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Brian R. James
Forgotten Realms Game Designer
USA
1098 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Nov 2007 : 00:00:45
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| Kentinal is absolutely correct. I didn't hear about 4E until Gen Con, right along with the rest of you. At the Secrets of the Realms seminar, Rich Baker mentioned that an event called the Spellplague was coming in the Year of Blue Fire and that quite a few changes were in store for the Realms. An exact date wasn't given and I didn't have it memorized so I had to wait until I got back to the hotel to look it up. It was then that I learned that the Year of Blue Fire was 1385 DR. Rich never explicitly said the new FRCG was going to be set in that year. That was an assumption on my part, which now may be wrong. |
Brian R. James - Freelance Game Designer
Follow me on Twitter @brianrjames |
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MerrikCale
Senior Scribe
USA
947 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2007 : 01:42:27
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quote:
Originally posted by Brian R. James
Kentinal is absolutely correct. I didn't hear about 4E until Gen Con, right along with the rest of you. At the Secrets of the Realms seminar, Rich Baker mentioned that an event called the Spellplague was coming in the Year of Blue Fire and that quite a few changes were in store for the Realms. An exact date wasn't given and I didn't have it memorized so I had to wait until I got back to the hotel to look it up. It was then that I learned that the Year of Blue Fire was 1385 DR. Rich never explicitly said the new FRCG was going to be set in that year. That was an assumption on my part, which now may be wrong.
Thank You. I was praying (I know its wishful thinking) that you might have had some inside info |
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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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2007 : 02:05:52
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quote:
Originally posted by Brian R. James
Well, now that I've read The Orc King I don't know what to believe. It seems odd that Bob Salvatore would set the prologue of his novel 100 years in the future just for the fun of it.
Yeah, my thoughts run along the same lines as your own. |
"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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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2007 : 06:30:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
quote:
Originally posted by Brian R. James
Well, now that I've read The Orc King I don't know what to believe. It seems odd that Bob Salvatore would set the prologue of his novel 100 years in the future just for the fun of it.
Yeah, my thoughts run along the same lines as your own.
Unless Drizzt wakes up and find that its all a bad dream. And he is really his own twin brother  . Without having read the book (and not planning to), there might be events in the series that can explain this being a foreshadowing of a possible future to come. And Salvatore has always been a bit on the sideline when it comes to the timeline, so we will have to see. But with the major changes WotC are planning a hundred year jump is the most logical, to me at least. |
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Sammael
Acolyte
27 Posts |
Posted - 05 Dec 2007 : 21:05:50
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Here's a brief transcript from Chris Perkins' latest interview (podcast):
All settings will change to accommodate new rules
Major changes to magic - Mystra, Weave
Setting must be more accessible to beginners (too much baggage)
Scope of changes - dramatic (e.g. rebuilding / re-concepting gods and cosmology)
Year - to be announced later (New Year)
Ed is involved in every stage, tackling a lot of the new stuff, new locations, novels set in the new timeline
Broad themes kept - setting with a million stories to tell (all stories equally important), lots of villains, plots, and heroes, high magic setting (many different sorts of magic), feeling of age and legacy (ancient ruins, spells, monsters)
Maztica, Al-Qadim, Kara-Tur - not going to be explored in detail, but enough detail to get you started anywhere on the planet - beyond Faerun (Ed working on this)
High-level NPCs - Mystra's Chosen not around anymore, PCs are the ones accomplishing stuff - focus on PCs in heroic, paragon, epic stories; high-level NPCs who can steal PCs' thunder are being "nuked" and "eliminated" (he specifically mentions the Symbul)
Threats of all levels (1-30) will be present, more new bad-guys, high-level organizations
Rich is not to blame for "New Realms" - decision made at the CORPORATE level (WotC, not Hasbro) - the team proposed the changes, not the suits
The Weave - gone, unraveled, there is something new in its place (which is completely new), he thinks that some people may not like it at first, but "it's good for the game"
WotC people don't have any internal FR campaigns going now (haven't had for a year), instead they plunder FR for their home campaigns
Many people (WotC employees included) won't run FR games because they are afraid they don't have enough knowledge of the setting to achieve a "true FR feel" - they tried to deal with this problem
Other designers working on 4e Realms now: Eric Boyd, Brian James, Rich Baker, Chris Sims, Bruce Cordell, Rob Heinsoo & Logan Bonner (mechanics - new races, new powers)
Team sat down with Phil Athans to determine the schedule for revealing the changes (year, Spellplague, etc) - bulk of info will be revealed in GamerZero and D&D Insider
Another implication that "they know the best time to reveal info, trust them" (they openly admit they want to hype the game) |
Edited by - Sammael on 05 Dec 2007 21:16:30 |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 05 Dec 2007 : 21:20:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Sammael
High-level NPCs - Mystra's Chosen not around anymore, PCs are the ones accomplishing stuff - focus on PCs in heroic, paragon, epic stories; high-level NPCs who can steal PCs' thunder are being "nuked" and "eliminated" (he specifically mentions the Symbul)
Just what I was hoping to hear. |
"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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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 05 Dec 2007 : 21:26:54
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quote:
Originally posted by Sammael
Here's a brief transcript from Chris Perkins' latest interview (podcast):
(snip)
Another implication that "they know the best time to reveal info, trust them" (they openly admit they want to hype the game)
"Trust me." Ain't that what every grifter tells his mark? 
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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freyar
Learned Scribe
Canada
220 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2007 : 02:14:11
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| So, some people don't realize they don't have to use every detail, so nobody gets them? I feel like this is a bad case of sour grapes. |
My DnD Links and Creations |
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Mkhaiwati
Learned Scribe
USA
252 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2007 : 05:33:45
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quote:
Originally posted by Sammael
WotC people don't have any internal FR campaigns going now (haven't had for a year), instead they plunder FR for their home campaigns
Many people (WotC employees included) won't run FR games because they are afraid they don't have enough knowledge of the setting to achieve a "true FR feel" - they tried to deal with this problem
sadly, what does this say about WotC?
First, no one runs a game like anyone else. Is there really a "true FR feel" except if Ed runs it? My game is not like Kuje's, or KnighterrantJR's, or Rino's. Every GM stresses certain ideas and have different areas of roleplaying that they prefer more than others.
Second, if they don't feel like they can run FR, they will alter FR so they can?
Is that what I am reading out of this or am I seeing something from nothing? |
"Behold the work of the old... let your heritage not be lost but bequeath it as a memory, treasure and blessing... Gather the lost and the hidden and preserve it for thy children."
"not nale. not-nale. thog help nail not-nale, not nale. and thog knot not-nale while nale nail not-nale. nale, not not-nale, now nail not-nale by leaving not-nale, not nale, in jail." OotS #367 |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4702 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2007 : 06:09:35
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I have no idea where they are coming from though we are told high level NPCs are no longer going to be around to save the day/party.
This clearly should lead to more PC deaths and TPK. Unless the DM learns not to send the PCs against foes they can not beat without help. The only valid reason a DM should ever use an NPC to save the day is if the party had bad luck with the dice, any M that planed a campaign where a powerful NPC was the only way to sutvive should stop DMing. Alas it sounds like some of the design team have been looking at people that should not have DMed at all in trying to fix a problem. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Chosen of Moradin
Master of Realmslore
Brazil
1120 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2007 : 15:21:41
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"WotC people don't have any internal FR campaigns going now (haven't had for a year), instead they plunder FR for their home campaigns"
Now, this explains too much: of course that they donīt understand really the Realms. They donīt play in the Realms!  |
Dwarf, DM, husband, and proud of this! :P
twitter: @yuripeixoto
Facebook: yuri.peixoto |
Edited by - Chosen of Moradin on 06 Dec 2007 15:23:07 |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2007 : 21:35:07
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quote:
Originally posted by Chosen of Moradin
"WotC people don't have any internal FR campaigns going now (haven't had for a year), instead they plunder FR for their home campaigns"
Now, this explains too much: of course that they donīt understand really the Realms. They donīt play in the Realms!
Thank you for writing what I was thinking! They are already setting themselves up to shove 4.5.$$$ down people's throats -- FR 4.0 won't work because it wasn't playtested con brio, then they'll sell a "new, improved" version, and blame the people who wrote 4.0. Bah! After buying some of the tripe they've published in the last two years, I'm becoming less and less inclined to buy anything Wizards publishes in the future.
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Hawkins
Great Reader
USA
2131 Posts |
Posted - 07 Dec 2007 : 18:51:21
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| I think that the only good thing that came out of the GZ interview with Chris Perkins is that Chris mentioned that Ed might be detailing some of the other continents in the 4e FRCG. *exasperated sigh* I wish they would at least release the schedule as to on what date we will learn what bit of factual info. I think the funniest part of the 4e Realms, is that I was going to buy the 4e Realms products even though I was not going to buy the 4e Core; but, now I am in a state of emotional flux with what they have done and am just trying to put my faith in Ed to fix it with his 50,000 words that he will be adding to the FRCG. My plans for buying the 4e FRCG has gone from blindly buying it to planning on reading it in Borders and then considering whether or not it is worth it. |
Errant d20 Designer - My Blog (last updated January 06, 2016)
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back. --Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
"Mmm, not the darkness," Myrin murmured. "Don't cast it there." --Erik Scott de Bie, Shadowbane
* My character sheets (PFRPG, 3.5, and AE versions; not viewable in Internet Explorer)
* Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document (PFRPG OGL Rules)
* The Hypertext d20 SRD (3.5 OGL Rules)
* 3.5 D&D Archives
My game design work:
* Heroes of the Jade Oath (PFRPG, conversion; Rite Publishing)
* Compendium Arcanum Volume 1: Cantrips & Orisons (PFRPG, designer; d20pfsrd.com Publishing)
* Compendium Arcanum Volume 2: 1st-Level Spells (PFRPG, designer; d20pfsrd.com Publishing)
* Martial Arts Guidebook (forthcoming) (PFRPG, designer; Rite Publishing)
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Edited by - Hawkins on 07 Dec 2007 18:56:44 |
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Mace Hammerhand
Great Reader
Germany
2296 Posts |
Posted - 07 Dec 2007 : 20:26:04
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I have all the FR campaign settings I ever need... 1st edition, 2nd edition revised, 3rd edition (I still would like to see the original 2nd edition boxed set in my collection)
as for the changes... *shrug* it's been my world since the moment I decided to run campaigns there, I use what I like and dismiss the rest... for the most part I've liked what came before... the final couple of entries in the GHotR |
Mace's not so gentle gamer's journal My rants were harmless compared to this, beware! |
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Dart Ambermoon
Learned Scribe
Germany
253 Posts |
Posted - 07 Dec 2007 : 22:33:02
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| I completely agree with Mace on this...right up to the point concerning the original 2E boxed set *sigh*. |
~ In Finder I trust, for danger I lust ~ |
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Mkhaiwati
Learned Scribe
USA
252 Posts |
Posted - 08 Dec 2007 : 02:53:47
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quote:
Originally posted by Chosen of Moradin
"WotC people don't have any internal FR campaigns going now (haven't had for a year), instead they plunder FR for their home campaigns"
Now, this explains too much: of course that they donīt understand really the Realms. They donīt play in the Realms!
That was my third (next) point.
I will follow it up with #4: they plunder FR for their own worlds, what is to say some of it doesn't go the other direction? How much "homebrew" ideas come into FR, simply because they have no reference for what is FR? |
"Behold the work of the old... let your heritage not be lost but bequeath it as a memory, treasure and blessing... Gather the lost and the hidden and preserve it for thy children."
"not nale. not-nale. thog help nail not-nale, not nale. and thog knot not-nale while nale nail not-nale. nale, not not-nale, now nail not-nale by leaving not-nale, not nale, in jail." OotS #367 |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 09 Dec 2007 : 04:27:04
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quote:
Originally posted by Mkhaiwati
I will follow it up with #4: they plunder FR for their own worlds, what is to say some of it doesn't go the other direction? How much "homebrew" ideas come into FR, simply because they have no reference for what is FR?
Good question... |
"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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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 10 Dec 2007 : 22:49:45
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
quote:
Originally posted by Mkhaiwati
I will follow it up with #4: they plunder FR for their own worlds, what is to say some of it doesn't go the other direction? How much "homebrew" ideas come into FR, simply because they have no reference for what is FR?
Good question...
Last night I tried to make sense of Magic of Incarnum,which contains suggestions for placing it in various settings, and which Eytan has tried to link to the Realms, but I couldn't help thinking that the efforts to put it in established settings were less heroic than desperate.
I myself tried my hand at game design a while back (I have even college credit in it!), and I found that attempting to mix different magic techniques within a setting led to great disorder and and too great a reliance on reference materials (i.e. rule books) than on actual playing. I'm afraid that attempts to shove different magic systems onto the Realms will result in a comparable muddle.
Mind you, I think that magic systems in Tome of Magic (3E) are cool, but what happens when players are using three or four different types of magic (and perhaps psionics)? |
I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Hawkins
Great Reader
USA
2131 Posts |
Posted - 11 Dec 2007 : 18:08:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen
Last night I tried to make sense of Magic of Incarnum,which contains suggestions for placing it in various settings, and which Eytan has tried to link to the Realms, but I couldn't help thinking that the efforts to put it in established settings were less heroic than desperate.
I myself tried my hand at game design a while back (I have even college credit in it!), and I found that attempting to mix different magic techniques within a setting led to great disorder and and too great a reliance on reference materials (i.e. rule books) than on actual playing. I'm afraid that attempts to shove different magic systems onto the Realms will result in a comparable muddle.
Mind you, I think that magic systems in Tome of Magic (3E) are cool, but what happens when players are using three or four different types of magic (and perhaps psionics)?
I have had the opposite experience. My games (both inside and outside the Realms) have not been the difficult to manage with multiple magic systems. I probably helps that I read most of my D&D books cover to cover though (I am not trying to imply that you don't Jamallo). Also, the player has to have had at least read the parts of the book pertaining to and understand the specific magic system before I will allow them to use it with a character. That way I am only helping them with minor points instead of every freaking step of the way. |
Errant d20 Designer - My Blog (last updated January 06, 2016)
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back. --Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
"Mmm, not the darkness," Myrin murmured. "Don't cast it there." --Erik Scott de Bie, Shadowbane
* My character sheets (PFRPG, 3.5, and AE versions; not viewable in Internet Explorer)
* Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document (PFRPG OGL Rules)
* The Hypertext d20 SRD (3.5 OGL Rules)
* 3.5 D&D Archives
My game design work:
* Heroes of the Jade Oath (PFRPG, conversion; Rite Publishing)
* Compendium Arcanum Volume 1: Cantrips & Orisons (PFRPG, designer; d20pfsrd.com Publishing)
* Compendium Arcanum Volume 2: 1st-Level Spells (PFRPG, designer; d20pfsrd.com Publishing)
* Martial Arts Guidebook (forthcoming) (PFRPG, designer; Rite Publishing)
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Purple Dragon Knight
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1796 Posts |
Posted - 11 Dec 2007 : 19:41:47
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| Is Incarnum within the pages of the Tome of Magic? (alongside Shadow Magic and Pact Magic?) I really don't recall anything about it... |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31799 Posts |
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Purple Dragon Knight
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1796 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2007 : 03:42:28
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Hmm... 'tis be the only 3.5 tome I do not own then...  |
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Arcanum
Acolyte
8 Posts |
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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2007 : 16:08:21
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quote:
Originally posted by Arcanum
The cover of FRCG appeared.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=products/dndacc/218287200
Again, our famous drow salesman. 
Of course!
Doesn't that sorta kinda run contrary to the FR design team's goal of making the setting "all about the PCs and their deeds" rather than NPCs? |
"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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Skeptic
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1273 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2007 : 16:59:03
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Of course!
Doesn't that sorta kinda run contrary to the FR design team's goal of making the setting "all about the PCs and their deeds" rather than NPCs?
Drizzt was never hated for overshadowing the PCs. As a fighter is a pretty isolated place, he's far from the Chosens/other high-level magic user. (Even if I don't have a big problem with the Chosens myself)
Don't forget also that he's less hated than his too many clones created by "less experimented" players.
The art is pretty good too.
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Edited by - Skeptic on 12 Dec 2007 16:59:29 |
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Chosen of Moradin
Master of Realmslore
Brazil
1120 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2007 : 17:05:52
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I was thinking exactly the same.
Well, maybe the drow have an encounter with a vampire, and lost some levels (oh, no! In 4E, undead donīt make more this type of damage!)... |
Dwarf, DM, husband, and proud of this! :P
twitter: @yuripeixoto
Facebook: yuri.peixoto |
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Skeptic
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1273 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2007 : 17:08:05
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And I don't expect the first page to be his complete stats like they did for El in the FRCS. |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2007 : 19:23:59
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quote:
Originally posted by Skeptic
Drizzt was never hated for overshadowing the PCs.
Not true.
quote:
As a fighter is a pretty isolated place, he's far from the Chosens/other high-level magic user. (Even if I don't have a big problem with the Chosens myself)
That may be true, but the designers themselves have admitted that perception means more than truth when it comes to high-level NPCs. I've seen Drizzt called "the most powerful warrior in the Realms" countless times. Also, my point still stands--putting a famous NPC on the cover (and that is ALL that is on the cover) doesn't leave the impression that the contents within the book are "PC-centered". |
"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) |
Edited by - Rinonalyrna Fathomlin on 12 Dec 2007 19:25:58 |
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Skeptic
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1273 Posts |
Posted - 12 Dec 2007 : 19:43:14
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Okay,
It's true that Drizzt is overshadowing the PCs in the "he's the most powerful warrior in the Realms" way.
However, Drizzt is not used much in the "Why does X doesn't pop in place Y to save the day before the PCs even begins the work".
Except maybe if Y is the "Silver marches".
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The New FRCS
