Required Pre-3.5 FR Gaming Materials

[msd]

Hi folks.

I picked up D&D again w/ 3.5 which means that I missed a lot of the pre-3.5 FR stuff. I am now trying to assemble as much material as I can that will give me "flavor"...crunch is pretty irrelevant.

If you were putting together a mandatory list of things to get from E-bay, WoTC downloads, etc., what would you include? I am interested in everything from adventures to sourcebooks.

Thanks!

-Matt

 

[Staffan]

Well, first you'd need the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. That's kind of a given. That's pretty much the only 3.0 thing you need.

Other 3.0 things you might want pretty much depends on your tastes.

Magic of Faerûn is excellent, and have some esoteric magic-related things, like gem magic and spellbook-related stuff.

Faiths & Pantheons is OK if you're looking for priestly prestige-classes, but I'd rather use the 2e books (mainly Faiths & Avatars, but also Demihuman Deities for dwarf, drow, elf, gnome, and halfling gods, and Powers & Pantheons for the Mulhorandi and Chult pantheons plus the Faerûnean demigods) for the fluff.

Races of Faerûn is also very good, and is sort of "3.25" already. It came out just before 3.5, so much of it is adapted to 3.5 already.

The Silver Marches is a regional sourcebook for that area - if you're unfamiliar with "recent" developments, Silverymoon and some of the other citystates of the Savage North joined together in an alliance. It is pretty good, but obviously of limited use unless you're going to set your campaign in that region. It is pretty fluff-heavy, so the revision doesn't change much about it.

Lords of Darkness, finally, is a book about the evil organizations in FR, like the Zhentarim. It should be pretty useful in 3.5 as well. I don't have Champions of Ruin, so I don't know how it measures up against the more recent release.

Those are the 3.0 books have myself. I would also recommend Player's Guide to Faerûn, which is mostly a 3.5 "upgrade kit". It contains upgraded versions of most of the 3.0 rules material that needed upgrading to fit with 3.5 sensibilities.

 

[msd]

Well, first you'd need the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. That's kind of a given. That's pretty much the only 3.0 thing you need.

Other 3.0 things you might want pretty much depends on your tastes.

Magic of Faerûn is excellent, and have some esoteric magic-related things, like gem magic and spellbook-related stuff.

Faiths & Pantheons is OK if you're looking for priestly prestige-classes, but I'd rather use the 2e books (mainly Faiths & Avatars, but also Demihuman Deities for dwarf, drow, elf, gnome, and halfling gods, and Powers & Pantheons for the Mulhorandi and Chult pantheons plus the Faerûnean demigods) for the fluff.

Races of Faerûn is also very good, and is sort of "3.25" already. It came out just before 3.5, so much of it is adapted to 3.5 already.

The Silver Marches is a regional sourcebook for that area - if you're unfamiliar with "recent" developments, Silverymoon and some of the other citystates of the Savage North joined together in an alliance. It is pretty good, but obviously of limited use unless you're going to set your campaign in that region. It is pretty fluff-heavy, so the revision doesn't change much about it.

Lords of Darkness, finally, is a book about the evil organizations in FR, like the Zhentarim. It should be pretty useful in 3.5 as well. I don't have Champions of Ruin, so I don't know how it measures up against the more recent release.

Those are the 3.0 books have myself. I would also recommend Player's Guide to Faerûn, which is mostly a 3.5 "upgrade kit". It contains upgraded versions of most of the 3.0 rules material that needed upgrading to fit with 3.5 sensibilities.

Thanks for the reply. I apologize in that I should have been much clearer. I am referring to pre 3.0/3.5 material. AD&D material more accurately. I love the books you have mentioned though, so that is a good sign...

 

[Mitchbones]

This is sort of offtopic. Is there a place I can buy the FR campain setting 3.0/.5 pdf?

 

[rom90125]

This is sort of offtopic. Is there a place I can buy the FR campain setting 3.0/.5 pdf?

God I wish...but alas, WoTC has not released the FRCS in pdf format. If they were going to release it in PDF format, you would find it at www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[The Human Target]

Faiths & Avatars
Demihuman Deities
Powers & Pantheons
All of the Volo's Guides
Aurora's Whole Relams Catalogue is nice to have.
Waterdeep and the North
Cloak and Dagger
The Code of the Harpers


That should pretty much cover your fluff needs. unless you'll need something super specific for an area (that I haven't already listed for quality and general usefullness.)

 

[The_Warlock]

Ah...one of my specialitays....(bad salesman accent)...

Anyway, first thing I'd do is go to:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads

The abbreviated list at the top of this page are the "classic". but really
just 2E, Realms products that Wizards has scanned in...

And they are free...

My suggestions would any Region/City source, like The North, and any Volo's Guide's you can get.

Then I'd determine where you want to run the game in the Realms, and what you're themes and antagonists might be. Once broadly determined, go to:

http://www.rpgnow.com/default.php?cPath=1_294_308&

These are the ESD downloads of old 2nd Ed products that aren't free (actually,
some of these are free on WotC's website, which is why I'd go there first and get them [Like Lands of Intrigue]).

As for your must have's, the Core campaign setting, the regional books, the city specific books, Volo Guide's, and organization guides....you'll have enough fluff til long after 5th Edition is dead and buried...

The One Warlock

 

[The_Warlock]

Must write less Verbose posts, Human Target beat me...

But I have to agree with HT, especially on Faiths and Avatars, it's a great book full of awesome godly goodness, but bring your magnbifying glass if you are over thirty, the type is TINY.

Also, if you don't know about it, candlekeep.com is a great fan resource.

Though I don't know if it exists out in the depths of the web anymore, but someone once compiled a single document with ALL of the Realms NPCs from all 1st and 2nd edition sources. Do some google searches, it may still exist out there somewhere...

 

[Arnwyn]

- Faiths & Avatars
- Powers & Pantheons
- Demihuman Deities
- all the Volo's Guides (Volo's Guide to the North, Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast, Volo's Guide to Cormyr, Volo's Guide to the Dalelands; you could probably do without Volo's Guide to Baldur's Gate II [which is actually about western Amn and northwestern Tethyr])
- Code of the Harpers (if you care about the Harpers)

- the regional product(s) for the region(s) the PCs are in (the 2e regional products are superior to the 3e stuff, except for Unapproachable East and Shining South). The best regional products include:
- Empires of the Shining Sea (Calimshan, Lake of Steam)
- Lands of Intrigue (Amn, Tethyr)
- The North
- City of Splendors box set (Waterdeep)
- FR10 Old Empires

 

[sckeener]

- the regional product(s) for the region(s) the PCs are in (the 2e regional products are superior to the 3e stuff, except for Unapproachable East and Shining South). The best regional products include:
- Empires of the Shining Sea (Calimshan, Lake of Steam)
- Lands of Intrigue (Amn, Tethyr)
- The North
- City of Splendors box set (Waterdeep)

I'd also include the Old Empires in that list.