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

[haakon1]

I have to say, I'd hate to be the continuity editor for these people. Can you imagine keeping track of everything that's been written about Zhentil Keep in 40 years?

I‘m surprised if fans or WotC haven’t tried.

 

[haakon1]

True regarding the Darlene map, but in the book I recall that you have the resources and national alignment map showing “borders”.

True. And the modern unofficial but dominant map by Anna Meyer has borders down to provinces, as did the detailed books like Marklands. But I’ll try to stop talking GHon an FR thread now. Lol.

 

[haakon1]

Seems pretty easy by dint of the permanent nature of text. It's not like they don't know what they've published. Time consuming? Absolutely. But only for the initial setup. Hire a team to comb through all the old material, build a wiki out of it, and then create custom software similar to the old FR Atlas, but made searchable by location, name, event, author or year. Once it's setup, you could find out every event that's happened in a location, everything a specific characters has done, interactions they've had with other characters, every major and minor event that happens in a given year, etc. Once you have that, it's simply a matter of keeping minimal staff - possibly even just a single person - to update as new material is released. And any authors -novelists or adventure writers - could get any information they needed at a few keystrokes.

Yup. This is what computer game franchises do.

 

[Weiley31]

Man why do I never learn about these books until much later when they are a pain to get most of the time.

 

[Weiley31]

but really strong on things like specialty priests for a ton of FR gods

So that means it lists/have info on stuff like the Silverstars of Selune, Morning Lords of Lathander, Stormlords of Talos, etc, etc? or like what the Specialty Priests for each of the gods are called.

Because I've been trying to find the list of such things and what they are for each god in the FR and I can't really find much except what's in Icewind Dale 2(the PC game) and the few I know off hand.

 

[Yora]

In 2nd edition, domains were much more extensive than later on. The universal sphere of cleric spells was very short. Your cleric spell list would mostly consist of the three or four spheres of your god, and with there being some 20 spheres if I remember right, no two gods would offer the same spell list to their clerics.

 

[Voadam]

So that means it lists/have info on stuff like the Silverstars of Selune, Morning Lords of Lathander, Stormlords of Talos, etc, etc? or like what the Specialty Priests for each of the gods are called.

Because I've been trying to find the list of such things and what they are for each god in the FR and I can't really find much except what's in Icewind Dale 2(the PC game) and the few I know off hand.

The 2e Forgotten Realms Adventures hardcover covers gods from pages 15 to 41 with entries like this:

Auril (Frostmaiden) Demipower of Pandemonium, NE Portfolio: Cold Requirements: Constitution 13 Wisdom 12 Weapons Allowed: All bludgeoning weapons and the ice axe (treat as hand axe in combat). The ice axe bears the symbol of the faith. Armor Allowed: chain and shield, maximum Major Spheres: All, Animal, Combat, Divination, Elemental (no fire-related spells), Healing, Necromantic, Protection, Weather Minor Spheres: Guardian, Creation Magical Items Allowed: as clerics Granted Powers Specialty priests of Auril cannot turn undead. Clerics who worship Auril may turn undead normally. Specialty priests of Auril have an immunity to cold similar to a permanent resist cold spell. They are immune to natural cold and have a +3 bonus when saving against cold and icebased attacks. They suffer no damage from the attack on a successful save and only half damage on a failed save. Specialty priests of Auril at 8th level gain the ability to cast the ice storm spell (wiz 4) once per week. Specialty priests of Auril at 12th level have the ability to summon an ice para-elemental (as the conjure fire elemental spell). They may do so once per week for every level over 12. Other Notes Specialty priests make up one-third of the priests of Auril. They are referred to by the titles icepriest and icepriestess. The relationship between the specialty priests and the clerics are very good. Priests of Auril use ceremonial garments of ice white with blue piping. The robes are cinched at the waist by a very wide silver belt, which also holds the ceremonial axe. A silver circlet worn on the head is the final touch. When adventuring, most priests of Auril wear at least the circlet and the belt with their normal adventuring clothes.

The later 2e FR god books go more in-depth and cover more gods. Faiths & Avatars covers the Core FR gods, Powers & Pantheons covers demigods and the regional pantheons of Chult, Mulhoran, and Unther, and Demihuman Deities covers FR pantheons for elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes in the same fashion.

I highly recommend all three.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

So that means it lists/have info on stuff like the Silverstars of Selune, Morning Lords of Lathander, Stormlords of Talos, etc, etc? or like what the Specialty Priests for each of the gods are called.

Because I've been trying to find the list of such things and what they are for each god in the FR and I can't really find much except what's in Icewind Dale 2(the PC game) and the few I know off hand.

You're gonna want to look at Faith's and Avatars (2e), Demihuman Deities (2e), and Faith's and Pantheons (3e). All written by Eric L. Boyd, one of my favorite authors and researchers of all things FR. A real sage.

 

[Yora]

Got a question and might as well just ask it here:

Does anyone remember if Westgate ever got some kind of detailed coverage anywhere between 1st and 3rd edition? I often got the impression that it's supposed to be a big deal, but can't find any actual sources about it.

 

[hedgeknight]

This is a fantastic thread, if nothing else for information alone. I've ran a FR game/campaign in some form or fashion since the OGB came out, and like many of us, my first real introduction to the Realms was in a random article in DRAGON by Ed Greenwood. Then came the novel, Darkwalker on Moonshae by Douglas Niles, and I was hooked after that. Reading through this thread has me pining for the 1st Edition days of FR, when all I had was the box set and the wonderful Savage Frontier supplement. I was never interested in any lands beyond the North, and all of my games were dirty and dangerous, after all, when I started playing in '82, it was in Moldvay's purple box and then later in Greyhawk, so that's the type of fantasy gaming I knew and loved.
I grew up in Virginia and Eastern TN and played quite regularly there, running a FR game in the North of course and soaked up 2nd Edition like a sponge. I moved to NC in '98 and since I didn't really know anyone, I began a series of email campaigns with old gaming buddies that lasted for years. This was some of the best times of my life in D&D. And this was before the popular pbp forums; I think there were Yahoo Groups, and it was exciting to discover there were other people "just on the other side of the screen" who you could interact with (via post of course) and game with.
Currently, I run a version of 5E Baldur's Gate on a pbp forum, skimming from the Descent Into Avernus hardcover, and have turned the city into a big sandbox-type. But I have to admit, it's not as fun as those early days of 1E FR. This thread has tugged at my gaming heart enough that I'm going to have to explore a possible return to that time. Good gaming all, and happy new year!
~ Hedge

 

[hedgeknight]

Got a question and might as well just ask it here:

Does anyone remember if Westgate ever got some kind of detailed coverage anywhere between 1st and 3rd edition? I often got the impression that it's supposed to be a big deal, but can't find any actual sources about it.

Westgate did get some coverage in one or two of the FR novels, and I want to say there was at least one adventure in DUNGEON magazine with a very nice map. That's off the top of my head (with one cup of coffee) and not via Google

 

[Yora]

The fancy full page map is in both the 1st and 2nd edition Campaign Sets, but barely any information about the city other than that there is a thieves guild called the Night Masks.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I could be entirely misremembering, but I thought there was a couple pages on Westgate in the 1st setting hardcover book.

 

[hedgeknight]

The fancy full page map is in both the 1st and 2nd edition Campaign Sets, but barely any information about the city other than that there is a thieves guild called the Night Masks.

Yes, the Night Masks! There was a novel (or series of novels) with that name if I recall correctly.

 

[Yora]

I could be entirely misremembering, but I thought there was a couple pages on Westgate in the 1st setting hardcover book.

What hardcover book? Never heard of that.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

The fancy full page map is in both the 1st and 2nd edition Campaign Sets, but barely any information about the city other than that there is a thieves guild called the Night Masks.

Cloak and Dagger (2e)

"More than just powerful wizards, divine temples, and wise kings comprise the Realms. For every beacon of light there exists a shadow; and shadows conceal much. Those who work in secret wield much power in Faerun: Groups as diverse as the Harpers and the Zhentarim all live and work in the shadows of the Realms.

Here, for the first time, is detailed information on these groups' areas of influence, leaders, chains of command, methods, agents, and their recent activities and plots. Read about:

• The schism that tears apart the Harpers
• The bizarre details of the "Manshoon Wars"
• The rise of Fzoul Chembryl, grand tyrant of Xvim the Baneson

This book also gives information on the Night Masks, the Knights of the Shield, the Iron Throne, the Shadow Thieves, and many more secret societies. Finally, Westgate - the nexus of many power groups, interests on the Sea of Fallen Stars - is detailed as never before.

Learn what goes on in the shadows of the Realms; learn the secrets they don't want you to know!"

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

What hardcover book? Never heard of that.

Page 116 and 117 in the first hardcover setting sourcebook, Forgotten Realms Adventures.

A bunch of the Alias and Dragonbait novels took place in Westgate, too.

 

[haakon1]

I run Greyhawk campaigns, but right now one of the parties is in the Temple of Elemental Evil, 1e dungeon run in 3.5e rules. Anyhow, they are in Elemental Nodes, which are sort of like Demiplanes.

So a Dismissal spell has an 80% chance of sending someone to their home Plane, but to me the Prime Material Plane contains GH, FR, Basic’s Known World, 4e’s Nentir Vale, Pathfinde’s Golarion, etc.

NOW comes the FR question: If a character gets randomly dropped into FR, where specifically would you have them land?

 

[Voadam]

NOW comes the FR question: If a character gets randomly dropped into FR, where specifically would you have them land?

Preferably somewhere I have a level/group appropriate module I would be interested in running.

If not or I was sandboxing I would generally roll a die for areas I have stuff for (Core, Zakhara, Kara Tur, Maztica) then a second roll for subparts (perhaps a percentile for the various parts of the core since there are so many nations). Alternatively I might roll a die and count off my FR sourcebooks until I get to that number then roll again for a page number and keep reading until I hit a place I can land them. Or go to one of my book shelves and the first FR book I see I would pull out and randomly open and read until I got to a spot that would work.

Or bam, Undermountain.

Or bam, Waterdeep.

Lots of options.

 

[hedgeknight]

Since your group is in the Elemental Nodes, you could drop them into Neverwinter Woods, specifically Mount Hotenow which is dormant volcano (pre-4th edition); perfect setting for a portal from the Elemental Plane of Fire...which could lead to the fabled City of Brass. You could drop them into Skullport, which is the port underneath Waterdeep that leads to all sorts of realms of the Underdark; perfect setting for a portal from the Elemental Plane of Earth/Stone. You could drop them on one of the islands of the Moonshae Isles via a portal link to one of the Moonwells, or the Elemental Plane of Water. And for the Elemental Plane of Air, there's always the floating castle of a Cloud Giant