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Ozreth
Learned Scribe
247 Posts |
 Posted - 13 Feb 2026 : 03:41:21
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Coming off of the BG live action thread - Does the handling of the Realms in the last 15, 20, 30 etc, years (subjective to all of us) and the fact that it is now an essentially Disney-fied IP first, game world second turn you off from wanting to run it, work on it and expand it. Does your Realms still feel like your Realms? Does it excite you?
I have had an off and on relationship with the setting, mostly off for the last 10+ years, but have recently attempted to return at the behest of my players. Unfortunately, I am online enough to always be running into the new products from the game books to the novels to the newly announced HBO show and it has reminded me of why I finally left the setting the first time, but it is far worse now.
The 1e Realms and a good amount of the 3e releases are what I enjoy, and I am wondering if I am misplaced in my lessening enjoyment of this era and the setting in general.
What has been your experience and relationship in this regard?
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3256 Posts |
Posted - 13 Feb 2026 : 12:07:33
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| I may not have liked some decisions through the years (Looking at you, Bruce), but I've never not loved the Realms. Passion projects like by Pathfinder conversion keep me going and I still love the lore that comes out (especially from Ed's patreon)! |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Trumm
Acolyte
23 Posts |
Posted - 13 Feb 2026 : 12:28:48
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In a nutshell: I loved the 2E Realms, was fine with the 3E Realms and lost interest in their in world developments when 4E and the time jump happened.
Baldurs Gate 3, the D&D movie and the Waterdeep Dragon Heist module have been my only contact with the current Realms and while I enjoyed them more than I expected,
they somewhat lacked the classical FR flair I prefer. I had a similar experience with the Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse-Box and while the Realms have
retained at least some of their atmosphere, I still find it very hard to reconcile the new Planescape setting with my perception of the old 2E publications.
But the older I get, the more relaxed I tend to see those things. I don't expect things to be exactly the way I would prefer them to be, enjoy them as much as I can
and try to not take it all too seriously.
I don't need the setting to be an evolving campaign world supported by official products. I can run and play it my way, in the era I prefer, include newer snippets and parts
I care for and ignore everything else.
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HighOne
Learned Scribe
253 Posts |
Posted - 13 Feb 2026 : 15:17:04
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One of the joys of playing in a living, shared setting is that we're all enjoying the same thing together. But FR is no longer living (the product line is basically dead) and it's no longer shared either; we're all playing different versions of the Realms, the latest of which (5E) is so different from the others that it might as well be its own setting. So yes, it's harder to enjoy FR these days.
I don't know what the solution is. Cultural fragmentation is happening everywhere, not just gaming, so it's not necessarily Wizards' fault that these things are happening. (How do you hold a community together when literally everything is pulling apart?) But I'd kind of like a do-over of the past 30 years of history, where we acknowledge our screw-ups and try to do better. |
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Is it difficult for you to love the Realms in 2026
