D&D 1E Forgotten Realms in AD&D 1st Edition a better setting for adventures?

[Yora]

Published Realms isn't entirely Ed's Realms anyway. He objected to the tacked on real world stuff because it wasn't how he conceived his original setting and they clashed with it. Plus as originally written the Realms were darker, the bad guys weren't screw ups, civilization wasn't guaranteed and even the Harpers tended to do as much harm as good.

That's till pretty much present in the 1st edition version of the setting, though. In 2nd edition, that very much changed, however.

 

[Plaguescarred]

I love the Savage Frontier sourcebook and the 1st Forgotten Realms Campaign set. I thought The North sourcebook nicely expanded but i sincerely don't recall the differences between them that much, only that it used it as base and expanded it significantly.

Reading the Savage Frontier inspired me to launch a campaign in the North back then. Awesome cover art too! I also had the D&D card of that half-orc warlord who's name i can't remember now. Uthgarth or something IIRC

Another one i liked and found very inspiring as the Under Illfarn sourcebook also from AD&D 1st edition.

 

[Orius]

That's till pretty much present in the 1st edition version of the setting, though. In 2nd edition, that very much changed, however.

Yup, the 2e problems were all Satanic Panic fallout, and the result was TSR's stupid content code. Honestly, if I were to run the Realms, I'd probably use 3e's starting date of 1372 DR and not Disneyfy the villains.

 

[Yora]

I love the Savage Frontier sourcebook and the 1st Forgotten Realms Campaign set. I thought The North sourcebook nicely expanded but i sincerely don't recall the differences between them that much, only that it used it as base and expanded it significantly.

Reading the Savage Frontier inspired me to launch a campaign in the North back then. Awesome cover art too! I also had the D&D card of that half-orc warlord who's name i can't remember now. Uthgarth or something IIRC.

I'm currently working on an idea using only the Campaign Set and Savage Frontier. Going through both of them with a fine comb keeps digging up lots of new interesting discoveries. The history of the region is kept really quite vague, but the detailed timeline of historic events that was established later contradicts it at several points. And it's overall much more basic.
The North has exactly two ancient elven Kingdoms: Illefarn and Eaerlann, and that's it. Netheril had wizards, but no mention of flying cities, and it declined over many centuries and not in one sudden event. The people of Silverymoon, Sundabar, and Everlund are the remnants of the Netherese and not related to the Northmen or the Southerners at all. Silverymoon apparently has a few dozen elves living or visiting there, not 10,000, and is considerably smaller than Sundabar. The dwarves are down to only two strongholds, which couldn't be more further apart on the edge of the Anauroch and the coast of Icewind Dale. And as I mentioned, the area is double the size of what it is in later editions.

I find this all extremely fascinating, and a great place for a fresh start to run a campaign that reimagines what the region and the Forgotten Realms as a whole can be. Not being much of an expert on Greyhawk, but it all feels quite similar to the presentation I've seen in various Greyhawk-based modules.

Though at the same time, The Savage Frontier doesn't actually provide a great deal to work with. My first idea was to start a campaign in Secomber, with a party of adventurers just arriving from the South to gain their first foothold in the area. But there's not really anything to give any kind of exciting look and feel to the lower Delimbiyr Valley. What do you do there?
Even if you assume that the region has only been resettled by people from Waterdeep in the last two or three hundred years (implied by several references), and that Secomber and Loudwater are build on the ruins of much older post-Netherese towns, what does the place feel like? What's going on in the area? What are the threats? Of course it's easy enough to make something up from scratch. But that's something you can do anywhere else just as well. How would it be different from some remote villages outside Baldur's Gate, in Sembia, or Amn? The Dessarin Valley is similarly unexciting. Things look more interesting further north near the Spine of the World, where there's a lot more stuff going on. Abandoned dwarf strongholds. Orc tribes. Uthgardt barbarians. Trolls. Undead. Foreboding Mountains. I can absolutely understand why in 3rd edition, they only updated the Silver Marches instead of the whole North.
I normally would say that the region has a lot of fat to trim, even all the way back at the start. Except that there isn't even any fat. Just emptiness.

 

[S'mon]

I basically agree. I use the 1e/2e transition Bloodstone Lands setting for my 5e FR campaign, currently in 1360 DR, but with a darker & more plausible (to me) tone, eg Dimian Ree is King of Damara and it is distinctly 'Post War' in feel. Stuff like The Third Man (post-WW2 Europe) is an influence.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

and that Secomber and Loudwater are build on the ruins of much older post-Netherese towns, what does the place feel like? What's going on in the area? What are the threats? Of course it's easy enough to make something up from scratch. But that's something you can do anywhere else just as well. How would it be different from some remote villages outside Baldur's Gate, in Sembia, or Amn? The Dessarin Valley is similarly unexciting.

I'd say go with a mix'n match approach.

Use the 1st ed stuff where it is interesting, and for the places where there's not much, use stuff from later editions. For de Dessaring Valley, I'd use the stuff from Princes of the Apocalypse, it develops the region while keeping it focused as an adventuring location with a Point of Light theme.

For the Delymbir vale, I remember someone used the Nentir Vale stuff from 4e and transposed it to the Delimby vale, so that could give you some adventure locations without adding too much civilization and lore to it.

 

[Plaguescarred]

My first idea was to start a campaign in Secomber

I had started my campaign in Daggerford, they eventually went to Secomber while exploring the Dessarin Valley, and went further north.

 

[Blue Orange]

Published Realms isn't entirely Ed's Realms anyway. He objected to the tacked on real world stuff because it wasn't how he conceived his original setting and they clashed with it. Plus as originally written the Realms were darker, the bad guys weren't screw ups, civilization wasn't guaranteed and even the Harpers tended to do as much harm as good.

Plus Google what the 'festhalls' originally were.

I suspect a lot of people would like to see Ed's original Realms, but I doubt Wizards would want that--there are probably copyright issues I don't fully understand.

 

[Plaguescarred]

I suspect a lot of people would like to see Ed's original Realms, but I doubt Wizards would want that--there are probably copyright issues I don't fully understand.

WoTC did released Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster's Forgotten Realms I never checked it but blurb says it's a book that provides a rare glimpse into the setting as imagined by its creator. It contain new information on its visible and clandestine rulers, various merchant and trade princes, the churches and mercenary companies of the Realms, renown magic-users and secret societies, adventuring companies, and the web of alliances and enmities that connect them.

 

[Voadam]

There are a couple other add ons to Greenwood's world in the original 1e boxed set

From the commentary on the PDF sale page: "TSR also decided to incorporate projects then in process into the Realms, marking the first major changes to Greenwood's worlds (and the first major additions by creators other than Greenwood or Grubb). They rolled back Greenwood's Great Glacier to make room for the Bloodstone Pass adventures (1985-1988) and they outright replaced Greenwood's own Moonshae islands with a Celtic-influenced Moonshaes created by Douglas Niles for a trilogy of novels (1987-1989). Meanwhile, Ten Towns got added in the North to accommodate R.A. Salvatore's upcoming novel, The Crystal Shard (1988). I3-5: Desert of Desolation (1987) was perhaps the easiest integration, because it was built on the history of a long-last land. FR10: "Old Empires" (1990) would later improve that integration."