I now feel old, having first played AD&D in 1988. I had a starter set of Spellfire but had already played Magic at that point, and was fairly clear on which was the better game.
Sets (AFR) Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Previews- Dripping with Flavor, and Excess Words!
- Thread starter TrainmasterGT
- Start date
Onderzeeboot
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1988... let's see. I bet I can make people (other than you probably) feel young if I say I turned 7 years old that year
@Humpty_Dumpty
totally unrelated to anything you've said here but we have this lovely emote of you on the Cube Brainstorming discord.
totally unrelated to anything you've said here but we have this lovely emote of you on the Cube Brainstorming discord.
RIPtide Blade
Strike of Tangents
That is... kinda creepy. But I must say I’m honoured.
Regarding planeswalkers on in D&D:
(It’s a link. You can click on it to read it all.)
They had an opportunity here to create a Magic set without walkers but they wanted to ‘upgrade’ a few characters from legendary creatures to planeswalkers just because they thought it would be cool.
(It’s a link. You can click on it to read it all.)
They had an opportunity here to create a Magic set without walkers but they wanted to ‘upgrade’ a few characters from legendary creatures to planeswalkers just because they thought it would be cool.
Drizzt seems like a midrange stat monster. I probably like Trostani better as a 5 MV creature that vomits power all over the board.
Bruenor seems like the strongest version of these RW equipment matters uncommons. I like him more than either Akiri, but he seems like he'd be good friends with either of them.
I'm having a hard time evaluating Lolth, but she looks very fair to me. She seems extremely grindy, but she can probably do some disgusting things with tokens and a sac outlet. Probably need to play with her to understand her true power.
Bruenor seems like the strongest version of these RW equipment matters uncommons. I like him more than either Akiri, but he seems like he'd be good friends with either of them.
I'm having a hard time evaluating Lolth, but she looks very fair to me. She seems extremely grindy, but she can probably do some disgusting things with tokens and a sac outlet. Probably need to play with her to understand her true power.
I read all those books a looooong time ago, but I'm pretty sure this is true to the character. Battlehammer just sort of happened to be his last name.
That’s pretty poor writing
Unless there is a really good story that gave him that name like the Indians used to name their people or Daenerys Stormborn from GoT.
Onderzeeboot
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You know, just like in real life, sometimes a Gerald Butcher becomes a baker when he grows up. Battlehammer is a regular dwarven family name in D&D, not everyone in the family is going to be wielding a battlehammer though!That’s pretty poor writing
Onderzeeboot
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Sure, but it's a supplement set directly borrowing its legends from the Forgotten Realms universe. The only choice is whether to reprint this particular dwarf at all. If you choose to do so, you can't really give him a battlehammer, or those who do know the lore (and who are definitely part of the target audience) are immediately going to complain that he didn't have his trusty bearded axe in his hands
I mean.. When it’s scripted, it’s on purpose and not random like your baker-butcher example.
Onderzeeboot
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I think it's scripted much more organically this way. In the Forgotten Realms, just like in real life, your family name does not dictate your profession or choice of weapons. I like it, and I think it's really silly that we do expect those to match in a fantasy setting, and are annoyed when they don't.
Onderzeeboot
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That's okay too, because sometimes names do match up. Most people named Baker aren't going to be a baker, but considering that it's in the top 40 most popular surnames in the US, it's not at all unlikely that some of them are, especially because we as humans are unconsciously drawn to those 'coincidences'. Also, names that match, like your example Jon big Nose, aren't always their real family names, but rather epithets. This happens in real life too! For example, there's a Wiki page for Big Nose George, but his real name was George Parrott. So no, I don't feel cringe either way. I like it when a fantasy world offers a mix of both, as well as some names that are just completely unrelated.
Do you happen to know the character Bruenor Battlehammer from before it was included in a Magic set? Because it sounds like you grasping for a reason to defend the name.
Big Nose George comparison makes sense if Bruenor Battlehammer is also not his real name. Is it just a nickname he has been given? In that case, thumbs up and ignore everything I said.
Onderzeeboot
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No, I didn't know Bruenor before, but I looked him up. He is a member of clan Battlehammer. It's literally his family name, which is why I compared it to someone called Baker in the real world. I'm not grasping for a reason to defend the name, I just don't get why people are annoyed that someone named Battlehammer is wielding a bearded axe. Are you and Sigh equally annoyed when you meet a butcher named Baker in the real world?
Annoyed?
Was it this comment that made you feel like someone was annoyed?
That’s pretty poor writing
I feel like I should be able to comment on decisions made by Wizards of the Coast on a forum made specifically for that. In the real world, people are not written as 'Baker'. That is a name that has grown over centuries. For D&D it is a name invented and they chose that name specifically. I hope this makes more sense now. It is not a very important topic to me so if you don't get what we mean this time, we can just let the topic rest.
Onderzeeboot
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Yes it was! Maybe annoyed is the wrong word, but I'ld argue it's not at all poor writing, if anything it's strong writing. It's not a very important topic for me either, but as an avid D&D player and DM, I do like debating over worldbuilding (which this essentially comes down to)
I do get what you're saying, you can indeed make names and flavor match up when you're making up the entire world. My point is, if you're worldbuilding, that is not always the angle you're shooting for. Wizard of the Coast (or the writer of Bruenor, in any case) envisioned him as a member of the Battlehammer clan. There's an entire history to this clan, and the family name Battlehammer predates the clan. Not all of that history is written out, but that doesn't really matter. Just like how in the real world the Baker surname can be traced back to a common ancestor who was indeed a baker when surnames were formally introduced, in this fictitious universe, you can imagine it would be possible to trace back the family name Battlehammer to an ancestor who did indeed wield a battlehammer when dwarven family names were formally introduced. I think it's beautiful that a Battlehammer wielding a bearded axe implies a richer worldbuilding than one lazily naming fantasy characters after what they are or do. The worldbuilding for the Forgotten Realms, in this regard, mimics reality, and personally I like that.Of course, if in spite of all my yammering you still can't get yourself to appreciate this deeper lore and would prefer more on the nose character naming, that's fine too! I didn't mean to judge, I just wanted to provide a broader perspective!