| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Victor_ograygor |
Posted - 22 Dec 2012 : 10:58:35
I have no information concerning the question above.. please tell me.. what do we know?
Yours
Victor Ograygor...
..and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all  |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Diffan |
Posted - 24 Dec 2012 : 13:00:15
quote:
Originally posted by MrHedgehog
Is this thread just about 5e realms or 5e, too?
I played a playtest of 5e realms and it seemed like a combination of 2nd + 3rd edition.
I think it depends on what version of the playtest you've done. The very first one played a LOT like Basic D&D, no bells or whistles or unique elements outside of classic fantasy RPGs. To me, it felt really bland.
The last playtest packed, by contrast, looks like a lot of 3E in design (and I say looks because the layout is very similiar) but also has a lot of other edition elements in there as well, such as 4E (though not the parts I think any 4E fan enjoys). Spellcasters have their at-will powers to go to, Fighters have cool gimmicks that help give them more versatility outside of "I attack with my sword, I attack again with my sword". Rogues and Monks aren't "gimped" on their Weapon-Attack progression like they were in the packet before. And bounded accuracy has reared it's head in how it's design impacts the game (for good or ill is up for debate).
I'm not totally sold on this version, as there are things that I don't like in some areas (like TWF) but at least it's not overly complicated as 3E and but it's no role-play fun like I felt 4E was. |
| Aldrick |
Posted - 23 Dec 2012 : 20:34:11
My guess is that individual NPC names wouldn't be given unless they're famous or hold some historical value. It'd probably work something like this...
"...and then on Gold Street is the Golden Way Inn. The inn caters to upper class merchants visiting the city, and it's a place where every type of business deal imaginable can be made. The owner of the Inn is a secret Harper agent."
It would then be up to the DM to fill in the back story regarding the NPC's of the Inn. Of course, if you're playing in one era and then decide to play in another, it'd be up to you to change things to suit the different eras. What is the Golden Way like now since we last visited 100 years ago? That would be up to the DM to decide, based on the events of his campaign.
If your players have never visited the Golden Way Inn, then you could use it as is for any era.
My gut says that they're going to primarily present things as they were in the Old Grey Box, prior to the Time of Troubles. As you read the source book, you'd likely see side bars and mentions in the text (based on events in the novels and the like) of what has changed.
Example: "Sembia has always been a land of independent merchants, but after the events in <this novel> which took place in <this year> it fell under sway of Returned Netheril. The country feels like <this> now, and <this person> is the figurehead that rules the country."
By doing things this way, it preserves the original feel of the Realms, and opens it up to everyone regardless of edition. One of the main draws of 4E, for example, was the fact that it freed things up for DM's to fill in the blanks.
This - in my opinion - gives DM's even more freedom and flexibility. They could change some things in a future era (say modify how things went down in the Time of Troubles), and play in the 3E Era - so they don't have to jump over a hundred years in the future. Or alternatively, a DM could jump 300 or more years into the future, creating their own "Post Sundering" era.
You'd have the original feel and intention of the Realms in your hands, but it's more like a construction set rather than word-of-god "this is how things are in the Realms" feel to it. You'd have considerable freedom to deviate and customize the Realms to YOUR groups preference.
This is what I'm hoping for, at least. |
| Zireael |
Posted - 23 Dec 2012 : 16:34:59
About 'timeless' NPCs - well, I'd guess we'd have a name given for a time period, and the GM would have to invent something for other time periods.
And yes, I'd love it if multiple timelines were supported. |
| MrHedgehog |
Posted - 23 Dec 2012 : 15:34:36
Is this thread just about 5e realms or 5e, too?
I played a playtest of 5e realms and it seemed like a combination of 2nd + 3rd edition. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 23 Dec 2012 : 15:10:01
Thats why I was thinking of Manshoon's spell, or it could even be something along how the aboleths 'evolve'. Each new 'Minin Me' gains the knowledge of its predecessor.
We've actually been doing this all along - we have two Wulgreths and two Oboulds. Just say whatever they had is contagious. 
EDIT: And even though my responses have really been tongue-in-cheek, this still gave me a great idea for a very creepy post-plague story. What if you returned to your hometown a hundred years later, and everything was exactly the same? What would appear to be a blessing could turn out to be something quite horrible. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 23 Dec 2012 : 11:57:33
quote:
Originally posted by Chosen of Asmodeus
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
The only drawback I see to that 'timeless' approach is that only PCs die - ever NPC lives forever (because you'd have the same Innkeeper for your 1026 DR game as you would for your 1523 DR game). Not sure how they are going to handle that (its not like they can give every NPC a timeline and list of names).
There're just a long line of identical grandchildren who's parents weren't very creative when it came to picking out names.
Until the person who had X happen to them in an earlier novel is accidentally listed as having "known" about it because it happened to them in a later period. |
| CorellonsDevout |
Posted - 23 Dec 2012 : 07:08:00
As I have said whenever the topic of 5e comes up, I actually [i]like[/i[ the gods, so their plan has me both hopeful and wary. I hope they bring back the dead gods, but if a cleric who worships one god might actually be receiving power from another... that would be disappointing if I were that cleric, but then again, maybe it means that god favors me too? I don't know, mixed feelings there.
As for the timeline, I want them to keep moving forward (much as I disliked the Spellplague. A complete retcon would be an insult to those who wrote in 4e). You can't have a 5e without having a 4e, unless you got rid of the current 4e, which would make 5e into 4e.
If they are indeed going to write in the pre-Spellplague era again, then I wonder how far back they would go. Would they go waaaay back? If so, I advocate for a story about Shevarash's mortal years and his apotheosis. But again, mixed feelings here.
For now, it's a wait and see, and hope, but what I hope for may not be what others hope for. Most of us probably aren't going to be completely satisfied, whatever the outcome. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 22 Dec 2012 : 18:35:52
quote:
Originally posted by Chosen of Asmodeus
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
The only drawback I see to that 'timeless' approach is that only PCs die - ever NPC lives forever (because you'd have the same Innkeeper for your 1026 DR game as you would for your 1523 DR game). Not sure how they are going to handle that (its not like they can give every NPC a timeline and list of names).
There're just a long line of identical grandchildren who's parents weren't very creative when it came to picking out names.
WOW. 
Thats precisely what I was thinking as well.
Either that, or the Sundering has a (retroactive) spellplague-like effect on Manshoon's cloning spell (so it becomes an at-will once-a-lifetime power), and at the same time most folks become sterile, so the option-of choice is to just create 'mini-mes'.
Hey! Maybe thats where halflings come from! 
Or like in a VG, NPCs respawn after they die. |
| Diffan |
Posted - 22 Dec 2012 : 17:48:51
Thats where imagination comes into play. But I'm far less concerned about really minor NPCs than I am about the game allowing me to use 1 group of supplements to run Realms games of multi-eras than dozensof supplements of various editions. |
| Chosen of Asmodeus |
Posted - 22 Dec 2012 : 17:25:22
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
The only drawback I see to that 'timeless' approach is that only PCs die - ever NPC lives forever (because you'd have the same Innkeeper for your 1026 DR game as you would for your 1523 DR game). Not sure how they are going to handle that (its not like they can give every NPC a timeline and list of names).
There're just a long line of identical grandchildren who's parents weren't very creative when it came to picking out names. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 22 Dec 2012 : 14:30:17
The only drawback I see to that 'timeless' approach is that only PCs die - ever NPC lives forever (because you'd have the same Innkeeper for your 1026 DR game as you would for your 1523 DR game). Not sure how they are going to handle that (its not like they can give every NPC a timeline and list of names). |
| Diffan |
Posted - 22 Dec 2012 : 14:23:52
quote:
Originally posted by Victor_ograygor
“ The Forgotten Realms will be supported from the start, and a video game art studio from China has been hired to fully detail the Realms. I asked if going forward support would be continued for the current time after the Spellplague and the Neverwinter Campaign. A WotC spokesperson answered, 'The Forgotten Realms has a rich history and we will support all of it. It is for the gamers to decide which time they would enjoy playing in.' That would allow Wizards to take advantage of a massive back catalog of products; however, there are no current plans that we know of for other settings - we assume these will follow in later years. ”
— Christopher Hackler
This seems to imply two things generally:
1) The new edition will be removed from the timeline, much like this wiki, or at the very least will supporter earlier periods of FR history, with its rules applicable to the Age of Humanity as easily as the post-Spellplague years.
To a point, yes. Basically what I think their intent is to be more like Star Wars in that they support multiple timelines and the next edition won't be "set" in any specific one. Like in 3E, it was set just after the return of Shade and the rebirth of Bane, 4E was set in 1479, after the Spellplague. D&D:Next won't be set but will probably provide products that can be used for any time in the Realms a particular group wants to be. As for novels, I believe they've removed the restriction to focus solely on the Spellplague era. So Ed could continue writing in say......1377 DR while Erik Scott de Bie could continue writing in the post-Spellplague Realms. Every body wins.
quote:
Originally posted by Victor_ograygor
2) I may be reading this incorrectly but it sounds to me like FR is going to be the core setting of the new edition. This is an interesting decision, if true, given the gradual expansion of 4e's "points of light" setting, which I assumed they'd keep for later editions. This isn't necessarily a good thing if true, given the fate of Greyhawk in 4e, but it doesn't have to be a bad thing either.
What they've said is that the Forgotten Realms will be the first setting they produce material for when the new edition come out. It won't be treated in the same fashion Greyhawk was along the lines of 3E. Meaning that when the PHB comes out, the deities inside won't be all FR gods or the towns, cities, and options won't have a FR-theme (ie. no Purple Dragon knights, no Hathran, no Drizzt, etc.). What we will get, I'd assume, would be deities that have been seen in the past or a collection of ideas from all sorts of sources.
For example, take the latest playtest packet (12-17-12) where they have specific domains for Gods. There are general options for a PC to take and they have gods from different settings described for PC use. So they mention "The Lightbringer" and say "Pharaonic pantheon (also called Ra or Horus-#8208;Re), Frey and Odur of the Asgardian pantheon, Pelor and Pholtus of GREYHAWK, and Lathander and Amaunator of the FORGOTTEN REALMS.". So it seems to me that their intention is to make options as viable as possible for the most setting as possible. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 22 Dec 2012 : 14:15:12
@Victor: I went to Gencon this year where it as heavily discussed. Most of what I heard was public forums, but I did managed to catch a few 'behind closed doors' hints (nothing concrete, just things the direction they want to take the Realms in).
The general idea is that will take the world and reshape it once again, to 'feel' (if not look*) like the Old Realms. They want it to have that "classic Realms feel" is what they actually said. Now, most of us assumed (before Gencon) that this may have entailed a reset/reboot of the continuity (especially with all this talk of a new 'Sundering'). However, they have made it abundantly clear that "all that has gone before" will still be canon, which means no reboot. The timeline will jump-ahead yet again, but this time not so much as it did in 4e (although the changes will be equally dramatic, from what I've heard). Ao is going to reset the gods, if nothing else (so all deities should be available as we move forward). Abeir is also supposed to 'go away' again, but no details there (probably just going 'out of conjunction'). Beyond that, nothing is set in stone, AFAIK.
*I paid especial close attention to the talk about the maps - from what I gathered they are going back to the 1e/2e layout of the geography. They are creating a set of scalable (vector) graphics terrain for mapping, which means mapping tools will be available to someone. Hopefully that will include us, the fans (at the very least, designers will be able to create their own maps, and all maps will have a more uniform look). This goes for other illustrations as well - they have created a 'Realms bible' of artwork just to make sure everyone is on the same page about everything. I guess if this design team were to have a mission statement, it would be "the devil is in the details".
Thats a good thing.  |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 22 Dec 2012 : 13:46:36
remember, FR was the campaign given favoritism in 4e as well.
So far, we've been told that many of the gods will return, but that they won't necessarily tell you which are actually active. Humanity may not know the actual truth of what god they're servicing.
Its been intimated that the Mulhorandi and Untheric peoples will return. |
| Victor_ograygor |
Posted - 22 Dec 2012 : 13:16:34
This is what I found
So, as many have suspected, 5th edition is well under development over at WotC.
Normally, I wouldn't necessarily bother posting this, since we're an FR-specific wiki and not a D&D general one, but this has several implications for the Realms. First of all, rules regarding classes and races are likely to change again, though this should be relatively easy to deal with, I expect. But more important (and interesting, I think, to the community) is this little tidbit, as reported from EN World:
“ The Forgotten Realms will be supported from the start, and a video game art studio from China has been hired to fully detail the Realms. I asked if going forward support would be continued for the current time after the Spellplague and the Neverwinter Campaign. A WotC spokesperson answered, 'The Forgotten Realms has a rich history and we will support all of it. It is for the gamers to decide which time they would enjoy playing in.' That would allow Wizards to take advantage of a massive back catalog of products; however, there are no current plans that we know of for other settings - we assume these will follow in later years. ”
— Christopher Hackler
This seems to imply two things generally:
1) The new edition will be removed from the timeline, much like this wiki, or at the very least will supporter earlier periods of FR history, with its rules applicable to the Age of Humanity as easily as the post-Spellplague years.
2) I may be reading this incorrectly but it sounds to me like FR is going to be the core setting of the new edition. This is an interesting decision, if true, given the gradual expansion of 4e's "points of light" setting, which I assumed they'd keep for later editions. This isn't necessarily a good thing if true, given the fate of Greyhawk in 4e, but it doesn't have to be a bad thing either.
Anyhow, thought I'd just post that and see what the rest of you had to say about it.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:5th_edition |
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