| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Shadowsoul |
Posted - 06 Mar 2015 : 17:14:59
When building your version of the Realms, have you used the timeline but changed a few things in order to get a different result?
I was thinking about changing a few events in order for Phalorm The Realm of Three Crowns to survive and thrive to this very day. This is just one for example.
Have you changed a few events in order to change a bit of history? |
| 26 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| MrHedgehog |
Posted - 10 Mar 2015 : 21:29:56
I kept most things but radically changed the Spellplague to suit my preferences. No massive geographical changes or the other absurdly over the top aspects like deities getting “married”. I did this several years ago but am not DM'ing at the moment. I could go on and on and on. The campaign I designed was based on rebels against the Netherese finding the Eye of Selune and returning Opus to the realms (although the story never advanced that far :( )
While I played most recently with 4e rules I used some things from 4e but always in a different way (I do not feel whoever developed 4th edition has much of a sense of patterns of history...or style...it felt like an imitation of World of Warcraft type video game stuff)
After the Spellplague I then had a Restoration (I call it the "Dawn Restructuring") occur by the sacrifice of Tyr, Oghma and Silvanus' realms presence (not in the planescape multiverse... just their presence in this universe.) This resulted in the changes in the magic system (for the new edition) and changes in the pantheon makeup. I tried to carefully balance the gender and alignments of the pantheon thus I kept deities with unrepresented otherwise portfolios like Hathor (Motherhood), Shesat (Libraries) and Berronar (Marriage) but not a lot of their male colleagues who had portfolios that overlapped. I made this a result of the pantheons merging into one pantheon with no room for duplicates. Deities that had prev
As i've detailed in threads i've made before I radically changed the pantheon. But instead of saying Sehanine was always Selune I said Sehanine was no longer present in the realms as a result of the Spellplague (I don't like retcons...) Many deities are ressurected such as Amaunatar, Auppenser and Murdane as part of the Restoration. Although “Mystra” was dead Midnight arose as a goddess of good magic. Eilistraee became a bigender entity “Eilistraee-Vhaeraun” with a neutral alignment.
I posted this in this thread:
http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13096 |
| xaeyruudh |
Posted - 10 Mar 2015 : 19:29:55
Plot twist: someone polymorphed a badger into Obould's head and pasted a nondetection spell on it to allay suspicion. Nobody knows what the real head is up to...  
On another note, I like several of your ideas ZeshinX, particularly surrounding the Spellplague, geography, and Myrkul. |
| Jayson_Neverstop |
Posted - 10 Mar 2015 : 19:24:24
I am doing something similar to ZeshinX - except the spellplague DID happen... then got erased by Ao. What belongs on Abeir stays on Abeir; what belongs on Toril stays on Toril. Netheril got a huge spanking and most got sent back to Abeir, but a sliver of them still exist....
The Kingdom of Many-Arrows is still around, albeit without King Obould. So far, the orcs are staying in the Spine and who knows what they're thinking now. The dwarves keep a steady watch over the mountains, but there has been no activity yet. The dwarves still are not apart of the Silver Concord, but relations between the two are good.
From my players' point of view, there is a new meanace in The North.... or is it an old one........... |
| BEAST |
Posted - 10 Mar 2015 : 18:34:42
quote:
Originally posted by ZeshinX
-The Kingdom of Many-Arrows fell apart, though not through any military actions from the Silver Marches. No one is certain what caused this, but what is known is that Obould's severed head was found on a spike outside the gates of Silverymoon, with no claims of responsibility, and the fortifications and constructs of Many-Arrows abandoned (with obvious signs that the inhabitants went back into the caves of the Spine of the World in a hurry). There has been some talk about investigating the cause of this, but most seem content to simply accept it, as is.
Hey, never look a gift horse in the mouth! Just enjoy it!
Hells yeah, now that's some retcon I can get behind. |
| ZeshinX |
Posted - 10 Mar 2015 : 14:52:19
The Realms I run resembles mostly the canon Realms pre-4e. Most of the 4e things done either did not occur at all, or were radically different.
-No Spellplague. At all. Ever. 
-No merging of continents/planets. Everything is still just as it was, pre-4e, geography-wise
-No dragonborn. Half-dragons and such are still about, but the dragonborn race introduced in 4e, and continued into 5e, flat out does not exist in my Realms. There are a few "lost draconians" from Krynn about, but that's about it.
Some things are my own creation, some things are modified creations of others (and designers). Psionics also has a much larger presence in my Realms.
-Thay is very much Thay as it was pre-4e (but no Thayan enclaves, or Thaymarts). Szass Tam's undeadification of Thay never occurred, as Thay's rulers were forced to deal with an uprising of psionic users demanding equal status to the wizards. An uneasy stalemate currently exists there (Thay is still governed by the Red Wizards as always, but psionic users are starting to appear in positions of power as well)
-The Temple of the Sixth Ring, a monastery devoted to study, contemplation and exploration of psionics was rediscovered after centuries in the mountains of Tabot. The monks accept any who wish to learn, or who may have something to teach them
The pantheon is mostly as it was, though with some changes.
-Cyric is a demi-power of Madness. His insanity finally led to a total collapse in his ability to maintain his other portfolios and while he certainly is not forgotten, his worship has mostly evaporated into pockets of equally mad supplicants that pose little more than a dangerous nuisance to others
-The Risen Sun heresy still exists, but Lathander is not Amanautor reborn, but Amanautor's son. They are known as the Risen Son in my Realms, and while a mild animosity exists between the two factions of the clergy, they both realize they worship the same deity. They just choose to view Lathander in different ways (the Risen Son viewing Lathander as Amanautor's successor and following in his father's footsteps, the others viewing Lathander as his heir, but going his own way). Lathander has not given any indication one way or the other, and both factions receive their spells and blessing as normal
-Mystra is very much alive, but changed. Shar/Cyric's plan failed (resulting in Cyric becoming what I mention above) and Shar losing control of the Shadow Weave to Mystra. This changed Mystra to more closely resemble Mystryl, becoming completely neutral in outlook. There was no disruption in either the Weave or Shadow Weave, but there is now no seperate Weave and Shadow Weave...there is just Magic.
-Myrkul has returned as a god of undeath and necromancy. Velsharoon acquired the Crown of Horns in an attempt to wrest the lingering vestiges of Myrkul's power for his own...but combined with an encounter with the Spirit-Eater of Rashemen, was mostly subsumed by Myrkul, resulting in a dual personality (Myrkul being the dominant one, with Velsharoon now a vestigial voice in Myrkul's mind).
-A small movement of agnostics, born in Tantras, has been spreading quite quickly. Led by a person known only as "The Apostate" (their identity is unknown, as they're always clad in white robes and a silver mask), those who agree with the Apostate do not deny the existence of the gods, but feel said gods are not deserving of worship, that mortals have only ever been their pawns in a game they can never truly understand, and that the gods aren't needed for mortals to live full and happy lives. The Apostate has admitted they keep their identity secret because they feel what they say is more important than who they are (the mask is enchanted to make the Apostate's voice sound both male and female, and the robes conceal whatever gender the Apostate may be).
Power groups are much as they were up to the end of 3e, except as below.
-Shade Enclave never progressed particularly far in its many plots (Anauroch was never even partially reclaimed), and with the events between Mystra/Shar/Cyric, they again retreated to the Plane of Shadow. It is not known if they will again return to Faerun.
-The Kingdom of Many-Arrows fell apart, though not through any military actions from the Silver Marches. No one is certain what caused this, but what is known is that Obould's severed head was found on a spike outside the gates of Silverymoon, with no claims of responsibility, and the fortifications and constructs of Many-Arrows abandoned (with obvious signs that the inhabitants went back into the caves of the Spine of the World in a hurry). There has been some talk about investigating the cause of this, but most seem content to simply accept it, as is.
-The mysterious nation of Nimbral has approached Halruaa with an offer to start a trade relationship, to include sharing magical knowledge and practices. Negotiations are in their infancy, with both nations still very guarded, but there is a definite eagerness on both sides to see this happen. No one is certain what prompted this move by Nimbral, but the most popular theory suggests with the recent "blip" in magic (the merging of the Weave and Shadow Weave) may have something to do with it. |
| Eltheron |
Posted - 10 Mar 2015 : 06:07:02
quote:
Originally posted by Baptor
Whoa. Wait. You mother introduced you to the Realms?
That is one of the coolest things I've ever heard.
Yes, me and my brother both.
It was pretty cool. She and my dad don't play much any more, though.
|
| Eilserus |
Posted - 07 Mar 2015 : 18:40:37
Pretty much. That was the same concern they had. I remember my old man not liking the image of the Menzo boxed set. Can't fault my parents though, they were doing their job and wanted to make sure I wasn't going to go whacko or take a dive off the deep-end. |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 07 Mar 2015 : 18:26:25
quote:
Originally posted by Eilserus
My parents did not like me playing D&D as a kid. They came around after a few years though. hehehe
Mine were fine with it so long as I didn't start worshiping Satan or other such nonsense that often gets associated with D&D. They actually thought it was a good way to exercise the creative side of the brain. Hard to disagree.  |
| Eilserus |
Posted - 07 Mar 2015 : 17:48:49
My parents did not like me playing D&D as a kid. They came around after a few years though. hehehe |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 07 Mar 2015 : 15:37:46
I would probably die of shock if my mother or father sat down to play some D&D. |
| xaeyruudh |
Posted - 07 Mar 2015 : 06:13:42
Yup, some parents are cool like that. I lucked out too, when a neighbor brought the old red basic box over to show D&D to my parents. |
| Baptor |
Posted - 07 Mar 2015 : 05:38:10
quote:
Originally posted by Eltheron
Everything?
The Forgotten Realms developed by my mother (and later me and my brother) - well, it started dramatically diverging before the end of 1E.
Whoa. Wait. You mother introduced you to the Realms?
That is one of the coolest things I've ever heard. |
| xaeyruudh |
Posted - 07 Mar 2015 : 03:47:22
On a tangent, a few versions of "What makes the Realms awesome" or "what is the essence of the Realms" have been asked over the last couple of years that D&D Next/5e have been in public discussion.
What's happening here, for the moment at least, is an example. Despite our differing approaches and feelings on various issues, we can mostly find merit in each other's solutions, and mutual respect for conflicting ideas (or polite silence at the very least) is possible. Without that, the Realms wouldn't be as great.
I'm pretty sure Ed himself could read this thread and enjoy it. That acceptance of conflicting points of view is unique among settings so far. It's valuable, and something I think WotC (and anyone creating a new setting) should try to incorporate in the future.
Less dictating crazytalk, more respectful discussion.
And we have THO. So. We win.
|
| Aldrick |
Posted - 07 Mar 2015 : 02:41:04
I have radically altered my Realms, too much to talk about in a single post.
I used to be one of those people who tried his best to stick to the canon setting, doing everything in my power to make things fit. For some un-explainable reason, I thought this was the "right" and "correct" way to use the Realms.
When 4E came out, I was so horrified at what had happened to the setting, it forced me to break with canon. This was the one huge benefit 4E gave to me, and in truth it allowed me to overcome the horrible burnout I was feeling toward the setting. I hated virtually all the changes it made, though.
However, when I sat down to figure out what I wanted to do, I decided that I wanted the Realms to reflect my tastes. I decided that everything was "mostly" canon up until the Spellplague hit. After that the Realms became my own setting, freeing me to do whatever I wanted.
One of the first changes I made was to radically alter the Spellplague. Mystra did not die. However--avoiding a long plot and story here--she ended up being corrupted by the remnants of Moander in Darkwatch similar to how Tyche was corrupted...except far worse. Shar was behind this, and it was her plan all along. She allowed Moander to first corrupt the Shadow Weave, then released the control of the Shadow Weave, causing it to immediately connect back to the Weave... which in turn corrupted Mystra.
No one knows that, of course. They only know that the Weave has become corrupted. Those who use the Weave or magical items forged from the Weave are corrupted slowly over time as a result. They are driven insane and ultimately begin to transform into horrible abominations.
Effectively, Mystra and Moander have merged into a single, incredibly dangerous and insane deity. This was the big change that I made to my Realms, and then I began to figure out what would be the fallout.
As I did this, I found myself going back prior to the Spellplague and making changes. It began with the changes to the Risen Sun Heretics storyline and how I handled the Masked Lady storyline.
This in turn caused me to make big changes in what happened to the Darkhold Zhents and the Return of the Shades. I think I am going to "borrow" some of Wooly's idea, which I like a lot.
=======
Recently, I have been contemplating making major changes to how the Time of Troubles unfolded. My Cyric is radically different from the canon version. He is actually an awesome and interesting deity that I like, as opposed to the bumbling, insane, and stupid Cyric of canon. He is much preferable over the Dark Three.
One of the changes that I like in my Realms is that I have the Triad and the Dark Triad. The Triad is composed of Torm, Ilmater, and Bahamut. The Dark Triad is composed of Bane, Loviatar, and Tiamat. This worked out awesomely, as Torm is opposed to Bane, Ilmater is opposed to Loviatar, and Bahamut is opposed to Tiamat. It created an awesome symmetry.
The downside is that I needed to use the dumb explanation as to what happened to Tyr. I also really dislike the name Bane, and have slowly started to warm up to the idea of Xvim. However, there are some things that I disliked about that as well primarily due to the changes I made to the Old Empires Region.
Anyway, I am thinking about going back and retconning things so that Torm, Tyr, Helm, and Bahamut were in Tantras during the Time of Troubles at the time Bane made his attack. This way I can have Tyr and Helm mortally wounded by Bane, and Torm badly wounded--saved at the last minute by Bahamut. This allows me to divide Tyr and Helms portfolios up between Torm and Bahamut, and makes Bane's defeat a bit more satisfying. He took a couple of them down with him, and nearly got Torm as well.
The Forging of the New Triad would have been forged in the Monastery of the Yellow Rose, where Bahamut would have flown a badly injured Torm to be healed by Ilmater. This allows me to avoid the dumb resurrection by Ao part.
All of this is a work in progress.
=======
What should be clear is that, by now, everything is "fair game" in my Realms. If I don't like it, I change it. My Realms looks nothing like the canon Realms. It is radically different, molded to suit my taste. It uses the same maps, similar deities, most of the old history and back story, but diverges significantly after the Spellplague.
I call my Realms the "Forsaken Realms" -- a crapsack post-apocalyptic world that draws inspiration from Dragon Age, Warhammer Fantasy, a Song of Ice and Fire, various other bits of fantasy that I have enjoyed over the years, and sets it in the Forgotten Realms. |
| Jeremy Grenemyer |
Posted - 07 Mar 2015 : 02:03:38
I've changed some back stories for cities, but that's about it.
I've done a lot of swapping of NPCs, buildings and dungeon locations; moving them from one part of the Realms to another and playing it as though that's how it's always been.
I have also cloned locations--using the same dungeon or castle map with mostly the same monsters and encounters, but with different names for NPCs and a different location back story--with my players none the wiser. When I do this I usually keep the original location in my Realms.
I figure at least one player might notice some similarities and start asking questions if they ever end up in the location as it was originally written for the Realms. |
| Eltheron |
Posted - 07 Mar 2015 : 01:13:38
Everything?
The Forgotten Realms developed by my mother (and later me and my brother) - well, it started dramatically diverging before the end of 1E. We never had a Time of Troubles, no Midnight-Mystra, no Kelemvor, no Cyric, none of that at all. We never had a "returned Netheril/Shade" either. A significant portion of the south is quite different, though the names are the same as in 1E.
The retroactive change to include AO and pretty much all of the subsequent weird god drama (Spellplague, Sundering) never happened.
Quite a good chunk of the area around Daggerford has been extensively developed, and also the area around Neverwinter. There are a number of small towns, villages and thorpes that have been home-brewed in along the Sword Coast.
We did pull in a large portion of the 2E Volo Guide material, and some of the 3E material.
Other areas home-brew developed have been Mulhorand, and some areas around it. Thay, Aglarond, Rashemen and Damara are somewhat different, even in tone.
We also have (not well known, or protected and hidden) gates to a number of other worlds and settings, but the cosmology is very different - we don't use the crystal sphere model, and many of the planes are very different. Planescape and Spelljammer aren't the way we did things at all for world/planar travel.
Gods are generally distant, never really appearing as avatars. They do have manifestations, sometimes visions or "signs" but never physically appear. Also, there are TONS of local gods and spirits, many of which have been homebrewed or built upon from the 2E FR deity books. Local deities aren't just avatars of some "primary pantheon" either. Mystra, for instance, isn't "THE" goddess of magic, she's only the goddess of magic venerated in northern Faerun.
We also don't have a lot of the novel characters. If you went looking for Elminster or Drizzt, they wouldn't be there, at least not as they have been written and developed (Elminster is a grizzled old 9th level mage, and a sage specializing in several areas of lore - he's not a Chosen, and not hundreds of years old).
It's very, very different indeed.
|
| BEAST |
Posted - 07 Mar 2015 : 01:08:02
I change the dates of most of RAS's Realms works. Neither Ed nor THO like the word, but I think the powers that be were kind of arbitrary when they assigned the official dates to Bob's stories in 1E through 3E. They meant well enough, but with Bob's stories largely being isolated from the rest of the Realms, there was little within them to directly tie in to any definitively dated events in the Realms at large. When I finally retroactively figured out how to do just that with Bob's Realms stories, I determined that the official dates are often just plain wrong. Sorry, but it's true. So I continue to think and express to others what my own calculated dates (and character ages, etc.) are for RAS's Realms works, official resourcebook summations notwithstanding.
As far as content goes, I find it a little confusing why Catti-brie is described as such a wallflower in The Crystal Shard, when she's a dynamic, right-in-the-middle-of-the-action tomboy in everything else that she has appeared in. But in TCSh, she cheerily fades into the background every time the action picks up. To my way of thinking, that can't be right; there must have been something to make her that way in TCSh, that we haven't been told about. And Cat surely would have given everybody a lot more flak than that! So I view the story in such a way as to have Bruenor being overcontrolling and repressive of Cat, because she is on the verge of becoming a woman there, and he must be afraid of losing her, somehow. (Dwarves did use to be that way with their own dwarven females, after all, so it wouldn't be that much of a stretch for Bruenor to be that way with his adopted human daughter, too.) To my way of thinking, at first, Cat tragically submitted to Bruenor's paternalistic demands, or at least inadvertently repressive sexist expectations, in order to please her father. This is very much a case of reading between the lines, because it's not explicitly there in the text. But then, later on, Catti-brie comes into her own, and over the next few novels she begins to assert herself in the company of the male Companions of the Hall more and more, and eventually is recognized as an equal member of the party. This gives her her own complete character story arc, within "The Icewind Dale Trilogy". And it is based on the material that is there in the text, even though that arc is rather underdeveloped, explicitly. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 06 Mar 2015 : 20:39:02
Well my latest brainwave is to change a few things in order to get the same or a very similar result, but one that is entirely interactive for the players.
Worked out basic details for almost all the major RSE's. Not sure how to do the Reclamation of Tethyr at the moment but all the others are worked out.
ToT is replaced by Bane's church fracturing, Bhaals assassins in Amn, Tethyr and Calimshan dying off, and Myrkul ending up in the crown of Horns and his church being replaced by Jergals.
Moonshae Isles is a work in progress with Kazgoroth's return spread over several decades.
The Fall of Zhentil Keep is now one of the machinations of Manshoon in the power play he and Fzoul fight for control of the Zhentarim.
The Manshoon Wars do not end.
The Schism in the Zhentarim remains and Sememmon remains in charge although it is a clone created by Manshoon so really the eastern branch of the Zhentarim remain under the control of Fzoul (who controls Manshoon), and its all part of Fzoul's plan to bypass the agreement with Khelben not to expand the Zhentarim past Cormyr. The eastern branch then sets up a base in Dragonspear Castle.
The Threat from the Sea is now a bit wonky. Iakhovas accidentally triggers the wildtide gate a year early and Dagon helps him to return to the Trackless Sea. Of course its all a trick by Dagon to get the elves to use the magic wards created by Pythana or something like (an ancient elf who is mentioned in the Sea of Fallen Stars book) to boot Iakhovas out of the sea which in turn brings down the barrier that keeps him from using a rift in the bottom of a trench which links his plane to Seros.
Return of the Archwizards does not involve an Empire of Netheril but a secretive enclave that seeks to restore Anauroch and gather the magic of Netheril to itself but without alerting everyone else. The surviving phaerimm flee to the stonelands leaching off the mythal like wards there (Haunted Halls and Whispers Crypt are part of a huge complex according to Ed). After a big fighting involving Cormyr and other forces the surviving phaerimm spread out among the realms of faerun where they exist in the shadows as master manipulators.
The Rage of Dragons actually has its finale in the High Forest and Sammaster survives to return every few centuries (along with the rage).
The reclamation of Myth Drannor and the war in the dalelands actually becomes the reclamation of the elven court, and Scyllua does not have to die she can be redeemed.
I too keep Maztica but also bring back Laerakond in -339 (where it exists beyond the northwest tip of Maztica).
I'll gradually get through them all and put them in an alternate campaign setting. |
| xaeyruudh |
Posted - 06 Mar 2015 : 20:08:00
Crystal ball, premonition-type spells, visions from deities, information from a wizard who has enough power to foresee the horde but not enough power to defend the town around his tower, fortune tellers, other sorts of oracles... perhaps just a few pages torn out of a history book with a scribbled note that orc hordes seem to arise and afflict particular parts of the North about every X years. There are ways to clue the PCs in about things they don't directly see for themselves. Maybe after getting hints of orcs massing, the PCs have to quickly hoof it up into the mountains, and use diplomacy, subterfuge, sabotage, assassination, etc, to avert the formation of a horde, or maybe they're too late for that but they have a chance to divert it to another target (goblinoids, ogres, giants, a made-up threat that doesn't even exist but which will exhaust the horde, whatever). Also, prisoners captured from one horde might inform the PCs of a rival tribe's involvement in another horde, if (for example) one horde is going west down the mountains and the other is going east. |
| Shadowsoul |
Posted - 06 Mar 2015 : 19:46:55
I think what I might do is have the adventurers step in and stop certain events that I feel lead to the fall of Phalorm.
I may have the PC's learn of the duergar assassination plans for Torghatar blood of Bharaun who is the king of the dwarves of Phalorm. I am kind of stuck as to how I can enable the PC's to find out about the various hordes without it being too cheesy. |
| Irennan |
Posted - 06 Mar 2015 : 18:56:34
I don't have problems with altering canon, or adding or removing ideas (for example, I think that I'll use Wooly's idea for the return of Shade in my Realms, I really like it). I tend to ignore everything that would destroy parts of the settings (deicides, nations disappearing and so on).
Modifying some events could also be a reason for a campaign. For example, I'm doing that with the Silence of Lolth. I've already written this in another thread, so I'll just paste it here.
In my ongoing capaign, one of the plots my players have decided to get involved has both Eilistraee, Vhaeraun (who in my FR are rather neutral towards each other*) and their followers joining forces as a desperate measure during the Silence of Lolth and taking the initiative to change the minds and future of their people.
The premise of that is quite long to write down, but the event would be the culmination of a series of actions on the Dark Dancer's (and Masked Lord's) followers side that started way before the Silence of Lolth (actually, something that has been going on for centuries) and that has slowly brought the hope for a new life to many dark elves, leading them away from those hellholes and towards a better existence, on top of allowing the Eilistraee/Vhaeraun's ideas to silently spread, especially among the ''free'' drow, (i.e. the low class). With time, infrastructures** have been created, food/water reserves (scarce and needed by the dwellers of the Underdark) have been gathered (and preserved through magical means) and refuges both on the surface and underground have been built, both for frequent use and in order to prepare what would have been the conclusion of all of this: the final strike, leading the drow to rebel and completely break free from Lolth and her order when the right time would have come (a time that came far earlier than the two siblings expected, due to Lolth's silence).
Sword Dancers and Nightshadows would then infiltrate in the various drow cities, sparking the seed of rebellion by more openly showing to the drow the miserable, inhuman, choice and joy-less condition that Lolth and her reign forced them into. The stagnation and all the chance progress/growth that was lost due to tradition and dogma, their lives being deprived of any value would be made evident to them, especially now that Lolth has gone away, giving basically 0 craps about them and leaving them in a very vulnerable state, while on the other side there is someone who actually cares.
Ofc, each side would do this in their own way. Vhaeraun's followers would choose the route of terror tactics, with attacks and assassinations affecting high ranking members of houses/temple, to show that Lolth's power is far from what she wants the drow to believe.
Eilistraeens would still be fighting with their newfound ''allies'', but they would mainly focus on providing the population with needed cures, food, water in time of crisis, they would make themselves protectors of their people and would more openly offer the chance of getting away from this (and an actual, concrete alternative to embrace, since they have refuges to welcome them, portals to bring them away with safety and a goddess who cares about -and even loves- them). Followers of the Dark Dancer would also bring to the drow the joyful, luminous aspects of life that they have been unjustly denied, they would show them what it means to be a people, united, fighting for a common goal, to forge their own path and place in the world (for example, in my campaign they and the Vhaerunites lent their aid and swords to the drow city of Maerimydra when fire giants and other monsters attacked and took it, helping the refugees with healing and food and assisting them to retake the city, while restoring the Twisted Tower as a temple of the Dark Maiden once again. They have proved that a united people can achieve much much more than a bunch of paranoid, power-hungry, brainwahsed backstabbers, that the kind of life they wish for is actually possible).
Meanwhile, on the surface Eilistraee, Vhaeraun and their drow would be preparing the ground for an eventual exodus from the Underdark. In particular their efforts would be pointed towards restoring Miyeritar (I chose to not use the events in ''Blackstaff'') and using it as a safe haven for all drow. Of course, especially with elves trying to conquer Myth Drannor back, plopping a drow nation like this would lead to troubles (in fact, the situation is destined to become very tense).
On the 'divine' side of things (which players are kind of experiencing, because Eilistraee and Vhaeraun are archfey in my game, and don't refrain from interacting with their people) the plot would involve Eilistraee's relation with Corellon and the Seldarine becoming more strained and cold due to her excessive (to them) audacity -so to speak-, especially in this project and collaboration with Vhaeraun, with the two siblings getting closer as a result and Eilistraee definitely (but regretfully) choosing to walk her own path (because, lets face it, the actions of the Seldarine in her and her followers' regards have costed lives, and all of this mess with drow is in great part their fault as well. IMC the Dark Dancer has got tired of offering her hand and even love to the Seldarine, only to receive what looks very much like indifference hidden behind kind words, when all she wants is to build a future of life for all elven people).
Lolth's silence has a very different reason behind it, it is quite long and I don't really feel like writing it down, but it is related to something that was done to Araushnee -not by Corellon-, turning her in the demon that she is now, with Shar being heavily involved (she also has a plot going on in the campaign, connected with what happened to elves and drow, and to the most recent events as well, but it totally is not canon) and Eilistraee ''feeling'' that something is changing about her mother, experiencing visions/memories coming back and trying to gain her mother back.
*IMC Eilistraee and Vhaeraun still feel some sibling affection for each other, hampered by how some Vhaerunites' actions damage the efforts of the Dark Maiden towards creating peace and harmony between the drow and the other races. Nonetheless they are able to get over it and join forces when the situation is dire enough to require that. However the most recent full-on 'alliance' started from the mortals rather than from the two deities: each faction has been spying and keeping tracks of the other's progresses, sometimes even with a somewhat silent/indirect cooperation, and now that the opportuinity to radically change the future of their people has arisen, they have decided to openly work together.
**The most relevant among those is a network of portal that extends through the Underdark, connecting areas near various drow cities and settlements with the surface, with the Promenade being its ''hub''. The net is made up of ''Song Portals'' -magic took by Illefarn- crafted with the aid of Eilistraee, which would show up and activate only through a specific melody and emotions in order to avoid hostile intrusion. Furthermore tunnels would be covered with directions that point to the position of the portals, and such directions would be revealed only through Eilistraee's moonfire. Sometimes the goddess gifts lost drow trying to escape aggressors (or simply towards a better life) with temporary manifestations of this magic, in order to lead them towards the nearest portal and to safety -likely near one of her settlements where her people would aid the newcomer-). |
| xaeyruudh |
Posted - 06 Mar 2015 : 18:41:33
I've moved the founding of Imaskar back to about -14,000 DR. The history in LEoF is way too rushed -- or alternatively leaves out the vital information of who gifted the Imaskari with the magic proficiency they already demonstrated at the very foundation of their empire. So I lengthened their history and gave them a leader.
Up until recently I've adamantly removed the TOT from all of my campaigns. It adds nothing I like to the setting, other than the strife between the churches of Bane and Cyric. I don't hate Midnight (until she lets herself be killed like a chump), but I find the treatment of Mystra in the TOT trilogy lame. I hate Cyric with a passion, and I can get the strife in the church of Bane without Cyric, by using the schisms within the church that already existed in 1e. The heresy stuff in Power of Faerun is also useful. Plus I liked Bhaal, Leira, and Myrkul. Lately I've been toying with rewriting the TOT event as the flexible campaign expansion that I think it should have been in the first place, so I can have the TOT and still keep the gods I like and not have to deal with Cyric. Bonuses: my re-imagined TOT puts the PCs in the limelight instead of Cyric and Midnight, can be placed anywhere on the timeline, and can be used in multiple campaigns with different results which inspire different subsequent development.
I have one campaign which begins in 1365, hits a cataclysm around 1400, and sets the players on the task of saving the world from a lizard takeover and terraforming/empirebuilding reign of terror. With a little work, this could be a distant-past campaign that explores the fall of the sarrukh empires circa -30k DR, but my vision is a sarrukh comeback. I started it before 4e came out so I didn't know about the Spellplague yet. Still pondering other ways to interpret the Year of Blue Fire, but there's no room for the Spellplague in this campaign.
So... yea. Canon is just one idea. Thanks, 4e, for irrevocably breaking my attachment to the official Realms. Something had to do it, and you had plenty of bile for the job.
I like the Three Crowns idea! I hope you'll keep us informed on that, at least after your players work through their adventures.
I'm also keeping Maztica, and Luiren, and Lantan, and Nimbral, and Halruaa in my Realms... although it sounds like Ed's got some pretty spiffy plans regarding Halruaa, so I'm looking forward to reading that.
The Tan Chin campaign sounds like it could be awesome. I kinda wanted to do something similar when I read through the trilogy of Crusade adventures, but I haven't gotten around to it.
I like Wooly's return of Shade too... well, I don't like Shade coming back at all, but if it's coming I approve of making them fallible instead of godlike. They don't fully understand the stones or anticipate the backlash of using them: nice. It sets the right stage.
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| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 06 Mar 2015 : 18:00:56
I've mentioned before that if I was running a Realms campaign, I'd stop at about 1375, and cherry-pick everything after that...
One event I would change a bit would be the Return of Shade.
When 3E was coming out, I assumed that the Return of the Archwizards books would provide the necessary background for in-setting changes, the way the Avatar books did for the 2E transition.
Needless to say, I was disappointed with the lack of a transition.
Someone here once asked how to get spellscars without the Spellplague, and the idea I came up with wound up really grabbing me. I think it could have been used to explain most of the 2E-3E changes.
First, retro back to Karsus.
Instead of just having him cast his spell, add to it...
My idea was that he needed more magical power than he could contain to be able to pull off his spell. So he created these formations of standing stones all around Netheril (perhaps beyond). These formations of stones gathered and stored magic, which he later tapped into the fuel his spell.
Obviously, things went south upon the casting of the spell... But the standing stones remained.
Centuries later, when trying to find a way back onto the Realms, the Shades find these stones and figure out their original purpose. They decide to do the same thing -- tap into those accumulated reservoirs of magic to have enough might to pull off their goal.
The thing is, by that time, the stones had been gathering and storing energy for 17 centuries. They were way over-charged. And the precise arrangements Karsus had created had not been maintained; some of the stones were misaligned.
So the Shades tapped into and unleashed this power -- but it was far more than they intended. They were able to return, but there was far more energy than they could control or direct. The remaining energy swept across the lands, surging into the Weave and causing pretty much any effect someone wants to have.
So we get the return of Shade, but we now have a way to explain away the sudden appearance of sorcerers and other variant spellcasters, we have a way to explain away the sudden use of magic by races previously unable to use magic.... You could use it to explain the change in drow abilities, too.
A wave of nearly incalculable magical energy swirling across the globe and causing brief but intense turmoil in the Weave... That could cover a lot of stuff. It wouldn't explain away all the retcons, but it would cover a lot of them. |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 06 Mar 2015 : 17:52:01
quote:
Originally posted by hashimashadoo
I myself have never run a game between the years 1375 and 1469 DR though.
I don't think my old gaming groups ever even specified a set year when we could adventure through the Realms. It was always just the good ol' 1300's ... well at least it was until someone got their hands on the AD&D Chronomancer guidebook. |
| hashimashadoo |
Posted - 06 Mar 2015 : 17:47:44
No, I run an encyclopaedia so it's kind of anathema to my sensibilities. I've got a buddy who's turning Tan Chin's invasion of Should Lung into an entire campaign and another who used to run a game where Shadovar infiltrators had set up a base under Waterdeep BEFORE the return of Shade.
I myself have never run a game between the years 1375 and 1469 DR though. |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 06 Mar 2015 : 17:28:05
Maztica still exists in my Realms... as does any other place that was destroyed with the Spellplague. |
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