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Falcon
Acolyte
Sweden
8 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Feb 2026 : 14:17:08
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Hi all!
A question, do you use other systems than D&D to play in Faerun?
I’m from Sweden and our standard fantasy rpg was and still are Dragonbane rpg, loosely based on Chaosiums brp but with a D20 instead… No levels and skill based.
I think Dragonbane would be a good fit for a 1 editions sword and sorcery inspired game with a more gritty flavour. In and around Silverymoon with source material from the savage frontier as a base. The game would be my version of the realms but also with the internal logic of another game system.
5 edition D&D are more a high fantasy game which is all good but not my cup of tea.
The feeling in a setting is a combination of lore, game system and players and I’m kind of curious what the change of game system would do for the feeling of the world.
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
8079 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2026 : 14:30:16
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D&D game edition and FR lore edition have always been married.
As in, game designers always create rules for the lore and authors always create lore with the rules.
If you keep buying what WotC keeps selling - if you think official canon is valuable (you dare not disagree with it) - then pairing the rules and the lore that were written for each other is important.
If you don't particularly care about buying more books - if you don't particularly care about adhering to canon - then pairing different rules and different lore is fine. After all, you're already ignoring the rules so why worry about breaking any rules which say you can't break any rules?
Many scribes in the keep combine their preferred game/rules edition with their preferred setting/lore edition. Even when the game/rules or the setting/lore come from entirely different systems and sources. This DIY approach is the best of both worlds.
This DIY approach is also the worst of both worlds.
The more different the two things are, the more work is needed and the more this-or-that decisions are needed to make them work well together. Some people are happy to do that work. Many people learn the hard way that this workload is never finished, it keeps growing with each new addition to the rules and the lore that WotC publishes, they always offer some new crumbs which entice even when everything else they offer (as an all-or-nothing package) is sometimes rather disappointing and distasteful. It's difficult to completely divorce yourself from WotC's intended marriage because you can walk away from their ideas but sooner or later players are going to walk those ideas right back to you. If you love your game and your setting then endless "updates" to it do not feel like a chore - but they do take up your time. |
[/Ayrik] |
Edited by - Ayrik on 19 Feb 2026 14:39:47 |
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Falcon
Acolyte
Sweden
8 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2026 : 15:39:54
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Good points Ayrik!!
Well, my thought was to start with first edition forgotten realms. The grey box and the expansions and stop there. Everything after, lore -wise, would be purely optional. I would like to chart my own way after that. The Realms as a canvas and the players painting the direction of the realms after that. Im not knocking WOTC, but I l prefer the old more gritty realms in the year of 1358... :)
I do agree that conversion work never ends once you go down that path.
I think it is important to make a setting, your own, if that makes sense. Forgotten realms lore exists partly on its own, outside of just the hard game rules and WOTC because of the many sources of (rpg, board games, books, movies, computer games, TSR and most importantly Ed himself). |
Edited by - Falcon on 19 Feb 2026 15:40:54 |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6455 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2026 : 16:21:45
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If you dont like 5e, i doubt you will like any edition of D&D, they are all fairly similar in tone and feel, with only 4e really being a significant structural departure from previous editions.
I personally grew to dislike D&D more and more over time, the maths just doesnt work once you get past the sweet spot of level 3-8, especially if you have optimal and suboptimal characters in the same party.
Adapting other systems to a setting does come with significant challenges depending upon how the system works. In the end i made my own classless, levelless system where NPCs can be detailed with a single statistic to make it easy to adapt to any setting or genre.
If you dislike D&D, there really is no point sticking with the system, its problems (they are many and significant) because they will irk you more and more. Trial and error may be your only option, just remember that classes, alignment, levels, etc are just guidelines, you dont have to make like for like, you just have to keep to the tone of the setting (Elminster is a super powerful magic user, Azoun a powerful warrior, etc). |
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Falcon
Acolyte
Sweden
8 Posts |
Posted - 19 Feb 2026 : 16:55:48
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quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
If you dont like 5e, i doubt you will like any edition of D&D, they are all fairly similar in tone and feel, with only 4e really being a significant structural departure from previous editions.
I personally grew to dislike D&D more and more over time, the maths just doesnt work once you get past the sweet spot of level 3-8, especially if you have optimal and suboptimal characters in the same party.
Adapting other systems to a setting does come with significant challenges depending upon how the system works. In the end i made my own classless, levelless system where NPCs can be detailed with a single statistic to make it easy to adapt to any setting or genre.
If you dislike D&D, there really is no point sticking with the system, its problems (they are many and significant) because they will irk you more and more. Trial and error may be your only option, just remember that classes, alignment, levels, etc are just guidelines, you dont have to make like for like, you just have to keep to the tone of the setting (Elminster is a super powerful magic user, Azoun a powerful warrior, etc).
I do not really dislike D&D 5 edition, it is just a bit too fiddly for my taste, especially when you get to higher levels. Perhaps a bit too much power creep also.
I feel the first edition Forgotten realms does not gel with the more high fantasy D&D of later iterations, if I played a level based system I would probably pick Shadowdark rpg, 1 to 10 level, unified mechanics fast, simple and old school flavor.
I like to convert things, I fear that I don't have the patience to develop a completely new game like you, impressive!!  |
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Other rpg systems for Forgotten Realms
