Yeah, i'd agree that it's pretty vanila. But there are enough wacky groups already written into the setting to make things distinctly non-vanila if you wanted to. Not to mention adding your own doo-dads to spruce it up a bit.

I've always considerd the faux northern african areas to be very interesting, but the focus always seems to be the 'heartlands' which are about as vanila as you can get.

Quote from: One Horse TownYeah, i'd agree that it's pretty vanila. But there are enough wacky groups already written into the setting to make things distinctly non-vanila if you wanted to. Not to mention adding your own doo-dads to spruce it up a bit.

I've always considerd the faux northern african areas to be very interesting, but the focus always seems to be the 'heartlands' which are about as vanila as you can get.

Of course, you always have the option to personalize it. But I feel that that matter is out of this discussion I intended to discuss the setting as is out of the box.

Oh, and T-Willard's take on FR wih Modern D20 is awesome.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!EDIT: Somewhere in my head I have an idea to put in a whole bunch of Elminsters, for a spoof/silly FRPG campaign -- El Meenster, Il Minstore, and cousins Elminstberg and Elminstein.

LOL! Brilliant.

- Q

Quote from: ImperatorOf course, you always have the option to personalize it. But I feel that that matter is out of this discussion I intended to discuss the setting as is out of the box.

Oh, and T-Willard's take on FR wih Modern D20 is awesome.

Is that taken straight out of the box?

Anyhow, thanks for telling me what is out of the discussion. I was struggling there.

I recall seeing somewhere a cool thread (tongue in cheek) about an adventure seed per page for the 3.0 FR setting book. It even gave excuses as to why Elminster couldn't deal with them. Still, some of them were pretty cool and showed how the FR setting could be used for all kinds of ends.

Quote from: One Horse TownI've always considerd the faux northern african areas to be very interesting, but the focus always seems to be the 'heartlands' which are about as vanila as you can get.

I agree with Imperator's response to this post.

You raise an interesting point though. Certain locations in the Realms were interesting. I liked the Maztica setting and I imagine I could run a pretty good Apocalypto-like campaign in this area

Regards,
David R

Quote from: One Horse TownIs that taken straight out of the box?

You got me

Quote from: One Horse TownAnyhow, thanks for telling me what is out of the discussion. I was struggling there.

Oh, I don't intend to tell anybody what can we discuss or not And your point is still valid: if somebody hates Elminster and won't play FR due to him, you really can edit him or delete it without problem.

Quote from: One Horse TownI recall seeing somewhere a cool thread (tongue in cheek) about an adventure seed per page for the 3.0 FR setting book. It even gave excuses as to why Elminster couldn't deal with them. Still, some of them were pretty cool and showed how the FR setting could be used for all kinds of ends.

After that thread, JDCorley became unto my new god.

Quote from: David RJorune

Tekumel

What I've read of that, it's.... well... it's not vanilla. A friend of mine picked up The Book of Ebon Binding out of the discount bin back in 92-93, It looked cool, but we never found anything else to go with it. He used it in his homebrew game when ever he wanted to have an 'Entity' involved.  

What I've read of it online, it's a very detailed, weird setting with a bizarre back story. I don't know how much of that my (old) group would go for, but it would be great for that 'lost empire' or plane hopping setting.

QuoteTales of Garganthir (sp)

Never heard of it, but will look it up.

QuoteI get that you can add sprinkles on the FR*, but if I wanted something extra on my vanilla I would go for stuff like Earthdawn , Dark Sun or Planescape.

*But T-Willard's take on FR was pretty damn interesting

Regards,
David R

Darksun? Eh, we played it when it first came out, but got tired of 'Mad Max' fairly quickly.

Didn't do much more than flip through Earthdawn (someone else had it that didn't play in our group). Looked like the setting might be intersting.

Always wanted to try Planescape, I could tell it was the 'cyberpunk' of D&D, but it looked fun as hell anyway.

While I do like uniqueness in a setting, calling a horse/elf/sword/magic by a 'new' name realy isn't unique. I also don't like setting that throw everything into a blender. There is a thing as too much.

A truly flavorful setting with unique bits? I'll give it a shot. A serial number filed off setting that has run everything through the blender and then burned it in the oven? Vanilla please.....

Quote from: ImperatorAfter that thread, JDCorley became unto my new god.

A-ha! That's the fella! I presume it was on RPGnet. It was pretty cool though.

I must admit that i like fleshed out settings, both FR and Wilderlands are cool. The real difference between those two is the cause of contention for many. Wilderlands is pretty fre-form, with large blank areas and tons of things that the PCs can do by simply being there, whilst most of FR is mapped out with ruling NPCs or groups already in-situ. Less apparant freedom to make the setting your own and i think that's all it is; a perception.

Quote from: David RDo that Hastur. Make sure he writes it all up

The problem's going to be how to flog it.  Either he does a proposal to WotC or he genercises the names to make it OGC (and makes coded references to "Blane" or a certain pipe and hat in a museum cabinet somewhere), which will suck righteously.  The whole point is that it's Forgotten Realms, but cool

FR is a cool, kitchen sink-like setting. It's just that some areas are overdone. I'd love to see some more WotC love for regions like the Shining South.

There are also some famous characters that become too popular for their own good (say, Drizzt), and some that got too much favoritism (Elminster, long etc). Fortunately, they are concentrated in the overdone regions, so you can ignore them at will. Attempts to introduce new "cool" NPCs can be spotted miles away.

The last FR campaign I ran (a couple years ago) had a group of Shar accolytes recovering a lost temple, east of the Lake of Steam. Good times.

Quote from: One Horse TownYes, there are ridiculously powerful NPCs who do get involved in the world-wide plots of Faerun. How does that impinge on the PCs being the centre of the story?

There are several FR adventures and (to a lesser degree) settign supplements that specifically put the NPC iconics in the lead protagonist roles, while relegating PCs to supporting roles. Stuff like the Avatar trilogy modules and Stardock come to mind.

These adventures are the norm for FR, and the fact that the novels (which are always about somebody else's characters) were/are considered canon for the Realms does a lot to narrow the scope of a PCs role in the setting, unless you're willing to throw a lot of that canon out the window.

Quote from: jdrakeh... unless you're willing to throw a lot of that canon out the window.

Ha ha ha!  Bombs away, monstertruckers!  Whominster?

I just find it kind of dull. There are other reasons that I don't like FR, but I don't really see what it offers me as a setting that I couldn't come up with on my own. There's no really good "hook" or idea when I read the book that leaves me going "That's a really cool take on that!" The time investment to get full use out of the FR background is time I'd rather spend fleshing out a homebrew tailored specifically to what I want to do.

J, of 'shitty physics engine' fame, describes the Forgotten Realms as a wet cardboard fantasy setting; "a dull, flavorless, textureless beige melange that fails to hold up to the slightest pressure and ultimately offers nothing to recommend it other than the fact it exists, and it's right there".

I love running FR for one reason and one reason alone: I get to mercilessly fuck with my player's preconceptions of the setting. They all have the FRCS, they all pretty much know what's up with all the little setting NPCs, and I get to fold, spindle, and mutilate to my heart's content.

Mike