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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
 Posted - 20 Aug 2014 : 02:19:12
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Editing is an essential process in writing anything. It's the difference between having a huge patchwork quilt of mediocrity (with a few diamonds buried within) versus having a tight, fully integrated rich tapestry (covered with diamonds).
They've done the volume approach. I'm done with kitchen sinks full of mismatched dishes.
For the future, I want amazing quality - not just volume. I want their editors to really discriminate, concentrate on pure Realms goodness, and work from a fairly well-unified vision.
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
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Lilianviaten
Senior Scribe
489 Posts |
Posted - 20 Aug 2014 : 02:25:08
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I disagree about too many chefs spoiling the soup. There's no reason that FR can't be like Star Wars. SW has so many different products (novels, animated series, video games, etc.) that take place in so many different eras, that I guarantee you there is something nearly every sci fi or fantasy fan likes. Most SW fans don't like everything in the SW universe, but that's not the point. Expanding the product gives millions of people at least something to enjoy, and they can always ignore the stuff they don't enjoy.
I want all of FR's current and past authors writing for the setting: Elaine, RAS, Ed, ESDB, Byers, Denning, Smedman, Niles, Athans, etc. They all have a different take on the Realms. They all prefer writing in different corners of the Realms. That's what we need! Even if they write in the same places, I love getting different takes on the area. We've had multiple authors use popular places like Waterdeep, Sembia, Cormyr, Thay, Neverwinter, and Rashemen. More material can't possibly be a bad thing. |
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Lilianviaten
Senior Scribe
489 Posts |
Posted - 20 Aug 2014 : 02:29:49
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quote:
Originally posted by Eltheron
Editing is an essential process in writing anything. It's the difference between having a huge patchwork quilt of mediocrity (with a few diamonds buried within) versus having a tight, fully integrated rich tapestry (covered with diamonds).
They've done the volume approach. I'm done with kitchen sinks full of mismatched dishes.
For the future, I want amazing quality - not just volume. I want their editors to really discriminate, concentrate on pure Realms goodness, and work from a fairly well-unified vision.
I totally agree that there should be a unified vision of where they are taking the Realms. For example, if the Zhents are supposed to be resurgent in 5e, we can't have one author writing them as chumps while another writes them as Faerun's most dangerous crime syndicate.
However, I disagree with the novels. FR has a high quality of authors, and there were a lot of excellent 4e books. Surely we can agree on that. |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 20 Aug 2014 : 02:45:31
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quote:
Originally posted by Lilianviaten
I disagree about too many chefs spoiling the soup. There's no reason that FR can't be like Star Wars. SW has so many different products (novels, animated series, video games, etc.) that take place in so many different eras, that I guarantee you there is something nearly every sci fi or fantasy fan likes. Most SW fans don't like everything in the SW universe, but that's not the point. Expanding the product gives millions of people at least something to enjoy, and they can always ignore the stuff they don't enjoy.
I want all of FR's current and past authors writing for the setting: Elaine, RAS, Ed, ESDB, Byers, Denning, Smedman, Niles, Athans, etc. They all have a different take on the Realms. They all prefer writing in different corners of the Realms. That's what we need! Even if they write in the same places, I love getting different takes on the area. We've had multiple authors use popular places like Waterdeep, Sembia, Cormyr, Thay, Neverwinter, and Rashemen. More material can't possibly be a bad thing.
Boba Fett and the Sarlacc.
The golden blob of the Crystal Star.
Skippy the Droid.
The Jedi Prince series.
The financial loan story in "The Third Law".
Tusken Raiders named Hoar.
Evil clone names. Luuke.
The SW Holiday Special.
The Clone Wars movie.
The unbeatable Sun Crusher.
Beldorion of the Ruby Eyes - a Jedi Hutt that goes Darkside.
The Ewok Adventure and the Caravan of Courage.
Mount Sorrow, the clinically depressed mountain whose tears cure all.
Yeah. Could've used a tiny bit of editing, I think.
quote:
and there were a lot of excellent 4e books. Surely we can agree on that.
I liked some, not all.
Erin Evans' series is top-notch. Same with Paul Kemp.
I liked some of the Greenwood novels during 4E, but not all.
Lisa Smedman's Gilded Rune was very good.
Salvatore is usually good.
Four of the six Sundering novels were good.
Like I said before, it's personal taste and preference. YMMV, of course.
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
Edited by - Eltheron on 20 Aug 2014 03:06:09 |
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Eilserus
Master of Realmslore
USA
1446 Posts |
Posted - 20 Aug 2014 : 03:49:55
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| Maybe Wizards will let Ed write Volo's Guides for everywhere for a decade or two like he mentioned in that seminar. I'd take those over a campaign setting, provided we had enough of them to cover Faerun decently. |
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Eilserus
Master of Realmslore
USA
1446 Posts |
Posted - 20 Aug 2014 : 04:03:30
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| Posted response in wrong thread. My bad. |
Edited by - Eilserus on 20 Aug 2014 04:05:01 |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 20 Aug 2014 : 05:42:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Eilserus
Maybe Wizards will let Ed write Volo's Guides for everywhere for a decade or two like he mentioned in that seminar. I'd take those over a campaign setting, provided we had enough of them to cover Faerun decently.
I don't think their current strategy/plan would allow for this.
But honestly, if this did happen? I would pre-order every single one of them and buy them sight-unseen. I'm completely serious. They wouldn't even have to bring back Volo. It could be one of Volo's descendants, just written in that style.
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
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GENCON Tyranny of Dragons Seminar
