Solo elf wandering Realms

Something I've wanted to run would be a campaign with an elven fighter-mage running solo. Maybe with one NPC follower. Kind of like Elric and Moonglum. Start the character at level 10 or so, and work up from there.

Of course, I'd run it in the Forgotten Realms, probably the Western Heartlands. Travel from Evereska down to Iriaebor over to Candlekeep and back. Become a famous adventurer that wipes out bandit camps and defeats evil mages.

It seems kind of lame and boring, but I think it would be a blast. Especially if I focused a bit more on acquiring old magic and researching it.

Forgotten Realms reboot

WotC is once again rebooting the Forgotten Realms, this time for 5e. Erik Scott de Bie has a nice SUMMARY of what's in store. It is still very general, without a ton of details. There's also a thread on CANDLEKEEP where Erik provide a bit more info.

I'm interested in what WotC is attempting. They know they need to fix the massive mistake that was the 4e Realms. Some stuff will be fixed by Ao rewriting the tablets of fate. Others will include Abeir once again being separated from Toril. All of this sounds good to me.

I will say I do not support the GLBT Politically-Correct Thought Police worming their way into future novels, but it wouldn't be nice for us to not allow them to push their agenda, even in gaming circles.

In any case, I hope the reboot is done very well, and is successful.

Forgotten Realms: my favored starting areas

I used to play a LOT of Forgotten Realms games. Almost all of them started in one of two areas: Boareskyr Bridge and near the Vast Swamp between Sembia and Cormyr.

The games in Boareskyr Bridge featured a very strong Western vibe, but instead of six-shooters, the characters had swords. We had one group that ended up being the actual sheriff and deputies of the area. It was a lot of fun, as the region is largely unsettled. Many Zhentarim and Amnish plots were foiled, as well as one halfling in the group becoming an extremely wealthy merchant. There were also a number of demons in the area, thanks to Dragonspear Castle.

The Vast Swamp region is pretty much perfect for adventuring, as well. There's the swamp, the Inner Sea, a monster-infested mountain range, and the borderlands between two countries that didn't always get along with each other (at least in my version of the Realms). It's more than enough stuff to keep a campaign going for years.

Of course, a few games were in the Thay region, just because they were such evil bastards, and a few more were in Waterdeep (especially after the release of the 2nd edition Waterdeep box). But the Bridge and the Vast Swamp still have the best memories for me.

Forgotten Realms gray box and religion in my games

This is an offshoot from an excellent post on the Stocking The Dungeon blog. Up until I got the gray box, I never really bothered with detailing my gods while playing D&D. Clerics just followed God or some evil force. It wasn't important. Religion wasn't a huge factor in the early Known World products that I had and used (as presented in the Isle of Dread, which was the basis for my first few campaigns).

Once I bought the gray box, though, that all changed. Religion was IMPORTANT. Lots of gods were introduced, and they had friends and enemies, and they affected the world. While this isn't really a big surprise for most of us, I was only 15 at the time and it clicked for me that I really should make the gods more important in my games.

Every since then, I've always made a point of having religion matter. Even if it's just the names of artifacts or the priests giving blessings. I was a huge fan of the Forgotten Realms for many years, so much of this was done for me, and made my life a lot easier. Faiths and Avatars was a great supplement that I got a lot of use out of. The other religion books were also well-received, but I've never owned them.

Thinking about it, I wonder how many other gamers had this happen to their games?

Mixing settings together

I'm sure I'm not the only person who mixes stuff from different settings together. I have a lot of fun doing so. And it lets me use some really cool stuff that other people have thought of.

Things I add to Forgotten Realms:
1. Shifters from Eberron. I really like this race. I wish they weren't so screwed over with feats. I really need to do a conversion of them for S&W.
2. Broo from Glorantha. Perfect bad guys. If you aren't  familiar with them, do a google search and read a couple articles, especially those with a focus on their god, Thed.
3. The Scarlet Brotherhood. Cool monk bad guys, who have a secret base in Chult in my world.
4. The City State of the Invincible Overlord, located in either the Border Kingdoms or the Western Heartlands, depending on convenience.
5. Various Planescape products. For when players want to explore extra dimensions.
6. Ravenloft monsters. The three monster books are just full of cool, creepy stuff.
7. The Ancients. An elven street gang from Shadowrun that I use in Waterdeep (minus motorcycles).
8. Adventures and maps. Just a grab bag of stuff here that I plop down whenever convenient. Which is kinda what these types of products are for, anyways.

Forgotten Realms publication history

Realms Info

A very cool historical bit on the early Forgotten Realms as posted by Jeff Grubb.

Campaign binders

My friend, John, who runs all of our Shadowrun campaigns, has a couple binders worth of info, just printouts and handwritten notes on tablet paper. It always seemed to be a big mess, but I'm starting to think it's a good idea. John had one binder with just NPCs, plotlines, and houserules, and another with all of Atlanta mapped out, including various building maps he made on an architect program he has, (and photocopied published Atlanta stuff from his Shadowrun books). He always runs our games in Atlanta, and over the 2 several years long campaigns I was in, and a few he ran before I knew him, he had a ton of info. I'm actually kind of jealous ;).

I tend to use a published city (Waterdeep) over the last 5 or 6 years. But I also was horrible about keeping campaign notes. If I had kept the various maps and NPCs I used, I'd have a lot more stuff to work with when I start up again. Instead, I'm back to my copies of the published material. That leaves me with a lot of information, but it also doesn't really leave the city as "mine". I have used bits from CSIO, Marienburg, Ptolus, and other published cities as well, especially NPCs.If I'd kept a running folder, even with notes like "this PC from this book goes here", my version of Waterdeep would be much more interesting to me. I have a fair amount of this stuff still in my head, but I never wrote it down. Maybe I'll have to do that soon.

My favorite "style" of old-school game

In general, I prefer a city setting. I actually had the most fun D&D gaming when we were in Waterdeep, but the DM was running the game like we were Shadowrunners instead of your standard D&D party. I know there is a fair amount of overlap, but Shadowrun has a distinct feel compared to D&D. We had a guy we met in taverns (our "fixer") who gave us missions, and we got paid in gold instead of nuyen.

Some of our missions were not very nice. We broke into places, kidnapped a noble's son, and robbed a couple merchant houses. But instead of using smart-linked Ares Predators, we had fireballs and longswords. It was a lot of fun. I haven't played in a D&D campaign like that since the mid-90's, but I will never forget it.

I'm thinking of running something like that the next time I get a gaming group together. I will focus on the street gangs, the taverns, and a couple mysterious people who need work done by discriminating adventurers. And I am not going to include alignment in the game, which I think will really change the players outlooks. I will keep stuff like Angels are good and Demons are evil, but alignment doesn't matter for normal people.

Forgotten Realms gray box

I may have mentioned a few times on a few boards that I'm a huge fan of the Forgotten Realms 1e gray box. I got it when I was 13 years old. Up until that time, I used the Known World as presented in Isle of Dread and Red Arrow, Black Shield.

What set the Gray Box apart from everything else:

1. Great maps. Sure, compared to later versions, they were largely blank and kinda plain. But all those blank spaces just screamed wilderness adventure to me. And with our Wild West style game, those open spaces were often just plains with huge herds of free-roaming bison and savage orc tribes and the occasional wandering elf-with-no-name.

2. Mercenary companies. I don't know why, but the inclusion of the sample mercenary companies was about the coolest thing ever when I was a kid.

3. The Zhentarim. A group of evil mages. Who were merchants. And who didn't mind killing people who got in their way. Manshoon is still the lead dog in my campaign. Fzool is just his toady.

4. Waterdeep. Not a ton of info in the box, but it quickly became my favorite rpg city once FR1 was published. Even though I used it as a far-off city that the occasional worldy, wealthy traveller came from for my friends to meet.

5. No god-like NPCs. They come later. At this point, Elminster is just a crabby old sage, not a super-powered world savior.

6. Iriaebor. My second-favorite city. The blueprint for Sharn. Luckily, never over-developed.

7. Evereska. A mountain citadel full of elves. Best idea ever.

8. The NPCs. Lots of good stuff here. Including stuff like low-level thieves the characters might meet. Heck, at this time, even Elminster was cool.

9. A detailed history. I'm a sucker for these. The recent battle in Shadowdale was really cool, and it's affects on everyone was well done.

My favorite TSR product

For me, it's the Forgotten Realms 1e gray box. I got the set not long after it was published in the 80's. Up until that point, I used the Known World, as it was presented in Isle of Dread and Red Arrow, Black Shield.

The FR box set was a real eye-opener for me. It included lots of cool information like mercenary companies and the Zhentarim, and had a real "Old West with swords" feel to it. This was before the 500 novels and supplements were published. I played for several years using just this set with my own home additions. My friends and I had a blast.

I really liked the wide open maps, with many lawless and uncivilized areas. Our game was centered at Boareskyr Bridge, which is a merchant tent city with only a couple mid-level adventurers keeping people in line. My friends eventually were the big movers and shakers in the area, and had to fight demons, orcs, and Zhent assassins. They also did a short recon of Evereska, from which they quickly retreated.

Our game maintained the stylings of the Old West as much as possible. There was a sword duel in main street at noon, orc raiders scalping human settlers, and other fun stuff. I really wish FR had maintained this. Instead, we got the Time of Troubles, Wild Magic, dinosaur people, Harpers under every rock, and the Chosen of Mystra.

I used to have a LOT of FR products. These days, I have the gray box and FR1 through FR6, and a fair collection of novels. I sold everything else.

I will say I like the new Waterdeep novels, even though they are set in the 4th edition timeline, since they are one and done, and generally concentrate on a few not-too-powerful individuals getting caught up in adventures in the City.