Why *Dont* you like Forgotten Realms?

[Sylrae]

Not looking for a flamewar, I personally Like Forgotten Realms, Pre Spellplague.

I know lots of people avoid Forgotten Realms stuff though.

The only thing that really bugs me is how spread out the history is. If there were a single history book that was expansive (a more detailed Grand History of the Realms that didn't leave so much out) my problem would be gone.

Some of the reasons I've heard are pretty ridiculous "I don't like Elminster", seems to be the funniest, just because it's so easy to just not use a specific NPC if you don't like them, and because they come up so rarely anyways, unless the DM builds his campaign specifically to make use of them.

For people here.
1. Do you avoid Forgotten Realms products?
2. Do you like either Pre or Post spellplague only, and if so which one and why?
3. What Don't you like about Forgotten Realms?

So far we've got:
1. The setting is too detailed, and something less filled in would be preferable.
2. Want more specific focus for a campaign setting, such as a single country, instead of the kitchen sink entire world approach.
3. A Disliking of High Fantasy.

 

[jonesy]

The Known World was my first setting. Blackmoor followed along quite naturally.

When it came time to expand further there were two easy choices based on material available at the time in the local shops and from friends. Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms.

I'd already read all of the Dragonlance novels of the time, so there really was no choice at all. Spelljammer followed from Krynnspace. Ravenloft followed Dragonlance. Ravenloft led to similar stuff like Hommlett and The Temple of Elemental Evil. (and Kult which took me to other directions, like Cthulhu) Then I was in Greyhawk.

Then there was a need for something different, so Dark Sun was next. And then Planescape which I'd previously shunned, but changed my mind completely after trying it.

At that point Forgotten Realms was so far behind me that it never really became an option. I've played there a game or two, but I don't think I've ever owned a single FR book.

 

[Hella_Tellah]

I dislike how much of the setting is already mapped out and broadly familiar to most D&D players. That makes it great for computer games and novelizations, but for my style of play, I need to be able to make more stuff up on the fly. In a homebrew world, or any setting that has less material nailed down, I can just plop a sprawling metropolis down anywhere I like. If a player makes a character dedicated to eradicating the undead, I can put a kingdom run by a lich right next door. I can't really do that in the Realms.

 

[Lhorgrim]

Honestly, I feel like I fell behind the average knowledge curve for the realms.

I have the 2E boxed set, and back in the day I was pretty excited about it. As I played in games with other groups in the mid 90's I found that they had spent MUCH more time than I had at learning the history and geopolitical nuances of the realms and the setting NPCs. Their enthusiasm for all of the details of the setting surpassed mine, and I started longing for a setting that wasn't as developed as Faerun.

I went home brew mostly, and I guess I just filed FR away in my mind as a setting that required more time to learn than I wanted to spend. I didn't pick up any FR stuff after 2E.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

It's high fantasy at it's worst, most boring, and most cliche. Forgotten Realms is not so much a high fantasy campaign setting based on medieval Europe as it is a high fantasy campaign setting based on high fantasy campaign settings.

 

[gamerprinter]

I'm not a Kitchen-Sink kind of guy

Though I've spent some time in both Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms in pre3x days, I've never really been a kitchen-sink setting kind of guy. Having mostly used home-brew worlds even from 1e on, I like settings that make more sense and doesn't include every D&D trope, which is what a kitchen-sink setting seems to include.

I did like the Birthright setting of Cerelia from 2e days, and I think my European flavored settings reflect Cerelia more so than the Forgotten Realms. Considering that many of my settings use specific cultures as the primary race, like my Kaidan, pseudo Japan setting - I've always been much more limited in racial and regional options that are nothing like Kitchen-Sinks.

I also agree with some of the posts above, and prefer settings that I the DM am more familiar of the setting than the players are, which can be otherwise be unfun from the DMs chair.

Kitchen-sinks are best for the masses, but I like more specific setting designs.

GP

 

[Sylrae]

Completely fair Jonesy.

Dragonlance never appealed to me that much, though if someone ran a Dragonlance game I'd give it a shot.

I started with Greyhawk, went to FR, dabbled in Ravenloft a bit, played some Spelljammer when someone else wanted to run a game, Played a tiny bit of planescape, as an expansion to an FR game, and then tried Golarion, and I'm now going back to 3e Forgotten Realms.

My post was mainly because I've met a few people who vehemently avoid FR, including one of my regular players, who won't play anything set in the realms. I can't for the life of me figure out why people want to boycott FR so much, so I figured I'd ask for reasons.

I also find the idea of avoiding all FR while thinking Golarion is awesome kindof confusing.
Golarion fills the same niches as forgotten realms, and doesn't have that much that's drastically different. It has a slightly bigger human presence, has Cheliax: Empire of Devils, and Cayden Cailean, but for the most part, is pretty similar.

But back to FR Specifically, If you actively avoid it or have much that you dislike about it, why?

So far we've got:
1. The setting is too detailed, and something less filled in would be preferable.
2. Want more specific focus for a campaign setting, such as a single country, instead of the kitchen sink entire world approach.
3. A Disliking of High Fantasy.

So. Here are my thoughts and Questions.
1. FR is definitely a setting for someone who wants it filled in. If I want to plop down empires as I design them myself, I don't use FR for that, or I come up with some other way to work them in.
2. This one is a question: Wouldn't the kitchen sink approach let you just pick one of the more focused areas, and concentrate a campaign there? (as in, wouldn't you be able to use it as a collection of settings, and just choose the one you like)?
3. Completely fair. It's definitely High Fantasy. Commoners are often stated as having little magical heirlooms such as a broom that's self cleaning, or a self-heating pot. If you don't like High Fantasy you won't like many places in FR.

 

[Verdande]

I'm not a big fan of High Fantasy in general, and of D&D inspired fantasy in particular. In other words, the Forgotten Realms feels like it's D&D extrapolated to an extraordinary degree instead of a simulacrum, if you will, of medieval history viewed through a D&D-tinted lense. Everything in the world is explained perfectly by rules, stats, and dice, and the world suffers for it.

Then again, I've never delved too deep. I've read a couple books about the place from years back, but I'm sure that's hardly representative.

I guess it just doesn't really do it for me. Mark me down as other- I don't actively avoid it, but there's not a real strong aversion to it. It's above Ravenloft on my scale, but below Dark Sun and Spelljammer, and even below Greyhawk.

 

[IronWolf]

1. Do you avoid Forgotten Realms products?

No.

2. Do you like either Pre or Post spellplague only, and if so which one and why?

Pre. I've been through enough realm shattering events and I have plenty of material that I have no need to deal wit spellplague or post-spellplague.

3. What Don't you like about Forgotten Realms?

The number of realm shattering events can be frustrating. But I can work around those by simply playing in my preferred era. With so many territories and regions to play in it is easy to stay in the era you want and change the feel of the game.

The level of detail to some areas is a bit over the top. This is still relatively easily worked around by setting things in lesser known areas, advising players that you may not follow canon exactly or simply focusing the campaign on a more finite area or topic.

 

[Herschel]

I liked it through 2E, but 3E didn't leave much "forgotten" and that didn't sit well. Blasting almost everything to smithereens made me like it again.