To do Faerun '68, you need to back up some. Industrialization needed to happen earlier. Metalurgy and crafting tools progress, but so does magic. There is probably the option for magical industrialization, such as artifact level magic items that produce more magic items, but I suspect that tech and magic will come up hand in hand. If anything, magic and enchantments will probably replace engines and electricity in many cases. There will of course be magical siege weapons also.
There needs to be a Realm War 1, which some have already mentioned, and then an even worse Realm War 2. Thay, the red menace, which aided in the previous Realm War also made a play for land and still have their sights on other countries, but the United Dales of Faerun have formed an alliance of nations to stop them. Now the older generation is still trying to deal with the trauma of what they lived through, and the younger generation is expecting the bright new future they were promised. Civil rights for humanoids and giants. End of war. Free food, clothing and shelter for everybody. Meanwhile, there is an undercurrent of drugs and grifters supplying the addictive meat of a certain aquatic black centipede into the scene and secret conspiracies (if we go with the Naked Lunch idea).
Since this is D&D, there will be an evil force coming up in the shadows. Possibly the same as from Realm War 2, but now it is much more subtle. It is corrupting both Thay and the United Dales of Faerun.