D&D General Which era and style/flavor of the Forgotten Realms do you play in?

[GreyLord]

I checked two points, because it depends on what system I am using and how I feel on what time period I use for a campaign or adventure.

I marked the Grey Box period because in general that is the period onwards which I utilize. It has no time of troubles, no spell plague, none of that in the campaign.

The other is off of the FRCS for 3e. That was an outstanding book and I occasionally use that book and the resultant time period of it.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Lemme see...

I played through all of the Gold Box games, so that was 1e/Time of Troubles. A few modules from that time, as well. Oh, and Baldur's Gate.

I helped run a persistent world or two with Neverwinter Nights; one in the Silver Marches, the other in Daggerdale. Plenty of adventures and one-offs around the North. Was working on my own Legacy of the Witch King campaign in my favorite area, Damara and Vaasa.

4th edition started off weird, but eventually settled into ravaged Neverwinter, spellplague and all.

Now 5e... replaying adventures originally set for Greyhawk in the Savage Frontier and Chult. I don't know. Still plenty of Realms left to use, and have yet to touch. I guess it doesn't really matter when it is. I always made the Realms home.

 

[Eltab]

3e FRCS and Grand History of the Realms provide me with my Realmslore. I played a little bit in 3.5, all through 4e, and now 5e. Missed the Time of Troubles entirely.

What is this Grey Box that you say created the world - some kind of Artifact?

 

[teitan]

You should have included the Arcane Age period since it was supported in 2e

 

[Todd Roybark]

What is this Grey Box that you say created the world - some kind of Artifact?

Aye, It is wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross.
But it's not for the timid.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I called the date in my version of FR 1490 DR, but actually, apart from some changes of my own, I am mostly using the lore from the 1372 book, with some material from earlier sources.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

I more or less ignore the established timeline and use content from different FR sources going back to the grey box - basically mixing together whatever seems most interesting with liberal dollops of homebrew.

Same, and added generous amounts of stuff from other settings, primarily Golarion and PoLand.

 

[MiraMels]

If i'm playing in the Realms, i'm running current edition hardback adventures and I'm setting them "when they happen", so, 5e canon, post-Second Sundering. I go out of my way to bring 4e era Spellplague canon into my player's awareness as well because (1) the 4e Realms 'ended' like a decade ago from when the 5e hardbacks are all set, and (2) The Spellplague and the 4e Realms were the most interesting thing to ever happen to the Realms.

I am a little annoyed with Wizards because they decided to not retcon the 4e Realms material, but ignore it completely. Any character in the 5e Realms who is less than 150 years old is going to have no memory of the 3e and earlier Realms. So when I feel like serving up a Realms campaign, I set it in the 5e Realms and I go out of my way to make the 4e Realms canon accessible to my players so they can work that into their backstories.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

I'm DMing two (and soon perhaps three) campaigns set in the Forgotten Realms. What I like about the Realms is that there's reams of lore for anything and everything you might need. What I don't like is that a lot of it is dumb. (Example: "Floon Blagmar").

The Gray Box evokes a world of adventure around every corner where adventurers make a huge mark on the course of world events. 3E had numerous definitive supplements that are still useful. 4E created space for player characters to not be overshadowed by iconic NPCs and larded the setting with adventure hooks. Despite frequent lapses in story logic, the 5E adventures are full of great content and are some of the best adventures ever published.

So I tend to cherrypick what I like from every era. My resulting campaigns are a continuity nightmare. Fortunately my players don't seem to notice, or care.

 

[wingsandsword]

I usually go with circa 1372. I liked the changes for 3e Realms. The Thayan Enclaves provided a good explanation for the magic item economy, the appearance of the Shadovar gave a way to work in Netherese characters and lore into games, and it generally works well for me.

I outright reject the Spellplague. Won't happen, never happens in my campaigns. I can pull out the Grand History of the Realms and go up to 1383 without a problem. Tyr killing Helm seemed like just more 4e grimdark so I couldn't accept that from 1384, so I could say I could accept the official timeline until some point in 1384 before then.