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I am more then curious about the future for the Forgotten Realms. Not for this to be a massive flame war, but imo I think 4th edition utterly killed the world of Forgotten Realms and I think it all started with the Time of Troubles and everything seemed to spiral downhill from there on out with Spell plague being the nail in the coffin. I have played D&D since first edition, from worlds of Ravenloft, Greyhawk, Dragonlance to Forgotten Realms and I see Forgotten Realms falling into the same fate as Dragonlance for all the same reasons. I have been very unerved by the progression of the Forgotten Realms and with each new edition and novel. I tried playing 4th for about a year and can't stand it for the overly simplicty factor that very limited roleplaying and made D&D more into battle chess and encounters felt fake. I love battles but the thing that sucked me into D&D when I was a child was the feeling of being swept into a fantasy setting that was truly captured in 1st-3.5 editions mainly the amount of lore, manuals and campaigns that came with 2nd edition and all the thought and tools given to the DM's and the players helped DM's to really create striking fantasy worlds or have at there fingertips one's made by the Greats of D&D.

 I have never understood why since WoTC took the rights from TSR they have gone down this rocky road to trying to cap size on all the money they can rather then just go with something that already worked and expand on it without derailing it and driving it into the nine hells. Forgotten Realms has lost everything that made it imo the best campaign world by killing off all the deities, destoying lands once glorious and spell binding, and introducing crappy new races into the mix to further the perversion of the Forgotten Realms like the Eladrin and Dragonborn.  It seemed post Time of Troubles that FR was shaping up for some interesting outcomes but it's like the authors decided to just drop a nuke, kill everything glorious about FR and then add in  the new races with "Ohh we have been hiding out of sight ALL this time and we just now decided to come to Faerun" The Shades did that well and I could understand that but the Eladrin and Dragonborn was way over the top WoW type crap, are we going to get Kung-Fu Pandas in 5th edition as well?

 Please WoTC go back to your roots and the days of D&D glory. You already have your bragging rights that all these video games stem from you so why not keep it that way before you drive D&D into the ground and Pathfinder takes a soft step over it to claim its birthright?

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But seriously, there is only so much you can fit into a three book release schedule (Players Guide, DM's Guide and an Adventure) with extra articles from the Dragon magazine. 

WotC also had a Neverwinter book that basically consisted of "drop a volcano on this area and then detail whats left" so just be careful what you ask for. 

May 6, 2012 -- 6:40PM, lokiare wrote:

May 6, 2012 -- 6:38PM, Salla wrote:

Two things:
1. They didn't destroy it, they changed it.  And it's far from the first time, from what I understand.
2. Any individual DM is more than free to say 'this didn't happen' and run the Realms without the 4e changes.  "No, there are no Dragonborn in my FR, and Mystra is still alive."  BOOM, problem solved.

weren't dragonborn introduced in 2E with the book "curse of the azure bonds" or was that a d&D game?

Your thinking of the Sauril race which the god Moander brought to Toril. "Curse of Azure Bonds" was a great game and "Azure Bonds was a great read!

I'm no fan of the post-Spellplague Realms myself.  Ya know what though?  Nobody really cares why.  Not really.  It's enough I think to say I much prefer earlier takes on the Realms.  I have my reasons, and I could list 'em but again, I have no doubt that my fellow posters 'get it' (and if they don't, hell with 'em ).

There are other people out there that love the 4e Realms.  Different strokes, different folks; I get that.  There's no good reason to be hateful to each other.  So, now, with that outta the way, why not go there ?

= = =

There's been a lot (and I mean a lot) of stuff published for the world over the last 20+ years.  There were entire product lines devoted to the Realms during 1e, 2e and 3e.  A ton of canon novels.  Not only that, but a lot of people made the Realms their home (game-wise).

There have been a few Realms Shaking Events over the years; usually an excuse to introduce a new edition of D&D.  The Time of Troubles was during the 1e/2e transition, the Spellplague during the 3e/4e transition.  No need to really go into all of that; old news.  The point is, every time the Realms is changed, no matter how major or minor the changes, somebody's gonna end up not happy.  Others, will love it.  Again, diff'rent strokes 'n' all.

= = =

One of the the advantages of the Spellplague was that it offered an opening, a chance new fans to jump on or even a fresh start for long-time fans.  After so many years and years of published supplements, boxed sets, and novels, it was needed I think.  I'm no fan of the 4e Realms, as I've mentioned, but I can respect that.

One of the major drawbacks of the Spellplague was that it re-created the Realms for the sake of 4e.  Don't get me wrong, all the lore from previous editons is still there, but the 'feel' of the world has changed for me.  Trying to 'mesh' the 3e and earlier Realms with the 4e Realms just ticks me off; instead, I prefer to imagine them as parallel worlds (like Star Trek and it's Mirror Universe or Fringe with it's Walternate reality --love that show ).

Some people however, will simply be inconsolable.  The Forgotten Realms was a long-lived, much beloved world of D&D and now that's all changed (maybe for good).  The frustration and anger is easy for me to understand.

Speaking for myself, I'd rather give new players a chance to jump in and enjoy the Realms.  I prolly wouldn't have resorted to something as drastic as the Spellplague but I  can see the drawbacks of printing hardcovers and boxed sets, year after year.  The setting really wasn't growing and evolving with all this (by late 3e).  Mostly, I think it was just leaving potential new players behind.  It was time for a re-start.  If it had been me, I might have set the campaign timeline back to the era of the AD&D Gray Box.  But that's just me.

Sorry, didn't mean to ramble on so.  I just gotta get this Forgotten Realms stuff off my chest once in a while .