Is Kismet's D&D Canon, and Why Should You Care That It's Not?

Earlier this week, lead D&D rules designer Jeremy Crawford said "if it has not appeared in a book since 2014, we don’t consider it canonical for the games." There are so many reasons for WotC to not want to deal with every piece of Forgotten Realms lore published since 1987: there's too much to track; writers don't have time to research everything and usually don't need to just to make new adventures; writers don't want to be harnessed to so much extra information and all the expectations that come with it; all of the old lore still exists and is available via the DM's Guild, if gamers want to access and use it at their tables (everything's discounted right now for the Christmas in July sale, so you can even stock up); 5e is focused on the present and making it easy for new gamers to dive in; and so on.

But just like that, fresh arguments about canon erupted on social media and reminded me that I've been meaning to write about my relationship with roleplaying canons. I started this post months ago but I didn't get far before feeling disgruntled and stopping. Now seems like the right moment to finish it. So strap in, because I'm going to go back in time and broader in scope so you can understand how I got to my own peace with it.

What's a Canon and Why Do Folks Care about It?

We've all probably dealt with a canon at some point. It likely started in school, when teachers chose traditional books for us to read, or in church, when we were told only certain books and ideas were holy. We might have learned about literary classics in college and seen similar concepts in our favorite fandoms. A canon is a collection of works that are considered the best quality, most noteworthy, and most authoritative. They're deemed original and genuine pieces that are relevant to the present and important for most people to experience. We make these lists for books, films, shows, comics, and more.

Nothing about this is new; we've been doing it for thousands of years. And there's something to be said for having a canon. If people study the same sources, they'll be able to discuss them easily; they'll understand each others' references because they share the same knowledge base. Some canon works have many merits of their own and are unique experiences. Some creators seem to know their material better than others, maintain a consistent view and level of quality, and have a unique style others haven't been able to match. A lot of effort is put into creating these works, and that effort is worth recognizing.

But there are many problems with an established canon. For starters, who decides what's best, and by which standards? Much of the time, a canon is agreed upon by a group of fans and then upheld as the standard for everyone, without knowing who started the trend. How much do biases play a part in accepting and rejecting new works? If white men have usually been viewed as proper authority figures with the credentials to produce and be heard, how has that impacted other groups of people who create in similar ways? Are new materials really "worse" than the classics, or are they simply different and being rejected out of hand? As a person with a Master's in English literature, I could go on about troubles canon all day. Suffice to say, I've only scratched the surface. 

Tabletop roleplaying games that develop unique settings often have their own canons. Fans are inclined to accept materials that are published by the original gaming company as the best; everything else is somehow inferior. Fans might also deem certain writers/game designers as the only people who can speak with authority on a game's setting in a general sense. Sure, GMs can do whatever they want at their own tables, but only this company or this writer should be heeded by everyone who plays in that setting.

Roleplaying Canons and Me: A Brief History

Looking back on it now, I suppose it's no surprise that I was drawn to the tabletop games that I've enjoyed most. I mean, I considered majoring in history because of how much I always loved it. As a very young girl, I wanted to grow up to be an archaeologist (okay, I wanted to be whip-wielding Indiana Jones, not just any old archaeologist, but taking a class in college and learning about the painstaking nature of real archaeology finally burst that bubble). So I ended up being sucked in by games laden with histories (and canons) of their own.

I first encountered a canon in gaming with the very first tabletop game I played - Vampire: the Masquerade. The classic World of Darkness had a "metaplot" because official books established fictional supernatural events; many fans accepted these details as valid for everyone who played any of the WoD game lines. Since you could set a chronicle anywhere in the world, the history of the WoD was the only thing fans were likely to have in common. Even though some events were presented by characters who were unstable or openly biased, some gamers insisted that everything in the official books was true for all. And I can see why, since White Wolf writers built on what was already established and seemed to take it seriously. The end result was usually pretty convincing.

I admit, I liked things about the metaplot. I knew parts of it by heart and had fun discussing it with others, but I never felt beholden to it. I used what suited me and ditched the rest. My stance didn't usually lead to arguments because the games I played in were centered in the present day, and the past wasn't usually a major issue. Other gamers, however, felt constricted by it and came to hate it (and the rigid attitudes of fellow gamers probably played a major role in that). So I wasn't surprised that when the classic WoD was retired and the new WoD was unveiled, the metaplot was one of the first things left behind. (What I said in this old post about what we can learn from metaplots still holds true.) Eventually, I got on board with the new system and learned to live without a metaplot. 

Then I discovered the Forgotten Realms. By the time I played the Baldur's Gate games in the late 90s, the Realms had over a decade of lore developed across game supplements, novels, and video games. I fell in love with what I read in the Baldur's Gate series and was inspired to finally try running a tabletop game. I got my hands on the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book for 3rd edition and found an amazing work that summarized a great deal of lore while establishing the present day.

But then I had choices to make - the same choices that anyone who wants to run the Realms faces early on, namely: Where and in which year should I begin? How much of the lore do I want or need for my game? Do I try to track down lots of books and binge-read them so I can get all the details (because dear gods, the 2nd edition FR game supplements have more frills than a Victorian house)? How do I insert my own views into so much material? My players didn't know much about the setting, so I didn't have to worry about offending their sensibilities, but other DMs may struggle to convince players to accept their visions. The Realms has so much history and detail, in fact, that some gamers feel paralyzed or are instantly repelled.

But I didn't sweat it. I was used to picking and choosing what I wanted by then; the WoD had given me plenty of practice. I stuck with the books I had because there was no way I was going to be able to catch up on everything. I didn't want to put off my campaign so I could become a Realms scholar first - I wanted to run things my way right away. Eventually, when later 3.5 edition books added new events, I realized they weren't entirely to my tastes, so I just didn't allow them into my canon. I took what I could use from new books and left the rest to those who enjoyed it. I had far more problems with 4th edition in general and development of the Realms in particular; I wasn't interested in Realms-wide upheaval and moving so far into the future, among other things. 

So I didn't update my canon with most of that material. I kept advancing my games during play as I desired and in accordance with player character choices. Sometimes my players would find out about developments in the books and complain about them to me. It was nice to know they preferred our Realms and backed my choices. Since we were all having fun, I didn't see the need to conform to anyone else's dictates about how we should run or play.

My Websites Aren't Official Canon, But They Can Be Part of Your Canon

All of this brings me to my website, Kismet's Dungeons and Dragons, which is now venerable, in internet terms. I created it so I could share things I made for my first campaign, which I started by creating my own small city. I placed it on a part of the map that was unclaimed (although later books put the town of Rivermoot in that spot). I used some of what I read in the books to weave it into the region and tie it to other locations but let it be its own place. I inserted my own major Realms event in the form of the main plot. I looked up details about locations the PCs were going to visit beforehand and used whatever seemed to make the most sense and would be of most interest. Some places, I respun almost entirely; other places didn't have many established details to begin with, so I was encouraged to fill in the blanks.

Eventually, this led to me to choose Thay as the setting for my first evil campaign. I read much of the 3rd edition material about it but was left unsatisfied, so I went diving into 2nd edition books but found more of the same. Such a powerful country - a whole country with embassies amidst much smaller kingdoms - seemed half empty, and some of what was written about it didn't jive with its incredible successes. A nation that threw off the yoke of theocracy and declared independence from Mulhorand to do things their way didn't just sound bad, it also sounded badass. A ruling class made up of devious wizards was fascinating; their constant, thoughtless assaults on nearby kingdoms didn't make much sense. On one hand, they were portrayed as a slave-trading powerhouse that prospered greatly from slave-made goods, so much that kingdoms would trade with them even though they hated slavery. In the next breath, they were shown as treating all slaves horribly all the time and killing them wantonly. 

It seemed Thay was written from an outsider's view of the nation and presented to justify making them villains everyone would hate and which would be relatively easy to defeat, because they would sabotage themselves and each other. And that's a valid way to write an evil nation. It encourages heroism, reduces moral complexity, and lets players know who their enemies are quickly. It allows for victories that only go so far because you're not just fighting one Thayan, but a country with corrupt institutions. And it likely leads to less outrage from readers, since Thay touches on so many sensitive and unpleasant topics (necromancy, slavery, etc.). 4th edition developments essentially destroyed Thay as it was, breaking the nation apart and dividing the Red Wizards. 

But I wanted to get to know Thay as it was in the 1370s, so I dove into expanding and deepening my view of it. I started with the basics in the lore but spun my own details from that framework. I didn't usually go out of my way to distinguish what was in the books from what I added because I added so much, and because my site has always been presented as my own view of things as a DM. I contributed to some game books for third party companies over the years, but I've never worked for WotC or pretended to. 

Still, a number of times over the decades, I've stumbled across discussions that mention material on my D&D web site (and this blog) and ask if it's canon. This has usually been the case with people who were searching for more details about Thay and found my writings. These seekers haven't asked me about it directly; they've asked in forums with other gamers who might know the lore better than they do. And most of the time, someone has answered that my site isn't canon, and the person who inquired promptly gave up on their desire to use what they found. I haven't chimed in on these forums for a number of reasons: the seekers got the answers they asked for, and my stuff isn't approved or published by any gaming company (and therefore isn't canon in most people's eyes). 

The Canon and You

What I've wanted to say about the matter is simply this: You ultimately decide what's canon for yourself (and, if you're the DM, your group). Gaming companies can publish supplements and comics and other media all year long, but they don't matter until you deem them worthy of your table. One person will never be able to find, consume, and use everything that's published for the Forgotten Realms or any other setting with so much history (in-universe and in real life). Even if you try, you'll never remember and use it all. That's the nature of the beast and being human. You're going to have to choose - so choose wisely.

You can certainly accept what's officially published if you want to, for your own reasons. It could be great quality material with a lot of thought, effort, and playtesting behind it. It could be exactly what you want and need, and fall in line with your instincts and rationale. It may help you connect with other gamers who only consider official materials to be valid by default. But you don't have to accept it in whole or in part, and accepting material produced by others doesn't mean you're disrespecting the official creators or the history of the lore. It just means that you're adding what you want to your canon.

And if the material I've produced seems consistent, sensible, expansive, helpful, and inspiring - and if you can't tell the difference between what I've written and what's been written by folks at TSR and WotC over the decades - then why wouldn't you use it? Why couldn't it be part of your canon? What would it really hurt for you to make it part of your world?

I get it: Players can be picky. They might argue if you use something that isn't officially produced - but you should get what you want out of the game, too. But compromise shouldn't be off the table, and it's not like players can't read what I've written; my site's been online for about 20 years. I understand that there's only so much you can allow into your sphere of awareness. There are already too many books to keep track of, and you have to draw the line somewhere. But in a hobby dedicated to imagination, why reject material you like and can use just because the people who made it weren't paid by a particular company to do so? Because this isn't just about my site - there's a wide world of great stuff that's been lovingly made by fans, which is part of why the DM's Guild and other sites like it exist in the first place. If official game companies can recognize the talent not under their purview enough to create licenses so others can offer their hard work, you should be willing and able to consider that others have what it takes to make worthy entries to the lore.

Whatever you decide to reject or include, really think about it first. Make sure it serves your needs and desires, and be ready to own your choices. Don't reject it the moment you see it's not official; analyze it based on its own merits. Because at the end of the day, your hobby is yours, and there have never been more ways to find great work outside of official production lines.

And at the end of the day, I'm here to create my own canon, present it in the hopes that it helps others, and often to cover what gaming companies don't or won't. I love the lore, I appreciate the efforts of game designers, and I respect the history of the hobby, but I'm here to do my own thing because I love it, not because I'm on a particular company's payroll. I write with authority because I've chosen to claim it - and I want every game to be able to claim their authority, over the canon and the rest of their experience.

Designing Evil: Transforming The Seedy Motel

Art by Joakim Olofsson

You've heard about the motels in the worst part of town.  They may as well be in their own world, but they've been around for ages.  Everyone knows what happens in those rooms - drug use, prostitution, and worse - and it's not difficult to believe the rumors.  None of them seem quite right.  The paint might be dirty or the layout fifty years out of date, or they could be suspiciously plain and difficult to see from the road.  At any rate, efforts to spruce them up come off as tawdry and cheap.  Half the time, they appear empty.  You can't imagine why anyone would have a happy reason to stay there.

If there is one piece of advice I can give about developing "evil" settings, it's this: Don't treat them all like seedy motels.  Too often, we keep our descriptions of troublesome places brief, hollow, and ugly because the inhabitants are cruel or their way of life is despicable.  We hurry past them and try not to go back.  Perhaps we are subconsciously uncomfortable with the material.  Maybe we want to discourage player characters from wanting to stay there.  So we pass even more of a moral judgment on the area than we realize, and set ourselves back in a number of ways. 

Grown So Tired of the Same Old Thing

The first way we weaken the impact of troubled places is by making them too much alike, visually and story-wise.  When every lair looks like it belongs in Mordor, any sense of mystery is ruined.  If the environment is continually decaying and inhospitable, the players will wonder why anyone sticks around or lets it continue.  And if every creepy house hides a bloody abattoir, investigating will probably start to feel boring and repetitive.  This doesn't mean you can't have a game where the bad guys are stereotypical or that you're doing anything wrong.  The reverse will have similar effects. After all, if evil lands are full of nothing but shining white cities, that can become dull, too.

Mixing pleasant and unpleasant details in a setting adds nuance, a touch of realism, and a particular type of difficulty.  Simply put, the worst people and places do not always have to be color-coded for our convenience.  At times we need a GM to play with our expectations to gain a special kind of enjoyment.  And even if blurring the lines makes some interactions harder, that doesn't mean the players won't have fun.  Deciding what to do about a wicked kingdom that produces the most beautiful art in the world is a haunting choice to make.  It could also make for a truly memorable and epic campaign.  Regardless, a blend will make everything feel more real.

What's Missing?

So how do we make sure that our creations are not like a row of seedy motels?  First, we need to notice what is not there.  Absence is one of the persistent failures in the design of evil locations.  Sometimes a city seems too Disneyfied, even if it should have less safe areas and unscrupulous inhabitants.  Where are the dangerous stretches, or the places that sinners go to indulge their vices?  How might these areas appear to be benign?  Go ahead and create a variety of them and scatter them around.  Some dens will be bad news and look the part, along with the neighborhoods around them.  Other sites will be rumored to be unsafe but will be found in nice areas.  A few will be unsuspected of any wrongdoing but have horrific secrets in the midst of splendor.

The problem of absence might persist even when you ensure bad locations exist, however.  If we return to the example of the seedy motel, we'll see that it's designed for limited stays.  Most are outfitted with basic furnishings but living there for months or years would cause some struggles.  Similarly, some settings only seem to be made for people to do Bad StuffTM all the time, and don't have many considerations for operating in a larger sense. Even tyrannical nations engage in commerce, the production of goods, waste disposal, and other aspects of living.  It's part of your job to imagine how a bad place fits into the bigger picture and how people there get what they need.  If there is a significant shortage, then it pays to spend a few minutes considering how the locals make up for it.  

Why?  Because there should be multiple reasons for inhabitants to stay, even in the worst areas.  It's true that in awful conditions, people will linger because they have no reliable exit, or keep experiencing setbacks, or are in poor health.  They might be afraid of the unknown or attached to family and a sense of loyalty.  They could have enough power through guilds or gangs to keep them sated.  But a fetid swamp may offer freedom because no one else wants to live there.  There could be great natural beauty, fine local goods, or a guaranteed stipend for working in the mines.  There might be sweeping celebrations that make locals happy.  Not everyone is going to despise being in an unwholesome place, and not everyone is going to be content in a bastion of goodness. 

A few people will suffer, a few will leave, but others will find ways to make their situation bearable.  By filling in these details, both the setting and the characters become more believable and powerful.

What's Half-Done?

There could be more to fill out than you think.  Emptiness is another condition that corrupt locations often suffer from, and it can be quite subtle.  I'm not talking about sites that are deserted because of scary reputations or recent disasters.  There are bound to be places that have little to interact with because of how damaged they are.  There are also sites in wastelands or others stationed far from society.  Those are part of the larger picture.  But like the seedy motel that seems eternally vacant from the street, wicked scenes have a way of remaining less than fully developed.  There are many small ways that this comes across, in gaming books and at the table.

Sometimes unsavory places are given less coverage and depth during a session or in books.  It isn't a matter of saving time or trying to focus on more relevant aspects, either.  A city with a brighter feel or a more diverse reputation will more often have full histories, district-by-district details, and even block-by-block ideas about who lives there and what can be found.  If a city known for tyranny is painted in a few brief strokes, it could seem like its people do nothing but suffer and that it has little of value to do or see.  This might happen even with grim sites of great importance, power, and reach - especially if we aren't aware that we're holding back.  

The language used to describe an environment is also easy to ignore, but potent in its overall effect.  Relying heavily on terms related to scarcity, lack, silence, and so on can make populated zones seem abandoned.  Repeating the same basic information instead of adding new elements is another way to make a scene feel limited, with little for the player characters to do.  This is fine when it is part of a blended approach, but when evil locations are routinely described this way, the game loses a lot of opportunities.  Taking a moment to figure out what the bright and bustling spots are going to be like can leave the players with a more exciting and well-rounded impression.

Last but not least, words can be used to paint every bad place with the same coat of ugliness.  Focusing on descriptive terms that make every building seem bloated, dingy, or cramped will hamper attempts to make them unique.  Highlighting threatening qualities and ruling out other possibilities doesn't take much effort, but can come off as bland.  There are other ways to make players uncomfortable or to encourage their disapproval, if that's important to you.  Jarring sounds or smells, oddities that shouldn't be in the scene, and bad attitudes from NPCs can carry a lot of weight.  It could be more disturbing that a cut-throat merchant's private club is elegant, inviting, and safer than the outside world.

Transform The Seedy Motel

Variety and equality are the keys to improved setting design.  Examine what you've done so far and look for points where you can twist expectations and try something different.  Keep track of how you intersperse the appealing with the unappealing, and try not to get stuck in one mode for too long.  Perhaps most importantly, do as much work for the dark side of your game as you would for the light.  If you usually come up with notable locales, tempting plot hooks, and a few friendly faces for happier destinations, do the same for others.  If you have non-combat oriented maps for peaceful waystops, offer some general  maps for shadier ones.  If you plan to develop a whole book's worth of material on a neutral city with a storied reputation, consider doing the same for a city of a similar size with a malevolent streak a mile wide.

This does not mean you approve of what goes on everywhere.  This does not mean that the players will have to portray evil characters or live in the worst towns.  But it will open up the full gamut of stories and a rich experience for everyone.

My Author Bio Page

Art by Folkvangar

In her Batman persona known as Kismet Rose, Kismet writes articles and books for tabletop roleplaying games.  This is a special part of her life and hobby that she indulges whenever she can, since she is not a full-time writer.  She offers a large selection of material for free on her web sites, archives other free gaming web sites with permission, and has six published works for Pathfinder that are currently available for sale.  She usually switches between writing about D&D, Pathfinder, and World of Darkness games, though she hopes to add others to the list.

Gaming History

Kismet roleplayed naturally throughout her childhood without knowing what such games were called.  She played that way without rules or instruction because she lived on stories and imagination.  She began roleplaying in earnest in October 2nd 1995, with her first character Kismet Rose and her Storytelller and partner in crime, Nate (who has become her partner in crime and Storyteller once more, many years later).  

She started out with Vampire: the Masquerade, which she played one-on-one and in group games online (on AOL's chat rooms and via private messages).  She started her fan web site for Vampire circa 1999.  She stayed in the World of Darkness exclusively until around the year 2001, when she was introduced to D&D (second edition).  Not long later, she began to run her own games for the first time in D&D's 3rd edition (and started her fan web site for it in 2002).  She has been gaming fairly steadily - usually taking the DM's role - ever since.  

Over the years Kismet has tried some different tabletop games - Stargate SG-1 (which she made a small web site for, since so few existed), In Nomine, Pathfinder, Delta Green, and a few others - but hasn't tried for an exhaustive variety, and there's plenty that she has yet to play.  She isn't much of a LARPer, board gamer, wargamer, or a card player, though she supports those cousins to tabletop and has some familiarity with them.  She loves miniatures even if she doesn't use them very often and is absolutely enthralled by maps.  

She has gamed in stores and in other people's homes a bit but prefers to play in her own home, surrounded by her books.  The largest group she has been a part of had six people in it, including the DM; her normal group size is four people (usually with her three most favorite people in the whole world).  She has steadily written in play-by-post games since about 2010.  While she was able to run once a week for a number of years in college, in more recent years she's run about twice a month (and gotten to play twice a month; joy!).

Hobbies, Interests, and Degrees

Kismet has had a natural love of history, mythology, fairy tales, folk tales, fantasy art, writing, reading, the art of film, horror, the supernatural, the Gothic, cities (and Los Angeles in particular), fictional places, and so on for most of her life.  She studied a number of these interests in college while majoring in English literature, in which she obtained a Masters degree from California State University, Los Angeles.  She brings all of her background to bear when she writes, along with a sense of poetic rhythm.

She lives and loves in Southern California with her cat and her partner in everything, Nate.  They are all native fauna to the area and Kismet has never lived anywhere else.  She has a demanding job in higher education that she loves because it is always a challenge.  In whatever time she can spare she enjoys game design projects she might never finish, walking, swimming, the art of conversation, watching the many amazing shows that are on television, going to the movies (especially to support horror films), reading, building communities online, arranging big family-style dinners with people she enjoys, and a number of things she has probably forgotten that she does all the time.

Guiding Design and Writing Principles

There are a few key pillars Kismet maintains in all of her game writing, and in her roleplaying in general.  (She also looks for these qualities when she buys gaming books):

More Options, Fewer Mandates: She aims to give players and game masters more choices they can use as they wish, and to make it easier for them to tweak or discard what they don't like.  She might present strong themes and she has her own vision of how her materials can work, but she would rather her readers feel inspired instead of constricted, even if it means that readers only use her work in pieces or in other ways.  Ironclad dictates are not her cup of tea, particularly when it comes to telling game masters how to run or players how to play.  Each group is an organic assembly that has its own desires, experiences, and boundaries and she respects that.

Gameify It: She feels that it is very important for a gaming book's "fluff" to be reflected in and supported by the "crunch."  This means that the fiction and descriptions should be translated into game mechanics whenever possible so that gamers have ready access to how they can work.  She strongly feels that it is not enough to just describe something cool in a game supplement and leave it at that.  Part of what people are paying for when they invest in a gaming book is immediate usability, as well as strong examples (from which they can make their own adjustments, if they want to).  This is especially true for gamers who are strapped for time, of which there are many.  Gameifying what is written also showcases the game's system and helps everyone become more familiar with it.

Adults Making Games For Adults: Over the last two decades, she has covered a broad variety of grim, difficult, and complex situations in gaming, regardless of the system.  Having grown up with roleplaying, she believes that while some games should be aimed at children and others should be open to them, more adult concerns should be directly addressed and more mature options should be offered.  This does not mean that she writes graphic material; on the contrary, she believes that even the darkest subjects can be presented calmly and without gratuitous nastiness.  But her target audience has always been discerning adults.

Sacred Cows Aren't Sacred: She has no allegiance to "sacred cows" in any game and is willing to change or slay them outright, as needed.  This is not out of disrespect for the concepts, original creators, or fans, but to offer more options for those who want them.  Strictly speaking, D&D doesn't need to have dungeons, elves don't have to be modeled after Tolkien's version, and vampires can have sex if they want to.  Sometimes all it takes is a change to one aspect of a game that everyone takes for granted to open up a new world of fun.  Those who want to keep the old ways will, but those in search of novelty deserve support, too.

Awards and Accolades

She has been very glad and humbled to receive in-depth 4 and 5 star reviews on the products I've contributed to and written on my own.  She's used any feedback on things that could be improved to edit any PDF products that were still able to be updated.

She has also been deeply surprised and pleased to have Kismet's Dungeons and Dragons nominated for an ENnie award in 2016, in the "Fan's Favorite Publisher" category.  It is the only category for which you do not have to submit material yourself and can be nominated by others.  It was the least thing she expected to see when she went to vote, and she will always be touched by it.  It seemed completely appropriate since that site was what brought her to the attention of 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming, a little gaming company that gave her a chance to live her dream of writing for a gaming publisher.

Would You Like To Know More?

If you have questions, reactions, constructive feedback, or other concerns, you can always email me.  I have always enjoyed interacting with folks who happen across my sites and books, and although my days are rather full, if you have a writing proposition, I will certainly hear you out.

Which Thay Are We Talking About Here, Anyway?

Official map of Thay

If you have kept up to date on recent canon events in the Forgotten Realms, you've definitely noticed that what I've been writing about here is very different.  There has been no mention of the Spellplague, the war between the zulkirs, or the destruction of just about everything that Thay was.  If you haven't kept up on the latest for whatever reason, never fear.  In this blog and on my larger D&D site, Thay remains a nation under the zulkirs, Mulhorand still exists in conflict with Unther, and Luskan's Arcane Brotherhood hasn't been reduced to a homeless gang.  The drow gods have not been decimated.  Nor will these things necessarily happen in the Realms I envision, set as they are in the mid to late 1370s DR.

There are a number of reasons why I will continue to develop the Realms from this point, and they are constructive rather than resentful.  I know there was some resistance from many long-time fans against the changes instituted in the 4E Realms, and they had some valid reasons for being disappointed.  But I don't want to dwell on what has now become an old argument, even if I do have my own bones to pick.  I respect the great deal of work that has been poured into the setting over the decades.  I now have more perspective on just how much work is involved since I've been writing on my own book (Drow of Porphyra).  The canon is what it is and won't be changing, but people are free to make the Realms what they need them to be.  And I want to share what I'm building so that others can have more to work with when they create their own games and characters.  

So here are the keys to what Kismet's version of Thay is all about:

Kismet's Thay is progressive, not regressive.  I didn't start playing the 4E or 5E versions of the Realms and then decide to roll them back to some earlier state.  When I first started running D&D in the early 2000s, the campaign setting book's timeline ended in 1372.  My group did some playing in that year, and most of my DMing has been done through the 1370s.  There's been so much to see and do and develop that we haven't advanced far in game time - but we have done a hell of a lot of exploring across Faerun.  Rather than advancing the timeline in a major way, destroying entire regions, or adding new lands out of nowhere (as was done in 4E), I intend to move forward naturally, explore the many areas that could use a lot more detail, and appreciate the places that exist.  That doesn't mean nothing bad will happen, that nothing will be demolished, or that there won't be major events; they just won't fall in line with the official outline.  If that excites you, welcome!  If you are looking for material that will follow the canon, you are still very welcome, but please know that I have no intention of doing so.  

Kismet's Thay does not tarnish the nation simply because of its evil doings.  Much of the materials I've found about Thay seem to be written by someone looking on with disapproval.  This has been the case regardless of edition.  There's a sense that Thayans have little to be proud of besides their magic, since many of them are evil and they are ruled openly by cruel wizards with ruthless reputations.  Bezantur, for instance, is described as a rather ugly and joyless city to visit, if for no other reason than it is a major port for slavery.  It's as though Thayans can have no taste or desire for finer things.  Yet empires in the real world have also been built on slave labor and bloody politics, and they left artworks and locations of great beauty behind.  And evil is not always deemed to be a bad thing so by those for whom it is a native element.  While some organizations have such hazardous methods and goals that they can't maintain nice things, in my designs the Red Wizards isn't necessarily one of them.  There are spots of blight and ugliness in Thay, to be sure, but not nearly as many as foreigners assume.  And they are not always viewed negatively by Thayan folks who were born and raised to understand the world in a different way.  With that in mind...

Kismet's Thay is approached from an insider's perspective.  While written in a third person, purportedly objective manner, it soon becomes clear that official manuals present Thay from an outsider's view (I can't speak to the novels; I haven't read them).  Not all sanctioned books are written that way in every case, but the more evil the focus becomes, the more the distance becomes apparent - and begins to affect the quantity and quality of the information offered.  There are many understandable reasons for this, but when it comes to Thay, it begins to hurt one's understanding and suspension of disbelief.  

The country itself is described as rugged and unpleasant, crawling with the zulkirs' monsters as well as humanoids, with little to offer the citizen.  No country exists quite like that, even if the benefits are only in the citizen's mind or the nation's propaganda.  The enclaves are the closest you can get to a taste of the real Thay, and that's only because they are essentially rated PG-13.  They are tiny slices of the mother country, watered down but just ethnic and exotic enough to enthrall, censored by local laws and only rumored to be corrupt.  Safely muzzled, the enclaves offer bargains and quests to those who are willing to deal with colorful reputations.  They don't explain why Thayans act as they do, think as they do, or are as they are.  They only showcase their wares and some of their attitudes and methods.  

I have had native-born Thayan characters in my imagination telling me all about their ways and people for a few years now.  Going with the insider's view has always granted me a more intricate and rich view of everything Thayan, and I hope to share the rewards.  But because of this perspective...

Kismet's Thay is skewed in Thay's favor and will remain so.  This is not a flaw or an accident but a deliberate and ingrained feature.  I'm not going to focus on writing about Thay from the point of view of characters who are enemies of the state or slaves.  We've already been given ample reasons to hate them.  Instead, I am going to show you the reasons why Thayans love themselves and their society (even as they despise many aspects and people with a fierce passion - but that should come to make sense, as well).  Dissenting characters might be used for future posts, but they will stay in the minority.  This doesn't mean that I will be writing a glorified travel manual that only highlights the best things about the place.  There are numerous weaknesses and failings in Thayan society and they will become apparent to the discerning reader.  I actually hope to show why the country hasn't advanced even further than it has.  But don't expect the narrators to turn into traitors, undergo major alignment changes, or abandon their country.  Even in the darkest hours, they will love their land above all others.  Even so...

Kismet's Thay isn't dedicated to the usual stubborn reactions and strategies.  Thus far, the majority of Thay's history has been taken up by a succession of failed invasion attempts.  The Red Wizards have lashed out at virtually every neighbor they possess and continued to send armies even when those tactics reaped few rewards.  They have expanded their territory but little for so much expense and repetition.  They continued attacking even after they started opening commercial and diplomatic enclaves in foreign cities, until just recently (1371).  To say that it's become a worn-out refrain would be putting it mildly.  While the zulkirs do not always present a united front and hatch their own schemes, they are also supposed to be some of the more intelligent wizards around, and they must present at least something of a united front to keep hold of such a country.  Surely their approaches should show more variety, pizzazz, and learning, and with any luck they will here, when it comes to that.  But no one will be attacking Aglarond in winter any time soon in this blog's contents.

Last but not least, Kismet's Thay is an exercise in fiction, world-building, and imagination - but does not condone the way Thayans live or treat others.  Regardless of my enthusiasm for writing here, I am fully aware that the world I am exploring does not exist.  I would not want to live in such a place, and am well acquainted with the horrors of slavery, oppression, and the rest.  But this is not real life.  This is fantasy of a special sort for folks who are ready for it.  You can enjoy reading about things you would never want to see happen, and that is part of the miracle of art.  So I produce this blog as an adult for adults, for readers who are comfortable with the material and would like to see more of it, and for readers who are ready for the bad guys to win some battles.  While I do not support the many cruel things Thayans take for granted, I am also not going to undercut or condemn them at every turn.  They reap their rewards and punishments, just like everyone else.  The evil have gods on their side, just like the good and neutral in Faerun.  

What Thayans have not had is enough of the spotlight, at least for my taste.  While Waterdeep has been detailed in hundreds of pages across editions, Thay has more than one city worthy of such attention but has received a fraction of the love.  So whether you're looking to understand what it was like before the Spellplague or if your vision of the country is similar to mine, at least now you know what you will find when you visit Kismet's Guide to Thay.

The Voices of Thay

Art by Artastrophe
For me, Thay began with a voice - the sarcastic tones of Edwin in the Baldur's Gate video game.  His endless complaining, threatening, and evading were no end of amusing to me as I made my way around the Sword Coast, and his entire attitude stuck with me.  Half a world away from home and alone among strangers, his swagger was not held back one iota.  He was a Red Wizard and wore his red with an almost ridiculous amount of pride.

When the time came to build my own version of Thay, I did not use Edwin directly - but I did not forget him.  I also did not fail to realize how valuable an insider's perspective and attitude can be.  I began creating characters who were Thayans born and bred, believing themselves above the rest, and they became my guides.  I listened to their reactions as I read my gaming books.  I allowed their views to shape what I saw.  I heard them explain what their country was like and the more I tuned in, the more I understood the hatred, impatience, pride, and power Thayans have been known for across Faerun.

Thus, for this blog, voices are going to be important.  I have ideas about which personalities will take part in these postings and deliver the inside scoop.  I plan to write many posts in character and from fictitious perspectives, but I will always make it easy to follow who is speaking and why.  To that end, I would like to introduce my possible cast to you.  

First, there is the record of House Delizan.  As a part of creating noble houses for Thay (which were conspicuously missing from the canon), I dedicated one whole house to the preservation of Thay's history.  The scribes and adventurers of House Delizan might get their hands dirty to learn more about their people, but they will brush aside the muck in order to produce crisp, precise, and  (mostly) objective observations.  Some posts will be from their archives, speaking for the collective rather than one person.

Next, there are the other castes of Thayan society which must be represented if you're going to understand the entire experience.  To access them and their unique points of view, I am going to draw from special NPCs created for our campaign.  Each of the PCs in our evil Thayan campaign has the Cult Leadership feat (as found in the third chapter of my book, Drow of Porphyra), and has a number of detailed cohorts and followers.  Using their voices here will allow me to learn more about them and their world at the same time.  

The voice of the Rashemi commoner will come from Liroq the sailor and his traveling companion, Nuaros.  These men are hard workers on Lake Thaylambar, but take vacations away from the water and into their homeland.  Without noble blood, they have fewer rights and privileges, but with a noble patron in Azonia Valgon, they have more leisure than they used to.  And while Liroq looks for ways to get the most out of his country on less than 1 gp a day, Nuaros' mouth makes that and most other things quite difficult.  They may never gain access to many inner workings, but they will likely stumble across plenty of things they shouldn't.

The voice of the in-between will be that of Lucindiya Szollos, a rare half-elf, half-Rashemi conceived in Gauros.  Her father is an elven slave who won his freedom by surviving a High Hunt of Malar.  Instead of fleeing, he chose to stay and marry into the local population.  It was a mixed blessing when Luci showed arcane talent because her muddied heritage means she can never ascend to becoming a Red Wizard.  She gladly attached herself to the perverse Thayan noble Viktor Valgon and rode him out of town (literally and otherwise) at the first chance, ending up across Thay and based in its capital city.  She has more access and a few more open doors than most commoners.

I am not settled on the next/last voice of this blog yet.  I am tempted to use the urban ranger Oltan, a free halfling who follows the blackguard Augustus Valgon and views every city as its own jungle, complete with predators, prey, trails, and so on.  His view is one that the PCs seek out often and he is usually at work in Eltabbar, scouting for his master for some reason or another.  He would be a fascinating way to explore any urban environment.  

I am also very tempted to use Augustus' lady of interest, Tari Govannon, a wickedly astute Thayan blue blood whose father works with the enclaves Thay has scattered across the continent.  She is so sharp that I never know what she will do or say next, and while she is on the census of Eltabbar, she can maneuver her way into almost any corner of Thay she fancies.

If you have any preferences or reactions, let me know.  Either way, I am looking forward to striking out into the wilds of Thay in a whole new way.  ;)

A Beginning

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If you've dug around on my long-standing fan web site, Kismet's Dungeons and Dragons, then you've probably figured out that I really love the country of Thay in the Forgotten Realms.  When the time finally came to hatch an evil campaign of my own, there were few other places I even considered as a setting, and none of them had half the charm.  Even though I couldn't find the depth of setting information I craved for it, I was so inspired that I didn't mind.

In the years since then, I've uncovered much of the published material scattered across various books and editions.  I gathered a coherent timeline and have made references to known NPCs, but I've spent more of my effort adding new details to Thay.  I haven't tried to stick to the "canon," since I always intended to color it with my own vision.  I've developed a lot of background information for use in our game sessions, and I've offered what I can on my site for other fans who might also be yearning for more.

My gaming group and I return to Thay whenever we are able, which is never quite as much as I hope for.  My mind goes back to the country and its characters whenever it can, which is also never as often as I would like.  I have found myself desperately looking for a way to quickly draft more material for Thay and get it out, while having fun and being able to do it from anywhere.  This blog might just be the answer to those prayers.  (Glory to Bane!)

I hope for most of it to be in-character, and have several points of view I would like to explore.  I will do my best to make the speaker apparent in any case.  I might even get my group members to write a few things, and if they do, I will make sure you know who they are because I am blessed to run for people I love.  With them beside me, I find a lot of laughter in even the darker corners of Thay and a very rich experience of what an evil campaign can be.  Sure, it's a forbidden pleasure, but it's a pleasure nonetheless.  (Glory to Samora!)

You should be warned that I am an adult who runs mature games for adult gamers.  This has been the case for many years.  We do not shy away from sex, violence, racism, or other highly charged topics.  We are not graphic or gory in our depictions or aims, however.  I am not here for shock value, but to provide a more mature lens through which to view fantasy gaming.  Most of what you will find here will be suggestive at best, or direct but cut and dry at worst.  

If you find that you are not enjoying what you are reading and do not wish to continue, thank you for trying it out.  I hope the next blog provides something more to your taste.  I will, however, continue on my own path, and will expect readers to handle their own reactions calmly, respectfully, and wisely.

If you have any questions, requests, or concerns, try checking out my main site to see if I've answered them there.  And if I haven't, feel free to talk to me here.