Forgotten Realms edition question

[ThrorII]

I'm just starting to jump in to FR, after decades of Greyhawk. So, I feel you and I've been doing the same research.

I personally believe that the 1e box set, with the 1e Savage Frontier boxed set, gives you probably the most bang for your buck, IF you want a fleshed out 'coat hanger' to hang your OWN version of Forgotten Realms on to. I liken the 1e boxed sets to the old World of Greyhawk boxed set: Lots of info in broad strokes, but lets you fill in the details.

Those 2 boxed sets will give you lots of info on the Dalelands, Cormyr, and the Sword Coast. Plus you'll learn the pantheon of deities, where in the Sword coast their temples are, a list of pertinent NPCs with levels and classes, broad strokes of history condensed, trade routes, info on Neverwinter, Waterdeep, Silverymoon, info on the Uthgardt barbarians, Harpers, the Zhenterim, etc. All without 30 years of novels and other lore to muck it up.

From there, you can slowly add late 1e or early 2e (stuff from 1988 to about 1993) for Chult (Jungles of Chult, 1993), Thay (Dreams of the Red Wizards, 1988), the Lands of Intrigue (Empires of the Sand, 1988), Moonshae Isles (1988), Mulhorad, Unther, and Chessenta (Old Empires, 1990), and Anauroch (1991).

I also MUCH prefer the orangish 1e style maps to the greenish 2e maps.

 

[Ibrandul]

Maybe this goes without saying, but the FR Fandom wiki is an incredibly rich resource. It’s no substitute for reading through at least one of the overview books/box sets first, but it’s a really helpful supplement after that. You could run a highly “authentic” FR game just from the wiki.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Maybe this goes without saying, but the FR Fandom wiki is an incredibly rich resource. It’s no substitute for reading through at least one of the overview books/box sets first, but it’s a really helpful supplement after that. You could run a highly “authentic” FR game just from the wiki.

The weird past tense on everything in the wiki bugs me.

Are we pretending that the Forgotten Realms is the past of Earth or something? Elminster was spreading Faerun STDs around in Lake Geneva as recently as the early 1990s, according to Dragon magazine.

 

[Ibrandul]

The weird past tense on everything in the wiki bugs me.

Are we pretending that the Forgotten Realms is the past of Earth or something? Elminster was spreading Faerun STDs around in Lake Geneva as recently as the early 1990s, according to Dragon magazine.

The wiki uses past tense—I think there's a sort of "intro to the wiki" article somewhere on there that explains this—as a matter of convenience in response to the "metaplot." For decades TSR's and then WotC's "current Realms year" would periodically advance, often in fits and starts (though the 3e FRCS even announced that the timeline in Faerûn would advance two months for every five months of real time!)

If the wiki were to say "Szwentil Illeon is a wealthy businessman living in Marsember," then when the timeline advances beyond whatever supplement or novel Szwentil originated in, the statement becomes out of date. But "Szwentil Illeon was a wealthy businessman..." is future-proofed; it will remain true no matter how far in the future the "present" advances.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The wiki uses past tense—I think there's a sort of "intro to the wiki" article somewhere on there that explains this—as a matter of convenience in response to the "metaplot." For decades TSR's and then WotC's "current Realms year" would periodically advance, often in fits and starts (though the 3e FRCS even announced that the timeline in Faerûn would advance two months for every five months of real time!)

If the wiki were to say "Szwentil Illeon is a wealthy businessman living in Marsember," then when the timeline advances beyond whatever supplement or novel Szwentil originated in, the statement becomes out of date. But "Szwentil Illeon was a wealthy businessman..." is future-proofed; it will remain true no matter how far in the future the "present" advances.

More useful would be to just say "as of X year, Y fact," which is what other sites like Wikipedia do. Just as future-proofed, it offers more detail to users and isn't so clunky.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

My advise to the OP is that the best edition for Forgotten Realms is all of them.

I was recently thinking about an Undermountain campaign, so I read sourcebooks from every edition, from 1st through 5th. There were great ideas from all editions.

Pick the elements you like best from each to make your own version of the Realms.

 

[S'mon]

Every so often I think that I’d like to take the Realms and see how they go under other mechanics, like Mörk Borg Ironsworn plus fan supplements or QuestWorlds or “bare” Mythic Game Master Emulator (2e) or something. I have or have access to the first, second, third, and fourth editions. Which would you recommend?

This is crucial: please explain why, in useful detail. “It’s good” or “they suck because WotC is the devil” don’t help me. “This doesn’t have metaplot catastrophes”, “this has the exploding mushroom catastrophe metaplot, which I like for the effects on forests and how it screws over halflings that are too Tolkien-like”, and “this one sketches everything in a fairly detail-light way that I find better for okay than too-detailed later editions” are all very useful for me. Thank you.

I like and use 1e FR for my 5e game. “This doesn’t have metaplot catastrophes” is a big thing. I like the original gods, no Time of Troubles, and a world that feels more open than 2e & 3e.

I use 1e Grey Box + FR9 Bloodstone lands; The Savage Frontier is very good too.

 

[Autumnal]

Hmm. I hadn’t really thought about that much mixing and matching, but a bunch of you make good cases for it.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

More useful would be to just say "as of X year, Y fact," which is what other sites like Wikipedia do. Just as future-proofed, it offers more detail to users and isn't so clunky.

Let me tell you that most wikis for fictional worlds use past-tense and for good reason. (Speaking at this person who got Wookieepedia to adopt that style in 2005). Otherwise you end up with a way more awkward prose in your articles. Note that wikipedia DOES use past tense - read an article on a deceased person.

 

[S'mon]

Hmm. I hadn’t really thought about that much mixing and matching, but a bunch of you make good cases for it.

Even in my 1e-based FR game where there's no Time of Troubles and the timeline post 1357 is divergent, I mix in bits of 3e lore like Impiltur: The Forgotten Kingdom and demon queen Soneillon.