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Firhyanda
Learned Scribe
USA
108 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Jan 2006 : 16:44:34
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The brilliant bits of the realms lore are slowly dieing off or never quite reached there potential and I was wondering if anyone else had noticed this. For me the realms evoke a sense of wonder like no other setting for an RPG ever has. This year with the release of the spell compendium WOTC has striped the spell descriptions of the names of great mages and any reference to the setting from which they came. Before they did that they had removed the regional descriptor from spells in the realms.
For me these Brilliant little bits of lore add a great deal to the setting the idea that this particular spell was produced by a mage from that particular culture was wonderful. And it did not bother me that some spells came from another world if Mordenkainaen did not get to the realms perhaps some how his spells did. I wonder if the designers realize how much they loose when they kill off these brilliant little bits of lore.
Magic of Faerun has a wonderful section on gem magic which tells how each specific gem enhances cretin spells and or wands just slightly, and they have an entire section on magic book construction I personally would hate to see these brilliant little bits of lore go the way of regional spell descriptors in future products. As a realms fan Magic Incarnum was interesting to me in terms of alternate mechanic but not so interesting that I would buy it. If on the other hand WOTC were to produce a spell compendium of the realms with all the 2e and 3e spells updated for 3.5 I would buy two copy’s one for me and one for the wife. I absolutely loved the weapons of legacy book from WOTC but I was left thinking what if you produced one that had the added benefit of realms lore and an archive of magic items that have been produced just for Faerun.
In my opinion the magic items produced for farune seem to be just a little more interesting then for some other settings. In the back of Waterdeep city of splendors there is a +1 ring of protection that confers the fortification ability on its user. I think in my Farune that particular ring is only produced by shield Dwarves and the ring is always set with Amaratha. I also think that the best lore comes hand in hand with a game mechanic. So there is my two cents worth for what is worth and here is what I would like to see designed for Faerun.
1) The complete guide to forgotten realms spells all the spells from all additions that were written for Faerun updated to 3.5 with regional descriptors.
2) Magic items of legacy Faerun you could even tie a 30pg module to each weapon and or magic item do like 20 to 40 of them.
3) An age of worms style campaign arch written strictly for the realms in hard cover
They should do five of these by region each made up of 10 to 15 adventures 20 to 30pgs long with good maps.
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Mystery_Man
Senior Scribe
USA
455 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2006 : 17:37:36
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quote:
Originally posted by Firhyanda
The brilliant bits of the realms lore are slowly dieing off or never quite reached there potential and I was wondering if anyone else had noticed this. For me the realms evoke a sense of wonder like no other setting for an RPG ever has. This year with the release of the spell compendium WOTC has striped the spell descriptions of the names of great mages and any reference to the setting from which they came. Before they did that they had removed the regional descriptor from spells in the realms.
Do you have the Spell Compendium? |
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Snotlord
Senior Scribe
Norway
476 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2006 : 17:48:03
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Sounds like you need a break. Play something else for a year or two. Then pick up the books that brought you to the realms in the first place.
Worked for me.  |
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Firhyanda
Learned Scribe
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2006 : 18:22:07
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Greetings
Mystery Man I do indeed own the spell compendium and it is a great convenience to have all of the spells in one place and I think the descriptions of the spells effects are brilliant. I would however have liked to see the spells broken down into there original settings and I miss the regional descriptors from past rules sets. For the realms in particular I think the spells add a great deal to the flavor of the setting. Which is of course my point,I have been running the Realms a great deal of late and have found a new enthusiasm for the lore in the setting. I think that for the setting to thrive the devile is in the details. |
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Mystery_Man
Senior Scribe
USA
455 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2006 : 18:44:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Firhyanda
Greetings
Mystery Man I do indeed own the spell compendium and it is a great convenience to have all of the spells in one place and I think the descriptions of the spells effects are brilliant. I would however have liked to see the spells broken down into there original settings and I miss the regional descriptors from past rules sets. For the realms in particular I think the spells add a great deal to the flavor of the setting. Which is of course my point,I have been running the Realms a great deal of late and have found a new enthusiasm for the lore in the setting. I think that for the setting to thrive the devile is in the details.
I think it's great that you have a renewed enthusiasm for the setting and you make some good points but...
The Spell Compendium is not a Forgotten Realms book. No FR logo, or other references to FR. Other specific setting references are left out as well.
We don't live in a vacuum and not everyone games in the Realms (absolutely shocking but true ). In order to make money they have to pander to the most general audience...everybody else.
Before any spell is read, before the first spell starting with the letter "a" you see there is a table with the names of the original spells and their renamed counterparts.
Now that being said, in another thread it is mentioned that the Races of the Dragon book is filled with Eberron references yet not a mention of the Realms. If this is indeed true I will not be buying it. |
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Mystery_Man
Senior Scribe
USA
455 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2006 : 19:00:47
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quote:
Originally posted by Snotlord
Sounds like you need a break. Play something else for a year or two. Then pick up the books that brought you to the realms in the first place.
Worked for me.
That is a valid point.
Sometime this summer I'll be looking forward to running some Wilderlands one-offs to recharge my FR batteries. |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11701 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2006 : 19:33:52
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| I understand where you're going. Rashemi magic is different than Thayan... which is different than Halruuan... which is different than Mulhorandi and Untheric... which is different than Nimbrali. Sure, they all use the same ruleset and theoretically could trade spells between each other, but what's popular in one area may be unheard of for the most part in others. Sure, some areas of the realms are more "melting-pot'ish"... for instance, anything developed in Waterdeep could be similarly developed in Cormyr, Zhentil Keep, or Tethyr. It is nice when they make a note of which culture produced this particular "flavor" of magic. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Arivia
Great Reader
Canada
2965 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jan 2006 : 02:44:48
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quote:
Originally posted by Mystery_Man
quote:
Originally posted by Snotlord
Sounds like you need a break. Play something else for a year or two. Then pick up the books that brought you to the realms in the first place.
Worked for me.
That is a valid point.
Sometime this summer I'll be looking forward to running some Wilderlands one-offs to recharge my FR batteries.
I know the few months I took off from gaming did wonders for me, at least. I would at least recommend switching to another game, or having someone else DM/GM for awhile, or something, just so that the normal GM/DM can get a bit of time off. |
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Brilliant bits.
