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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
635 Posts |
 Posted - 03 Jan 2023 : 08:32:32
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On herds on the Giant's Plain
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1609743908971610115
Jan 2, 2023
@RpgMatch
Hey there @TheEdVerse in this video analyzing the geography of the Sword Coast, there’s a callout for a large migratory herd that prevents trees from growing enabling the Giants Plain. Thoughts?
https://youtu.be/t2zZ2NSrGwU
@TheEdVerse
The largest Western Heartlands wild herds of rothé, deer, and boar all roam the Giant's Plain, and always have done (they're in my 1986 turnover Realms notes). To many Sword Coast dragons, the Plain is their "happy hunting ground" (they swoop and devour at will).
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
635 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jan 2023 : 09:35:26
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On magic before Mystra
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1610443986719707139
Jan 4, 2023
@Nebuchidnezzar
What was magic before Mystral? -40kDR, the Ostoria/Dragon wars, et al. Amman is also listed as a god of magic, creator, etc. Did the Weave exist in another form? Is there magic outside of the Weave, or pre-Mystral there was just not magic of any kind?
@TheEdVerse
Mystra IS the Weave, but there are many types of magic; metaphorically, the Weave is the Internet, but there are many other ways to reach people.
In Draconic, magic is "arcaniss," and that's what dragons called it before Mystral (and what "arcane" derives from). |
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sleyvas
Great Reader
USA
11425 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jan 2023 : 15:36:17
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quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
On magic before Mystra
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1610443986719707139
Jan 4, 2023
@Nebuchidnezzar
What was magic before Mystral? -40kDR, the Ostoria/Dragon wars, et al. Amman is also listed as a god of magic, creator, etc. Did the Weave exist in another form? Is there magic outside of the Weave, or pre-Mystral there was just not magic of any kind?
@TheEdVerse
Mystra IS the Weave, but there are many types of magic; metaphorically, the Weave is the Internet, but there are many other ways to reach people.
In Draconic, magic is "arcaniss," and that's what dragons called it before Mystral (and what "arcane" derives from).
I wonder just how many of us have compared the weave and how it functions to IT functions, as I know at one point I was writing up some concepts of how I pictured magic working, with the weave being admin'd by Mystra, but that she hands off certain kinds of magic to other deities who share the ability to modify that "kind" of magic (bardic, necromantic, elemental, etc....). Then any "changes" they want to make needs to be approved moving up the chain (to prevent say death gods making necromantic power too powerful). I was comparing the weave might be comparable to the internet, while other "weaves" might exist that might be comparable to an IPX network running novell protocols (i.e. it works fine, but has few "apps") OR some "weaves" might be comparable to dialup bulletin boards with a cludgy interface, but theoretical ability to do powerful things.... just with little finesse or ability to modify what they'll do. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Karthak
Acolyte
48 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jan 2023 : 00:31:43
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If I was going to use an IT analogy, the weave is a program that harnesses raw magic as its base code and all the 8 schools of magic are just individual menues, with the spells being menu items. So while a spellcaster could use raw code or a similar program to produce desired effects, it's a lot easier to use a program with thousands of years of user notes than mess around with trying to code everything from scratch or mess around with a similar program trying to get it to do what the weave accomplishes. Also explains how cleric magic works and can't easily be replicated by arcane casters, as you're basically calling in a favour with someone who knows the weave program well enough to produce your desired spell without actually displaying any of the process that an arcane caster would need to imitate for their own version of the spell.
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
635 Posts |
Posted - 07 Jan 2023 : 06:25:15
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On snow in Thay
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1611590497948024833
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1611602460803579904
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1611602853499645952
Jan 7, 2023
@RpgMatch
Good morrow, @TheEdVerse !
Does it ever snow in Thay? (The non-magical kind, mind ye…)
@TheEdVerse
Yes. Often in the high areas (Thaymount, and the slopes of the Sunset Mountains), uncommonly on the plateau (“High Thay”) where hoar frosts and brief sleet storms are more common than snow that falls and stays (except where the sun doesn’t directly reach), and rarerly elsewhere.
In Thay, ground fogs at night due to day/night temperature differences are more common than “real” precipitation, and snow or summer rain, real precipitation tends to be brief. Sometimes heavy, but short-lived due to moving fast. It keeps humidity down, and Thayans used to being able to see the “front” (a wall or plume of falling rain) of a storm approaching, or receding into the distance.
That’s natural weather, before the Red Wizards start casting spells to affect the weather for agricultural reasons. They favor steady downpours at night, soaking rains for crops that also hamper marauding monsters, brigands, and Thayan rebels or anyone else seeking to move around and do things without being seen by the Red Wizards, the Probity Corps, or government-hire spies.
@RpgMatch
One more quick question: do those steady downpours extend to the cities like Eltabbar?
@TheEdVerse
Rarely. Usually only when resident Red Wizards complain of dust, lowering wells, and parched heat.
Or when an autharch or their family or an important noble complains their garden is looking grim. |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
635 Posts |
Posted - 07 Jan 2023 : 06:37:51
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On mercenary companies in the Unapproachable East
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1611601643631427593
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1611619624604270593
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1611863050067537921
@RpgMatch
‘Nother Thay question for you, @TheEdVerse: are there any mercenary companies in the Unapproachable East that Szass Tam could hire to help stage the invasion of a neighboring state?
(Aglarond for example…)
With the Simbul now dead, the peninsula with their forests and the free city ports would make a nice addition to Thayan holdings.
(He’ll need to add living to his armies, because he’s leaving the Thazalhar killing fields dormant in case the Mulhorandi get any ideas…)
@TheEdVerse
Yes, but not big “army”-sized ones. The dragon princes of Murghôm permit small (40 veteran and fully-equipped, full-pay members or less) mercenary companies (founded by former Murghômi army commanders as that kingdom’s former army shrank under pressure from, and the decrees of, the dragon princes) to exist, so long as they don’t band together for any purpose whatsoever within the land, or in any adjacent land (for example, Thay). The reason for this is that the ruling dragons don’t want a large army or armies to assemble outside their borders and then invade, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the dragons. So if Szass Tam hires one small band, and word gets around (and the dragon princes have their spies throughout the cities and important waytop towns on the cross-Thay caravan roads), others wouldn’t dare hire on with him.
If Tam used magic or blackmail to coerce any Murghômi mercenaries to work for him, under any circumstances, the dragon princes would lash out at him, by slaying and destroying the bodies of double the number of competent senior Red Wizards (versus number of mercenaries). They’ve done it before, and they’ll do it again if need be, and Szass Tam will seek to avoid this, because he hates being publicly bested by anyone and have Thay’s populace know it (this is one reason he’s been reluctant, and therefore slow, to invade Aglarond one more time; too many public past failures).
And the Mulhorandi watch Thay for signs of weakness, too, and if the dragon princes are humbling Tam right next door, they’ll send raiding parties. (Divine rulers and their avatars and Chosen have no fear of Tam, and precious little respect.)
All of which means Szass Tam will likely try to avoid a war on many fronts by hiring one Murghômi mercenary band at a time, as fast-moving strike forces. This is an ideal role for them, as all such mercenaries are superb horse archers, with their own hardy, well-trained battle mounts. If he uses one such band and reduces it to a few wounded survivors, he’ll pay them off properly, with no treachery or malice, magically transport them to his border with Murghôm, and only then hire another Murghômi band.
Nimjammir, Vurlakh, and Sessim all host resident mercenary bands. Naelor’s Banner (based on Thuldan Way on the western edge of Nimjammir) enjoys perhaps the best reputation among them, for precision on the field, outstanding discipline, and long service (over forty years of financially successful hirings). Symbol: diagonal flaming dagger in canary yellow, point to upper right, on a royal purple field.
Shaele Flamehair is perhaps the most notorious mercenary commander, for her calmly reckless boldness as well as her fire-orange hair and beauty, and Shaele’s Shields out of Vurlakh are among the most expensive of the busy mercenary bands as a result. Symbol: a horizontal row of three orange shields, the center one overlapping the two outer ones.
Turvuld’s Swords out of Sessim are the antithesis of Shaele’s bold and dashing style; they are silent, stolid, stonefaced, conservative professionals who minimize risks and take great care over small details. Symbol: two crossed silver sabers (curved swords), right over left and points to the top, bisected by a vertical silver spear, point uppermost, on a dun-brown/tawny field.
@RpgMatch
He’s truly in a bind then. Perhaps his best hope is to create a wartime accord with Undrek’Thoz… #129300;
In my game he’s also working on inducting the living (and future dead) of Thay into a standing army. When they do move, the defenders will need to defend against them twice.
Though with the Dragon Princes at his doorstep, perhaps a treatise with Tiamat or taking control of the Dragon Masks will needed… #129300;
@TheEdVerse
If Tam ever somehow makes an alliance with the Dragon Princes, or manages to keep them REALLY busy with something/someone else, watch out... Though as Elminster gently reminded me: "We DO watch, ye know."
@RpgMatch
Ahem. It appears to me that being able flush the Dragon Princes out of their lairs in aggressive posture, facing powerful wizards could create opportunity for even more powerful dragons attacking from above.
With this in mind, I was digging through the lore and found Szass Tam some potential draconian partners in crime:
Option 1: Aurgloroasa & Daurgothoth - yes, Daurgothoth does want to destroy the Red Wizards, but he also wants to create living dracoliches and Aurgloroasa wants to establish a draconian theocracy Null’s name. What better place to start than to take over Murghôm?
Option 2: the vampiric dragon Capnolithyl who is already familiar with Murghôm and could establish it as a new vampiric draconic principality under his rule.
Option 3: Klauth the “Old Snarl". What better option for death from above?
for any of these allies, there are several rewards:
1st, gold in hand from the mines of Thay.
2nd, the riches from the fallen dragon’s hordes (which Szass would send his undead armies to collect).
3rd, the potential subjugation of the remaining dragons and Murghôm.
in any case, Szass has a hedge: the phylactery of Alasklerbanbastos.
Win or lose, there will be the body of a dead dragon around with which Szass will gain another powerful ally.
@TheEdVerse
Everything you say is valid.
It's a question of Szass managing to convince potential allies, what bargains he can strike, and when he wants to start toppling dominos.
Despite his many reverses when trying to operate outside of Thay, he's on top inside Thay right now.
- Edited on 7/1/23 to add new tweets
- Edited on 8/1/23 to add new tweets |
Edited by - questing gm on 08 Jan 2023 00:12:11 |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
635 Posts |
Posted - 07 Jan 2023 : 06:46:03
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On Denzar or Surag in Thay
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1611608186947047425
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1611613892798722048
Jan 7, 2023
@RpgMatch
Hey there @TheEdVerse - do you have any notes about the minor settlements of Denzar or Surag in Thay?
If not, I'll populate them with my own headcanon.
@TheEdVerse
Sure. Denzar is a mining supply (food, picks, mules, etc.) and processing center (where raw ore is crushed and smelted) serving small, hand-worked mines dotted throughout Gauros. These diggings yield mostly copper, but some lead and silver, and a trickle of gold. So Denzar is a place of plumes of sulphurous smoke from the furnaces, huge piles of firewood carted in, complaining oxen and mules and their handlers, rubblestone-walled buildings, and hard drinking. Outcasts, misfits, and crossbreeds are recruited for mining here, and mended if they survive mining injuries. It’s a rough, frontier place, and Red Wizards, effete nobles, and other too-wealthy, too-snobbish Thayans are sullenly disliked. Your typical hardened miner can fell your typical Thayan veteran soldier with one punch, and tear apart (and crush all the joints of) your rank-and-file undead Thayan soldier in short order.
Even powerful Red Wizards should watch their backs. A spellcaster with his skull smashed like a dropped egg rarely casts effective retaliatory spells.
Surag is a small but crowded community of steep slopes covered with steeper cobbled lanes and multi-storey homes, in a rocky bowl where the Surag River tumbles into Lake Thaylambar. Or rather, used to tumble, ere Thayans built many water-powered mills here: stamping mills for ore, grist mills for producing flour, and fulling mills to produce good fabric. Most Suraghran are millers or “tinkerers” who keep the fills running, and there are guards posted against brigands and “prowling beasts down out of the mountains” (monsters do follow the Surag River in search of food). It’s a place of order, watchful policing by soldiers, small but good inns, and eateries, but no taverns (inn guests drink at inns, and workers drink at home; taverns were long ago outlawed in the then-village as “places of brawls and trouble”).
Later, as Surag expanded, paddocks appeared on the gently-rolling hills around the river gorge, for caravan assembly and camping, and to pen sheep shorn here for their wool. Then sheep and goat slaughtering began, candlemaking, and the smoking of meat for transport elsewhere.
So Surag has long been a materials and food supply center for Eltabbar. To government officials, it was a handy place to rush friends and relatives to, if they got caught up in a scandal, and it still serves that purpose.
Which has made it a center for cynics (if not rebels) who detest what Thay is becoming, and the corruption that riddles it now. Another good reason for Suraghran to drink (and snarl complaints) at home.
- Edited on 7/1/23 to add new tweets |
Edited by - questing gm on 07 Jan 2023 23:55:53 |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
635 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jan 2023 : 13:49:12
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On being resurrected over and over
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1611924992433819649
Jan 8, 2023
@groudon466
Are there any syndromes or maladies that come from being resurrected over and over? A character of mine has died and come back on ten occasions- I'm wondering if her soul might be a tad loose after all that shuffling around.
@TheEdVerse
There are two that have shown up in Realmsplay in the "home" Realms campaign: if someone was ever buried ere coming back, they have acute claustrophobia (in tight, dark spaces or if they can't breathe), and if they meet a being who slew them: instant rage-terror. |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
635 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jan 2023 : 09:26:15
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On cocktail recipes
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1612327425760706561
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1612338546538323968
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1612340670005387264
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1612343128857481216
@duckiiphotos
@TheEdVerse have a good forgotten realms drink recipes?!
@TheEdVerse
If you mean cocktails, lots, but most are NDA. I submitted them to TSR in 1986, they own them, and they decided not to publish them for Code of Ethics reasons. (My guess? They didn't want to give Satanic Panic-ed adults any ammunition, like "trying to corrupt our children!")
I think I answered a question on the Candlekeep forums years back, through The Hooded One, in which I gave a small fistfull of cocktails recipes. They're archived and searchable, I believe.
I'll go look and see what's still up at Candlekeep. :}
Found it. Unfortunately, it's not much: "cocktails with Realms names:
Angel's Kiss: Tansar's Dance
Buck's Fizz: Marthoun's Flagon
Cherry Sling: Dragondown
Daiquiri: Ladydagger
Gimlet: Bright Blade
Margarita (Strawberry): Wyvernblood
Mint Julep: Sea Ward Slake
Pina Colada: Snowfire
Port and Starboard: Nightfire
Rickey (Gin): Lightning Bolt
Rob Roy: Battle Banner
Rusty Nail: Merchants' Tears
Rum Eggnog: Harbour Foam
Stone Fence: Stag At Bay
Tequila Sunrise: Caravan Lantern
I know there's more, because I concocted some for a TSR staffer's wedding back in the early 1990s. I'll putter and get back to you... |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
635 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jan 2023 : 09:07:19
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On best shipbuilders on the Sea of Fallen Stars
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1613424357413642241
Jan 12, 2023
@RpgMatch
Hey @TheEdVerse I’m working on something for Szass Tam, so I’m curious: which organization –which could be commissioned– are the best shipbuilders on the Sea of Fallen Stars?
@TheEdVerse
It depends on what you mean by “best.”
In the 1490s DR, the shipbuilders who can make the most luxurious large ships are Anabravvur’s of Selgaunt, in Sembia (third generation firm, current head: Alpharra Anabravvur (unwed thirty-six-year-old albino woman, smart as a whip, coldly clear-headed, and VERY rich and well-connected in Sembia). They’re expensive, and so busy that they can afford to take their time (if you complain as a client, they just shrug; they’ve so much business waiting that they don’t care if they lose a client. Or six.) Their vessels are beautiful, elegantly designed, and superb in materials and workmanship.
If you want the fastest makers of rugged top-quality ships, when looks don’t matter but durability and seaworthiness in storms does, your best choice of shipbuilders will be Marhymbel House Shipways of Sarshel, in Impiltur, run by the brothers Ilund and Vromur Marhymbel, a second-generation firm who always “overbuild” for strength.
And if you want value for money (cheap, good, and fairly quick) you’d likely want to do business with that old, sarcastic martinet Arkheld Kolnarrbeir of Marsember, in Cormyr, who’s assembled a diverse-race crew of old, veteran shipbuilders and the best non-magical drydock cranes in existence. |
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AJA
Senior Scribe
USA
720 Posts |
Posted - 07 Feb 2023 : 04:27:01
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quote:
https://twitter.com/RpgMatch/status/1622344559807311873
RPGMatch - connecting TTRPG players
@RpgMatch
If Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) –the creator of Faerûn (aka the Forgotten Realms) –started a Patreon, would you be down?
Let’s imagine at $3/month.
PS. Please RT, like and comment.
#ttrpg #dnd #dungeonsAndDragons #ttrpgpollsyndicate
4:20 PM · Feb 5, 2023
==================================================
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1622347649926971392?cxt=HHwWgICygfKl3oMtAAAA
Ed Greenwood
@TheEdVerse
A noble idea, methinks!
But what do YOU think?
4:33 PM · Feb 5, 2023
Heck, I'd go $5/month without hesitation. Like a Twitch sub, but paid in reverse for 30+ years of enjoyment and so much free content along the way. Even if it meant Ed shifting away from Twitter (especially if it meant Ed getting off of that hellsite). Any additional Patreon content going forward would just be icing on the cake.
(also, don't know if questing gm is on a well-deserved break or has dropped out of Twitter but, either way, thank you for working so long on archiving Ed's tweets, and hope you are well!)
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AJA
YAFRP
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6287 Posts |
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AJA
Senior Scribe
USA
720 Posts |
Posted - 09 Feb 2023 : 00:45:52
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Well, that didn't take long 
https://www.patreon.com/EdGreenwood/
$3/month for written Edlore and Discord channel, $7/month for "exclusive, unabridged #Realmslore videos", and on from there.
There's already several articles up, including things like "The Nine Gods of Elder Calimshan" and "Halfling Homes and Home Life In Faerûn."
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AJA
YAFRP
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Ed Greenwood on Twitter
