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deserk
Learned Scribe
Norway
223 Posts |
 Posted - 26 Jul 2022 : 18:36:44
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| Appreciate the work you do here, compiling Ed's answers from Twitter, questing gm. I wonder, any chance you could post some questions to Ed on behalf of other Candlekeepers? I've tried personally asking several lore questions to the sage himself on Twitter but it doesn't seem like they reach Ed's feed. |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
553 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2022 : 10:07:24
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On Thay vs the Underdark
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1551954763977265153
Jul 26, 2022
@Esapenpen
Yo @TheEdVerse if the entirety of thay invaded the underdark who would win?
@TheEdVerse
The watching, waiting scavengers.
Ahem.
The Underdark, of course.
Even a really, REALLY big ship is dwarfed and engulfed by the ocean. |
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sleyvas
Great Reader
USA
11217 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2022 : 13:44:19
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| can't believe that last one had to even be asked.... seems obvious. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6475 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2022 : 16:25:38
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
can't believe that last one had to even be asked.... seems obvious.
Yes, definitely a  question.
-- George Krashos |
"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
553 Posts |
Posted - 01 Aug 2022 : 10:53:59
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On Amarune's Almanac: Biomes
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1553945349479358464
Aug 1, 2022
@vorpaldicepress
You can now buy Amarune's Almanac: Biomes of the Realms at #DMsGuild
This bundle includes all 8 volumes of Amarune's Almanac, over 400 pages of #realmslore, character options, monsters, and more
Created in part by @TheEdVerse himself along with an awesome creative team!
<https://twitter.com/vorpaldicepress/status/1553886088896331779/photo/1>
@TheEdVerse
This is useful to any DM using any campaign setting for any FRP: useful and harmful plants, beasties, and conditions likely to be encountered during overland travel.
And it was a lot of fun to work on! |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
553 Posts |
Posted - 02 Aug 2022 : 10:27:30
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On imprisoning evil spellcasters
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1554167844597809154
@NormanTel
Hi! I am wondering how evil spell users are imprisoned? Revel's End might be the answer, but what about the low-level, not-really-boss-enemy spell user? How does a small town/village deal with minor criminals? I haven't found anything on that issue.
@TheEdVerse
Coverage is slight because this almost always has to roleplayed out (unless it's history/backstory). If a community doesn't feel safe with a low-level evil spellcaster in their midst, they'll drive that person out of the community. Most living beings need to sleep and spellcasters need to study/concentrate to regain most spells and to experiment with new ones, so community harassment CAN drive such a person away (they're already foes). If the community doesn't want to do this personally, they may hire adventurers (such as the PCs) to do it. This is one reason why evil spellcasters often try to hide their true natures or seek seclusion (dwelling out of town, in a place they can trap or defend or equip with "pet" monsters).
In the "home" Realms campaign, such beings usually AREN'T imprisoned: they're sentenced to do a service (task) involving travel (often with a geas or more powerful cleric/local arms of a faith oversight to make sure they keep at it) that will keep them busy for a time AND give them some personal benefit (and likely some new personal foes/rivals) to further occupy their time. Lessening their inclination and time to harass the community in future.
Many sentences in the Realms are fines (if you can't pay, you may flee, so the community exiles you without formally doing so) or tasks (so the community gets a benefit rather than just an expense [incarceration]), as opposed to imprisonment. |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
553 Posts |
Posted - 07 Aug 2022 : 02:54:33
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On the Spellplague affecting the multiverse
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1555958795813240835
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1555964317115236357
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1556307186309120001
Aug 7, 2022
@pauloalmeida074
Greetings again, Mr. @TheEdVerse
I hope you are well.
If the deities of the Forgotten Realms only have powers and influence inside Realmspace, how could Mystra's death and the Spellplague affect the entire Multiverse?
<https://twitter.com/pauloalmeida074/status/1555953725306437634/photo/1>
@TheEdVerse
See all the connecting lines on the multiverse diagram? Everything's linked and affects everything else, like ripples (or a tsunami) in a pond.
The same way a power station or even a lone transformer blowing out can take down not just "its local section" but a big adjacent area.
@MageInTheBooth
I was under the assumption that the bigger deal for the multiverse was that Dweomerheart exploded. That's the part that feels more like a Planescape-level event, compared to the Spellplague itself.
Does that sound about right, or is there more to it?
@TheEdVerse
You have it right. In this case, that had the much wider effect. The analogy I like to use is a frame of billiard balls on a tilted table. Take away the frame, and a few balls will shift. Pull a "bottom" ball right out of the array: BIG SHIFT.
@MageInTheBooth
Based on the 4e talk yesterday, I'm wondering what you would name the Spellplague era from a planar PoV?
To folk of Toril, "Spellplague" is all they need, but for the folk in Sigil seeing gods die, Ethereal disappear, the Blood War halt, etc - what do they call it?
@TheEdVerse
Flippant response: Tuesday.
Serious response: a bad reordering, one of many they’ve seen, so they’d likely dub it something like “the Passing of the Ethereal” to distinguish it from other planar storms.
- Edited on 8/8/2022 to add new tweet |
Edited by - questing gm on 08 Aug 2022 10:24:55 |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
553 Posts |
Posted - 07 Aug 2022 : 02:56:49
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On weapons dealing extra damage to the unholy and unnatural
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1555967806935547906
Aug 7, 2022
@Minja2005
In Forgotten Realms are there swords that do extra damage to the unholy and the unnatural? Thanks. Love all of your books
@TheEdVerse
Yes. Sun blades, holy avengers, and many, many others. All magic swords in the core D&D rules can be found in the Realms. |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
553 Posts |
Posted - 07 Aug 2022 : 03:05:55
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On emotionally weak and inexperienced Telamont
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1555978843646824448
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1556305532205531136
Aug 7, 2022
@Mannimark2
Ed....is it really fair to portray a 2000-year-old wizard as being so emotionally weak and inexperienced? When I imagine Telamont I can't help but feel like he'd be extremely mature and ground down by the weight of endless years. Especially if he's a 30th+ level wizard. =(
@TheEdVerse
Flippant response: How old are you? And you still think life is fair?
Serious response: One of the abiding themes I’ve been exploring in the Realms, for literally fifty-five years in my Realms fiction (yes, beginning before D&D existed), is the effects on sanity of longevity (grief upon grief of loved ones lost, the tragic and traumatizing experiences in a long, hard life, and outliving not just friends and acquaintances but entire realms) and of magic (having it flowing through you as you wield it, being hit by hostile magic, and having your own magical experiments go awry in your face). Not to mention “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
What damage does all of that do?
What does it turn you into, and how do you cope? (The answer to that last one tells a writer or a DM a lot about how to run or portray a character.)
I’m not the only one to explore such themes, by any means. Paul Kemp’s SUPERB novels show us how many of the Thultanthans are affected as their lives unfold, and the writers and designers at Wizards showed us Modenkainen’s recent mental troubles (that Elminster nursed him back from).
In the case of Telamont, he is indeed mature and very capable and accomplished. He’s also ground down by all those years, to the point of being broken.
Very broken.
He copes by clinging to a front or public act of being in absolute control, of foreseeing things and planning and always being capably in charge. Yet this act is increasingly a hollow shell. Telamont can’t abandon it, because he sees Thultanthar as his; he is the city, and the city is him, and that’s what makes him important and essential. Without it, he’s nothing, and lost.
Yet it’s always an act, and he knows it, and occasionally it shows.
I wish I could be in the fairness business, I really do. But I’m in the trying to convince everyone that this fantasy is real, so it matters to us all business. Sorry.
@Bravesword
@TheEdVerse, I always imagined how a person should handle all the burden of an “eternal” life without losing some portion of its sanity. I consider that only some beings become used to live for such a long time, like dragons, elves and other races that have such longevity. That being said, what do you believe that a powerful wizard or entity that outlives his normal lifespan should do to keep its sanity? Figures like Larloch, Szass Tam and even good persons like the Shrinshee, Congenio Ioun and our Old Sage Elminster that lived over a millenia, how they should manage it and why only some of them are successfull in this task?
@TheEdVerse
I think those who remain (relatively) sane over very long lifespans do so by not only having hobbies they truly enjoy, that involve doing something physical (like cleaning up a stream’s flow or sculpting soft stones in the landscape into staring faces), but who also devote themselves to helping other beings in ongoing efforts or causes that they know will never been “finished” (the Srinshee guided the elves, El served Mystra as a Chosen, and so on). It’s this devotion and caring for others that helps get past the pain of losing specific other loved ones, the affirmation that although a kingdom may fall and get swept away, I personally can take a hand to build up another. Larloch delights in manipulating events everywhere “unseen,” Szass Tam tries over and over again with power schemes that he ties not just to his personal gain but the gain of Thay and what he’s trying to shape Thay into, and so on.
This would be why some self-centered dragons or even liches do whimsical things, sometimes aiding adventurers who attack them “for no good and obvious reason.”
- Edited on 8/8/2022 to add new tweet |
Edited by - questing gm on 08 Aug 2022 10:20:22 |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
553 Posts |
Posted - 07 Aug 2022 : 03:13:07
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On games the inhabitants of the Realms play
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1555987110338887680
Aug 7, 2022
@WorldIsSquare
Hey @TheEdVerse! The Witcher has Gwent, Final Fantasy has Tetra Master, but what game do the inhabitants of the Realms play?
Is there a card game? A dice game? Maybe even a type of boardgame?
@TheEdVerse
There are many, with a few covered in published Realmslore down the years (see Volo’s Guide to Cormyr) and a handy reference at: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Games_(in-universe).
Also, see my 2020 Twitter replies of March 4, July 3, July 4, Sept 30, and Nov 26, my 2021 replies of Feb 7, 2021, Feb 27, 2021, and many, many other tweets. This gets asked a lot. ;}
If you read my 2016 novel DEATH MASKS, you’ll even see a scene in which folk are playing the Lords of Waterdeep boardgame. |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
553 Posts |
Posted - 07 Aug 2022 : 12:23:23
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On bioluminescent plants in the Realms
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1556142269023019008
Aug 7, 2022
@AugustoCLock
Were there are bioluminescent plants in the Realms? Bonus points if fern-like, or associated with the Feywild
@TheEdVerse
Yes. See Amarune's Almanacs, as well as MANY other published Realmslore sources. Yes to fern-like, and yes to Feywild. |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
553 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2022 : 06:14:45
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On Ed's recommended 5E supplements
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1558187046807691265
Aug 13, 2022
@Cole_Laws
I've recently purchased your book, "Thay - Land of the Red Wizards". I love everything that has to do with worldbuilding and anything that supplements 5e to make the Forgotten Realms richer for my party. Any other notable 5e supplements that you would recommend? <3
@TheEdVerse
Sure!
The Border Kingdoms (2018), Elminster's Candlekeep Companion (2020), Darkhold: Secrets of the Zhentarim (2020), Rashemen Campaign Guide (2021), and the Amarune's Almanac series (all DM's Guild and I had a hand in all of them). Enjoy! |
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questing gm
Senior Scribe
Malaysia
553 Posts |
Posted - 15 Aug 2022 : 11:05:32
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On popular condiments in the Yawning Portal
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1559000877930799104
Aug 15, 2022
@ericremyjordan
I’m wonder @TheEdVerse what condiments were popular in the Yawning Portal with quipper and chips? Shadowdark ale is a perfect complement, but not really a condiment #129315;
@TheEdVerse
Three condiments are most popular: Seaturtle gravy (brown, thick, is pretty close to beef gravy); Hundur sauce (tamarind and clam sauce, is medium-hot sour-sweet); and Secomber sour vinegar (made from unripe sour dry white grapes grown in halfling vineyards northwest of Secomber).
Some folk also like to garnish with lemon (flesh only, sliced into “shards”) or "blood sauce" from Calimshan (very mild tomato-based chili sauce, like unsweetened thick ketchup). |
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Ed Greenwood on Twitter
