I’m Not Dead Yet!

I’ve been increasingly drawn to creating a personal wiki for Forgotten Realms stuff, due to ease of use issues and laziness. However, I started this blog and I intend to keep it going, which means posting stuff right? Right!

I’m still getting hits from Google searches, which is awesome, but I have a feeling that many of those visitors are leaving disappointed since the pages they’re coming to see are incomplete. So I hope to fix that.

I also need to complete my review of the Tiamat adventure path books, and bite into WotC’s more recent publications. Look for that soon as well.

To those of you who follow this blog, thank you! I plan to show up on your feed/reader regularly again, starting now.

What is the Forgotten Realms?

The Forgotten Realms is a setting… a place. Middle Earth is a setting, Shannara is a setting, the universe of Avatar is a setting, and so on.

For some time now, the Realms has been a setting for Dungeons & Dragons adventures. That just means that many adventures and novels published by Wizards of the Coast are situated in the Forgotten Realms.

(to be continued)

A Metaphor and a Blueprint

Realms fans?

Sucks to be Wizards of the Coast

I wonder if this might depict the position Wizards of the Coast has found itself in, when planning 3e, 4e, and 5e. I think they did reasonably well on 3e, mind-bogglingly badly on 4e, and somewhere in-between on 5e. But some/many fans reach exactly the opposite judgments. I think those fans’ judgment is deeply flawed and ridiculous, and they feel the same way about mine.

Therein lies an unsolvable problem. D&D and the Forgotten Realms are each large, and full of many details. Since a new edition of the rules inevitably involves a new edition of the setting, these individually complex things are lumped together into a “product” which is even bigger and more complex. Not in the sense of being difficult to learn… I mean complex in terms of having a lot of details. Many moving parts. When they publish a new edition of D&D + FR, each customer evaluates it, and makes purchase decisions based on whether the new product is sufficiently better than the old one, based on the criteria that are important to that individual customer. Each fan has a basically unique scorecard, because our priorities differ. For me, it’s important to have some congruence with the first edition of the setting… I like new shiny books, but I want to feel like it’s still “Ed’s Realms, with great additions and expansions from others.” Formatting is also important to me; I want narrow margins, smallish text, and sparse illustrations… maximum lore, minimum crunch. Other fans want shiny pages and big margins, and they think the book totally sucks if it doesn’t have tons of illustrations.

So it’s not just a matter of not being able to please all the fans all the time, but rather not being able to please any of the fans any the time. They might be on the right track if they’re aiming to please a different group of fans with each edition, but in that case they need to adopt an “every edition is valid” approach. I was happy when 3e was the official Realms, and it was utterly unacceptable to move into a time when 4e was the official Realms. I stayed in 3e, and bought zero 4e Realms products.

One obvious solution is to have not shut the door on 3e. Skip ahead to 4e and open up the 1479 Realms, but make that jump completely optional by continuing to publish novels, sourcebooks, Dragon articles, and Dungeon adventures set around 1375 as well. (Remember that WotC didn’t drop down to a skeleton crew and shut down the “magazines” until 4e had already failed. Taking the approach I’m suggesting could have prevented that from being necessary.)

Of course, it should have been a philosophy ever since 1e. Some of us hated the Time of Troubles; the decision to take the official Realms through that event rather than making it an optional event was a mistake for the simple reason that WotC could have retained all of its customers and attracted new ones, by keeping the old storylines open while adding the new ones. The TOT should have been optional. The Spellplague and the time jump… well, the less said about that the better, I guess; it should be obvious that making it an option wouldn’t have alienated so many players.

Moving Forward

When the time comes to roll out 6th edition, here’s how it should go. The 6e rules are published as an alternative to 5e, rather than the replacements that have alienated fans for several decades. Whatever RSE you use to “transition” into the 6e Realms is published as an option. DMs and players who like the transition can play through it; those who don’t like it don’t have to use it. Those who like the 6e Realms can play it, and those who don’t won’t. Those decisions will be independent, but the RSE (assuming you do it well) can provide an in-game reason for the switch, for those who like it, while not requiring that those who hate it to choose between “do it anyway” and “stop buying WotC products.” Neither WotC nor the longtime fans of the Realms like that choice. The logical move is to stop requiring us to make that choice.

Either way, fans can move forward in the setting. If we move into 6e, cool. If we stay in 5e, cool. The setting continues to evolve. You don’t necessarily need to have 2 completely separate product lines after that, but you can if you want to and there might be some advantages. Your (or Hasbro’s) marketing people can figure that out. Here’s how I think it can work well.

First possibility: one product line, serving both 5e and 6e fans. The secret to making this work is to write an explanatory paragraph at the beginning of the book, which serves to make it useful to both groups of fans. That RSE you’re going to use to introduce 6e… if there are two parallel universes, where that event happened in one and didn’t happen in the other… which of the differences between those two universes is relevant to this particular product? Hint: if it takes more than a paragraph, or if the product relies heavily on the RSE having taken place, then you’re doin’ it wrong. No RSE should fundamentally alter the Realms to the point where someone who decides to skip that RSE can’t use your subsequent products. If the products are written with all fans in mind, then facilitating use by everyone doesn’t need to be more than a paragraph or two and the payoff is that you sell more books by making them useful to a wider range of fans.

Second possibility: separate 5e and 6e lines, with completely different products in each. The “necessary historical events” blurb is still the key. Include a blurb in each product, in both lines, aimed at making it useful for fans of the other product line. The payoff from having two separate product lines is that you have a built-in market for each line, where the fans who love the 6e line will purchase the 6e products fairly automatically — again assuming that the writing is good but we’re talking about fans of that line so that shouldn’t be an issue. Fans of 5e will still buy a lot of 6e books because the facilitating blurbs you’re including will make the 6e books useful to them. So it’s not like you lose 5e fans by having a dedicated 6e product line, or vice versa.

It’s possible (and desirable) for the blurbs to be pretty similar between several products. I don’t mean to say that I like standardized paragraphs being pasted into products; I hate that. I mean that it’s good if that paragraph doesn’t need to be heavily customized for each product. If it works out well, you might get away with putting the explanatory paragraphs on the Wizards website instead of inside the text of the product. This is tricky, because a lot of DMs will whine about having to read something on the website in order to DM a pen & paper adventure, but the upside for we the customers is that we have another paragraph or two of adventure rather than background info. Something for your polls and playtesters to figure out.

Touching on the time jump of 4e for a second… one of the huge objections to it, if not the huge objection, is that it killed off a bunch of NPCs (and PCs) and we’re left wondering what the hell happened in that 100 years because you didn’t fill it in. This approach of maintaining the old after introducing the new will remove that problem by filling in the intervening years with further development in the previous edition.

Tar’Ael Veluuthra (Article)

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.


At a Glance

This page serves as an index for realmslore mentioned in the WotC article titled Magic Books of Faerûn: Tar’Ael Veluuthra.

“People” lists individual NPCs and titles; organizations and generalized groups (such as dwarves, Zhentarim, Lords of Waterdeep, etc) will be under “Things.”


References

1345 DR
1371 DR
Daemonfey
Daryngrynth Sharparrow
Demon
Eldreth Veluuthra
Elf
Elven (language)
Espruar
Evereska
Fey’ri
Green Blades of Corellon
Half-Fiend
Harpers
Hellgate Keep
Herianamae
Human-Bane Arrow
Phaerimm
Silverbark
Sun Elf
Tar’Ael Veluuthra
Threlya Dlardrageth
Weave

Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

References in The City of Nesme (WotC)

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.


At a Glance

An online article, on the Wizards of the Coast website.


Details

Author, etc

The City of Nesme was written by Duane Maxwell, and published on 12 September 2001.


References

Person Place Thing
Eregund Walen Delimbiyr Adventurer
Jygil Zelnartha Evermoors Barbarian
Tessarin Alaurun Lurkwood First Speaker of Nesme
Waukeen Nesmé Riders
North Uthgardt
Savage Frontier Church of Waukeen
River Surbrin
Trollmoors

Citation


Source


Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Wizard’s Way

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.


At a Glance

The Wizard’s Way is a trap.


Sources

Primary Sources
Other Resources

Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

How to Write a Splatbook

Where did the term splatbook come from? I only use it because I think others have heard it and will know what I’m referring to. I’m thinking that it means “splat, here’s this place” and I don’t think that’s how the Realms should be built. Given splatbooks, though, there are right-headed approaches and wrong-headed ones, and I believe WotC is doing them wrong.

What’s Wrong

An example: the Rotting Man.

I’m fairly positive that there was once an elven realm in the larger forest which we now know as the Rawlinswood and the Forest of Lethyr. Before that, it might have been a home of the fey creator race. Point is that these forests didn’t spring from the earth fully formed in 1357 DR for the first edition of the campaign setting. They’ve been here for a while… let’s say 30,000 years.

The Rotting Man appears in 1362 DR, and by 1373 DR he’s gone. By my count, he’s referenced 28 times in Unapproachable East; an average of more than once per 7 pages. Yet he’s only present for 11 years, out of 30 thousand years. Before 1362 he doesn’t matter. After 1373 the druids will be repairing and regrowing the forest, peasants and merchants will be building new towns, and certainly by 1479 the Rotting Man is irrelevant again.

I understand that he’s very relevant circa 1372, at least in the immediate vicinity of the Rawlinswood. The issue is that weaving him into the 1372 source material makes that material less useful for the other 30,000 years of the region’s history. This is a major flaw in WotC’s approach to regional sourcebooks.

Each WotC splatbook is a “snapshot” of a particular day in the timeline, but since 1-3 years often pass between books —even within an edition— the campaign setting product is the only snapshot of Faerun as a “whole” and every book that comes after that is increasingly inconsistent with the campaign setting. When the discrepancies reach some arbitrary threshold, WotC deems it acceptable to publish a new edition of the setting. That in turn justifies a new edition of the rules, leading to a disruptive RSE to “explain” the changes in rules, but that gets into other essays. The point here is that the wrong-headed cycle of circling Faerun begins again.

The second edition of the setting probably revisited everything, or nearly everything, that had been described in the first edition but later editions have not maintained this pattern. Even these “best case scenarios” where the lore is revisited, this approach is just repeating an error and as we (should) all know two wrongs don’t make a right. There are other times when a new edition doesn’t bring us a new regional splatbook. Like this one, for instance.

Going into fifth edition, more than 100 years have passed in Faerun, but the 3e Unapproachable East book is still the most recent source of relatively focused lore on this region. It needs to have a lot of stuff filtered out, though, in order to be helpful for campaigns set in the late 15th century… or in any time other than 1362-1373.

Useful knowledge regarding the Rawlinswood would include climate, specific types of flora and fauna that are common/rare here, and the range in characteristics (how the western edge is different than the eastern, or north versus south) — things that will be true throughout the life of the forest. There’s very little of that. Instead we learn about how the Rotting Man has changed things, for the piddly 11 years that he’s here.

Most of the wordcount alloted to the Rawlinswood is taken up by descriptions of Dun-Tharos, Clymph Tower, Tower Threespires, and Nighthawk Tower. I’m not upset about that, as each is an interesting location and deserves space. However, two of these also focus on details which are mostly/only relevant circa 1372 DR.

A Better Way

Let’s get away from the splat concept. Let’s build a region organically, rather than dumping a pile of restrictively specific details on the world.

A snapshot of the region is good, but only to the extent that it’s representative of the region’s entire history. There are other venues to wax eloquent about the changes introduced by the rise of the Rotting Man… namely novels, and (to a much lesser extent) adventures.

Adventures are awesome; I’m not saying “lesser extent” hoping for fewer adventures. I’d actually like to see more of them. However, the best adventures are the ones that aren’t limited to a particular year… they’re as flexible as possible and can be placed pretty much anywhere and anywhen the DM likes.

Don’t talk about a villain who only lasts X years in a sourcebook which should be outlining a region or feature for gameplay which might take place anywhere in a 30,000 year long tapestry. Or at least don’t mention them outside of a history chapter. Such characters belong in novels.

Plot hooks are cool, and should be included when possible, but if you’re going to write plot hooks then write them so that they can be used anywhere in the timeline with slight modification. Sourcebooks are basically encyclopedias; they don’t need or want a plot. Plots go in adventures and novels.

Mask

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.


Disambiguation


Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

neuronphaser’s FR Resource List

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.


At a Glance

This list is the work of neuronphaser on the Candlekeep forums. I merely formatted it and put it here.


FR Adventure List

  Lv     #   Adventure Location
5 The Kappa of Pachee Bridge Kara-Tur
7 Samura Steel Island of Hinomoto in Kozakura (Kara-Tur)
8 The Flowers of Flame Shou Lung and Tabot (Kara-Tur)
9 The Golden Bow of Ashu H’San Kara-Tur
10 The Arisan’s Tomb Kara-Tur
2-5 14 Masqueraider Cormyr
7-12 14 A Question of Balance Cormyr/Sembia border area
4-6 15 The Glass House The North
15 The Dragon’s Gift Kara-Tur; jungles of Shou Lung
16 Necropolis
17 The Waiting Room of Yen-Wang-Yeh Hira province in Kozakura (Kara-Tur)
1-3 18 Irongard (See DUNGEON issue #21, page 2, “Letters,” for an important correction.) Stonelands (north of Cormyr)
18 Crocodile Tears Kara-tur (Kozakura or Wa)
3-6 19 The Serpent’s Tooth Scornubel
9-12 19 House of Cards Westgate (Dragon Coast)
7-9 20 The Ship of Night The North (Underdark); lost city of Hammerkeep
21 Jammin’ Realmspace (Spelljammer module); Ravens Bluff
1-3 26 The Inheritance Waterdeep (vicinity)
27 Bride for a Fox T’u Lung province of Ausa (Kara-Tur)
4-8 28 Visitors from Above Realmspace (Spelljammer module); Neverwinter
6-10 28 The Pipes of Doom The North (near Loudwater and South Woods)
4-6 29 Nymph’s Reward Tilverton and Mistledale
5-8 29 Ex Libris Silverymoon
8-10 29 ‘Til Death Do Us Part Cormanthor (near Myth Drannor)
1-3 30 …And A Dozen Eggs Waterdeep; sewers
1+ 30 Elminster’s Back Door Shadowdale; Elminster’s tower
32 Changeling Troll Hills near Baldur’s Gate
33 Mad Gyoji Miyama province in Kozakura (Kara-Tur)
1-2 34 Euphoria Horrors Dalelands
4-8 34 On Wings of Darkness Calimshan (Marching Mountains)
36 The Sea of Sorrow Realmspace (Spelljammer module)
1-3 37 A Wizard’s Fate The North (ruins between Secomber and High Forest)
8-12 38 A Blight on the Land Tethyr
1 39 Below Vulture Point High Dale
40 Khamsa’s Folly Desert of Raurin (southeast of Mulhorand)
8-12 43 Into the Silver Realm Mirabar, Lurkwood, and Astral Plane
45 All Things Nice Any road along the Sword Coast
46 Floating Rock Zakhara
47 The Assassin Within City of Qadib; Zakhara (Al-Qadim)
3-6 48 The Oracle at Sumbar City of Hyaunn in Sembia, Pirate Isles
48 Honor Lost, Honor Regained Far Hills (west of Cormyr)
51 The Last Oasis Qudra and wilderness in Zakhara (Al-Qadim)
1-3 52 Welcome to the Krypthome Kryptgarden Forest (between Waterdeep and Triboar)
7-9 53 Steelheart Bloodstone Lands (Thar and Vaasa)
54 The Fiends of Tethyr Port city of Velen (Tethyr)
57 The Rose of Jumlat West of Jumlat region; Al-Qadim
7-12 61 Storm Season Arabel (Cormyr)
5-7 62 Grimjaws Vast Swamp (near Cormyr)
4-6 63 Huzza’s Goblin O’War Sea of Fallen Stars
63 Blood & Fire Al-Qadim
6-9 64 Grotto of the Queen Sword Coast (underwater, near Latharl’s Lantern and Baldur’s Gate)
1-3 65 The Beast Within Not specific
6-9 66 Operation Manta Ray Immurk’s Hold on Dragonisle (Sea of Fallen Stars)
3-5 67 Witches’ Brew Town of Woody Glen (High Forest)
5-8 67 Training Ground Hill’s Edge
68 Al-Kandil Al-Qadim
3-5 69 Slave Vats of the Yuan-Ti Mere of Dead Men (near Waterdeep)
5-8 69 Sleep of Ages Omlarandin Mountains (underground)
3-6 70 Ssscaly Thingsss Mere of Dead Men (near Waterdeep)
4-7 71 Dreadful Vestiges Mere of Dead Men (near Waterdeep)
5-7 72 Mistress on the Mere Mere of Dead Men (near Waterdeep)
6-8 73 Eye of Myrkul Mere of Dead Men (near Waterdeep)
1-3 75 Into the Nest of Vipers Procampur (vicinity)
10-12 79 The Akriloth Merfolk city of Voalidru
2-4 80 The Frothing Miscreant Dragonmere (vicinity)
15 84 The Harrowing
1 87 The Raiders of Galath’s Roost Dalelands and Cormanthor (Mistledale)
1 88 Thirds of Purloined Vellum Amn
6 88 The Door From Everywhere Suzail, Cormyr (Stonelands)
89 Honor and Eta Kara-Tur
7 90 Tears for Twilight Hollow ??
11 94 Spiral of Manzessine ??
8 100 Woe to Mistledale The Dales
7 101 The Chasm Bridge
13 101 Prison of the Firebringer Silver Marches
5 103 Forest of Blood Silver Marches
9 113 Practical Magic Marsember (in Cormyr)
13-20 121 Secrets of the Arch Wood Archendale
13 126 Blood of Malar Waterdeep; sewers
13 127 Dungeon of the Crypt Waterdeep (underground beneath graveyard))
14 128 The Fireplace Level Waterdeep
17 129 The Twisted Run Silver Marches (Silverymoon and Twisted Run)
1 130 Within the Circle Featherdale
15 137 Man Forever Impiltur
9 139 Requiem of the Shadow Serpent ??
4 144 The Muster of Morach Tor Nesme
10 149 Twisted Night Moonshae Isles

Sources

Primary Sources

Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.