Hey, do any of you D&D nerds know what product the Yawning Portal tavern first appeared in?
— Will Doyle (@BeholderPie) September 14, 2018
If it's an official TSR Realms product, as opposed to the modules I wrote, typed up, photocopies, and gave away at early GenCons, the answer should be: FR1 WATERDEEP AND THE NORTH. By yours truly.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 14, 2018
A pleasure! Happy to be of help!
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 14, 2018
This may have been answered somewhere else already, but was curious how a blood hunters rites would do with a firearm if someone took the feat for proficiency Same as any other ranged weapon. 🙂
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) September 18, 2018
@TheEdVerse Why does Waterdeep tolerate Blue Alley over 150 years after its creation? Has the City made it safer/ harder to find (as not to needlessly harm kids and commoners)?
— BAMorrier (@benmorrier) October 19, 2018
1)
The Blue Alley survives because the Watchful Order convinced Open Lord Piergeiron of its usefulness, for reasons the Open Lords since then agree with. These reasons are twofold: 1) it can be used to trap and eliminate, harm, …#Realmslore https://t.co/nEoUnqjNv2— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 20, 2018
2)
… or humble unwanted marauders in the city (visiting or otherwise), and 2) [and this second reason is hardly apparent in the various published mentions of the Blue Alley] it provides “complete healing” for those who dare to…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 20, 2018
3)
…try to reach them, by a mechanism deemed too useful by the Order to eliminate, and potentially too dangerous to dismantle: the Alley includes Weave “feedback” areas; small spots in the dungeon visible only as they’re…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 20, 2018
4)
…functioning: they glow an eerie blue (we modern real-worlders might say “electric blue”) as they completely heal, regenerate, and restore PCs who enter them or “touch” (impinge upon) any part of them. In other words, the…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 20, 2018
5)
…Blue Alley isn’t just a deadly thrill run of waltzing undead and strange conjured images, it can be a ‘bring-the-coinless back from ashes or maimed death to full life’ boon for normal folk who dare to use it for…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 20, 2018
6)
…friends, kin, or loved ones. The full Blue Alley has never been published, and sometimes underlying reasons for things, or how they fit into a society or “how things work locally” gets lost that way. To provide another…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 20, 2018
7)
…example: Censored out of the published Realms from the outset is a disrespectful peeing statue in Selgaunt of a long-ago would-be local dictator. Although the man’s wealthy descendants are still powerful in the city, the…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 20, 2018
8)
…statue remains intact and standing because the enchantments on it purify the pumped seawater it emits, into drinkable fresh water that now gets piped throughout the city. Unlike this statue, the Blue Alley partly survives…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 20, 2018
9)
…in print, but with an important reason for why its existence is still tolerated lost. (Heh. This is why I’m still answering Realmslore questions, after fifty-some years.)#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 20, 2018
10)
And my original Blue Alley IS hard to find; its entrance is completely cloaked by a “solid, dirty city building wall” illusion, and a hired street person lounges watching who approaches. Anyone can walk right…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 20, 2018
11)
into it, IF they can find it.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 20, 2018
Hi Mr Greenwood! A question about the Time of Troubles. Did Ao cast down Kara-Tur and Maztica Pantheon from the heavens during the ToT? Oh, yes. However, the avatars of most of the deities from those pantheons hid or saw to personal business on Toril during the ToT, keeping much lower public profiles than those we read about in the "Avatar Trilogy."
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 13, 2018
Hey @mikemearls if a Beholder is on a boat that is moving can it "hover" relative to the moving boat without spending movement or does it have to rope itself to the ship like a really angry balloon?
Asking for a Dungeon Master.
— Evdor the Mighty (@EvdorTheMighty) October 8, 2018
It hovers along with the boat. Same reason why when it hovers off the ground, the world doesn’t spin below it at some godly speed.
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 8, 2018
1)
“So many PEOPLE!” the barbarian rumbled, scowling in all directions and waving his to-handed axe meaningfully to keep scurrying street urchins at bay. “They swarm like rats, or flies! All this STINK! Are they all…#epic fantasy— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 7, 2018
3)
“I believe that can be arranged. In fact, those men in uniform approaching us seem to have that very goal on their minds, by the looks on their faces.”
…brain-addled, not to have sense enough to clean up after themselves? Dung where they LIVE! And eat! This is madness!”
“This,” the cleric explained wearily, “is a city. Your first, I presume?”
“And my last.” “What do the uniforms mean?”
“That they’re the City Watch. Lawkeepers. …#epic fantasy— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 7, 2018
4)
…You DO know what that means?”
“Aye,” rumbled the barbarian. “I know YOU think it means I have to obey them. And I KNOW it means those stupid uniforms let me easily tell who to cleave into little pieces. Starting now.”#epic fantasy— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 7, 2018
Feeling rather dry and a trifle pale
We happened to a keg of ale
Why the tavernmaster wanted to be paid, I can’t think
He’d been the one who invited us in for a drink— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 8, 2018
Shall we play at swords? I’ve a sharp pair right here
Just try not to get too much blood in the beer
And if slaying monsters is among this bright day’s whims
Then let’s get a-hacking until the sun’s light dims— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 8, 2018
@TheEdVerse weird question, can you explain how 'life force' works in the realms? Like, i dont THINK life force is a soul, or something… Dont know #forgottenrealms #5e #nonsuspicious
— PastorGall (@PastorGall) October 4, 2018
1) Mortals, including clergy (thanks to contradictory things gods have said or hinted) disagree on this, but Toril contains natural energies that are continually changing form (heat, kinetic, wind, current and tide, fire, and so on), and… https://t.co/15SPceGrCo
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 4, 2018
2) …that can be harnessed or captured in various ways (the Weave is one, and other systems of magic, too). All living things contain life energy (akin to “positive energy” in some editions of the game), and a soul is one built-in vessel…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 4, 2018
3)
…in many living beings for containing/focusing life energy. Living spells, magic items, and many magical effects store or contain this same energy, but when it’s part of a living thing, sages call it “life energy.” Thinking entities tend to…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 4, 2018
4)
…understand life energy, to the extent that they understand it at all, in terms of how they can handle it/experiences they’ve had with it/ways they know how to harness it.— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 4, 2018
