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<blockquote data-quote="Gus L" data-source="post: 9295776" data-attributes="member: 7045072">Perhaps late to the party...I played a fair bit of Forgotten realms 1E back in the 90's.&nbsp; At least 10 or 20 sessions.&nbsp; The thing was it was utterly unmemorable. We played through some of the ruined city of Phelan and then Azure Bonds.&nbsp; I remember having a dual classed (human) Fighter Cleric of some underearth god of darkness - special high level spell summoned shadows I think? ... that's it.&nbsp; I don't remember the setting. We quit D&amp;D so after to play Rifts, Car Wars, and Mekton (It being the 90's).To me that's the major issue with Forgotten Realms - it's both completely bland and absolutely expansive.&nbsp; I felt this again looking at the grey box set of books a few years ago, thinking about reviewing or using them. It's basically a vernacular fantasy D&amp;D setting that makes up for a lack of character with a lot of content. It's so overwritten that it's hard to add content but what's there now feels like the average, uncreative D&amp;D fantasy.&nbsp; Orcs in a hole, grey corridors, sad and noble elves, etc... It's not entirely this, but there's enough of it that I still feel &quot;Why am I reading this setting book? The implied setting of every D&amp;D offers the same?&quot;.&nbsp; I also feel a bit sad for Greenwood around this sentiment - because Forgotten Realms is different from Greyhawk and the Known World.&nbsp; It's very densely imagined, and it carves away a lot of the appendix N science fantasy and swords and sorcery to get to something that is VERY SERIOUS 1980's Tolkienesque/D&amp;D fantasy.&nbsp; That's just really played out to me in 2024. It felt played out in 1991 as well - if you'd been playing D&amp;D for years already.Rather then continue my tirade by going into the way Forgotten Realms destroys everything interesting about its alleged 13th century European inspiration (crusades, feudalism, chivalry, mysticism etc.) and replaces it with anachronism like printing presses ... Instead I want to ask others what 90's/2E First Forgotten Realms adventures they still find inspiring. I generally think the early 90's TSR products aren't discussed much in OSR/POSR circles, even if a lot of folks experienced them. My personal fave from that era is Treasure Hunt.&nbsp; It's not perfect, but the core ideas are good and it has some fun implementation (also not Forgotten Realms - so not appropriate). Did anyone absolutely love and enjoy Curse of the Azure Bonds or some other such thing? Does anyone have a shining example of good adventure design from that era?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gus L, post: 9295776, member: 7045072"] Perhaps late to the party... I played a fair bit of Forgotten realms 1E back in the 90's. At least 10 or 20 sessions. The thing was it was utterly unmemorable. We played through some of the ruined city of Phelan and then Azure Bonds. I remember having a dual classed (human) Fighter Cleric of some underearth god of darkness - special high level spell summoned shadows I think? ... that's it. I don't remember the setting. We quit D&D so after to play Rifts, Car Wars, and Mekton (It being the 90's). To me that's the major issue with Forgotten Realms - it's both completely bland and absolutely expansive. I felt this again looking at the grey box set of books a few years ago, thinking about reviewing or using them. It's basically a vernacular fantasy D&D setting that makes up for a lack of character with a lot of content. It's so overwritten that it's hard to add content but what's there now feels like the average, uncreative D&D fantasy. Orcs in a hole, grey corridors, sad and noble elves, etc... It's not entirely this, but there's enough of it that I still feel "Why am I reading this setting book? The implied setting of every D&D offers the same?". I also feel a bit sad for Greenwood around this sentiment - because Forgotten Realms is different from Greyhawk and the Known World. It's very densely imagined, and it carves away a lot of the appendix N science fantasy and swords and sorcery to get to something that is VERY SERIOUS 1980's Tolkienesque/D&D fantasy. That's just really played out to me in 2024. It felt played out in 1991 as well - if you'd been playing D&D for years already. Rather then continue my tirade by going into the way Forgotten Realms destroys everything interesting about its alleged 13th century European inspiration (crusades, feudalism, chivalry, mysticism etc.) and replaces it with anachronism like printing presses ... Instead I want to ask others what 90's/2E First Forgotten Realms adventures they still find inspiring. I generally think the early 90's TSR products aren't discussed much in OSR/POSR circles, even if a lot of folks experienced them. My personal fave from that era is Treasure Hunt. It's not perfect, but the core ideas are good and it has some fun implementation (also not Forgotten Realms - so not appropriate). Did anyone absolutely love and enjoy Curse of the Azure Bonds or some other such thing? Does anyone have a shining example of good adventure design from that era? [/QUOTE]

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