D&D General Forgotten Realms books to read, while running Storm King's Thunder

[goehler]

Hi

I'm a fairly new DM, running Storm King's Thunder, for a bunch of new players, and I'm loving it!
But I'm looking to expand my knowledge of the realms, so I'm putting together a reading list. The list is getting quite long though, and it will take many years to read all the books, so I'm here to ask:

Which books would you recommend reading first, to get a better understanding of:

• The Political Situation in The North?
• The Giants and their way of life?
• The Gods of Faerun?
• And most importantly: The recent history of the Realms, most notably the Sundering, and the ramifications it have had on the world and the people within it?

 

[Alzrius]

Well, for the giants there's the Twilight Giants trilogy of novels, as well as the FOR7 Giantcraft sourcebook (for AD&D 2E).

For the gods of Faerun, nothing beats the trilogy of sourcebooks that are Faiths & Avatars, Powers & Pantheons, and Demihuman Deities. They're also AD&D 2E, but a lot of their content isn't framed around stats, even if it is all pre-Sundering.

Unfortunately, the political situation is more context-dependent, and I'm simply not sure about where to look for good information on that, or the Sundering in general beyond its wiki page.

Please be aware that the links to DriveThruRPG are affiliate links.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Hi

I'm a fairly new DM, running Storm King's Thunder, for a bunch of new players, and I'm loving it!
But I'm looking to expand my knowledge of the realms, so I'm putting together a reading list. The list is getting quite long though, and it will take many years to read all the books, so I'm here to ask:

Which books would you recommend reading first, to get a better understanding of:

• The Political Situation in The North?
• The Giants and their way of life?
• The Gods of Faerun?
• And most importantly: The recent history of the Realms, most notably the Sundering, and the ramifications it have had on the world and the people within it?

The Sword Coast Adventurers' Guide will have you covered for most of those - the current politics of the region, the gods of the Realms, and some basic coverage of the Sundering and after. Although the book has its flaws, it is pretty good at covering the subjects you mention. Also your new players will likely be interested in the races of the Realms part of the book.

The giants sections in the Monster Manual and Volo's Guide to Monsters will give you info on giant society - and the latter has info on other creatures in the adventure as well!

(And if you want some extra giant variants to throw at your group, might I point out my "Homebrew Giant Elites" thread, where I have posted around 20 giant variants!)

 

[Prakriti]

+1 to Faiths & Avatars and Demihuman Deities (you can just skim through Powers & Pantheons, since most of the gods and pantheons are either obscure or irrelevant to the Sword Coast area).

Also +1 to the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

I would also recommend the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting from 3rd Edition. It has more depth and breadth than the SCAG, and it really brings the Realms to life in a way that few other books do.

 

[Eltab]

There is another thread floating around EnWorld where the OP is reading every FR novel he can physically acquire. I cannot give you the name of the thread because he updates it when he finishes another book. He includes a review of each novel and a recommendation: read / don't. Skimming through for the reviews may be helpful to you.

Edit: the thread title begins "Reading the Forgotten Realms Novels" and as of this edit time it is on Page 3 of this sub-forum.