 Goto [ Index ] |
Then Third Edition came, and I still think that the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book is gorgeous, maybe the best 3E supplement that Wizards of the Coast published. It’s well written, easy to understand and packed with tons of useful information.
Now the Fourth Edition is here, and a new Realms book became necessary. The designers took one important decision: to go back to a completely new starting point, now a hundred years in the future. I can completely understand this, because popular settings like the Realms or Dragonlance have one enormous problem. The market demands a lot of novels, so the authors have to create many conflicts in order to fuel them. But since it is necessary to keep the familiar characters, the result is having many major cataclysms in just a few years (simply read the DL chronology, which is really a soap opera).
The designers also had a constraint, which was including all new 4E features in the Realms, specially the new races, cosmology and magic system. At the same time they thought it was a good moment to get rid of features they didn’t like, including the false Aztecs and ancient Egyptians, the huge inflation of gods or several distant lands.
After months of rumors, speculation and many complains from the die-hard fans, the new Campaign Guide is here and we can review it.
Contents
Introduction (2 pages)The usual “Welcome to our world” not only introduces the setting, but also lists the ten major changes from the previous edition.
Chapter One. Loudwater (31 pages)
The book doesn’t start with the typical world description, but with a town specially suited for starting characters and even one encounter! Therefore the fourth page with text of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide begins this way:
“The characters start in Loudwater’s South Square. Place miniatures of the townspeople (T) on the battle grid as indicated by the tactical map. Then have players put miniatures of their characters in unoccupied squares on the map. Next, provide the readaloud text and then ask the players to roll initiative”.
I know the designers want to follow the “Let’s start playing immediately!” philosophy, but I think that an average tactical combat with goblins is a waste of space. If you want to write a first encounter, it should reflect the world’s main concepts and themes. Unless the main concept is “average fantasy”, of course.
The chapter then describes the town of Loudwater and includes three adventures, called “Barrow of the Ogre King”, “Lair of Shadows” and “Snake Folk of Najara”, plus several adventure sites.
Now let me be evil for just one paragraph. When I was reading this chapter I thought a lot about Rise of the Runelords: Burnt Offerings. The town, the maps, the adventure… they all looked like a much weaker version of the Paizo book. Maybe I’m wrong, but I detect a strong influence. Ok, back to the neutral mode.
Chapter Two. Adventuring (10 pages)
This is a really weird chapter. In includes some useful information, but the way it’s organized it’s quite strange. The five sections are:
• Your campaign in 1479 DR. How to adjust your existing campaign to the new timeline and ruleset. Briefly: use a time portal.
• Traveling the world. Forms of transportation in the new, more hostile world, plus a reference to the legal systems.
• History. A really short section, specially because all information between -3000 DR and the present time is described in just two paragraphs. Briefly: buy The Gran History of the Realms.
• Treasures. Different treasures for the different ranges of value described in the Dungeon’s Master Guide. An example: “100 gp: A copper chamber pot, embossed with the design of a rampant, stylized dragon”.
• Glossary. Terms and expressions from the Realms.
Chapter Three. Magic (12 pages)
Two pages describe the Spellplague, the most important event in the Realm’s recent history. It was caused by the death of Mystra, the goddess of magic, and caused enormous changes in the geography, cosmology and magic art. Some survivors of the plague were physically and mentally affected, and they’re called the plaguechanged and spellscarred.
“Fantastic Features” lists several wondrous features, like earth nodes, earthmotes (flying pieces of land), fey sites, mythals, plaguelands and portals. The chapter also includes eight new magic items and two new rituals.
Chapter Four. Cosmology (10 pages)
The Forgotten Realms didn’t follow the “Great Wheel” cosmology, although the own planes were frequently ignored. The new Realms, thanks to the Spellplague, include the 4E worlds: the Astral Sea, the Elemental Chaos, the Feywild and the Shadowfell, which are described here.
Chapter Five. Pantheon (12 pages)
This is another weird chapter. The world designers said that they wanted to eliminate the inflation of gods, just keeping the most important ones. The problem is that I think they just eliminated them from the book and not from the game world.
The chapter starts with the sixteen greater gods, which are described in a few paragraphs. They are Amaunator (for some time known as Lathander), Asmodeus, Bane, Chauntea, Corellon, Cyric, Ghaunadur, Gruumsh, Kelemvor, Lolth, Moradin, Oghma, Selűne, Shar, Silvanus, Sune, Tempus and Torm.
There are also nineteen “normal” gods, less powerful than the previous ones. Only one is described as an “example god”, Umberlee, but there’s a table listing them, and it includes old friends like Auril, Garl Glittergold, Tiamat or Waukeen.
Exarchs are demigods, servants of the main gods. Again only one is described, Marthammor Duin, but a table also includes known names like Clangeddin, Hoar, The Read Night or Siamorphe.
The Primordials rule the realms of the Elemental Chaos. They’re Akadi (air), Bazim-Gorag (chaos), Grumbar (earth), Istishia (water) and Kossuth (fire). Finally, the nine Archdevils are the most powerful forces of pure evil.
Chapter Six. Faerűn and Beyond (154 pages)
After more than eighty pages we finally reached the gazetteer. The world is divided in three sections: Faerűn, Returned Abeir and the Underdark.
Faerűn gets most of the chapter. More of fifty regions and cities are described, from Aglarond to Waterdeep, and four obvious space reasons I won’t cover them. They all get from one to six pages, starting with a “Lore” section based on skill checks. For example, with Streetwise DC 15 or History DC 20 your character knows what the paragraph says.
Some regions are very well known and remain almost unchanged, like Baldur’s Gate, Cormyr or the Moonshae Islands. Others suffered enormous transformations like Var the Golden, which is now Var the Drowned. Several are new, like the genasi land of Akanűl, or come from the distant past (the Empire of Netheril). I also have to mention that Thay is now inhabited by the undead.
Long ago the world was divided in two: Toril for the gods and Abeir for the Primordials. The Spellplague made the two pieces collide and separate again, but some parts of one merged with the other. Now there’s an enormous landmass west of Faerűn, called Returned Abeir. Nine regions are described, mixing civilized territories and a even great metropolis with wild and evil places.
Finally the Underdark, that vast network of subterranean tunnels, also suffered some transformations. But don’t worry, Menzoberranzan is still there.
Chapter Seven. Threats (50 pages)
The main bad guys of the setting are described in the last chapter. Many of them come from the first editions, including the drow, Thay, the Zhentarim or the Churches of Bane and Shar, but others are new. All sections include new creatures and villains with their combat tactics and usual encounters, following the 4E template.
Conclusions
When I was thinking about my review I was a bit confused, because I first mixed two things, the setting and the book, which I should consider separately.Do I like the new 4E Realms? Here my answer is yes. I’m not a die-hard fan, and I have no problem accepting many of the authors’ decisions. Advancing the timeline and getting rid of old plots and characters is a good idea for an old, dense setting like this. Of course some changes feel forced and others are simply stupid: the LG god of justice killed his lifelong friend the LN god of guardians? And it was a passion crime? Moreover, I have no doubt that the new novels will make things complex again, and I guess the Exarch category will be a way to reward iconic NPCs.
Let me also say that I don’t agree with those people who say that these are not the Realms. Forgotten Realms has always been a mixture of many sources, the main one being D&D itself, and one country more or less doesn’t change this.
Unfortunately, while I like the setting I cannot praise the book, especially when I compare it to the 3E version.
First of all, there’s a lot of white space and the font size is really large. Therefore, the amount of information is smaller. Just compare the two books entries for Chult, which is a good choice because it hasn’t changed that much. The 3E version is longer, better written and describes a more inspiring place.
More problems with the new Campaign Guide. The first chapter is a waste of space: it’s poorly written, uninspired and fails to show the Realm’s true spirit. Other chapters, like the second, third and fifth, are weirdly organized and lack many important information. Pointing to another book in order to know the previous history is almost insulting, and the space devoted to the gods is also minimal. Even the greater gods get only a few words. Again, compare this to the 3E book, with plenty of details of each religion.
About the map, it’s not bad but it could have been much better.
Many people will say that the new Guide will be easier for newcomers. But great designers achieve this through good writing skills and an intelligent delivery of information, not simply publishing a shorter book. Others consider that this kind of book gives more freedom to the DM in order to create their own settings, but here I also disagree. After all, everything in a RPG book is optional, you don’t have to play the Realms like they are described in the Guide, but more text means more ideas, places, story seeds…
Therefore, there’s only one explanation: they want us to keep buying books. 3E Faiths and Pantheons (an excellent manual, by the way) was really optional, while the new one will be a must. And while I know that publishers have to sell in order to exist, here they simply made it too obvious. A pity, because the new Realms deserved a much better book.
