Forgotten Realms: Favorite Regions for Campaigns.

[dead]

I ran a Realms campaign once. It was in the North.

I think the North is a great place for a fledgling FR campaign. It's got high society (Waterdeep); majestic kingdoms (Silverymoon); the sinister Underdark (Menzoberanzan); and the wide, wide frontier.

The campaign was a bit of a flash in the pan, however. You see, I'm a long-time Greyhawker and I felt that my Realms game didn't seem any different to adventuring in GH. I mean, I was probably just running FR wrong, but to me *at the time* it was just another generic-D&D backdrop. Which isn't a bad thing!!!! GH is a generic D&D backdrop and it's great. The Realms is very good too . . . but if you're running a GH campaign, there's not much point in running an FR campaign. Not enough variation between the two settings, I think. I don't know, perhaps I'm not seeing it. [Not having a go at the Realms here. I love the Realms. In fact, I own more Realms books than GH books!]

So why'd I run a Realms campaign if I was happy with GH? Well . . . this was during the Planescape era and I'd got the wacky idea in my brain of running one GH campaign; one FR campaign; and one Dragonlance campaign and linking them all through Sigil and the Outer Planes.

I soon learnt that this was veeeery difficult manage and spead my talents across too wide an area. So I ditched the Realms. (I never started the DL campaign.)

 

[Korgan26]

Dragon coast for me.
Westgate imparticular.

Z

 

[Felon]

The north has a big edge here since the Silver Marches was the first region to be covered in a 3e sourcebook. That excellent resource, which depicts a frontier where low-level characters can carve out a name for themselves without tripping over an epic-level spellcaster every five minutes, is very appealing. And on top of that, it's well-positioned for higher-level fare with Waterdeep and the Sword Coast to one side, Anaurach and the shades to the other, and Menzoberranzen and Auramycos lurking below.

Say, has anyone seen a 3.5e update for the PrC's presented in the Silver Marches sourcebook? I can update them myself I suppose, but it'd take some work.

 

[Eremite]

(snip) And when I say the planes I mean the Great Wheel, not the laughable attempt at giving Toril its own planes that I've noticed most people tossing out like so much garbage. (snip)

Well, here's a dissenting point of view (IMO only, of course): the changes to the FR cosmology were one of my favourite things about the 3E version. I have never liked the Great Wheel, and I liked it even less when deities were located on the "wrong" planes (eg: Bane on Acheron, Cyric on Pandemonium, Selune on Ysgard), "wrong" in the sense that the plane did not reflect their actual alignment. The semi-autistic part of my character much prefers the new set-up.

 

[David Howery]

put me down for the North too... the one and only FR campaign I DMd was set there... Waterdeep, Uthgardt barbarians, Vikings, a bazillion orcs... what more could you want?

 

[Umbra]

The North for me too.

You have Waterdeep and Silverymoon for high-culture, high-magic, high-tech surrounded by high-danger, varied environments with a scattering of other towns. It's gives a lot of 'vanilla' variety while allowing the party a lot of choice and giving the DM plenty of style options (dungeon crawl to diplomacy). I usually alternate between a home-brew campaign and then a Silver Marches campaign (a year or so for each) to keep everything, including my mind, fresh.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

I learn something new every day…

Wow, I’m surprised at the percentage of games in the North. I figured Cormyr (where my campaign is primarily set) and The Dalelands would be on top.

Rankings:
2) Cosmology (the current, and thus better cosmology, of course..[thumbs nose at Shemaska])
3) Waterdeep
4) Wherever it’s most convenient to place a published adventure…

 

[diaglo]

The Sword Coast

 

[IronWolf]

I chose The North. I liked the Silver Marches source book a lot, The North boxed set is available on Wizard's site so there is a lot of material to work off of. There is also a good range of towns from small to larger.

 

[howandwhy99]

Personally, I love the parts of the Realms that are less defined.

I voted for the Hordelands. I have a potential homebrew setting there that turns the Wastes into burning deserts and frozen tundra. Inspiration is drawn from the Shackleton saga and from the horselords of Martin's "Song of Fire and Ice". There is actually plenty more to it, but the Endless Waste [not the Hordelands boxset] is key to setting the mood.