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"Free Verse" or "The Song Of Justice"

Now, I have conclusively proven beyond any doubt that the 3.0 FRCS is the gold standard for awesome fantasy settings (and I am right about everything.) The way I proved this was by coming up with an adventure hook based on the material on every single page of the book between page 8 and page 300. There is a link to the thread below.

But that is not enough for me. After all, many of those adventure seeds are fairly specialized, some use optional rules from the DMG, and in various ways extend on canon. It is certainly possible to sniff haughtily and say "well, those aren't all REALLY Forgotten Realms adventure seeds".

So, something more is needed to test the hypothesis many hold that if you use Forgotten Realms canon and D&D, the game will inevitably suck. Thus, we are going to run a Forgotten Realms game following all the rules and guidelines given in the books, not some rules and guidelines, not a few rules and guidelines, all the rules and guidelines. Many claim that this game will suck, must suck, it has to suck. But they are wrong...or if they are right, we will find out.

Game Info

We will be using 3.0 because the FRCS has not been updated to 3.5 directly, and I don't want anyone complaining with a haughty sniff that "well, what you're doing is messing around with the RULES". I am terrified of that haughty sniff!

A big part of the Forgotten Realms hate-on has to do with some novels. Not sure exactly which ones. I have thought and thought but can't figure out a way to play novels. They don't even tell me what dice to roll. So we are going to stick to games and gaming. I'm not much of a literary critic anwyay, I'm a gamer! And so are you, we're here to game!

Sourcebook List

Again, remember, to test the hypothesis, we must use all of the Forgotten Realms sourcebooks in toto. So if you come up with something from another 3.0 Forgotten Realms sourcebook, that you want to use, it's automatically included! Feats, prestige classes, everything! It's not required that you have them, but I do, and I will be referring to all of them. Whenever an answer can be answered by looking at any of these sourcebooks, I will use the canon answer, period! I won't even think about if it's a good answer or not, I will just use it. This includes GM advice, if you find some GM advice that applies to a situation, I am absolutely required to take it and use it! You (and onlookers) must assist in this by referencnig specific page numbers. I will only think about what will make for a better game if there is a contradiction in the canon.

D&D 3.5 came out in July 2003, so the potential products other than the ones listed above include: City of the Spider Queen, Faiths and Pantheons, the Dungeon Master's Screen, Lords of Darkness, Races of Faerun, the Silver Marches, and the Unapproachable East. I'll be relying on you to keep me "honest" and true to the source material! But I absolutely demand strict adherence to canon, you must quote me a page and paragraph.

No 3.5 or AD&D2 or anything like that, please, remember, we must not mess with the rules even though any sane gaming group would feel free to incorporate material from past editions or future editions. In short, we must not act like a sensible gaming group!

Errata and web enhancements are also official canon. Wizards.com has plenty of them. The other articles are canon too but you will have to point me to them very specifically, and remember, they have to be after 3.0, Forgotten Realms-related, and before July 2003.

The Setup

We will be using one of my favorite campaign ideas from the idea thread I mentioned earlier. Here is the original text: "Truth! Beauty! Love! Trying to get enough money to buy more coffee! It's a tough gig being a poet in the sultanates of Calimshan, but it has its benefits...readings in the harim, for example. Your gang of low-level rogues and bards are writing poetry and music and living the bohemian life of layabouts and artists, tutors to the wealthy and always looking for patrons. But one day when they're in the harim of a powerful sultan, a palace coup sweeps through the land and they find themselves on the run with the hot chicks and beefy palace guards with no shirt that survived. Identified wrongly as the top agents of the sultan, they'll have to win back the hearts and minds of the duped populace through art if they want to return the good-hearted sultan to the throne and get themselves back to their slacker life of truth, beauty and love! But what if love finds you in an unexpected place....2FYEW: Elminster's fit only for plots, treasons and stratagems. He has no music in him."