| Kris the Grey |
Speaking of an unprecedented opportunity...
I'm a lifelong gamer (I started with the red box) and part of what disappoints me about 4E is the change to the magic system. I understand the concepts of class balance and a desire to evolve the game into a version that is immediately playable as either a miniatures war-game or a MMORPG, but you must admit they have GUTTED the wizard class and made changes that will RADICALLY alter 'wizard first' or 'magic heavy' settings like...the Forgotten Realms.
Frankly, I just can't see HOW they manage a Realms transition under the new system and keep the flavor that made it such a popular world. What you have is a time-space BREAK between the old Realms and the new. One that reminds me of the break that occurred when Dragonlance went post Dragons of Summer Flame (and of new Coke...but I digress).
Now, I suspect that WoTC will cling like drowning men to the Realms license (as it is a massive money maker for them in the novels line alone), but what I think COULD be done (and I suspect someone like an Ed Greenwood - who is onboard with Pathfinder I hear - would no doubt be instrumental in) is to try to gain a license for the 'Classic Realms' period (basically anything prior to Mystra's death) and develop a world setting based upon it.
You have an enormous historical range to draw from, WoTC could care less about what you do in most of it, and it would allow those 3.5E Realms fans who are disenchanted with 4E a place to set a Pathfinder rules based game that IMMEDIATELY feels like home.
I recognize there would be copyright and other such legal issues you'd have to smooth out (I'm a actually a judge when I'm not off slaying dragons...lol), but anything can be worked out if the resources are available to make it happen. And, such a partnership might even make sense for WoTC as it would keep a great portion of their fan base happy and buying FR materials (novels particularly).
Anyway, just a thought. Group reaction?
Kris