The Glade 4.0

In 12th annual tradition, Salvatore's newest Drizzt novel was on the Christmas menu last year and I just managed to finish up. And in a slightly shorter tradition, here I am putting my thoughts to the hack's keyboard.

I never liked the idea of messing with FR in such a way as the new edition does, and this book catches up the series with that time line. Despite that it was a good book, perhaps the best one aside from the first of my collection: The Silent Blade

I don't know how to feel about how things turned out. If there was no solace at the end of the last book, things are far far worse as I sit here now. I don't now things could ever be the same if he goes forward. At the same time I don't feel with things left as they are how I'd feel if he didn't. I guess that's probably the point -especially in the age of Realmspokalypse- and it's one I think is conveyed very well.

So here's to another year on the shelf.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

FR just doesn't really work under fourth edition rules. But, it's also their best selling campaign setting so they can't just drop it even if they do wish they didn't have to write Ed Greenwood royalty checks. So WotC felt like they had to shake things up! Make the world totally awesome and new!

So basically, they did the same thing that Sony did to move EQ into EQ2. There's some hand-wavy "bad **** happened" and an arbitrarily long time later, here's the new world. Wasn't the explanation of how the world went from using third edition to fourth edition rules awesome?

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

I thought this was one of his better crafted novels, although I objected to some specifics, and was very sad at the end. The Realmspocalypse thing was expected. I just hate to see it alter his world.

I like what he's done through the Kings series, though. He's done some decent social commentary and has managed to further develop characters I thought had long since sputtered out.

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

someone spoil it for me.

A wizard did it.

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Raell Kromwell

F*ck! That's what happened the last time, too! We need to get rid of those bastards!

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?

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

The time of Troubles was more novels altering the setting on a universal level than the game designers altering the setting and the writers having to adjust. It wasn't tied to the release of 3rd edition it happen before.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

You're aware that the Time of Troubles was the transition between 1e and 2e, right?

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no because that was before my time. however color me corrected.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Then they realized that killing Bane was a mistake, and brought him back for third edition.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

yes killing bane was a mistake, I just thought that had happened more recently.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

And dead gods in the realms never stay dead. Even if they do, they still weild great power.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

More and more, as a DM and as a consumer, I find the distant deity thing a lot more compelling than the "gods are right here, hanging out" SOP that seems to dominate fantasy settings.

The Maker in Dragon Age is an excellent example. It's a much closer analogue to our own experiences - faith and control, oppression and liberation through faith. It also allows you to have more variety in the faithful. Less cardboard cutout-y.

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

Ah, but Realms-Gods are not really gods, even in that setting. They have statistic blocks, and therefore some say they are meant to be killed! Regardless, their power is limited. The "Gods" of the Realms are nothing but superpowerful entities; some weak enough that a group of high level, pre-epic characters could possibly challenge them. The gods are meant to represent ideas and power. The only analog in the Realms to "The Maker" of Dragon Age, or "Jehovah" of judaeo-christian mythos, is Ao, who is as far above the Realms 'gods' as those gods are above commoners.

Anyway, if you want the distant, nebulous deity in D&D, go for Eberron. Forgotten Realms went more for the classical Greco-Roman or Norse styles of mythology, where the gods were flesh and blood and resembled the best and worst traits of the humans they ruled over.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

And Eberron didn't have to have a complete campaign background shift to match 4E rules! *runs away*

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And yet it still sucks. Maybe Eberron would have benefited from an overhaul.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

One of my favorite creatures was the Banelich. A priestly lich with a portion of Bane's Spark. And as each is killed his portion of the spark goes to the others; until such time that there is only one left, which was the rebirth of Bane. Each Banelich thought it was the real Bane And they could grant followers clerical abilities.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

What you might not realize is that WOTC said that all novels have to take place after a particular time marker. That time marker is 100 years *after* the events of the Ghost King.

So those things you mentioned were inevitable anyway, with the exception of Cadderly. Still sucks, I agree. But Salvatore can't be blamed entirely.

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It feels like all the people who want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans.
---The Daily Show

A caveat here, and I'm probably skating on the verge of getting banned from these boards for saying this, but I have never read any of Salvatore's books. I am passingly familiar with the names and concepts of the characters from cross over themes, such as Baulder's Gate (pretty sure Drizzt makes an appearance there, its one of those games), etc.

But, it seems odd to me that an author would modify existing lore like this, in a continuous series of books, to replicate changes to the rule sets of a game. Granted, the stories are based upon the fantasy world, but it just seems really weird.

changes determined by TSR WOTC. Their license, they make the rules about what they're allowed to write.

Is he a contract writer for Wizards?

I'm not sure whether he's a contract employee, or has an arrangement to use the license. Either way, yes, Wizards has an influence on what he's allowed to write while writing in the Forgotten Realms.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Yeah Drizzt is in Baldur's Gate. He basically is an npc you encounter in the wilderness. His cameo is pretty much "Hey, what's up? I'm Drizzt! See yas!"

In Baldur's Gate 2 you meet Drizzt again but this time with his "party" (the other characters Salvatore writes about). And you actually have the option of fighting them (no penalties if you are playing evil). It's a very tough fight. Tougher than the main bad guy fight of the game. But, it is possible to kill them. If you loot their stuff (all of their magical items from the books) you get to even use it. But, lame-ily, the game takes the stuff away from you once you go to town or reach a certain point in the game.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!