The End Of The Realms As We Know It?

The move to Dungeons & Dragons fourth edition is starting to look like it's being managed by the grim reaper himself. So far the body count includes Dragonlance; Dragon and Dungeon magazine's material incarnations; the long-running, RPGA-favorite Living Greyhawk campaign, and now, the Forgotten Realms seem to be up on the block. The current clack is that fourth edition is going to hit the hard reset button on the Realms, advancing the story around a hundred or so years, warping the landscape, and killing off the vast majority of established characters... but keeping Drizzt and Elminster (head on over to ENWorld for the current bout of spoilers from A Grand History of the Realms and the rumor mill).

Lending a sort of damning credence to the talk of the campaign setting's reset, the father of the Forgotten Realms, Ed Greenwood, has chimed in on the development (check out Candlekeep's forums for the full discussion).

Not, it was not my idea.

However, before every scribe or Realms fan everywhere grabs that comment and shouts, “See! They’re ruining the Realms and Ed Greenwood hates what they’re doing!” I would ask everyone to remember that I walked this particular plank back in 1986, when I sold rights to the Realms to TSR, ceding artistic control of the setting.
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I’m sticking with the horse for now, because I know it and love it and we’ve ridden far together. Bailing right now, at full gallop, would be painful, and I’d be left behind and never get to see what neat new places it will reach.
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I understand your hurt. I have felt it too, over and over, down the last twenty years, and believe me I feel it now, as characters get whacked and I face the prospect, that I’ve been fending off with potions of longevity for as long as I could, of others dying of old age before I ever get to really tell their stories.

Even-tempered words from a perpetually class guy, though I still feel bad for Mr. Greenwood. All that said, everyone can breathe easy cause it sounds like at least Eberron is still safe... for now.