Ya know...I bought this boxed set back in...I dunno, 1991, '92. I never really used it.I've bought other FR stuff since, notably a lot of the 3rd Edition stuff (good stuff, too). My wife and I have played some of the computer games, like and Baldur's Gate, Dark Alliance and Neverwinter Nights, to differing degrees of completion (the PS2 ones we beat together, twice). I've never dug into the fiction, really, nor have I been a real fan - just kind of a passive, occasional visitor.
All of a sudden, I'm lookin' at that old boxed set like it's sliced bread.
Look - this boxed set contains a lot of info on a fantasy RPG setting, but it's far from being choked with detail. It gives you good, solid thumbnails of certain people, places and things - but they're thumbnails, providing more a general sense of the subject that an encyclopedic, exhaustive...I dunno, a textbook?
This boxed set, and its contents, feel more like a tool for playing in the Realms. It even makes me want to play AD&D 1st Ed. with it, if only I could talk my wife into it. (She actually likes the Realms quite a bit as a setting, because, as she says, "So many people have done so much work in it, that it feels like it's full of life.")
We've been using it for that D6 Fantasy game I keep mentioning, and I'm really, finally, enjoying the Realms.
Oddly, I'm enjoying it as my setting.
Yup. I can put Pat Benatar in there.
ADDENDUM: ANOTHER ROTWANG!-CENTRIC CAMPAIGN DETAIL
Let's call this an entry for PROJECT: MURLYND.
Somewhere along the line, my wife and I developed an inside joke about explosive donkeys. I think we saw a donkey fall off a cliff and explode on an episode of Family Guy, and the notion was so funny to us that it just kind of spiraled out from there.
Last night, while watching The Musketeer, she spotted a donkey in one of the shots, and made a joke about it being potentially explosive. In that moment, I made a decision, and spoke it out loud:
"That's it. In my fantasy game world, donkeys have a 25% chance of being explosive." This was further adjusted to "50% if attached to a cart" and "75% chance if near a cliff".
Yes, it's dumb, but it's also kinda funny. Plus, it's my game, and I think it's cool. Therefore -- IN IT GOES.
Oh, yeah. Furthering the concept, 100% of in-game burros are made of corn.
