The Forgotten Realms 4e 100 year time jump was completely uneccesary, even if the Spellplague was necessary to justify 4e’s magic mechanics. Framing the edition DURING the Spellplague could have worked too.
Countless number of Immortal NPCs are kinda sorta……. dumb? Amen, brother!
— Brian R. James (@brianrjames) December 28, 2018
The imposed passage of time at all in a *game* setting, whether by fiction or designers, is unnecessary.
— Chris S. Sims (@ChrisSSims) December 28, 2018
That, I disagree with. Static settings don’t feel alive to me. I'm saying that a 4e FR set at the time of the 1e boxed set would have been fine. Good, even. Adventures and things can imply change and time passage in the setting, but making them all canon is nuts for a *game.*
— Chris S. Sims (@ChrisSSims) December 28, 2018
Plus, nothing wrong with advancing timelines to accomodate fiction, adventures, etc. My argument is that 100 years seems like a bit much. Leaving a lot of space there unused for no reason. There's actually plenty demonstrably wrong with it from marketing and usability, especially re new-player entry, perspectives. A game setting isn't just a piece of fiction.
— Chris S. Sims (@ChrisSSims) December 28, 2018
Look at the 2e – 3e time jump. You think most people noticed? It was what? a 5-7 year difference? Almost irrelevant. I think most folks interested in playing the game in any setting mostly ignore anything they don't care for and use what they like. Another reason why no fiction (or adventure) needs to be canon.
— Chris S. Sims (@ChrisSSims) December 28, 2018
…Isn’t the point of the setting that it’s for your group’s stories, and not for any official overriding canon? That should be the point.
— Chris S. Sims (@ChrisSSims) December 28, 2018
A time jump can work if it’s done properly and supported in game products properly, take a look at BECMI’s Wrath of the Immortals and it’s supporting products of a good example of how both to do it AND not to do it….. You can also have a rich fiction line that enforces canon without foisting that canon onto the campaign setting. If 4e had rebooted the FR line with a turn to the start year of the grey box, it would have been more popular than what 4e did. I said so to my colleagues at the time.
— Chris S. Sims (@ChrisSSims) December 28, 2018