Tying 4E FR Changes to Computer CRPGs

[Xard]

Roleplaying fantasy sucks anyway

 

Apart from few exceptions like Planescape, but I have hard time to put it in same genre as FR

[Magister Lajciak]

I thought you liked games such as BG2 and Motb, no?

 

Personally, I like fantasy CRPGs and Sci-Fi CRPGs. I have more or less no interest in playing CRPGs set in the real world or in the present era.

[Xard]

BG2 and Mask of the Betrayer are superb games and great stories, especially the latter one in story department.

 

However, that's not due to their setting. MotB showed how you can weave powerful, deep stories even in milieu like they had (BG2 too, although "deep" might not be word I'd use). Emphasis on even.

 

Granted, Rashemen is rather interesting place and way MotB's story was told some of the clearest stupidities of FR did not affect it. Actually, I rather like Rashemen a lot like some other areas in Faerun (Chult looks like it has a lot potential, I hope NWN2's next expansion pack would take place there), but overall Realms are stupid and cliched. Especially the Sword Coast. I swear, if I ever have to save one frickin' city that lies there I go nuts.

 

It's problem with nearly all DnD settings though (Dark Sun, Planescape and Eberron ((to some extent)) not withstanding), especially with Greyhawk the horrible and Realms that should be forgotten.

Edited December 15, 2007 by Xard

[Magister Lajciak]

BG2 and Mask of the Betrayer are superb games and great stories, especially the latter one in story department.

 

However, that's not due to their setting. MotB showed how you can weave powerful, deep stories even in milieu like they had (BG2 too, although "deep" might not be word I'd use). Emphasis on even.

 

We clearly share an opinion on the Mask of the Betrayer - I think it was one of the best CRPGs I have ever played - perhaps even the very best. Why, though, do you think BG2 was not deep? Admittedly, I played BG2 a many years ago, when I was much younger than now, so my memory is failing on the details, but it certainly seemed deep to me then. (Note: I don't replay CRPGs, no matter how good they are - the story I craft when I go through the game for the first time is THE story for me.)

 

Granted, Rashemen is rather interesting place and way MotB's story was told some of the clearest stupidities of FR did not affect it. Actually, I rather like Rashemen a lot like some other areas in Faerun (Chult looks like it has a lot potential, I hope NWN2's next expansion pack would take place there), but overall Realms are stupid and cliched. Especially the Sword Coast. I swear, if I ever have to save one frickin' city that lies there I go nuts.

 

It's problem with nearly all DnD settings though (Dark Sun, Planescape and Eberron ((to some extent)) not withstanding), especially with Greyhawk the horrible and Realms that should be forgotten.

 

I also enjoyed the Rashemen setting and would welcome an expansion in Chult, but I don't think the Realms are stupid overall. It may be cliched somewhat, but to some extent this is a strength from my point of view, since it gives a baseline of familiarity and the cliches that don't fit can always be destroyed in the story in some way. Indeed, doing that often makes for a good story, probably better than if the cliches did not exist in the first place.

 

BTW: Dark Sun is my probably favorite D&D setting. Eberron, however, I don't like at all.

[Pop]

I can't play any D&D setting that still exists (Planescape and Ravenloft don't count) outside of the FR. I've played X many games in it and X many PNP campaigns and I know it better than any other setting, and I don't care about other settings. At all. Dragonlance and Greyhawk are dreadfully boring, and every time a new setting is introduced it sucks worse because they have to rely on even more cliches to sketch out the detail of the setting and keep it from being off-puttingly unfamiliar. Have you tried playing a PNP campaign with a DM who makes his own setting? It's like a fairy tale being made up on the spot. It's painful. I suppose part of the reason I like the FR so much is that it lacks any of that "fairy tale" quaintness.

Edited December 15, 2007 by Pop

[Magister Lajciak]

I can't play any D&D setting that still exists (Planescape and Ravenloft don't count) outside of the FR. I've played X many games in it and X many PNP campaigns and I know it better than any other setting, and I don't care about other settings. At all. Dragonlance and Greyhawk are dreadfully boring, and every time a new setting is introduced it sucks worse because they have to rely on even more cliches to sketch out the detail of the setting and keep it from being off-puttingly unfamiliar. Have you tried playing a PNP campaign with a DM who makes his own setting? It's like a fairy tale being made up on the spot. It's painful. I suppose part of the reason I like the FR so much is that it lacks any of that "fairy tale" quaintness.

 

I like FR, but most of the PnP games are run are set in my homebrews. For what it's worth, I don't think my homebrews at all fairy-tale-like beyond the general similarity of all fantasy to fairy tales in terms of the existence of imaginary creatures.

[Istima Loke]

I can't play any D&D setting that still exists (Planescape and Ravenloft don't count) outside of the FR. I've played X many games in it and X many PNP campaigns and I know it better than any other setting, and I don't care about other settings. At all. Dragonlance and Greyhawk are dreadfully boring, and every time a new setting is introduced it sucks worse because they have to rely on even more cliches to sketch out the detail of the setting and keep it from being off-puttingly unfamiliar. Have you tried playing a PNP campaign with a DM who makes his own setting? It's like a fairy tale being made up on the spot. It's painful. I suppose part of the reason I like the FR so much is that it lacks any of that "fairy tale" quaintness.

 

So, what's wrong with fairy tales, again?

Edited December 16, 2007 by Istima Loke

[Pop]

They don't make interesting RPGs. I prefer my fantastical elements to be more or less treated as mundane within a setting, I can't really immerse myself otherwise, and fairy tales generally rely on the sense of wonder that comes from what's out of the ordinary. I'm not 12 years old anymore.

Edited December 16, 2007 by Pop

[Istima Loke]

Thanks for the answer. I was curious about the reason people see fairy tales that way.

[Sand]

They don't make interesting RPGs. I prefer my fantastical elements to be more or less treated as mundane within a setting, I can't really immerse myself otherwise, and fairy tales generally rely on the sense of wonder that comes from what's out of the ordinary. I'm not 12 years old anymore.

 

That is how I treated my Sphere campaign. The magical aspects of the game world was infused with the culture. The city watch wouldn't wonder how and why there is webbing in the streets. They would know some wizard or sorcerer casted Web and be annoyed. Merchants would have wards on their shops and guards with See Invisible or Detect Thoughts in use.

[Magister Lajciak]

I like RPG campaigns that feature some philosophical dilemnas and epiphanies.

 

In any case, I think a game (possibly the next NWN2 expansion) tied to the 4E FR changes could be pretty deep in this aspect.

[newc0253]

I think it's unlikely that any future D&D CRPG would allow you to determine the outcome of a major shift in any setting, if only because WOTC seems mighty possessive of its settings.

 

of course it's illogical, given that most modules involve you in some earth-shattering event, e.g. the opportunity to become a god at the end of TOB, but heaven forfend if you permanently kill Elminster or Dripptz.

 

I don't care about the FR enough to mind the particular changes they've outlined. it seems to me that commercial pressures dictate that any setting be rejigged from time to time, c.f. Greyhawk, the Traveller universe, etc, as a way to keep things interesting and - most of all - as an opportunity to sell more books.

[Magister Lajciak]

I am wondering if the Storm of Zehir will deal with the events of the FR transition from 3.5E to 4E and if so, whether this thread perhaps helped inspire the direction of Storm of Zehir in this regard? That would be cool.

Before posting it here, I also pitched the notion on the WotC boards and Rich Baker seemed to be open to the idea, so perhaps Storm of Zehir might go that route, but he was not responsible for computer-game stuff at WotC, so maybe not.

[Tale]

Well, it's been stated on the Bio boards that Storm of Zehir takes place in 1374. Which would be 11 years before Spellplague. So, I doubt we'll see anything too drastic out of it. Maybe just the rumblings of what's to come and powers moving into position.