D&D General I'm reading the Forgotten Realms Novels- #202 The Howling Delve by Jaleigh Johnson (Dungeons 2)

[Ibrandul]

Hi there,

Looking for a favour, here's the list of all the books I can find that are Forgotten Realms, my to-read list right back at the start of this.

I've added a section at the bottom of other books I need to fir into the list.

Have I missed any?

Any other obvious errors, exclusions, inclusions or whatever- I just want to get it as right as I can?

Thanks for taking the time.

Stay safe and well you lovely people.

Cheers goonalan

Glad to help.

Looks like you're missing Ed Greenwood's Spellstorm and the past seven Drizzt novels—Archmage, Maestro, Hero, Timeless, Boundless, Relentless, and the just-released Starlight Enclave.

Four of the short stories (out of twelve total) in the paperback short story anthology Untold Adventures from 2011 are set in the Realms.

You're also missing a number of short stories published over the years in Dragon magazine and never reprinted elsewhere—some of them quite excellent, and several of which are directly tied in to books that are on your list, such as Byers's Sembia tie-in "Shamur's Wager" and Kemp's Erevis Cale origin story "Another Name for Dawn."

Some Realms fiction has been published more recently as e-exclusives in Dragon+. And Greenwood has published a short story on the DMs Guild entitled "Umbrous Unpleasantness at Undreth's Unicorn."

There's also the matter of the various comic books; these are of course another kettle of fish, but for the most part they're not too bad, and the characters and events of several of the series are referred to in later prose fiction and in the sourcebooks. The key series would be the two '80s DC Comics series Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (set in Waterdeep) and Forgotten Realms; and more recently, from IDW, A Darkened Wish and the five (so far) Baldur's Gate miniseries with Minsc. But there have been others, such as Salvatore's Drizzt tie-in series Neverwinter Tales and Cutter. All of these are available in paperback collected editions. (There have also been some comics adaptations of prose fiction, including adaptations of the first six Drizzt novels; these may be safely skipped.)

Salvatore's "If They Ever Happened Upon My Lair" is a short story included in the Drizzt Collected Stories volume, so I'm not sure why it has a separate entry.

Also, it's not an error, and you might already be aware of it, but most of the Abyssal Plague novels aren't set in the Realms; only Sword of the Gods and Shadowbane are Realms books. This was a multiversal crossover series, with novels set on Athas, Nerath, the outer planes, etc. It's along the same lines as the six-book Spelljammer series "The Cloakmaster Cycle"—but come to think of it, there's probably a better argument for including all six of the Cloakmaster books than there is for the Abyssal Plague books, since unlike Abyssal Plague the Cloakmaster books do tell a continuous story even though only one of the Cloakmaster books is set entirely on Toril.

You might be aware of this too, but a number of the late-4e-era books were e-book exclusives. This includes the aforementioned Shadowbane and its sequel Eye of Justice, along with several others such as Cold Steel and Secrets, Sword of the Gods: Spinner of Lies, Prince of Ravens, and Spider and Stone. So don't pull your hair out trying to track down hard copies of those.

I can't promise there isn't something I've missed, but I've tried to be thorough!

 

[Goonalan]

Glad to help.

Looks like you're missing Ed Greenwood's Spellstorm and the past seven Drizzt novels—Archmage, Maestro, Hero, Timeless, Boundless, Relentless, and the just-released Starlight Enclave.

Four of the short stories (out of twelve total) in the paperback short story anthology Untold Adventures from 2011 are set in the Realms.

You're also missing a number of short stories published over the years in Dragon magazine and never reprinted elsewhere—some of them quite excellent, and several of which are directly tied in to books that are on your list, such as Byers's Sembia tie-in "Shamur's Wager" and Kemp's Erevis Cale origin story "Another Name for Dawn."

Some Realms fiction has been published more recently as e-exclusives in Dragon+. And Greenwood has published a short story on the DMs Guild entitled "Umbrous Unpleasantness at Undreth's Unicorn."

There's also the matter of the various comic books; these are of course another kettle of fish, but for the most part they're not too bad, and the characters and events of several of the series are referred to in later prose fiction and in the sourcebooks. The key series would be the two '80s DC Comics series Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (set in Waterdeep) and Forgotten Realms; and more recently, from IDW, A Darkened Wish and the five (so far) Baldur's Gate miniseries with Minsc. But there have been others, such as Salvatore's Drizzt tie-in series Neverwinter Tales and Cutter. All of these are available in paperback collected editions. (There have also been some comics adaptations of prose fiction, including adaptations of the first six Drizzt novels; these may be safely skipped.)

Salvatore's "If They Ever Happened Upon My Lair" is a short story included in the Drizzt Collected Stories volume, so I'm not sure why it has a separate entry.

Also, it's not an error, and you might already be aware of it, but most of the Abyssal Plague novels aren't set in the Realms; only Sword of the Gods and Shadowbane are Realms books. This was a multiversal crossover series, with novels set on Athas, Nerath, the outer planes, etc. It's along the same lines as the six-book Spelljammer series "The Cloakmaster Cycle"—but come to think of it, there's probably a better argument for including all six of the Cloakmaster books than there is for the Abyssal Plague books, since unlike Abyssal Plague the Cloakmaster books do tell a continuous story even though only one of the Cloakmaster books is set entirely on Toril.

You might be aware of this too, but a number of the late-4e-era books were e-book exclusives. This includes the aforementioned Shadowbane and its sequel Eye of Justice, along with several others such as Cold Steel and Secrets, Sword of the Gods: Spinner of Lies, Prince of Ravens, and Spider and Stone. So don't pull your hair out trying to track down hard copies of those.

I can't promise there isn't something I've missed, but I've tried to be thorough!

My replies in bold just to stand out.

Looks like you're missing Ed Greenwood's Spellstorm and the past seven Drizzt novels—Archmage, Maestro, Hero, Timeless, Boundless, Relentless, and the just-released Starlight Enclave.

Added to the list.

Four of the short stories (out of twelve total) in the paperback short story anthology Untold Adventures from 2011 are set in the Realms.

Gotcha.

You're also missing a number of short stories published over the years in Dragon magazine and never reprinted elsewhere—some of them quite excellent, and several of which are directly tied in to books that are on your list, such as Byers's Sembia tie-in "Shamur's Wager" and Kemp's Erevis Cale origin story "Another Name for Dawn."

Some Realms fiction has been published more recently as e-exclusives in Dragon+. And Greenwood has published a short story on the DMs Guild entitled "Umbrous Unpleasantness at Undreth's Unicorn."

There's also the matter of the various comic books; these are of course another kettle of fish, but for the most part they're not too bad, and the characters and events of several of the series are referred to in later prose fiction and in the sourcebooks. The key series would be the two '80s DC Comics series Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (set in Waterdeep) and Forgotten Realms; and more recently, from IDW, A Darkened Wish and the five (so far) Baldur's Gate miniseries with Minsc. But there have been others, such as Salvatore's Drizzt tie-in series Neverwinter Tales and Cutter. All of these are available in paperback collected editions. (There have also been some comics adaptations of prose fiction, including adaptations of the first six Drizzt novels; these may be safely skipped.)

I think at this point I'll just read the novels, and anthologies.

Salvatore's "If They Ever Happened Upon My Lair" is a short story included in the Drizzt Collected Stories volume, so I'm not sure why it has a separate entry.

Gotcha, removed from list.

Also, it's not an error, and you might already be aware of it, but most of the Abyssal Plague novels aren't set in the Realms; only Sword of the Gods and Shadowbane are Realms books. This was a multiversal crossover series, with novels set on Athas, Nerath, the outer planes, etc. It's along the same lines as the six-book Spelljammer series "The Cloakmaster Cycle"—but come to think of it, there's probably a better argument for including all six of the Cloakmaster books than there is for the Abyssal Plague books, since unlike Abyssal Plague the Cloakmaster books do tell a continuous story even though only one of the Cloakmaster books is set entirely on Toril.

I think I have 4 or 5 of the Cloakmaster Cycle novels already bought, I'll get around to them when I get to the end of the list- or else add them at some point.

You might be aware of this too, but a number of the late-4e-era books were e-book exclusives. This includes the aforementioned Shadowbane and its sequel Eye of Justice, along with several others such as Cold Steel and Secrets, Sword of the Gods: Spinner of Lies, Prince of Ravens, and Spider and Stone. So don't pull your hair out trying to track down hard copies of those.

Made a note on the list.

I can't promise there isn't something I've missed, but I've tried to be thorough!

Very thorough, superb- thanks for the fine work- and for all the additional info along the way, very much appreciated.

Cheers Paul

 

[Scott Christian]

Loved Drizzt's mask, and his inner turmoil- I have to wear a mask to be accepted. I can't just be me. In fact one of the things I have got out of this series is how great magic items can be (in game) which actually makes me want to give fewer of them out in my games- make them rarer, and with a history. Not the potions and spells, they're okay- but wonderous items that are as the name states- truly, wonderous.

First, great list! Congrats!

Second, if someone gets a chance to run a campaign and uses magic items like this, I strongly encourage it.

Lastly, the inner turmoil in Drizzt could never have existed without the surface world's hatred for the drow. It's interesting to me how the primary internal conflict, that resonated so deeply with millions of readers, came from a conflict within setting or basically within the hearts of people.

 

[Goonalan]

#136 Temple Hill by Drew Karpyshyn (Cities 2)
Read 18/8/21 to 21/8/21

Well, this one is a bit of an odd one- there were parts of it that just raced by- adventure by the plenty, a trio of semi-decent characters, and some nice villains to boot. But then... well, there were bits that I just didn't get, or else in the moment, while reading it, I couldn't get my head around.

There's this thing that Drew Karpyshyn does, and for the life of me- even now, at the end, I still can't work out if I liked it or not.

Apologies, let me explain.

So, the author will set a scene- our good guys- Corin, Lhasha & Fendel will get into action against an enemy or three, and then after a blow-by-blow account we'll get to crux point, and then... Next chapter- scroll back in time and do the last five, ten, fifteen minutes of the action again (with a lot of the same lines)- only from the POV of one of the villains of the piece.

Then, the story will advance some more- only now seen from the selected villain's POV, until another vital moment, cliff-hanger, chapter end.

Then reverse, back to the first good guy's POV, rewind five minutes and do it all again- all the way to the second pivotal moment and beyond.

I still can't figure out if I liked this or not, sometimes it just felt daft- a couple of times I found myself wondering whether I had lost my page in the book- why am I reading the same lines/situation again, have I missed something here.

Then... well, there's a bit of grade inflation, or rather villain inflation.

The finale [SPOILERS] is hit after hit- and we start with a bunch of smuggler warriors, then add Graal (the smarter than the average Orog) who gets tougher/levels up as the book progresses, seemingly (or else his various magical arms and armour do). Then there's a bad ass wizard...

Then the wall explodes and here comes Azlar (Cult of the Dragon well-spell-stocked Wizard) and he's brought a small army with him.

But what's this- now there's a small army of smugglers to fight the cultists.

Then, I almost forgot, there's the medusa!

Then... you'll like this.

The beholder turns up.

So, it snowballs... but that's not necessarily a bad thing (maybe).

But here's the thing- our three intrepid heroes are not much involved in the big fight/finale, they get to watch it all kick off, and then light out when the big-bad-eye-guy tips up.

But don't worry, there are another four false/pseudo-finales still to play out.

And, at the very end, it's very 'they all lived happily ever after', there's more edge in an episode of the Waltons.

The effect of all of this, if anything, is to lessen the climax.

That's not right.

Lastly, and it sounds like I'm really down on this one- only I promise you I'm not, there's some nice stuff in here.

But, lastly- there's not much about Temple Hill in here, I mean- there's a bit about the temples there- Gond, Waukeen and Lathander (from memory). But only one of these gets visited- Gond, another- Lathander, has bad memories for Corin (they didn't fix his hand- they took his coin*), and the last- Waukeen, is only mentioned.

Why's the book called Temple Hill?

*Corin is, and this is being polite, a surly bugger. Not a pleasant man- eaten-up inside etc. I don't blame Lathander (or his priests) for not being able to heal him. He's a bit of an arse at times in the narrative.

Read.

Stay safe and well you lovely people.

Cheers goonalan.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Back to books that I've also read now, though as always the memories are fuzzy with patches that shine through. In this case, I mostly remember recalling how this was the "official" version of what happened in the Baldur's Gate series. Even before we got Murder in Baldur's Gate telling us that Abdel Adrian was a canon character (even if The Grand History of the Realms confirmed that first), it was widely understood - or at least I thought so - that the novelization was what "really" happened in terms of Realmslore.

This is not actually the case. It's canon that the protagonist was Human man named Abdel. Who is different from the book version. Abdel I might as well mentioned is the first pregen in the Baldur's Gate games, not just the name used for the book protagonist. (Whose book events are not compatible with current lore)

 

[humble minion]

That city guidebook exists—Ed Greenwood’s The City of Ravens Bluff was published shortly before this novel was. The novel relies heavily on the material in that sourcebook, which itself was Greenwood’s attempt to bring together and unify a thousand different individual RPGA members’ contributions to the city, along with the several previous, smaller supplements published for it (Gateway to Ravens Bluff, Port of Ravens Bluff, etc.) and numerous articles detailing the city published in Polyhedron. Before it was even called Ravens Bluff it was known as “The Living City”—still the biggest and most successful attempt at a shared setting where RPG convention play affects the setting (with one exception, that being the Aventuria of Das Schwarze Auge).

That was a very hard sourcebook to like, from memory. It drew on so much of the RPGA Living City material that the history of the city was a simply implausible unending string of catastrophes averted by a nameless adventuring group, and very little interaction with the rest of the realms at large. It was no doubt very cool to recognise all the references if you'd played in the Living City campaign, but as a standalone realms sourcebooks ... nah.

 

[Alzrius]

This is not actually the case.

I'm aware that the book and the game are different, but to my knowledge the book version is what the current lore is based on, if for no other reason than (IIRC) the subsequent references I mentioned (e.g. Murder in Baldur's Gate) talk about Abdel Adrian, with the use of the last name suggesting that he's the character from the novels.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I'm aware that the book and the game are different, but to my knowledge the book version is what the current lore is based on, if for no other reason than (IIRC) the subsequent references I mentioned (e.g. Murder in Baldur's Gate) talk about Abdel Adrian, with the use of the last name suggesting that he's the character from the novels.

The FR canon events don't work with the Novels events. Heck the Murder in Baldur's Gate Abdel is not even the same alignment as book version. The name was used, but the events of the game are what actually happened.

 

[Alzrius]

The FR canon events don't work with the Novels events.

Is there a specific discontinuity between the novels and the "canon events" that you're referencing? For that matter, what's the source of those aforementioned "canon events"?

Heck the Murder in Baldur's Gate Abdel is not even the same alignment as book version. The name was used, but the events of the game are what actually happened.

According to his stat block in Dragon #262, Abdel is Chaotic Neutral, whereas in Murder in Baldur's Gate he's Neutral. Given that the former stat-block is him at the beginning of the first novel, whereas the latter is him roughly a century later, I don't think a moderate alignment shift is indicative of the novels not being canon.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Is there a specific discontinuity between the novels and the "canon events" that you're referencing? For that matter, what's the source of those aforementioned "canon events"?

According to his stat block in Dragon #262, Abdel is Chaotic Neutral, whereas in Murder in Baldur's Gate he's Neutral. Given that the former stat-block is him at the beginning of the first novel, whereas the latter is him roughly a century later, I don't think a moderate alignment shift is indicative of the novels not being canon.

Everything involving Baldur's Gate characters in FR. Like Minsc who looks completely different in the novels, and talks about game only characters. And Coran who is now a Noble of Baldur's Gate who knew Minsc and the rest of the party, but did not exist in the novels. Or Xan being alive and not dead. Viekang who did not exist in the novels but did in the games killing Abdel as well.