| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Jelennet |
Posted - 18 May 2010 : 08:43:20
Is Forgotten Realms a medieval or an early Renaissance setting? To which dates in real life history does it correspond? |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Cleric Generic |
Posted - 18 May 2010 : 10:16:00
Teehee! I should be easy enough to spot on my soap box in the park as I rant at people and lob dice. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 18 May 2010 : 10:03:15
 I'd actually like to see that CG. |
| Cleric Generic |
Posted - 18 May 2010 : 09:19:34
What Sage said. I'm going to print that off in huge font and wear it as a sandwich board when I DM. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 18 May 2010 : 08:49:24
The original, core part of the Realms is not analogous to our world, and our-world norms can't be assumed to apply. Some of the places, like Kara-Tur [which was a TSR add-on to Ed's Realms], are among those exceptions that are based on Earth, in their published forms, for various reasons... excepting the Shaar.
Any given cultural fact about medieval or Renaissance Europe probably does not apply to the Heartlands: Ed's Realms is created to deliberately discourage assuming and instead encourage players to engage actively with the setting and find out its unique details and nature. Also, the influences on the Heartlands are far more from fiction than from history, so that reading the half-dozen most Realmslike fantasy authors will give you a better [though still very inaccurate] picture of the Realms than understanding any amount of European history.
Jelennet, I'd recommend you read through Ed's April 13th '06 replies here at Candlekeep, for his thoughts on the sources of inspiration for some of the historical periods of his core Realms setting. They are required reading for any particular Realms devotee who wishes to have access to accurate facts as they've been determined by Ed himself. These replies clearly prove just how invalid some of the more "nonsense" claims actually are.
And finally, consider this, from Ed's '06 replies:-
"...but it should always be remembered that the Realms is NOT an analogy or copy of Earth; what we may see as medieval in some ways, and Renaissance in others, when looking at Faerūn, is inevitably seeing things from our point of view: the Realms may develop in very different ways than the real world did." |
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