Incline Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Worth pointing out that the Time of Troubles was a big company wide event for Forgotten Realms at the time BG was in pre-production. TSR was pushing it in adventures, source books, and novels, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if a condition of BG getting greenlit was that it also had to touch on it in some way.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

The Time of Troubles was an "event" for the Forgotten Realms in 1989 to provide an in-setting explanation for changes in rules from AD&D 1st edition to AD&D 2nd edition --- rather superfluous, since the differences were limited enough that they could easily be handwaved away via retroactive continuity. TSR released a trilogy of related adventure modules --- FRE1 Shadowdale, FRE2 Tantras, and FRE3 Waterdeep --- accompanied by a trilogy of novels bearing the same names and cover art.

 

[deuxhero]

TSR released a trilogy of related adventure modules --- FRE1 Shadowdale, FRE2 Tantras, and FRE3 Waterdeep --- accompanied by a trilogy of novels bearing the same names and cover art.

Aren't those considered railroady and non-interactive to the point they're the worst modules ever published by TSR, even including The Forest Oracle?

 

[Volrath]

The Time of Troubles was an "event" for the Forgotten Realms in 1989 to provide an in-setting explanation for changes in rules from AD&D 1st edition to AD&D 2nd edition --- rather superfluous, since the differences were limited enough that they could easily be handwaved away via retroactive continuity. TSR released a trilogy of related adventure modules --- FRE1 Shadowdale, FRE2 Tantras, and FRE3 Waterdeep --- accompanied by a trilogy of novels bearing the same names and cover art.

Christ that cover art is fantastic...

 

[Cael]

The Time of Troubles was an "event" for the Forgotten Realms in 1989 to provide an in-setting explanation for changes in rules from AD&D 1st edition to AD&D 2nd edition --- rather superfluous, since the differences were limited enough that they could easily be handwaved away via retroactive continuity. TSR released a trilogy of related adventure modules --- FRE1 Shadowdale, FRE2 Tantras, and FRE3 Waterdeep --- accompanied by a trilogy of novels bearing the same names and cover art.

Christ that cover art is fantastic...

I still have that trilogy in paperback. Art is Clyde Caldwell, I think.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Art is Clyde Caldwell,

No wonder

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

The Time of Troubles was an "event" for the Forgotten Realms in 1989 to provide an in-setting explanation for changes in rules from AD&D 1st edition to AD&D 2nd edition --- rather superfluous, since the differences were limited enough that they could easily be handwaved away via retroactive continuity. TSR released a trilogy of related adventure modules --- FRE1 Shadowdale, FRE2 Tantras, and FRE3 Waterdeep --- accompanied by a trilogy of novels bearing the same names and cover art.

Hmm. I guess my old man memory is playing tricks on me. I could have sworn it came about towards the end of 2e.

 

[Cael]

The Time of Troubles was an "event" for the Forgotten Realms in 1989 to provide an in-setting explanation for changes in rules from AD&D 1st edition to AD&D 2nd edition --- rather superfluous, since the differences were limited enough that they could easily be handwaved away via retroactive continuity. TSR released a trilogy of related adventure modules --- FRE1 Shadowdale, FRE2 Tantras, and FRE3 Waterdeep --- accompanied by a trilogy of novels bearing the same names and cover art.

Hmm. I guess my old man memory is playing tricks on me. I could have sworn it came about towards the end of 2e.

No. Time of Troubles is definitely 1e to 2e. It predates 3e.

 

[agris]

Cael is definitely right, I remember reading about it in a Drizzt series back before 3e was ever announced. Wulfgar, Catty Brae and that whole lot predate 3e.

 

[Humbaba]

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/d4ef4f06-b8aa-446c-9240-df217712be57

Clyde Caldwell

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Cael is definitely right, I remember reading about it in a Drizzt series back before 3e was ever announced. Wulfgar, Catty Brae and that whole lot predate 3e.

? Never said it had anything to do with 3E. I said it was a big thing while BG was in pre-production (which I was mistaken on, it predated that by ~7 years), but 3E never had anything to do with BG.

I think the source of my misremembering likely stems from the fact that I read the Avatar trilogy sometime in the mid-90s and at the time the time gap didn’t seem so large to me. Very cheesy books.

 

[Great Deceiver]

The Time of Troubles was an "event" for the Forgotten Realms in 1989 to provide an in-setting explanation for changes in rules from AD&D 1st edition to AD&D 2nd edition --- rather superfluous, since the differences were limited enough that they could easily be handwaved away via retroactive continuity. TSR released a trilogy of related adventure modules --- FRE1 Shadowdale, FRE2 Tantras, and FRE3 Waterdeep --- accompanied by a trilogy of novels bearing the same names and cover art.

Christ that cover art is fantastic...

Clearly missing a black troon handicapped lesbian elf

 

[Cael]

Cael is definitely right, I remember reading about it in a Drizzt series back before 3e was ever announced. Wulfgar, Catty Brae and that whole lot predate 3e.

? Never said it had anything to do with 3E. I said it was a big thing while BG was in pre-production (which I was mistaken on, it predated that by ~7 years), but 3E never had anything to do with BG.

I think the source of my misremembering likely stems from the fact that I read the Avatar trilogy sometime in the mid-90s and at the time the time gap didn’t seem so large to me. Very cheesy books.

Time of Troubles was done as an in-universe explanation for the differences between editions of the game. So, it was either 1st to 2nd or 2nd to 3rd. We're just confirming that it is 1st to 2nd.

 

[deuxhero]

Christ that cover art is fantastic...

Why's his sword so short if it's two handed?

 

[Bohrain]

It's the Witcher sword for slaying midgets.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Christ that cover art is fantastic...

Why's his sword so short if it's two handed?

He thinks he's in one of the Demon's/Dark Souls games and therefore can increase his sword's damage by two-handing it.

 

[mondblut]

Christ that cover art is fantastic...

I still have that trilogy in paperback. Art is Clyde Caldwell, I think.

Only 2 and 3. Shadowdale cover is someone else's. Probably Jeff Easley, he loves his yellow, orange and brown.

It's not Caldwell if gems and metal accessories don't look like chinese plastic toys.

 

[mondblut]

He thinks he's in one of the Demon's/Dark Souls games and therefore can increase his sword's damage by two-handing it.

3e has bonus to damage for twohanding onehanded weapon. He was looking forward to the next edition.

 

[Cael]

Christ that cover art is fantastic...

Why's his sword so short if it's two handed?

I think he started with a bastardsword in the story, and then switched over. I haven't read it for a long time, so I might be wrong.

 

[santino27]

The Time of Troubles was an "event" for the Forgotten Realms in 1989 to provide an in-setting explanation for changes in rules from AD&D 1st edition to AD&D 2nd edition --- rather superfluous, since the differences were limited enough that they could easily be handwaved away via retroactive continuity. TSR released a trilogy of related adventure modules --- FRE1 Shadowdale, FRE2 Tantras, and FRE3 Waterdeep --- accompanied by a trilogy of novels bearing the same names and cover art.

Christ that cover art is fantastic...

I preferred Parkinson and Elmore to Caldwell from the TSR stable, but Clyde definitely had some bangers too.

 

[Harthwain]

I preferred Parkinson and Elmore to Caldwell from the TSR stable, but Clyde definitely had some bangers too.

Some characters need a better fashion sense though (that wizard on the throne, for example).

 

[Cael]

I preferred Parkinson and Elmore to Caldwell from the TSR stable, but Clyde definitely had some bangers too.

Some characters need a better fashion sense though (that wizard on the throne, for example).

I think he frakked up that one. That is Bane being depicted, I think, but that scene was actually supposed to be the Lord of Shadowdale on the throne.

 

[The_Mask]

Christ that cover art is fantastic...

Why's his sword so short if it's two handed?

Your swing is stronger if you hold a sword with 2 hands.

 

[Gargaune]

Christ that cover art is fantastic...

Why's his sword so short if it's two handed?

I think he started with a bastardsword in the story, and then switched over. I haven't read it for a long time, so I might be wrong.

Don't recall anymore either, but it'd make sense since his 3E favoured weapon is the bastard sword. Besides, the artwork's just got finicky perspective on the blade's angle, that's the hilt of a two-handed or hand-and-a-half weapon, not that of an arming sword. We'll always keep coming back to D&D miscasting the "longsword" as a one-handed weapon instead of its proper two-handed use.

Servants of Kelemvor were usually clad in somber gray vestments and brandished hand-and-a-half swords, or bastard swords.

 

[Roguey]

Chris has updated his Fallout Aprocrypha https://chrisavellone.medium.com/fallout-apocrypha-77c75954641a

He provides a reason for why horses went extinct (they'd be too costly to implement and it wouldn't be fair to tease players with their existence without letting them have one) and his reasons for why he hates talking deathclaws (which is also related to the reason why he hates George Romero's Day/Land of the Dead)

Second, the reason I take issue with talking deathclaws is it’s the same reason I hate zombie genre pieces where… after the protagonists have killed hundreds of zombies in gruesome ways… the zombie franchise creators then go to imply that zombies have feelings, are intelligent, can be cured, etc. This isn’t a bad idea by itself. The issue is that if you want the player to feel like complete shit for having killed hundreds of creatures that you might have had the potential to save and evolve, then I probably don’t want to play any game you design because you and I are miles apart on what “letting the player feel heroic” means.
...
If you take away that, then you’ve got one less badass monster in the wastes. That’s a minor point, though, and again, the main reason I don’t like talking deathclaws is because they have a huge potential to make you feel bad about fighting other deathclaws that were not designed to be saved.

Very

attitude imo.