Realms, guess what? You can!! It's all there. Go buy an Old Gray Box from Ebay. The lore is still there. The maps are still there. You have a brain to make up new lore with. But no. I imagine that most of you don't want to be bothered with that. Except maybe Markustay.
WOOOOOOOOSSHHHHH!!!!
Yeah, that was the sound of the point flying right above your head.
You explained very well why the old players that disliked 4e don't need any more WotC material to enjoy their own games, you left out the problem of WotC needing to sell it's things to stay in the business.
Playing devil's advocate one might say that's WotC that needs "our" (note that i don't know exactly who "we" are, but hey i may fake speaking for others since we are in the interwebz) money and not "us" (same note as before) needing their gaming supplements.
If WotC officials share your attitude, Caolin, then they probably will bid farewell to most of "our" (same note, i'm getting repetitive but repetita iuvant) money.
Also i have a wonderful homebrew campaign, like most of the others around here. You should probably avoid telling others that they need to come up with their own ideas and then suggest they haven't the brain for it, someone might suggest that you may go write your own novels ... taste, medicine and all that jazz. |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 18:47:45
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quote:
Originally posted by Caolin
It may have started out as a gaming product. But novel sales are what make it a profitable asset. Try to convince yourself otherwise all you want, but this is true. Every setting out there sells novels to support the game product. Why is that? Because there are far more people who will only buy a novel than there are people who will only buy the game material. Most likely some of the novel readers will actually buy the game material. So you need to be thankful for the fiction because that's why you have a game to play.
And if you want to play in 1st Ed Realms, guess what? You can!! It's all there. Go buy an Old Gray Box from Ebay. The lore is still there. The maps are still there. You have a brain to make up new lore with. But no. I imagine that most of you don't want to be bothered with that. Except maybe Markustay.
Novels do make some money, certainly. But you seem to have convinced yourself that they're the most important piece of the puzzle. If that were true, if the novels were more important than the game setting, then there would have been no need whatsoever for WotC to try and "spruce things up" by creating the 4E Realms. And there wouldn't be such an overwhelming need for WotC to change back now. Your argument doesn't hold any water.
In any case, I'm not taking unfair or mean potshots at all of the fiction as you seem to be suggesting (in a very uncivil manner). I loved the first three novels in the Sundering series and even gave them extremely positive reviews on Amazon and other places. I didn't like the 4th and 5th novels and have explained why. I believe the Herald will be entertaining, as is typical for a Greenwood novel. But those novels, as we are learning, won't really matter very much when it comes to the new 5E Realms game setting.
I refuse to be "thankful" for or sugarcoat novels or gaming products that I don't like. If you're willing to let everything pass, then you're going to be spending good money on bad stuff that you don't like or won't ever use. What's the sense in that?
Also, you can't just think about this in black and white terms, as if people fit into two distinct camps of novel readers vs. gamers. There are no "camps" really, because there is massive overlap.
The truth is that the setting provides the backdrop for novels, and WotC (and other publishers of IPs, like Pathfinder/Paizo) understands this. If the game setting fails, novel sales will also die out. Conversely, a terrible novel can be pretty much ignored without it hugely affecting the core game setting. That's precisely why WotC has been making changes and is now changing back.
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 18:54:50
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Personally, I think a total reset would have been the wisest way to go, but too many egos would have been bruised. Too bad common sense got thrown right out the window. How do you please everyone? With something new... and at the same time, old. "reintroducing The Forgotten Realms" - it could have been epic. Ah, well.
I really doubt this cross-era hodgepodge they are attempting will work out, but I will reserve final judgement until after I see what they come up with. Either way, its a win for me. If it is 'the second coming', then I get another great rendition of The Realms. If not, I foresee a renaissance of homebrew-meets-published settings, via the internet. People are starting to learn it doesn't take a big corporation to get published anymore, or produce quality material. In fact, I am starting to think the "a'la cart' method of producing RPG material might be the future, and people can plug-&-play with the pieces they want, in their own worlds. Thus, everything comes full-circle.
In fact... that just gave me a whole new idea for a game format... hmmmmm.... |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Tanthalas
Senior Scribe
Portugal
508 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 19:58:02
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quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal
I think most would agree a reset to before spell plague and before all the ridiculous RSE's which is about 1371/2 is the best solution for everyone.
This would just be horrible.
I don't want so many great stories that happened during the 3E/4E era to get axed just because some disgruntled fans refuse to move on. That's just being selfish. The current timeline doesn't invalidate the previous eras.
More importantly, a reset wouldn't fix anything, because the people that hate the changes that the Realms went through are never coming back. They'll just keep complaining and complaing until WotC changes the setting to what they personally want, and then they'll complain again about something else.
I certainly don't like all the changes that the Realms has gone through, and I certainly don't like some of the other changes that they seem to be planning. I haven't read the last Drizzt book yet or The Sentinel (waiting for them to be shipped to my house) but I'm certainly not liking that the Realms is heading in a direction where Myth Drannor becomes a ruin again, Many-Arrows is wiped off the map, Netheril is gone, Tymanther and Akanul are gone too. I think after 4E changed so much it's stupid to do the same again with 5E. Regardless, I wouldn't want the Realms to be stuck in the pre-ToT era, because a setting that never changes is just a stale and dead setting.
As for what I expect from Ed's book, honestly, I don't expect much. I haven't read the Sentinel yet, but as a whole The Sundering novels have had little to do with the Sundering event itself and I don't expect Ed's book to change that. Not saying that The Sundering books are bad (I actually liked the four I've already read), I'm just disappointed that they're only very loosely connected by an event that they largely ignore. |
Sir Markham pointed out, drinking another brandy. "A chap who can point at you and say 'die' has the distinct advantage". |
Edited by - Tanthalas on 07 Apr 2014 20:05:29 |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 19:59:14
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If the Realms as a setting fails (which it will not, but for the sake of argument), it could still sell novels in perpetuity.
I used to think of the Realms as primarily a campaign setting, but that thinking is wrong. The Realms is both a campaign setting and a backdrop to place novels into. It's both, always has been and always will be.
Additionally, it's become more a place to set MMO-style games in too. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Caolin
Senior Scribe
768 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 22:09:39
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Since several people responded to me I'll make this a general response. No, I don't think this is a black and white thing. But I take it as such when I see people calling for a reset to a previous timeline. That affects me and my enjoyment of the Realms in a big way.....very big. So yes, I am going to go on the offensive and make my voice heard just so that those of us who only read the novels are heard from.
So where are we at? WoTC acknowledging that they messed up, then trying to do something about it. They are in a catch 22 here because they can't please everyone but they are trying to. What do I wish they would do? Tell us all to go shove off and just do their thing. Either we like it or we don't. But all they've been doing is pandering. The worst thing any artistic or creative venture can do is to give the fans input. Sure, they need to understand what the fans want. But that has to be a holistic thing, not a direct hand on the wheel thing. Hire good people, trust in their talent and give them a steady voice. People will flock to this stuff. |
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Eilserus
Master of Realmslore
USA
1446 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2014 : 23:04:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Ashe Ravenheart
Having the city of Shade crash into the Underchasm and "magically" fill the hole would be a good start. 
The Underchasm is addressed in The Sentinel. :) |
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sfdragon
Great Reader
2285 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2014 : 01:31:34
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| having shade crash and become an above ground dungeon would do best, even more so if it crashes on top of that mound of moander spot.... |
why is being a wizard like being a drow? both are likely to find a dagger in the back from a rival or one looking to further his own goals, fame and power
My FR fan fiction
Magister's GAmbit
http://steelfiredragon.deviantart.com/gallery/33539234 |
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Eilserus
Master of Realmslore
USA
1446 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2014 : 01:41:01
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Shade doesn't really need to be destroyed. They just need to be depowered some so they aren't capable of slinging the nuclear magic of old Netheril. With that type of power at their disposal, Shade should be able to ROFL-stomp pretty much anyone. The only downside is they don't have the numbers without their subjugated Sembia. So maybe if they were isolated it wouldn't be so bad.
Frankly, I think it would be fun to being able to use it as a dark city for adventure for PCs. |
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sfdragon
Great Reader
2285 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2014 : 05:00:17
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quote:
Originally posted by Eilserus
Shade doesn't really need to be destroyed. They just need to be depowered some so they aren't capable of slinging the nuclear magic of old Netheril. With that type of power at their disposal, Shade should be able to ROFL-stomp pretty much anyone. The only downside is they don't have the numbers without their subjugated Sembia. So maybe if they were isolated it wouldn't be so bad.
Frankly, I think it would be fun to being able to use it as a dark city for adventure for PCs.
and with the sundering, the two worlds split and the planes are once again no longer touching the realms so closely, and as such, the prophecy of CAttie-brie about the great annourach becoming a desert once more would come to pass. Something is going to happen to Lord Shadow and or his flying Enclave.....
MArk the words of Cattie-brie... |
why is being a wizard like being a drow? both are likely to find a dagger in the back from a rival or one looking to further his own goals, fame and power
My FR fan fiction
Magister's GAmbit
http://steelfiredragon.deviantart.com/gallery/33539234 |
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Aldrick
Senior Scribe
909 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2014 : 05:58:22
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I don't know why people think a reboot is a good idea. Can you imagine it? Suddenly, the Realms is rolled back to the Old Grey Box, and WotC tells all the fans of the setting that everything they've ever read or learned about the setting is now invalid - it didn't happen.
If the Realms still had the active fanbase that it did in the past, the backlash would be a hundred times worse than what they did with 4th Edition.
From what I understand of their plans, it seems to be the best compromise. The Sundering is an attempt to try and mesh the New Realms with the Old Realms, at least geographically and thematically. Then all the game products that are produced will be edition neutral, dividing things up based on distinctive eras of the Realms. There will be three major era's: Pre-ToT, Post-ToT, and Post-Spellplague (current era after the Sundering). Cormyr will feel like Cormyr regardless of edition, Waterdeep will feel like Waterdeep regardless of edition, etc. So a lot of the themes and active groups will be the same.
This allows DM's to set their games in whatever era they want, and it makes old products backwards compatible with the new products. It also retains the sense of freedom a DM received in 4E to basically dive right into the setting and make it their own, without allowing themselves to become overwhelmed with the lore. It also gives people the power who hate certain aspects about the setting (for example, the return of Shade) to just outright ignore it.
It's the best compromise that we'll get, and ultimately I think it's what is best for the setting. Not to mention Ed has been given a lot of editorial freedom to make things work.
I could be wrong, but based on everything I've heard that's what I'm expecting with 5th Edition Forgotten Realms. |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2014 : 07:17:45
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quote:
Originally posted by Aldrick
Cormyr will feel like Cormyr regardless of edition (snip) and it makes old products backwards compatible with the new products.
Precisely.
This is something I've already experienced, using products from all eras for the last Realms campaign I ran, set in Cormyr.
Having lore available from all eras made me look like a much better DM than I am. I still get compliments from the players who participated in that campaign.
On Topic:
The Herald has me wondering less about the finished state of the Realms and more about the last of the surviving Chosen.
Will this be their last hurrah? Will this be the end of Storm and perhaps Elminster? Will they be given their final rest? Or elevated to godhood? |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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sfdragon
Great Reader
2285 Posts |
Posted - 08 Apr 2014 : 09:34:45
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| I hoping Elminster does and impregnaes Storm..... |
why is being a wizard like being a drow? both are likely to find a dagger in the back from a rival or one looking to further his own goals, fame and power
My FR fan fiction
Magister's GAmbit
http://steelfiredragon.deviantart.com/gallery/33539234 |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6353 Posts |
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Topic |
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Expectations for The Herald
