D&D 5E Kobold Press: Can They Take On The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting?

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

A comment by Matt James over on the Candlekeep.com forums has me curious whether or not a third party like Kobold Press could take on the Forgotten Realms and produce a proper campaign guide for 5E.

I am not all that familiar with Kobold, but I wager one or more of you are. In your opinion, could they take on the Realms and produce something worthy of the setting?

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Yes, of course they could.

All they need is access to Ed Greenwood. They have all the other skills already.

 

[Mercurius]

They already did: its called Midgard.

I know, it wasn't produced for 5E but it is a D&D setting of high quality. Check it out.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Thanks for the recommendation.

I see that Jeff Grubb worked on Midgard. I'd be super delighted to see him working on the Forgotten Realms again.

 

[SirAntoine]

Ed Greenwood needs to work on it, or it's not likely to be very good.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Also, if it's going to be contracted out, I would like to see two or more versions:

1. Post-Sundering, so that they can keep R A Salvatore happy; and
2. an update to the OGB pre-ToT for those who prefer their Realms unstained by a generation of some truly terrible novels (and some good ones).

The first one would have the metaplot; the second one would not.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Ed Greenwood needs to work on it, or it's not likely to be very good.

it's a no go for me without Ed contributing the lion's share of new content.

Having purchased the Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design, I am curious to see what Wolfgang Baur would do with the Realms. A fresh take on familiar places is something I would welcome, and would increase my desire to buy a new campaign guide.

 

[Charles Wright]

They don't need to keep R.A. Salvatore happy. I say keep the creator of the Realms (Ed Greenwood) happy.

In any case, Salvatore is focusing on his own setting.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

As I understand it Salvatore is scheduled to write one or two novels a year for the Realms. It would appear he has time for other fun things as well.

Truth be told I would like to see him write sourcebook content for the Realms.

This leads me to wonder if WotC won't take their time with the Realms. That is, write regional campaign guides instead of one big overview book, and utilize different freelancers depending on the region.

For Cormyr I would like to see Brian Cortijo, Erin Evans and Jeff Grubb, for the Savage North I would like to see Steven Schend, Salvatore and Erik Scott de Bie.

 

[Charles Wright]

I'm sure he has time to write for it, but what I said was that there's no reason to "keep him happy".