Have your Forgotten the Forgotten Realms?

For a moment I did.

The 4e campaign guide was sitting there under the DMG 2, under the Eberron Campaign Guide . . . just sitting there lonely.

When I first purchased the book (and the companion Player Guide), I was not impressed. While I liked the PG’s swordmage, dark pact, and spellscarred options, the FRCS felt  . . . meh. I’d spent a lot of my 2e career DMing in the Realms, and the 4e version of Faerun felt different just for the sake of being different. I put the book aside and forgot about it . . .

Due to the fact I will be finishing my Master’s degree and seeking a Ph.D., it is likely I am going to be moving again. This fact got me to thinking (like everything does) about RPGs. I’ve got a pretty solid group of guys to game with here. Consistently show up, want to play, and we are all friends aside – I wanted to run one more 1-30 campaign for them, for me, before I rambled on.

But what?

Initially, I had big ideas of a homebrew world full of grit and darkness and house rules . . . but with teaching, working on a thesis, pursuing my fiction, and my small freelance ‘career’, time wasn’t available to do that. Besides, some of my ideas of fun, I think may run contrary to what my players would want . . .

Eberron seemed a viable alternative. I like the pulp-noir feel, I enjoyed the campaign setting, but as I dug into the setting harder than I ever had before, I noticed something that made me shy away from running it. Points. Of. Light.

I really enjoy the 4e points of light concept, of vast swathes of darkness crisscrossing the land. Eberron with its nations and its conspiracies doesn’t encapsulate the feel I am looking for. I wanted a campaign that could feel more rugged, more episodic . . .

Forgotten Realms! I dug through the book again, and for some reason things really popped with me. The spellplague’s created this world that, while depending on it, has to have grown wary of magic. It is war torn with the shades of Netheril leading the way. It is points of light, Anarauch, Damara, Narfell, and just so much uncharted land in general between the cities on the map.  I got so swept up in the Forgotten Realms fever, I skimmed the boards and the wiki, and I whipped up a campaign guide centering on Maloren’s Rest, a small Cormyrian village abutting the Farsea Swamp.

I’ve already posted the campaign guide (a few posts back), and I don’t want to ruin the game. But I will be posting a campaign journal. . .

Really the point of this post is to just say give the Realms one more chance. I feel it gets some bad raps because of the powerful NPCs, but you know what, that’s a DM thing. I for one am looking forward to uncovering ancient Netherese ruins, lots of magic items, and partaking in high adventure across the width and breadth of Faerun once more . . . and here’s a little treat that my player’s can likely look forward to meeting down the road.

(As always a work in progress)

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One other thing I want to mention is NEVERMET PRESS. You can check them out in my blogroll, but the reason I really wanted to mention them is to ‘pimp’ some writing I did with them.

So here is the skinny:

NMP just released the first of the Portrait of a Villain series; this one details the Desire, a seductive woman who uses her wiles and intelligence to rule her criminal empire with an iron hand clothed in a velvet glove.

The PDF is only $9.95 (I’ve got the link for sale to the right) and you get a lot for that. And the great thing about it is that it is full of drop-in and use material; that is to say it is not all linked together, but it is all derived from different designers view concept of the Desire.

Included you will see: (~ = about)

~ 25 new statblocks full of 4e baddies (arguably the most useful 3 party product for 4e, as it is very easy to cut and paste or put into the Monster Builder)

~ 6 new magic items.

1 new paragon path.

A fully developed city. A handful of fully developed organizations. 3 fully developed encounters. A bunch of art and maps . . . a lot of other stuff I’m missing.

So, if you are a DM and you want material that is comprehensive enough to place a whole heroic level arc around look no further. You will not be disappointed.

Overall, I highly recommend it – and heck you’d help feed a rogue, which keeps me off the streets!

Distributed Workshop – 7/31/09

Remember a while back when I said, arguably the most useful 3rd party products are the ones that expand your game (ie. DM stuff, adventures, monsters, setting material) . . . well that is what Nevermet Press is cranking out.

Recently articles have surrounded Immeril Lithos and his unique villainy. One thing mentioned in a few of these articles are the furum entities.

Here they are in PDF Format – Furum Entities

Yes, this my first time using the WotC monster builder; it is nice, but its formatting blows compared to Asmor’s.

Distributed Workshop 7/17/09

I hope you’ve enjoyed the publication cycle of Nevermet Press. How bout that Desire, huh? I love a strong woman . . .

Anyways, here are some 4th edition stats that may be of interest to you:

Objects of Desire (4e) – John Payne introduced us to a variety of interesting magic items that could prove extremely useful in any numberof fantasy campaigns. Here they are statted for the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

Brotherhood of Infinite Nights (4e) – The wonderfully talented and amazingly attractive author of wonderful, luminescent literature, ME . . . ok, kidding aside. I hope you enjoyed my contribution to NMP this cycle; the Brotherhood of Infinite Nights are eladrin gangsters and here they are as mid-high heroic baddies for your PCs to beat the hell out of.

Articles found here – Brotherhood & Objects.

In a few fridays I will return with more 4th edition goodness and, perhaps, some M&M . . .

Check It

Check it out!
Nevermet Press is a new website that will be providing system-neutral for you to easily grab, digest, and use for your home game.

This is the brainchild of Jonathan Jacobs (a mastermind behind The Open Game Table) and Michael Brewer, the scientist who runs Mad Brew Labs.

Just a brief rundown of how this will operate:

Step 1: You go to NMP daily. You read the articles. Your brain starts thinking, “Yes, let us use this material in our game.”

Step 2: Do what your brain tells you to do.

Step 3: Realize that maybe having some crunch to go along with all this awesome fluff would be sweet.

Step 4: Upon revisiting NMP, on Fridays, you realize they’ve kindly directed you to a variety of sites that are crafting cruch for a plethora of game systems. Find your game system, follow the link, and crunch!

Anyways it is going to be sweet!