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Old Man Harpell
Senior Scribe
USA
497 Posts |
 Posted - 06 Aug 2009 : 03:24:18
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Were it not for the fact that WotC has made it abundantly clear that it is not going to support the Realms with any future products, I would likely not have even brought this up.
On pages 74 through 129 of the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide are Backgrounds, which your character can select for their point of origin. Probably due to page space limitations, there are several areas that got left out that did not deserve to get left out.
I would post the game-specific statistics I came up with, but I am unsure as to the reaction of WotC's legal department to fan material...likely exceeded only by Todd McFarlane and Palladium Books in the degree of legalistic knee-jerk reaction.
If it were up to you (and they have also made clear that...well...it is up to you), what omitted areas would you like to see with Background potential?
* Halruuan Wastes: The Five Companies could be an excellent origin point for a PC (that is not to say, however, that they would get a skyship or anything beyond the most basic of contacts there). Halruuan Consumption makes starting on the ground, at best, slightly problematic for the non-spellscarred, but something might be possible.
*Tethyr/Velen: A lot of story potential here, considering royal intrigue and being surrounded by unfriendlies.
*Menzoberranzan (and/or other drow cities): It does not make much sense to me to include dark elves drow as a player character race, and not give them their own cultural point of origin. For that matter, where would 'dark elves' originate from? I won't tell you that I'm not trying to poke holes in the 'logic' the authors used (if it can be called that).
*Evereska: While Evermeet might be a problematic origin point, this place seems to be tailor-made for eladrin (and elf) PC's.
*Candlekeep: This was the very first city that a lot of Realms aficionados ever saw (in Baldur's Gate, of course) - the society inside the walls is unlike any other place in the Realms - moreso, now that it sits off the coast. Plus, I think there needs to be some more details on it's place in the Brave New Realms (thanks for that name, Jakk.  ).
*Moonsea: Hillsfar and Mulmaster (and the Moonsea as a whole) got short shrift in 4th Edition - they deserve better.
*Many-Arrows: Perfect for a half-orc character.
*Rashemen: So much potential here, and nary a peep from the folks at WotC.
That's just off the top of my head. Space limitation is the only really acceptable excuse I can think of to not include some of these.
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Saegis
Acolyte
Canada
23 Posts |
Posted - 06 Aug 2009 : 22:40:56
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In reality they should release information on all the different areas, but if I had to choose I'd say Many-Arrows. The other areas already have distinct information on them in other DnD supplements and novels and what not before the Spellplague, but Many-Arrows is completely new and should get a background info because of that.
Also, is it confirmed that there is no future products from WotC concerning the Realms? I'll be honest releasing a single 4th Ed Class in a Realms only book, then upgrading it in the Arcane Power supplement, and then not supporting the rest of the campaign setting sounds like a ridiculously short-sighted move to me.
I guess that's why a lot of people tend to homebrew their own fantasy worlds and not deal with the Wizards. |
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Ayunken-vanzan
Senior Scribe
Germany
657 Posts |
Posted - 06 Aug 2009 : 23:13:43
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| This was announced as the new strategy. We will not see any Realms supplements in the foreseeable future. |
"What mattered our lives now? When our world had been torn from us? Folk wept, or drank, or stood staring out over the land, wondering what new horror each dawn would bring."
Elender Stormfall of Suzail
"Anyone can kill deities, cause plagues, or destroy organizations. It takes real skill to make them live on."
Varl
FR/D&D-Links • 2ed Downloads |
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Saegis
Acolyte
Canada
23 Posts |
Posted - 06 Aug 2009 : 23:21:12
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Well that's just, um...fascinating
I knew that the Realms was going to be taking a hit as far as the lore goes, but releasing only two books on the realms is silly. On the other hand it might just be that WotC is concentrating on developing the actual mechanic of the game before putting effort into the campaign settings.
Ah well, there's little one can do besides taking over the company and micro-managing the entire process  |
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Tyr
Learned Scribe
225 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2009 : 21:20:40
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They probably just assumed people would just be interested in the crunch rather than the fluff, hence the limited fluff with oodles of crunch.
Dang, that sounds like a cereal... |
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Jakk
Great Reader
Canada
2165 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2009 : 06:47:36
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quote:
Originally posted by Tyr
They probably just assumed people would just be interested in the crunch rather than the fluff, hence the limited fluff with oodles of crunch.
Dang, that sounds like a cereal...
It does, doesn't it? And it wasn't an assumption, but more of an encouragement, I suspect; the vast body of lore was seen by some as a problem, so they've advanced the timeline to do away with the lore and to add fluff to the setting as currently published would be a step backward in Wizbro's eyes. The only lore we'll be getting for the 4E Realms will be from novels and DnDi, which suits me just fine, because (a) I don't use 4E rules, (b) there is no Spellplague in my Realms, and (c) I'm toying with the idea of retconning the ToT out of existence too; I'm just not sure that it's worth the trouble... besides, I kinda like Myrkul in the Crown of Horns... 
Just my two coppers on the whole "two books per setting" model...  |
Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.
If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic. |
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The lost backgrounds
