Metagaming

## Falling in Love

To a degree, I grew up with Faerûn.

I didn't recognize it at the time, but I was piecing together lore as it congealed in the mid 80s. With the likes of Tolkien and the Conan comics, the Vallejo and Frazetta art books, I was already on my way to being a fantasy fan. Dungeons and Dragons made it interactive in a way that cemented the fascination forever.

Admittedly, I started with the World of Greyhawk – but there was something alluring about this other world. It was a different frontier, wild and untamed, dangerous and rich.

Faerûn brought us a compelling narrative: terrifying monsters, political intrigue, wizards with godlike intelligence, and tinkers learning to match that. It created a canvas for players to be as heroic (or villainous) as they could imagine. It created a tapestry where the characters could weave themselves into the lore. For five decades now (at least to its creator), it has been a consistent, go-to fantasy setting.

New textures came to supplement the European feel of Faerûn, filling in the rest of the Forgotten Realms. From the far East lands of Kara-Tur to the mesoamerican overlay of Maztica, the world grew to be an analogue of earth. The African-influenced, dinosaur-infested jungles of Chult brought a jurassic taste of the *Land that Time Forgot*. Each of these Realms have their own spice, but the endless struggle for game balance and consistency meant the same limitations and mechanics.

Through no fault of the imagination of Ed Greenwood, the flavor became homogenous. I drifted from D&D and fantasy and this one-time favorite world.

After years away from fantasy altogether, the possibilities of magic started to rekindle old loves. Maybe it was J.K. Rowling's take on magic's interface in the modern world, but I dug out old tomes. I rediscovered my love for Doctor Strange. It was fun to discover that some of the same comics that inspired me, had inspired the likes of Gary Gygax.

I was wary of jumping back in, especially as Wizards of the Coast took over from TSR. It seemed I'd spent a thousand dollars from the original boxed set through 3.5e. Just after I'd invested in 4e, they announced 5th edition. I couldn't keep up.

## Modern Perspective

By the 2000s, there was a new sensibility growing through the American audience. People wanted realism, even if it was swords and spaceships. Goofy, yes, but there was something in the grit that was appealing. Christopher Nolan captured the essence of the zeitgeist perfectly with the 2005 Batman Begins.

Just three years later, Iron Man would take the mantle. The rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was more than just comics captured in film, it was a study in adaptation. In what was wildly fantastic and patently impossible, how did they make the story look real enough to suspend disbelief?

Like Alice in Wonderland, it was believing the impossible – then reverse engineering it. Think of the Primal Reality campaign as the Realms Cinematic Universe.

What had been thought experiments in alt-history, along the lines of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, became a minor obsession. The Primal Magic concept turned the Forgotten Realms into a laboratory.

The game-balance rules were suspended and simulation parameters were engaged. All of the background in the timeline was the early part of the experiment. Now, the DM dons the goggles and the white lab coat and the Player-Characters become the catalyst. Together, what are you going to blow up?

## Nuts and Bolts

More than dragons or the undead, flying carpets or flying cities, a static state with the dynamic factor of magic is the most unrealistic portion of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. There have been other attempts to bridge the gap, like the steampunk-influenced setting of Eberron, but that does nothing for the time we've already invested.

We have poured countless hours into playing through the Realms. We don't want to leave those memories behind, so a reboot is out of the question. The answer is simple: *evolution*.

It took until 5e to make the assumption that PCs can read Common. That alone is a massive leap in the transfer of knowledge. It opens doors and a pandora's box of learning, which does nothing to preserve the quaint medieval time loop that has held the Realms in stasis.

The Primal Magic setting is going to push that... *much... further*. There are modifications and additions to character building, skills, talents and magic itself. These changes are introduced as regional discoveries, and true to the history of the setting, there will be consequences, intended and otherwise.

Likewise, the Primal campaign dissolves any pretense of balance. There is a reason modern combat on earth doesn’t use swords and lances or bows and arrows anymore… and the consequences of that progress is slamming into Faerûn.

## A crossroads 20,000 years in the making

The new approach – discarding class balance – instead favors the quest of adapting to change. The rules encourage this. Embrace it. This is about a high-speed, low-drag rocket ride with characters that will at first feel overpowered. Stonehearth is about to rock Faerûn, Toril and all of Realmspace.

The key, for the DM, is that the scenarios fall in their comfort zone. The key for the players is that the experience meets expectations. These two criteria can be wildly divergent, but if they're both met, everybody has fun.

Give the PCs a chance to chew through old foes. Establish the new paradigm. Empower them to change the world... and change it with them. That is the only way they'll have a chance against the aberrations that have already brought the Far Realm to Faerûn's Underdark.