| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
 Posted - 24 Aug 2012 : 18:24:28
|
The only way I see that working - and not pissing everyone off in the process - is to have a very generic overview of how something is/works. Then give us a Web-Enhancement with time-specific details. The main source could contain a timeline - I have always loved those - but I am talking about who the 'movers and shakers' were in each era.
Or instance, suppose they told us that Sembia is ruled by 'merchant princes', but there is usually one who is able to manipulate most of the others into getting his/her way (a de facto leader). In each era, this should be someone different, and even be from different families as power waxes and wanes. The main merchant families (like cormyr's nobles) can be detailed, and major historic figures mentioned, but specific details of these individuals should go in era-specific Web Enhancements.
The internet is a beautiful tool - they need to learn how to utilize it to its maximum effect. I don't want a book that is 50% useful to me - I'd rather get a book with more general info, and a something I can download that specifically interests me and effects my campaign.
And BTW, can you imagine anyone not downloading the other information? You actually aren't doing anything at all different - you are just 'tricking' people into thinking they didn't pay for it. Its all about marketing. 
Nothing changes but perception, and we all know how much people's perception of things can make or break D&D. And besides, we would theoretically get never-ending sourcebooks that way. Any time an author decides to set a story somewhere during some other time period, all they have to do is upload a couple of pages of stuff to the WE for that product and *wallah* - instant update. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
|
Edited by - Markustay on 24 Aug 2012 18:29:24 |
 |
|
|
SirUrza
Master of Realmslore
USA
1283 Posts |
Posted - 24 Aug 2012 : 18:41:39
|
Yes web enhancements.. bring on the microtransactions and/or subscription fees in hope of getting something I want/can use.
Man.. these 6 years have made me bitter. |
"Evil prevails when good men fail to act."
The original and unapologetic Arilyn, Aribeth, Seoni Fanboy. |
|
|
|
Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 24 Aug 2012 : 18:44:53
|
quote:
Originally posted by SirUrza
They can't create product that support 2 different kings of Cormyr separated by a century with two totally radical political environments because of who they are and if they tried, half the book would be useless to people that don't want the other era.
Heh, did you ever read any of Brian Cortijo’s recent Cormyr articles? He did exactly what you describe in one of them and the article is 100% useful to me.
That said I’m probably not one of the people you’re talking about, since you’re describing people who have hard-coded era preferences, whereas I don’t hamstring my like for Cormyr to certain segments of the timeline.
For me, Cormyr is Cormyr. If you give me in one product a description of Aulsair’s Court and Foril’s Court (as one of Cortijo’s Cormyr articles provided), I’ll happily gobble up all that information because it’s interesting to me even before I get down to the process of using bits and pieces from the whole article for my D&D campaign.
It’s true that some Realms fans pick material by what era a given product covers. But it’s also true there’s a lot of people out there (myself included) who pick material based on what region a book covers. I hope WotC caters to us a whole bunch.
Note: I think it’s important to remember that multi-era books covering a specific place don’t only provide facts relevant to a given era. There’s much information that’s consistent and true across the lifetime of a place that these books also provide. For example, if you write an article about Ranks and Titles in Cormyr (another Cortijo article), DMs can pretty much use that information across the full spectrum of the timeline. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
Edited by - Jeremy Grenemyer on 24 Aug 2012 18:47:18 |
|
|
|
sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12194 Posts |
Posted - 24 Aug 2012 : 20:43:46
|
quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer
quote:
Originally posted by SirUrza
They can't create product that support 2 different kings of Cormyr separated by a century with two totally radical political environments because of who they are and if they tried, half the book would be useless to people that don't want the other era.
Heh, did you ever read any of Brian Cortijo’s recent Cormyr articles? He did exactly what you describe in one of them and the article is 100% useful to me.
That said I’m probably not one of the people you’re talking about, since you’re describing people who have hard-coded era preferences, whereas I don’t hamstring my like for Cormyr to certain segments of the timeline.
For me, Cormyr is Cormyr. If you give me in one product a description of Aulsair’s Court and Foril’s Court (as one of Cortijo’s Cormyr articles provided), I’ll happily gobble up all that information because it’s interesting to me even before I get down to the process of using bits and pieces from the whole article for my D&D campaign.
It’s true that some Realms fans pick material by what era a given product covers. But it’s also true there’s a lot of people out there (myself included) who pick material based on what region a book covers. I hope WotC caters to us a whole bunch.
Note: I think it’s important to remember that multi-era books covering a specific place don’t only provide facts relevant to a given era. There’s much information that’s consistent and true across the lifetime of a place that these books also provide. For example, if you write an article about Ranks and Titles in Cormyr (another Cortijo article), DMs can pretty much use that information across the full spectrum of the timeline.
One thing they could do is actually put out essentially "empire history books", focused at first around the realms countries that are exceptionally popular from both 3e and maybe 4e (moreso the ones popular from 3e considering who their trying to win back). I recommend against doing those that have seen a lot of this type of thing already (for instance, Cormyr). So, lets take Halruaa as an example. We've all seen the history as presented in the page or two blurb in Shining South... and we may have picked up more in the Grand History of the Realms. However, the Grand History is thereby spread out. What if someone were to write up a history of Halruaa starting from the first colony, what adversity they had, etc.... then move into the formation of their country, the lines of rulers, go into more detail into problems they had over the years, maybe discuss magic spells and items developed over the years, rumors of this or that wizard and what happened when they died that can be turned into adventure hooks in later millenia, talk about the actual rise of the red wizards and who they were and why they left Halruaa to found Thay etc...
Now take this same topic, apply it to Thay, but build from that history you presented in the Halruaa book... you've got an entirely different story... but don't stop it with Szass Tam taking over.. tell the story of what happened to the other Zulkirs... and maybe hint at where those other Zulkirs led and did it turn into something. Now, do Mulhorand from the time of their god's arrival to the spellplague... and then tell the story of where they went after the spellplague (and if it was Abeir, it gives the ability to flesh out some of Abeir, but localized to Mulhorand).
A similar thing could be done for Impiltur, Damara, Neverwinter (though maybe Neverwinter got this treatment in 4E? Not sure, I haven't kept up), Amn, Tethyr, Calimshan, and other areas of the realms that haven't had this type of treatment yet. Then, from those histories, snippets could be gathered together and resources on various dead empires that haven't gotten a lot of coverage could be given more detail (Raumathar, Narfell, Imaskar, the fallen kingdom, Talfir, the era of the giants, etc....).
In doing this, it might be that authors might find that they want to write a story based in the 1100's in Calimshan. If there's no RSE's in the novel (or if the point of the novel is to detail the RSE that already happened), then it should be doable.
And people may want to run their campaigns in earlier periods, etc... |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
Sundering and Game Design
