| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Dargoth |
Posted - 13 Jul 2015 : 09:23:15
Anyone know if theres an expansion to the old The Grand History of the Realms either offical or fan made taking the FR timeline beyond 1385 DR? |
| 23 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Dark Wizard |
Posted - 26 Aug 2015 : 22:47:31
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
Given the distinct lack of information that would be a massive undertaking.
I think it would be fairly simple...
1386: The world turns to sh... excrement.
1387-1479: Stuff Happens, but no-one is really paying attention
1480: Stuff UNhappens.
1481-: "Meet the NEW Realms, same as the old Realms!"
I think that century of misery ("The Wailing Years") was kinda like the sixties - some good people died, but everyone got so wasted (on Spellplague) they barely remember it. 
That was my exact impression of it.
If things are as close to the pre-4E eras as they lead on, then we almost have to ask why bother. For once it might be better to give the setting a century worth of breather.
Beyond that, the timeline of 4E as compiled from various sources linked in this thread felt disjointed, more so than the eras prior. Some of it read as a paler imitation meant to reflect the style of the older Realms. Some of the stuff felt like a rush to fill some prior niche, for the sake of filling it. Other times there was a noticeable ambiguity about which Realms we're talking about, I think it does a disservice to both.
That is not to say there weren't good ideas from the time. I think if WotC did a "greatest hits" version with some retrospective additions in place of the duller bits, it could make a useful product.
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
So if they decided to do a GHotR II, covering the Wailing Years (4th edition era), and it was written by Ed Greenwood, Eric Boyd, George Krashos, and Steven Schend...
How many of us would suddenly change our minds about 4eFR and run out and buy that ASAP? 
Personally, I would MUCH rather see that, then a 'Directors Cut' version of the GHotR.
Depends. After seeing how often extensive timelines are used in games (rarely), I'm starting to wonder about the actual utility of such a book. How often do we learn about history solely from a timeline. Or even a bland telling of events without any other thoughts put to it.
How useful is a history book for the present day when all it's concerned about is the passing of mundane events. Really it's the legacy and implications, the changes that reverberate through time. I think the Realms has handled a lot of that suboptimally. We can see what events have impact because of their fallout and their 'lesson' to learn (Karsus's Folly, The Crown Wars, etc.). These are the most popular and recurrent discussions on these boards for a reason.
The rest (Crown Prince X died while campaigning in Foreign Land Y) is mostly filler. Sometimes it gets in the way of the game. I would have to change it anyway if either X or Y are different in my game and the entry was in no way integral or useful to most people's campaigns unless they have a game dealing specifically with X's visit to Y. Meanwhile, the Fall of Netheril and the Descent of the Drow are hallmarks of the setting. Those events set the stage and are unlikely to be changed if one is playing a Realms game.
Another problem of these big compilation books is sometimes designers are overzealous in filling in the blanks and connecting the dots. This dampens the thousand plots feel of the setting in favor of a few big villains (everything is Shar, Cyric, Tiamat, etc). This is the other end of the extreme. Instead of mundane filler, everything becomes part of a very limited number of mega-conspiracies.
I feel the Realms has a problem with only relying on the two extremes of "history".
It has the mundane fillers of marginal use, and sometimes even gets in the way of games. "Wait, says here Baron Bahb died in 1449 DR, how could he have reclaimed his family estates in Kingdomyr in 1454?" or "You said Duke Dahn, but the GHotR says the lord of Castle Greenskull was Baron Bahb from 1438-1449, then from 1449-1453 as the Bog Baron before an adventuring band destroyed both his lichform and his phylactery." A lot of the entries are finite, they begin and ended a story. It's presents the illusion of depth. I've written pages upon pages of such timeline entries for my own homebrews at one time. Did it ever come up in games, never. The 'big' concepts were the ones that drew the PCs in, the places and legacies they wished to explore.
Then there's the meta-event or beings. "The Dark Overgoddess Sparr, lady of dark discord commands the eternal loyalty of the Dark Night Knights of Kingdomyr, the world-spanning Dark Order of the Murder Monks of Darkness, the dark Shadow Sorcerers of darkest Sorcerea. In fact, there is little that escapes her dark noticed and micromanagement, a domain which she is making inroads towards since slaughtering Managar of the Middle, demigod of petty office politics. She has orchestrated the fall of five Lords of Watership, and the assassinations of King Noun the Adjective and the Elven Queen Aeverararralellae. She is also responsible for holding steady the price of gaming books, so as to spread her faith into the real world." Sauron, heck Morgoth, doesn't have anything on some of the popular 'themed' villains of the Realms.
The ideal 'history' would be something in between. Entries that hold relevance to the now of the Realms, while not falling into the blackhole of the Mega-metaplot. As a game setting (or even a story setting), the history should be a starting point for adventure, not esoteric entries best left in musky tomes or a seat in the audience to watch some gargantuan set-piece play out in novels. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 26 Aug 2015 : 17:18:37
quote:
Originally posted by LexoftheStorm
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Brian tweeted a dozen or two additional entries, but that was a while ago.
Hi guys, i'm a newbie here, but i'm a huge fan of the Realms. I'm starting a new campaign with some frinds and i'm also trying to recap all the s*** that happened.
Talking about Brian tweets i found this huge collection of his tweets in wizard's forum. Hope that this could help
http://community.wizards.com/forum/forgotten-realms/threads/2035081
Ps. I'm sorry for my unwanted english errors (or horros maybe), i'm doing my best 
A good find, Lex. And don't worry about your English; plenty of people who speak it as their native tongue can't do so properly.  |
| LexoftheStorm |
Posted - 26 Aug 2015 : 11:41:26
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Brian tweeted a dozen or two additional entries, but that was a while ago.
Hi guys, i'm a newbie here, but i'm a huge fan of the Realms. I'm starting a new campaign with some frinds and i'm also trying to recap all the s*** that happened.
Talking about Brian tweets i found this huge collection of his tweets in wizard's forum. Hope that this could help
http://community.wizards.com/forum/forgotten-realms/threads/2035081
Ps. I'm sorry for my unwanted english errors (or horros maybe), i'm doing my best |
| hashimashadoo |
Posted - 16 Jul 2015 : 13:40:53
The Knights were not mentioned in any WotC product during 4h edition.
The RPGA published a module set in Mintar for Living Forgotten Realms but it was released after WotC ended support for the campaign so can't really be considered canon.
In it, Mintar is still ruled by the Church of Bane but its populace has been ground down by the Church's particularly fanatic, oppressive regime. The citizens are taken to High Inquisitor Fazon G'houl's 'House of Pain', where suspected dissidents are "realigned" to the right way of thinking. Citizens are never allowed to leave and visitors are closely monitored, which has had the effect of turning the entirety of Mintar into a slum. Corpses hang from the city gates and the Church employs Zhentarim mercenaries to maintain order but the city still functions as an important stopover and fortification between Tethyr and the Lake of Steam.
The area is hot and the Lake of Steam can be smelled everywhere - it is also infested with mosquitoes. The main cobbled street through the city is well-maintained and clean but come off it anywhere and you encounter muddy streets covered in potholes and lined with crumbling buildings.
The city is still ruled by a Lord Darkhope but no mention of the Knights is made - 'Banite Knights' are frequently encountered in combat situations though. |
| Dargoth |
Posted - 16 Jul 2015 : 00:35:32
quote:
Originally posted by hashimashadoo
I was working on a project like this for a while but I failed to find an appropriate place to host it. Instead, I started slowly uploading it to the wiki. Slowly being the operative word - it was almost Sagely in its tardiness.
Ill probably wait until Gencons over (Ill hope and pray that there going to announce at least a 5th edition FRC and PGTF like they did in 4th edition)
If they dont Ill start making 5ed versions of 3ed stuff Converting Initate of X feats and Prcs into 5th Editon Domains. Paladin PrCs and Feats into Oaths etc
Incidently anyone know if the Knights of the Black Gauntlet (Banes Crusaders from Mintar) survived 4th edition?
|
| Delwa |
Posted - 15 Jul 2015 : 15:41:40
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
So if they decided to do a GHotR II, covering the Wailing Years (4th edition era), and it was written by Ed Greenwood, Eric Boyd, George Krashos, and Steven Schend...
How many of us would suddenly change our minds about 4eFR and run out and buy that ASAP?
Personally, I would MUCH rather see that, then a 'Directors Cut' version of the GHotR.
I'd buy it. It wouldn't change my dislike for the way things went down, but a paragraph entry like GHotR II would present is easy to tweak to my own ends, and gives me an offline copy of what hours of hunting the FR wiki amounts to.
Personally, I've come to terms with the Wailing Years, and as long as we're on the "the Realms are going back to the way they used to be," schpiel, I'm good.
It gives me a relatively clean slate to work with, build towns back up or scale them down as I see fit, and keeps my old 2e resources relevant to the present timeline, supplemented by their web articles. GHotR II would simply provide the one-stop resource I desire to know if I'm building up or down. |
| ZeshinX |
Posted - 15 Jul 2015 : 15:11:09
It wouldn't change my mind about 4e FR at all, but it would be nice to at least have that info handy if I wanted to run a 5e FR game set in the "present". I would buy a GHotR II though. I've been wanting to spend some money on 5e, but those storyline modules are just not worth it (to me, I don't object at all to others finding value in them). |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 15 Jul 2015 : 14:49:04
I'm not sure even the lore lords could or would save 4e
|
| Markustay |
Posted - 15 Jul 2015 : 14:22:28
So if they decided to do a GHotR II, covering the Wailing Years (4th edition era), and it was written by Ed Greenwood, Eric Boyd, George Krashos, and Steven Schend...
How many of us would suddenly change our minds about 4eFR and run out and buy that ASAP?
Personally, I would MUCH rather see that, then a 'Directors Cut' version of the GHotR. |
| hashimashadoo |
Posted - 15 Jul 2015 : 12:15:58
I was working on a project like this for a while but I failed to find an appropriate place to host it. Instead, I started slowly uploading it to the wiki. Slowly being the operative word - it was almost Sagely in its tardiness. |
| Jeremy Grenemyer |
Posted - 14 Jul 2015 : 15:45:03
There are not that many that discuss the prior era.
One mentions an early prophet of Bane, as I recall. |
| Dargoth |
Posted - 14 Jul 2015 : 07:36:12
4ed era info or articles set in previous times Jeremy?
Also anyone know if anything has been written about the Knights of the Black Gauntlet since ed? (THe Banite Crusaders from Mintar) |
| Jeremy Grenemyer |
Posted - 14 Jul 2015 : 02:41:20
quote:
Originally posted by Dargoth
Just out of interest how much 4ed Realmslore ended up behind the paywall WOTC built towards the end of 3ed?
I assume here you meant to say "towards the end of 4th ed."
The answer? Quite a bit, actually.
Most of it was written by Ed in the monthly series of Eye On the Realms articles that ran for practically the life of 4E in the online versions of Dragon and Dungeon magazines.
Other scribes are emphasizing the dearth of 4E material, and with all respect due that's a disservice to the Realms. What was written was as good or better than anything that came before. |
| Dargoth |
Posted - 14 Jul 2015 : 01:24:58
Ive got half a mind to do some PGTF to 5ed Conversions
Convert 3ed Initiate of X and Cleric PRCs into 5ed Cleric Domains
Convert PGTF Backgrounds into 5ed Backgrounds including PErsonality traits/Flaws/ideals/Bond tables
Convert 3ed Paladin Feats/Sub Levels and PrCs into 5th edition Paladin Oaths
Convert 3ed Spells (Starting with the God specfic ones tied to Initate of X feats into 5th edition) |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 14 Jul 2015 : 00:36:37
quote:
Originally posted by Dargoth
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
Given the distinct lack of information that would be a massive undertaking.
I think it would be fairly simple...
1386: The world turns to sh... excrement.
1387-1479: Stuff Happens, but no-one is really paying attention
1480: Stuff UNhappens.
1481-: "Meet the NEW Realms, same as the old Realms!"
I think that century of misery ("The Wailing Years") was kinda like the sixties - some good people died, but everyone got so wasted (on Spellplague) they barely remember it.
Just out of interest how much 4ed Realmslore ended up behind the paywall WOTC built towards the end of 3ed? (Im assuming that they rolled this into Dungeon and Dragon magazine)Was there much realms material in during the 4ed era in those magazines (There only appears have been 2 FR source books brought out during 4ed)
Much, much less than what we used to get for free, back when we had free web content and print magazines (and sourcebooks).
There was some good stuff, including some Edlore, but as someone who didn't play 4E, I don't think it was worth a monthly subscription -- they did an "all or nothing" approach; you paid for everything, including the online rules compendium and such, even if all you wanted was a single web article.
The way it was set up, though, you could pay for one month, and get all of the "magazines" that were on the site, and go from there. |
| BEAST |
Posted - 14 Jul 2015 : 00:05:52
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
So what was the Realms version of Woodstock?
Um...Greenwoodstock? |
| Dargoth |
Posted - 14 Jul 2015 : 00:04:09
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
Given the distinct lack of information that would be a massive undertaking.
I think it would be fairly simple...
1386: The world turns to sh... excrement.
1387-1479: Stuff Happens, but no-one is really paying attention
1480: Stuff UNhappens.
1481-: "Meet the NEW Realms, same as the old Realms!"
I think that century of misery ("The Wailing Years") was kinda like the sixties - some good people died, but everyone got so wasted (on Spellplague) they barely remember it.
Just out of interest how much 4ed Realmslore ended up behind the paywall WOTC built towards the end of 3ed? (Im assuming that they rolled this into Dungeon and Dragon magazine)Was there much realms material in during the 4ed era in those magazines (There only appears have been 2 FR source books brought out during 4ed) |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 13 Jul 2015 : 18:08:50
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
I think that century of misery ("The Wailing Years") was kinda like the sixties - some good people died, but everyone got so wasted (on Spellplague) they barely remember it.
So what was the Realms version of Woodstock? |
| Markustay |
Posted - 13 Jul 2015 : 17:31:13
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
Given the distinct lack of information that would be a massive undertaking.
I think it would be fairly simple...
1386: The world turns to sh... excrement.
1387-1479: Stuff Happens, but no-one is really paying attention
1480: Stuff UNhappens.
1481-: "Meet the NEW Realms, same as the old Realms!"
I think that century of misery ("The Wailing Years") was kinda like the sixties - some good people died, but everyone got so wasted (on Spellplague) they barely remember it. |
| Jeremy Grenemyer |
Posted - 13 Jul 2015 : 15:00:26
http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19630
Closest thing you'll get on these forums. |
| Dargoth |
Posted - 13 Jul 2015 : 14:01:56
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
Given the distinct lack of information that would be a massive undertaking.
-- George Krashos
The best solution I could find is the Forgotten realms wiki and then just search year by year from the year the Spellplague started until the current year. There where a few empty years and most of entries where from Novels Id say |
| George Krashos |
Posted - 13 Jul 2015 : 12:57:23
Given the distinct lack of information that would be a massive undertaking.
-- George Krashos |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 13 Jul 2015 : 10:49:14
Brian tweeted a dozen or two additional entries, but that was a while ago. |
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