Discord
Changelog
Indeed Rizogue, I welcome this discussion. It could/should be a lively one. A few points though -
On the main welcome page for these forums, which has not actually been updated since these forums went live, I know it mentions something like "the server's settings begins in the year 1357 DR, before the Time of Troubles, etc, etc". That was true when we first started the server...3.5 years ago! Those terms should be changed to the past tense now and I will do that soon. Since one real-life year represents four Thayan years, we are actually midway through the year 1368 DR in-game right now. Halfway to the events of the Spellplague (I'll comment more on that thing in a bit).
Not speaking from a character perspective or even a story perspective, but from a purely selfish design perspective, the amount of change that would be needed to the module to change Thay to as it would exist in 4th edition would be significant as KTA mentioned. Currently we don’t even have all of Thay completed as it stood during the 2nd and 3rd editions, so by the time we finish that, the events of the 4th edition would come and sweep it all away! While I understand the desire, and agree that it would be cool, to adventure in a realm of undead, the focus of this server is to create a dark realm ruled by evil wizards, as per the material that many of us playing a 10 year-old game grew up with. To adventure in such a place, a different Thay server running a different Thay module would probably need to be the route to go.
Now I’ll just get on my own rant for a bit here about 4th edition and Forgotten Realms. Prepare yourselves... ;)
First off, well...hell...why?!? Why fundamentally change the setting the fans of it had used and gotten used to over the course of the decades it had been out? If they wanted a new setting *coughs*Eberron*coughs* then why not simply create it that way, rather than change an existing setting in such a huge and realms-shattering way than they did? Or if they were sick of it, why not just discontinue working on it and let all us old players live in the glory years of the past? Years upon years of canon and official material were wiped away with the changes (such as the wonderfully diverse pantheon of gods being wiped clean, the very nature of magic being changed, and so on).
I suppose I am rather conservative in this view, but I fail to see the reason for this change for the sake of change. The Forgotten Realms setting in pre-4th edition certainly has its flaws, no doubt about it. But it also had a significant number of fans who obviously liked the majority of the setting for one reason or another. When that majority they like is radically changed, it gives me the impression that WoTC is telling the setting’s fanbase that they don’t care about it the way the fans do and if the fans don’t like it – tough luck.
But back to the Thay PW, I do realize though that I and the (majority) of the current staff are basically saying the same thing about playing in Thay as it is now though. If you don’t like it, well...it’s maybe tough luck. ;) It is our vision of the world using the pre-4th edition material available and if you don’t like it well...we will listen. I say *maybe* tough luck because the beauty of NWN is that things can be modified in such radical ways, and that we aren’t a 25 million person server/game with 25 million different points of views, so input from people who spend their time here actually has a far better chance of making an impact on the server than a MMORPG.
I will end by saying I really liked, possible love, the Haunted Land trilogy books (hell, I’m re-reading them now actually). It saddens me that officially Thay becomes a realm of the undead, because I love a land of evil wizards that is so powerful it could rule most of Faerûn, but so dysfunctional it doesn’t even know how to rule itself. I feel that the current setting provides so many interesting opportunities and potential that it doesn’t need such a radical change to continue making the Thay PW a fun* place to hang out.
*Fun can be loosely translated into a word of your choice here...
On the main welcome page for these forums, which has not actually been updated since these forums went live, I know it mentions something like "the server's settings begins in the year 1357 DR, before the Time of Troubles, etc, etc". That was true when we first started the server...3.5 years ago! Those terms should be changed to the past tense now and I will do that soon. Since one real-life year represents four Thayan years, we are actually midway through the year 1368 DR in-game right now. Halfway to the events of the Spellplague (I'll comment more on that thing in a bit).
Not speaking from a character perspective or even a story perspective, but from a purely selfish design perspective, the amount of change that would be needed to the module to change Thay to as it would exist in 4th edition would be significant as KTA mentioned. Currently we don’t even have all of Thay completed as it stood during the 2nd and 3rd editions, so by the time we finish that, the events of the 4th edition would come and sweep it all away! While I understand the desire, and agree that it would be cool, to adventure in a realm of undead, the focus of this server is to create a dark realm ruled by evil wizards, as per the material that many of us playing a 10 year-old game grew up with. To adventure in such a place, a different Thay server running a different Thay module would probably need to be the route to go.
Now I’ll just get on my own rant for a bit here about 4th edition and Forgotten Realms. Prepare yourselves... ;)
First off, well...hell...why?!? Why fundamentally change the setting the fans of it had used and gotten used to over the course of the decades it had been out? If they wanted a new setting *coughs*Eberron*coughs* then why not simply create it that way, rather than change an existing setting in such a huge and realms-shattering way than they did? Or if they were sick of it, why not just discontinue working on it and let all us old players live in the glory years of the past? Years upon years of canon and official material were wiped away with the changes (such as the wonderfully diverse pantheon of gods being wiped clean, the very nature of magic being changed, and so on).
I suppose I am rather conservative in this view, but I fail to see the reason for this change for the sake of change. The Forgotten Realms setting in pre-4th edition certainly has its flaws, no doubt about it. But it also had a significant number of fans who obviously liked the majority of the setting for one reason or another. When that majority they like is radically changed, it gives me the impression that WoTC is telling the setting’s fanbase that they don’t care about it the way the fans do and if the fans don’t like it – tough luck.
But back to the Thay PW, I do realize though that I and the (majority) of the current staff are basically saying the same thing about playing in Thay as it is now though. If you don’t like it, well...it’s maybe tough luck. ;) It is our vision of the world using the pre-4th edition material available and if you don’t like it well...we will listen. I say *maybe* tough luck because the beauty of NWN is that things can be modified in such radical ways, and that we aren’t a 25 million person server/game with 25 million different points of views, so input from people who spend their time here actually has a far better chance of making an impact on the server than a MMORPG.
I will end by saying I really liked, possible love, the Haunted Land trilogy books (hell, I’m re-reading them now actually). It saddens me that officially Thay becomes a realm of the undead, because I love a land of evil wizards that is so powerful it could rule most of Faerûn, but so dysfunctional it doesn’t even know how to rule itself. I feel that the current setting provides so many interesting opportunities and potential that it doesn’t need such a radical change to continue making the Thay PW a fun* place to hang out.
*Fun can be loosely translated into a word of your choice here...