A Missed Opportunity in Forgotten Realms Design

It occurred to me this morning, rather out of the blue, that 4th edition was a huge missed opportunity for necessary development in the Forgotten Realms. Now, it's no secret that I dislike the official decisions about Faerun during 4th ed. and the rationale for making them. My version of the Realms (in my games and on my sites) ignores those developments entirely, and I don't own the books. This isn't because I'm behind; it's because after serious deliberation, I opted out. 

But that's not important right now.

What's important is that we're still feeling the effects of what wasn't done to the Realms during 4th ed., but in a subtle way that's difficult to recognize. The changes that were made have been largely incorporated into 5e materials, but there have also been efforts to roll some of them back (like undoing many geographical changes of the Spellplague and returning some gods that had been weeded out). By and large, though, Faerun trundles on, much as it had before, with many of the same elements. But the elephant in the room is made up of old problems that could have been addressed, but remain unresolved.

The 4th edition design philosophy of "points of light" (small bastions of civilization in wild, dangerous regions) wasn't needed in Faerun, where gamers went to experience different fantasy kingdoms at various levels of advancement, including higher levels of organization. The aim to tear down Realms history so it wouldn't intimidate new gamers ran counter to the love of lore that kept people in the setting for decades. Sweeping "Realms-shaking events" weren't needed to make Faerun exciting again; there was already plenty going on in that area of the world. 

It seems like big shifts in lore are now S.O.P. when a new edition comes out, so some of what happened may have been inevitable. But where these design choices were truly needed was in the rest of Toril.

Behold the world in which Faerun rests: 

Map of Toril from the 3rd edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting by Wizards of the Coast

Although it's easy to forget, Faerun is just one slice of one continent - and a small slice, at that. There's a whole world out there, and only some of it has been developed before. Once upon a time in 2nd edition, other continents were their own settings: Al-Qadim, Oriental Adventures, and Maztica. They were largely products of the 1990s, when a number of popular game materials (not just in D&D) were based on real-world ethnicities and cultures that had been remixed and presented in a fantasy format. D&D's great competitor during the 90s, the World of Darkness, relied heavily on real-world stereotypes for some basic character types, and while some weren't comfortable with it, there wasn't much blowback at the time. After all, that's just how it was, and all the cool kids were doing it.

But the present day isn't the 1990s, and in some important ways, that's a good thing. Over the last 20 to 30 years, we've heard from various groups of gamers, including those who've seen their cultures loosely pasted onto game products. We've seen that stereotypes can be off-putting to people who would otherwise be comfortable, welcome members of the community. And we've learned that the old approach isn't necessary moving forward. Yes, gaming development often starts with stereotypes because they're patterns we know well and can call upon quickly. But there's no reason to leave those stereotypes in place or to rely heavily on real-world equivalents, and there's a lot to be gained if we don't. 

Fantasy tabletop games are fantasy and deserve to be unique, in their own right. That doesn't mean we can get away from reality entirely; we base what we know on what we've seen. But designers can look deeper into the decisions they make and create more exciting things by going against common expectations regularly. They might start with stereotypes, but they don't have to maintain them. We can all throw more imagination into the blender and mix everything further, not just to see what happens but to respect everyone who might be - or could end up at - the table. 

But this hasn't happened with Faerun's 3 sister settings. For the most part, they've been left to gather dust since 2nd edition, although Oriental Adventures (itself a problematic title) was given a 3rd edition treatment. Each setting still has some fans and is included in Forgotten Realms wikis; they're just frozen in time. The older books are available for purchase via DriveThruRPG, but the disclaimers are some of the only new things about them. For the most part, they've been like an embarrassing family secret that only some family members discuss (and only with others they believe will agree with them). 

On one hand, I can understand why. It would take a prodigious amount of work to update them, and the gaming community explodes into nasty name-calling whenever diversity comes up. "Censorship" and "cancel culture" would no doubt become the buzzwords of the day, and nobody wants to deal with vitriol from customers every day at work. The good people at WotC don't need to deal with the rage that would result, which means the settings will probably remain like vestigial limbs, awkward and without much use.

But it didn't have to be this way. In fact, 4th edition's entire approach would have provided everything needed to solve these issues. The very map of Faerun was changed during the Sundering, with entire countries like Halruaa moving to other planes. Something this could have been done with Kara-Tur, Zakhara, and/or Maztica, if one was looking for the quickest route to resolving them. This doesn't mean each continent needed to be lost, leaving gaping holes in the map of Toril; they could have been replaced by continents from other worlds, or even demiplanes. 

The "points of light" approach could have been employed instead to transform these regions in major ways, while retaining some of the original material. This could have also been used to inject more fantasy elements and move away from real-world stereotypes. Tearing away sections of history could have been helpful for reforging these settings, as well. Updated mechanics could have been used those who wanted to update their old games to the newer edition. Fans who might have been upset by all the changes could have relied on older books for lore and newer ones for crunch, rather like some of us did did after 4th ed. tore up Faerun.

And there was also the possibility of taking one of the unknown continents of Toril and making something great there. 4th edition designers certainly wanted to keep Forgotten Realms players onboard and were bound to handle Faerun in some way, but they didn't have to stick only with Faerun. Imagine it: "Want to adventure someplace new, but still be able to sail to Waterdeep? Here are modules about the X continent, which was protected by a magic barrier for thousands of years. Those in Faerun recently felt the shockwave when the barrier fell - but what's happened to the peoples who lived there? Why was there a barrier in the first place? What kind of legacy can the PCs make by exploring where no one from Faerun has been before?" 

I understand that hindsight is 2020 (ugh, that saying just doesn't feel right after having survived what 2020 was), and many variables go into design choices and philosophies. I respect everyone who worked hard to keep D&D and the Forgotten Realms going; I don't have to agree with all of their decisions to respect designers who were doing their best. Of course, dealing with these old settings wouldn't have been easy, and designers would have run the risk of being crucified either way - but under the banner of updating Toril for a new edition, the Realms could have truly moved forward and some of the explosive reactions could have been reduced to smoke. And it will be awhile before such a golden opportunity comes around again.

Meanwhile, the new Vampire: the Masquerade is showing how these efforts can be made with care and many fans are showing how such efforts can be received with support and gratitude. And WotC, via D&D, seems to be trying to find ways to shift course toward more inclusiveness in the middle of 5th edition, regardless of the waves of outrage that batter their stalwart ship. In that charted course, I am certainly on board.