Getting back into Forgotten Realms

[Etressa]

I used to run a campaign in the FR for 2nd ed D&D. Now I have not used the setting in over 10 years and have just recently gotten back into D&D using 3.5. I also do not have any of my old games books anymore so I am essentially starting fresh as all I have is the 3 core 3.5 books at this time.

So what has changed in the setting?
What books are essential must have books to properly run FR using 3.5?
What books are highly recommended to get for it?
Any other D&D books that you have found extremely helpful with using the FR setting?

 

[IronWolf]

Book wise you will want the 'Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting' at a minimum. It was a 3.0 book, but a large amount of fluff so extremely relevant and useful The 'Player's Guide to Faerun' was the 3.5 update. Those two will get you started.

If you are looking for an area to play in, you may want to look at 'Silver Marches', a sourcebook dedicated to the region.

 

[Dragonblade]

I recommend the main Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book. An awesome book packed with good info.

I also recommend the Players Guide to Faerun since it contains all the 3.5 updates to the setting.

Thats all you really need. The other books really depend on how much you want to get into the setting. The next books I would recommend are (in order of usefulness):

Magic of Faerun
Lords of Darkness
Lost Empires of Faerun
Underdark

Beyond that, would you want accessories? If so pick up Faiths and Pantheons or Races of Faerun.

Or do you want world information? In which case, you might be interested in the following (in random order):

Unapproachable East
Silver Marches
Serpent Kingdoms
Shining South

There is even one mega-adventure for 10th level characters called City of the Spider Queen.

Thats pretty much it for 3rd edition Realms. Champions of Ruin is coming out soon which is a sourcebook for running a campaign for evil PCs based in the Realms. There is also a Waterdeep book coming out soon that I am looking forward to.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah the new Waterdeep book should rocketh mightly.

 

[Numenorean]

I used to run a campaign in the FR for 2nd ed D&D. Now I have not used the setting in over 10 years and have just recently gotten back into D&D using 3.5. I also do not have any of my old games books anymore so I am essentially starting fresh as all I have is the 3 core 3.5 books at this time.

So what has changed in the setting?
What books are essential must have books to properly run FR using 3.5?
What books are highly recommended to get for it?
Any other D&D books that you have found extremely helpful with using the FR setting?

You can easily use your old 1994 FR Boxed set. It will work fine!

I own the current FR campaign hardback. Sure its decent for a couple new feats, and maybe a Prestige class if you like to use them ... but seriously, save yourself the money and use your old 2nd ed. setting. Bane came back, and maybe a couple other things ... but seriously all that stuff is checked at the DM's door anyways .....

We use the 94' boxed set, and our 3.5e game has been running fine for a year+. Our situation was the DM wanted to tone down the cheese factor of the realms a bit, didn't want to use the myriad of books that are out for it now, nor have players try and dictate to him how things are in the realms simply because they bought a $30 book at the gamestore. LOL. Its not Ed Greenwoods Realm's anymore once you sit in our game, its our DM's realms now

So he stated that he's using the 94' boxed set, I copied the feats, and deities-domains info from my FR campaign hardback and put it in a seperate binder for the players, and we're in business

As a published resource the new Forgotten Realms hardback campaign book is nice .... I like it ... but honestly, its not necessary IMO.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah I mean why would you want something that I dunno explains feats, races and stuff...and also eliminates things like high magic/Elven magic in favor of Epic stuff.

 

[Numenorean]

Yeah I mean why would you want something that I dunno explains feats, races and stuff...and also eliminates things like high magic/Elven magic in favor of Epic stuff.

The 2nd edition boxed set explained the races fine. The feats in the new FR hardback are not anything to write home about. You can easily run an FR campaign without them. Not a single player in our game has one feat from the 3e FR hardback and we've been playing in our FR game for over a year and our characters have gone from 1st to 10th-11th..

The only thing I found important to a 3.5e game between the two setting versions was the FR deity-domain list found in the new 3e hardback, AND the new domains. Thats nice to have. Tell you what guy, if you really want them then let me know and I'll email them to you

Thats really about it.

 

[wingsandsword]

You want to know what has changed in the setting?

Well, in terms of storyline/metaplot, here were the big things. 1372 is the current year the Campaign setting and Players Guide to Faerun are written for (the novels are at 1373 I think).

A Netherese flying city that escaped the Fall of Netheril has returned from planar exile on the Plane of Shadow to hover above Anauroch and they are trying to rebuild the Netherese empire (a shadow-tainted version at that).

The Red Wizards of Thay have generally given up on military conquest of the world, and have decided to go for economic dominance. They use their large numbers of low-level apprentice to churn out bulk magic items for sale, relatively cheap, at diplomatic consulates/enclaves throughout Faerun. This is much of the in-game explanation for the easy magic-item economy of 3rd Edition.

King Azoun IV of Cormyr is dead, killed in battle and Cormyrian law about succession and the way he sacrificed his life made Ressurecting him impossible. There is an infant Azoun V, with Cormyr ruled in his stead by the Regent, Princess Alusair. Cormyr borders on civil war as various noble houses and political factions all vie to manipulate the Princess and possibly steal the throne.

Bane is back. Ixachu Xvim was destroyed as part of Bane's reincarnation/ressurection.

To run it in 3.5, get the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (the best single-book Campaign setting I've seen done), and the Players Guide to Faerun (the 3.5 update of the material in the Campaign setting, and some more storyline/metaplot info, and miscellaneous stuff like Elven High Magic). Next personally I'd recommend Magic of Faerun and maybe Monsters of Faerun (a lot of setting-specific creatures like the Phaerimm and Sharn are only here). Virtually all the setting material can be used as-is, with whatever mechanical changes overcome by a resourceful DM.

 

[KaosDevice]

I have a lust for the Waterdeep book mixed with the dungeon bits they are putting out. I want to start a 'Thieves of Waterdeep" campaign where our intrepid light foots can ocassionally go dungeon delving, and come back up with this or that to make the topside game more fun. It is a sort of Lankhmay meets WLD sort of thing.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Also, Elminster is now a woman.