Just query on 4E FR. What are people playing in Forgotten Realms Campaigns, the New Timeline (after spellplague) or the 3.5 Timeline?
Just query on 4E FR. What are people playing in Forgotten Realms Campaigns, the New Timeline (after spellplague) or the 3.5 Timeline?3.5 Timeline (c1374, Shadowdale). My players love the new 4e rules but hate the spellplague change.
Totally agree, I can't do with the messing with the setting. Really this was the biggest mistake so far because if they'd have updated the realms by a couple of years, left the gods alone they would have gotten a better reaction to 4E.
Then if needs be this 'Spellplague' stuff could have come in a Dragon Magazine as an option rather than trying to ram the new races and changes into the games.
My pbp here is in the new timeline, post Spellplague. I'm entirely new to FR, so have no sense of what I've missed and to me, the Spellplague is an extremely useful plot device.
At present the party are trying to find and save the sister of the one of the pcs who deliberately ran into a patch of Spellplague to escape Thayan slavers.
I can see that for veteran FR players, it would be a huge change, but as a complete newbie, it works for me.
My pbp here is in the new timeline, post Spellplague. I'm entirely new to FR, so have no sense of what I've missed and to me, the Spellplague is an extremely useful plot device.
At present the party are trying to find and save the sister of the one of the pcs who deliberately ran into a patch of Spellplague to escape Thayan slavers.
I can see that for veteran FR players, it would be a huge change, but as a complete newbie, it works for me.
No worries, glad it is working for your group.
Trouble is existing players who've played in the Realms for years(myself included) who were wondering about 4E, took one look at the storyline of 4E Realms and closed the door on 4E because we'd have to convert back to 3rd ed timeline.The Realms has developed nicely since 1st edition and the 'Spellplague' seemed a very thin plot line to change the setting to fit completely to 4E. This was unnecessary as they could have kept the setting as was and only brought in the adjustments. Dragonborn could could have been a type of Saurials ( from Alias books) with very limited adjustment instead of changing a whole country.
Just thought it was unfortunate that they didn't do a pole of their players and determine what players reaction would be to such a huge change( and effect sales in the long term).
I do play 4E but not in the Realms yet(planning converting back timeline).
You gotta love anecdotyl evidence...
What would you perfer that they made these chances that (some) existing players dont like (I speak from experience I know old hand forgotten realms peeps who really love the changes) without consulting the fanbase or that they made these changes (that (some) existing players dont like) after consulting the fanbase. (did a survey, had practical knowledge of their fans, etc, not necessarily kissing ass here at paizo or other 'grognard' hotspots if you will)
Either way you dont like the changes.... and I'm pretty sure you would still be complaining, so it seems the issue is more ' you dont like it' than 'they didn't consult the players those dasterdly smurfs'
You gotta love anecdotyl evidence...
What would you perfer that they made these chances that (some) existing players dont like (I speak from experience I know old hand forgotten realms peeps who really love the changes) without consulting the fanbase or that they made these changes (that (some) existing players dont like) after consulting the fanbase. (did a survey, had practical knowledge of their fans, etc, not necessarily kissing ass here at paizo or other 'grognard' hotspots if you will)
Either way you dont like the changes.... and I'm pretty sure you would still be complaining, so it seems the issue is more ' you dont like it' than 'they didn't consult the players those dasterdly smurfs'
On the contrary, I just thought the new timeline seemed very badly thought out, heavy handed method of shoehorning the new system into a very well liked Campaign setting. The result of which lost them a lot of the older school of players from 4th edition.
I don't give a dam whether 'I' was consulted because for the new setting or not, I just thought they lost some serious revenue from the DM's who would obviously dislike the new setting ( it shouldn't have taken a marketting genius to predict that reaction).I myself was so appalled at the new timeline I decided that I wanted to run a 4th edition but couldn't stand even trying to use the new FR so decided to start my own world using the map and setting from the DMG.
In short I am just curious how many DM's are running the new Realms and who are running 4E Realms with 3.5 Timeline. I am pleased to see 4E in the main is doing well because I do think it's a brave step forward.
I'm running in the new timeline primarily because I like the DDi tools so much I just want to stick to canon as represented in the character builder etc....
I use older products, particularly the maps, as inspiration. It's very easy to convert an old 3.5E (or earlier edition) site into a post-Spellplague dungeon/ruin and the earlier edition descriptions can help spark ideas for the site.
Frex, I have a campaign centred around Silverymoon. I wanted a simple dungeon to run as an introductory adventure and looked at the map from 3E's Silver Marches product. I saw Rauvinwatch Keep about 20 or so miles west of Silverymoon and decided to make that a ruin touched by the Spellplague.
It's cool because I can use the earlier description to give some underlying logic and backstory to the dungeon and any lore-nazi (and I don't have any) would be able to find the easter egg that this represents.
My only real complaint about the 4E version of the Realms is that the maps are just so appallingly bad. They would have to be the worstmaps that I think WotC have ever published. I don't think I am being guilty of hyperbole for saying that.
The maps are particularly useless, I must say. Trying to find the Gray Vale took me over an hour, which as a Realms newcomer I didn't much appreciate. I'm putting any horrible mistakes I make down to the Spellplague, but that's not to say I wouldn't prefer to have a map I can use.
I have to say I'm not much of a fan of the new Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Some of my favorite races, cultures, and deities are now gone, and the rich tapestry of history that so much turned me onto Forgotten Realms in the first place now feels bleached and washed out.
I understand that they were trying to respond to customer complaints about the Realms, but I feel very much like I got a product that I never asked for, and that makes me very disappointed.
i dont see there being a problem with the new realms. i think it was sufficating under its own weight.
i play 4e, i dm 4e. although my campign is in greyhawk. i will prolly run something in realms later.
one of the good things about the reboot, and im glad they did, is that at any given time, your little campaign area could go through some upheaval. some new product would come out, and you would either have to tell your players that the book doesnt exist, or rewrite your whole thing.
thats another reason that i like the campaign guide, players guide, one modual approach. with supplement things showing up on ddi. which is where it belongs. you are not going to get book about book after book, with microscoping this area, that area, etc.
long like 4e and long live wotc.