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Beirnadri Magranth
Senior Scribe
USA
720 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Nov 2006 : 16:42:26
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Poll Question:
Hey all!
I am trying to start an adventure that is designed to get players new to forgotten realms. We have to put a lot of realms flavor into we decided. The problem is we don't really know for sure what it is about the realms that makes it our favorite. A similar thread asked why you love the realms. The consensus was because it is so developed and detailed. But beyond that... what do you think really makes the realms what it is???
I'm keeping this as a poll so later we have that option if we get enough points to vote on.
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| so ignore this |
 [0%] |
0 votes |
| and this... i just have to fill these two answers before I''''m allowed to post |
[0%] |
0 votes |
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Poll Status:
Locked »» |
Total Votes: 0 counted »» |
Last Vote:
never |
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"You came here to be a martyr in a great big bang of glory... instead you will die with a whimper."
::moussaoui tries to interrupt::
"You will never get a chance to speak again and that's an appropriate ending."
-Judge Brinkema |
Edited by - Beirnadri Magranth on 10 Nov 2006 19:42:43
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Beirnadri Magranth
Senior Scribe
USA
720 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2006 : 16:46:21
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| Personally, the realms is defined by portals. In no other campaign setting are magical gateways so extensively used as this. Also the grey area of alignment. The evil characters have good tendencies and the good characters will consort with enemies in order to get the job done. Take Khelben for example as well as Semmemmon. |
"You came here to be a martyr in a great big bang of glory... instead you will die with a whimper."
::moussaoui tries to interrupt::
"You will never get a chance to speak again and that's an appropriate ending."
-Judge Brinkema |
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WalkerNinja
Senior Scribe
USA
575 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2006 : 16:56:48
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For me, portals as always been kind of a back-drop. Maybe its because my players never took an interest in them.
Realms flavor tastes like... the little stories. Yes, the FR is huge, but the stories that I remember are small scale and personal. You can see the setting as bigger, and you feel like a just a little part of it. We've never sat on thrones, but in our little stories, we feel like them.
A band of crusty retired adventurers swapping tales in an inn inspiring the youth by accident.
A farm-girl's first visit to Waterdeep, and the revelation of the magic within her.
An idealistic group of young folks struggling for survial in the Moonsea.
That's FR. |
*** A Forgotten Realms Addict since 1990 ***
Treasures of the Past, a Second Edition Play-by-Post game for and by Candlekeep Sages--http://www.rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=52011 |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2006 : 17:01:10
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| In part, its that there is always something going on in the world. The world keeps moving, even if you aren't part of each story that is going on. You may be looking for a Zhentarim agent in an Inn, but there are Harpers, Moonstars, Thayans, etc. already in the Inn keeping an eye on the agent. You may not know they are all there, or any of them are, but once you know the setting, you know that power groups rarely operate in a vacuum. |
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MerrikCale
Senior Scribe
USA
947 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2006 : 18:29:20
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| Magic. Faerun is all about magic |
When hinges creak in doorless chambers and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls, whenever candlelights flicker where the air is deathly still, that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight. |
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Njord
Acolyte
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2006 : 20:23:55
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| I love the cultures and languages. Some mirror ours and some are totally different. You get the sense that it is a world that has developed over time and not just, "these things are here because they are here." |
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Dhomal
Senior Scribe
USA
565 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2006 : 20:29:24
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Hello-
I have to agree with KEJR on this one. :) *again, it seems we have similar outlooks on much that is Realmsian!*
The fact, that to me at least - the Realms is ALIVE! NOt only do power groups not act in a vacuum - but People dont. Farmers tend their crops - and take the fruits of their labor to the town/city to sell. All while the PCs are battling foes that threaten the farmer - either with or without the farmer's knowledge. The PCs make choices - and by their choices - change how the future will evolve. Some 'quests' or 'adventures' may not be picked up by the PCs. Does someone else 'do' them - or does the threat or issue compound itself and get bigger...
The Realms is - a Living, Breathing entity that grows and changes with time. *That* is what is the signature flavor of thae Realms for me. Or perhaps its Vanilla. I Like vanilla. :) (*Smell that aroma?*)
Dhomal |
I am collecting the D&D Minis. I would be more than willing to trade with people. You can send me a PM here with your email listed - and I can send you my minis list. Thanks!
Successfully traded with Xysma! |
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Romaal
Acolyte
Germany
22 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2006 : 21:02:13
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| Like Merrik already said, the magic is the greatest thing the Realms got. There's no other campaign world with such a massive amount of magical items, monsters and dungeons. And I likes this a lot, because it doesn't lack of fluff. |
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Gellion
Learned Scribe
140 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2006 : 03:36:53
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The Realms is to me about adventure. Be it political intrigue or delving ancient ruins. The Forgotten Realms are all about exploring new places and finding ancient magic under every stone. |
"Paladine, you see the evil that surrounds me! You have been witness to the calamities that have been the scourge of Krynn... You must see now that this doctrine of balance will not work! I can sweep evil from this land. Destroy the ogre races. Bring the wayward humans into line! Find new homelands far away for the dwarves and the kender and the gnomes, those races not of your creation... I demand that you give me, too, the power to drive away the shadows of evil that darken the land!"- THE REIGN OF ISTAR, Tales IV |
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Sanishiver
Senior Scribe
USA
476 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2006 : 07:49:46
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Right now in my Realms Campaign it's about the clash of nations and city states and the hard choices (characters) have to make while they're caught up in the events swirling around them.
I think Realmslore is best brought about in player's minds when they are put in the (fun) position of having to choose what's best in a situation. Such as do they aid surface drow who are fleeing just-freed from Myth Drannor devils? And if they do, are they willing to vouch/stand along side the drow if said drow seek shelter in places like Shadowdale?
By first having a campaign in Shadowdale (for instance) and having the players interact/battle reclusive surface drown, a DM can set up a status quo in the players minds, then turn that status quo on its head and put the choice of what to do in the players hands.
My take, at any rate. |
09/20/2008: Tiger Army at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz. You wouldn’t believe how many females rode it out in the pit. Santa Cruz women are all of them beautiful. Now I know to add tough to that description.
6/27/2008: WALL-E is about the best damn movie Pixar has ever made. It had my heart racing and had me rooting for the good guy.
9/9/2006: Dave Mathews Band was off the hook at the Shoreline Amphitheater.
Never, ever read the game books too literally, or make such assumptions that what is omitted cannot be. Bad DM form, that.
And no matter how compelling a picture string theory paints, if it does not accurately describe our universe, it will be no more relevant than an elaborate game of Dungeons and Dragons. --paragraph 1, chapter 9, The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene |
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Delzounblood
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
578 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2006 : 13:33:38
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I agree with a lot of others on this scroll.
Portals
Magic
But I would like to add
DRAGONS after all this is a Dungeons & Dragons game! BUT a low level adventure is not ideal for walking into a dragons lair, But surely we could bring something Draconic into this, Dragon magic or magic items.
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I'm Back! |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36798 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2006 : 16:17:30
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| While the magic is important, I think the most important aspect of Realms flavor is the fact that at any given time, there's 8000 different stories and plots going on, and that many of them are interconnected. Also, as Steven Schend once stated, everything and everyone has a backstory. |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2006 : 21:11:04
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
While the magic is important, I think the most important aspect of Realms flavor is the fact that at any given time, there's 8000 different stories and plots going on, and that many of them are interconnected. Also, as Steven Schend once stated, everything and everyone has a backstory.
Basically Wooly said what I was trying to in a manner that makes a lot more sense . . . |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2006 : 21:18:03
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The immediate texture of the Realms is wonderfully summarized in the introductory piece now heading The Best of the Realms, Book II: The Stories of Ed Greenwood.
To make that play, you have to DM in a particular way, to support the experience of something real beyond each hill if you were to go there. Players and DM have to be fairly free of inhibitions in playing characters and making stuff up.
Underneath that, what I find most important is the web of love, friendship, memory, history and cause. |
Edited by - Faraer on 11 Nov 2006 21:18:34 |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2006 : 23:41:22
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| A lot of great answers here. I am definitely a person who feels that the smaller-scale, personal stories in the Realms are often the best. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Realms Flavor... your opinion plz!
