A little more on the FRCG

Right to it then.

I’ve gotta say that I like a lot of the remodeled cosmos and pantheon. For starters the exarchs are very cool and give my epic tier character something to shoot for (as 'godhood' has always struck me as a little unreal. I mean, how often does the apprentice blacksmith say to himself that someday he'd like to be a god?).

On the other hand I always liked the Mulhorandi pantheon and I’m saddened to see it go. Sure it was a little out of place, being nothing more than the Egyptian gods and goddesses. But it was one of my faves.

I suppose we have the Norse gods and their fans to thank for this. “If our gods aren’t in the Realms then why did those Egyptians get in?” Answer: because they’re cooler by far. All you Norsemen have are big beards and ravens. (Okay, Sif is kinda hot.)

Back to topic, my biggest peeve by far is the lack of a entire world map. I can’t tell you how much I hate that it’s been excluded from this book. Instead of flipping to a page to see where in Toril that Aglarond is, I’ve not gotta unfold that massive (albeit nice looking) map that was glued to the back of the book. If I don’t have the room or inclination to unfold that fucking thing, I’m left with a disjointed mental map of the Realms until I stumble across it later and have an “oh! So that’s where that place is!” moment.

The entries themselves are great so far (thru the A nations anyways). I’m a big fan of the Knowledge this or that checks sections at the start of each entry. Those are nothing short of awesome. The inclusion of the potential adventure hooks is another thing I really like, and I’m very glad to see it int the 4e FRCG.

Too bad about that map though.