how do you envision the future of Faerun, like if technology progressed (I don’t mean publishing wise), but the in-world future? Tech wise? Skyscrapers? Cars? Faerûn has energetic merchants who travel, so goods and tech and thoughts and culture get swiftly shared. In the near future, lots of turmoil as races shoved aside and dominated by ever-breeding humankind see their chances, and try to take them (in the chaotic aftermath of the…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…Sundering). We've seen various players (Rage of Dragons) try to seize power, and strife within races (Storm King's Thunder), and your planned Dodkong campaign is another great example of this. With longtime "dampeners" like Larloch and the Srinshee off the stage, there will…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…be a lot of bids for power. And the trodden-over-in-the-process common folk, tied to the land, are going to increasingly realize they need to be more self-reliant again (make their own clothes and tools and shelter, not just grow their own food), so they can hastily move if…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…need be, and not have to rely on any merchant. Meaning they can close borders and shut others out if they want to. So high-yield gardening, small-forging, and gadgets that make swift processing and preservation of food (pickling, etc.) are going to be increasingly popular. …
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
… Handcarts for all, better roads within an area (barony, say) and tolls and guardposts to collect them and control which "outlanders" come in, etc. In the longer term, larger wagons but with much better means of rolling (multiple articulated wheelsets, so a wagon can flex…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…and losing one wheel doesn't stop a conveyance, because it travels on eight or more, paired, and carries spares all over the roof. This will in turn lead to both more and better roads, and railways (we already have dwarf and gnome pushcart narrow-gauge mining railroads), and..
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…urban development along those routes, which when rulers realize this, will mean they push to build good travel networks in their territories, and so on. We will see more and better factories for building supplies (roofing, plumbing first), and then widespread printing and…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…distribution of books. Coaches increased, and taxi services to short-haul furniture and bulk purchases. Rebuilding valuable city properties with new, taller buildings, but actual skyscrapers a LONG way off, I'm seeing more 3 to 4 storey buildings replaced by 6 to 8 floors. …
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
Mechanization of farm work with ploughing and seeding and reaping machinery, migration of folk to cities…so it seems to be following real-world historical meta-patterns. One of the topics @GrubbsTweet and @StevenESchend and I often used to discuss was what role magic would…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…play in altering real-world patterns, being as we have a goddess onstage (Mystra) who would work hard against attempts to outlaw or restrict mage use, or persecute or imprison and control users of magic. Fun discussions that never got resolved, as the "sweet spot" for D&D is..
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…in the "Wild West" era of magic use, with many competing systems, and still a lot of agency for good old sword-swingers…
But I see things starting with small "make my daily work life easier" gadgets and innovations (better drills and shovels and oven-forks) rather than big..— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…things, because big things invite big pushbacks.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
This is awesome. These are the sort of conversations we had behind the scenes in the TSR days, and they still go on in the Wizards days (I recall some pleasant, if too short, chats with @ChrisPerkinsDnD and Matt @Sernett and others, as well as the big metaplanning Sundering summits). My manna/…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…/ambrosia/…elixir of life. ;} We even talked about doing board games like this. Early on, I wanted to have a pull-out game in The Dragon that was all about shipping cargoes (ship and shore) up and down the Sword Coast. Literally move little cards that detailed goods being…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…carried. (I wanted this as a roleplaying game aid for DMs as well as a stand-alone game), and one of the suggested options was that if the right combination of cargoes went to the same port, eventually an innovation/breakthrough would happen (score big points, in-game).
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
So question then…why is technology in the Forgotten Realms so stagnate then? By this point, it should be near a steampunk world… It is near a steampunk world, in places. But you're overlooking the amount of chaos all the warfare covered/mentioned/implied in all of the published adventures has caused (Tuigan Crusade, Szass Tam's wars, return of Shade, etc etc etc), the utter upheaval of the Sundering, and..
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…the ongoing effects of magic. The whole focus of those conversations I was alluding to. Some folk see how they can profit by change, and pursue it. Most folks resist change, and in the Realms that means GUILDS as well as rulers who want to stay on top. Throw in orc hordes…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…and the natural chaos of bad harvests/severe winters, hurricanes and so on, and the question could just as validly be put: why hasn't the Realms regressed a long way towards barbarism/local subsistence existence? You're assuming tech is stagnant; it's not, but innovations…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…tend to only get pushes behind them if a merchant group with money to spend can see a way to handsomely profit off a change, or a ruler or war leader sees a military benefit. Or to put it another way: roleplaying setting design intended to maximize play opportunities for…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
…small groups of independent adventurers thrives on widespread chaos and change, but not necessarily lasting achievement and widespread advances for all. We're trying to live in the moment of the tipping point, and like Peter Parker not graduating for decades, making that…
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019
So question then…why is technology in the Forgotten Realms so stagnate then? By this point, it should be near a steampunk world… …moment last. :}
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 6, 2019