Getting back into Forgotten Realms

[RichGreen]

Hi,

The FRCS is an excellent book and well worth buying just to see how a one volume campaign setting book should be done. Lost Empires of Faerun is one of the most interesting of the 3.x sourcebooks, but they've nearly all been good.

Cheers


Richard

 

[Snotlord]

From what I am reading the setting book and the Player's guide are the two essential books to have then.

The FRCS covers everything you need to run a FR game. The mechanics in the FRCS is very solid, and needs few updates. The history section is short, but very good. The geography section is packed, and cover more ground than any edition of the setting before.

The Players Guide is nice, it adds more new stuff than some people give it credit for, but is hardly essential. One thing that the Players Guide does update from the FRCS is the regional feat system (making them more powerful to encourage powergamers to explore the setting).

You may want to give the Lost Empires of Faerun a closer look, as it adds lots of depth and detail on stuff only hinted at in your old 2e books. I bet this book will be used and loved way into 6th edition.

Good luck with your game.

 

[Nightfall]

Um uh Money?

I have lords of Darkness, so thats good enough for me.


Scott

Yeah well I wanted/hoped that Champions MIGHT highlight more of the Archfiends. Lords of Darkness wasn't BAD just felt a little...inadequate to me.


Rich,

Yes Empires WAS good but there were things I wish had been added. Otherwise I'm not unhappy with the purchase of that.

Snot,

Uhm not sure it will go THAT far but certainly its a very welcome and useful tome for FR.

 

[RichGreen]

Rich,

Yes Empires WAS good but there were things I wish had been added. Otherwise I'm not unhappy with the purchase of that.

Yeah, like Serpent Kingdoms, some maps would have been nice! But it is full of adventure ideas and interesting locations.

Cheers


Richard

 

[Staffan]

Is the '94 boxed set similar to the hard bound FR Adventures book (2nd edition update)? I used that book and the 1ed boxed set for years.

Not really. It's more general, with less emphasis on cities than FRA had. It covers the "heartlands" (the Vast, Dragon Coast, Dalelands, Cormyr, Sembia, Western Heartlands, Moonsea) with a decent amount of detail, and gives an overview of other areas as well. It is also very light on mechanics - nothing about the priests of the various gods, for example (if running a 2e game, you'd want FR Adventures or the Faiths & Avatars series for that).

 

[Etressa]

Thanks for the info, it gives me a good starting point.

So right now I plan on getting the FRCS and the Player's guide as well as Waterdeep.

Any suggestions where to go from there?

 

[Neo]

Thanks for the info, it gives me a good starting point.

So right now I plan on getting the FRCS and the Player's guide as well as Waterdeep.

Any suggestions where to go from there?

Races of Faerun is a good book if you want a more in depth look at the various core races (and sub races) though is 3.0.

Also Faiths and Pantheons the FR specific book relating to gods is nice if you want more than a brief overview of what the gods are about (the brief summary of the most notabel gods is included in the Campaign guide)

 

[Etressa]

Races of Faerun is a good book if you want a more in depth look at the various core races (and sub races) though is 3.0.

Also Faiths and Pantheons the FR specific book relating to gods is nice if you want more than a brief overview of what the gods are about (the brief summary of the most notabel gods is included in the Campaign guide)

How much conversion is there from 3.0 to 3.5 is there in the races book? Is there and update pages one can download?

 

[Staffan]

Also Faiths and Pantheons the FR specific book relating to gods is nice if you want more than a brief overview of what the gods are about (the brief summary of the most notabel gods is included in the Campaign guide)

If you have the 2e books Faiths & Avatars and Demi-human Deities (and Powers & Pantheons if you care about Mulhorandi gods and the demigods), I'd put Faiths & Pantheons way, WAY down on the list of priorities. I think something like one third of the books' page count is dedicated to stats for the gods, and the church info from the F&A series is more in-depth than what F&P had room for.

 

[Nightfall]

I'm siding with Staffan on this. Much of the stuff you need about deities, 2nd edition covers quite well AND it's mostly fluff anyway.

Et,

My advice, pick up Silver Marches or Shining South. Both are within Waterdeep traveling distances AND have some nice ideas to mine. Conversely, if you want to visit the Snake heartlands, Serpent Kingdoms is the way to go there.