Look What ED GREENWOOOD Is Doing! Forgotten Realms: The Unofficial, Non-Canon, Unlicensed, Utterly U

There's no news of an official Forgotten Realms book for D&D (at least not yet), but Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood is forging ahead with his own! Greenwood is writing Forgotten Realms: The Unofficial, Non-Canon, Unlicensed, Utterly Unapproved 50-Year History under the auspices of The Ed Greenwood Group and plans to release it at Gen Con in August this year, and once a week there will be updates on the web where he'll "peek behind the curtain and let you know something else about the untold history of the Realms, things you’ve never known".
Here's the full announcement:

"Welcome to the unofficial history of the Forgotten Realms.® Have you ever wondered why I, the guy who created the Realms in the first place, decided to share it with the wider world? Do you want to hear behind-the-scenes stories, some of those that can now be told, about why things are the way they are? Why, for instance, that from the beginning the Forgotten Realms® maps didn’t have hexes all over them, so the rivers didn’t run in little diagonal lines along the edges of hexes, but rather the maps looked like maps of real places, rather than game maps? Ever wondered about things like that?

Well, for the answers to those questions and many others, just keep visiting our site throughout the year because once a week we’ll peek behind the curtain and let you know something else about the untold history of the Realms, things you’ve never known. Things you may not even have thought to ask about, things that are deep dark secrets of the Realms.

See you every week, throughout the year!

The Ed Greenwood Group will launch its first projects in August at GenCon 2015 in Indianapolis—Forgotten Realms: The Unofficial, Non-Canon, Unlicensed, Utterly Unapproved 50-Year History by Ed Greenwood, curated by Brian Cortijo and All is Lust: Letters With a Hooded Lady by Ed Greenwood and The Hooded One.

Join us at RealmsSecretariat.com each week as Ed Greenwood continues the tale of how the Forgotten Realms went from a short story to becoming one of the world’s most beloved shared settings. All stories are totally unofficial—100% unapproved—not authorized, sanctioned, censored, or redacted in any way. Herewith we present the unvarnished Ed Greenwood and his take on the past fifty years."
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[video=youtube;XFdU3fUeBSI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XFdU3fUeBSI[/video]
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[GMforPowergamers]

While I'm hardly steeped in Realms lore or anything like that, I have to say that there is a metric assload of material for FR. And, like anything else, Sturgeon's Law applies. But, simply because of the sheer volume of material, that 10% is still more material than has been produced in total for any other setting. Has to be, simply by word count. I mean, heck, compare the 2e Faiths and Avatars book to any other setting specific dieties book and you'll see that there is just so much more material for FR than anywhere else. Never mind you had years of Dragon articles detailing various locations and whatnot.

OK, I had to google sturgeon's law... here is what I have...

Sturgeon's revelation, commonly referred to as Sturgeon's law, is an adage commonly cited as "ninety percent of everything is crap." It is derived from quotations by Theodore Sturgeon, an American science fiction author and critic: while Sturgeon coined another adage that he termed "Sturgeon's law", it is his "revelation" that is usually referred to by that term.

The phrase was derived from Sturgeon's observation that while science fiction was often derided for its low quality by critics, it could be noted that the majority of examples of works in other fields could equally be seen to be of low quality and that science fiction was thus no different in that regard from other art forms.

witch I don't understand what that had to do with details, or how detailed something is...

so I can't respond to you because I don't really understand what you mean?!?!?!

Heck, one of the most basic tropes of D&D, the Underdark, is a FR invention isn't it? While Drow might have gotten their start in Greyhawk, it's FR that has expanded them far and wide.

nope that was greyhawk... infact that is the funny part, Forgotten Realms is a melting pot of idea's from other settings... so I am going to go with no GREYHAWK totally got there first.

Think of it this way, no other setting has received attention from the publishers in EVERY single edition of D&D since 1e. Every edition added material to FR. Nothing can compete with that.

so what detail that we have about FR is missing about those other settings?

 

[Shasarak]

Has there ever been a Volos Guide type of product produced for anywhere else except the Realms?

If not then we are certainly missing those details from other settings.

 

[HobbitFan]

Has there ever been a Volos Guide type of product produced for anywhere else except the Realms?

If not then we are certainly missing those details from other settings.

The closest thing I can think of were the Poor Wizard's and Joshuan's Alamanacs done for Mystara.

 

[Shasarak]

The closest thing I can think of were the Poor Wizard's and Joshuan's Alamanacs done for Mystara.

It is important when you want a five pipe inn that is not run by Doppelgangers!

 

[MerricB]

When I think of how much detail settings get, FR sits on top. Here's a rough idea of supplements by era.

Forgotten Realms has the most (by quite a long way). (~50 sourcebooks, ~40 adventures, ~13 boxed sets in the AD&D era; ~19 hardcover sourcebooks, ~9 adventures in 3E era)
Mystara has quite a bit (aided greatly by "The Voyage of the Princess Ark"). (23 sourcebooks , ~60 adventures, 1 boxed set)
Eberron has a relatively small amount (13 hardcover sourcebooks, 5 adventures in 3.5E).
Greyhawk has a relatively small amount (~8 sourcebooks, ~60 adventures, 5 boxed sets in the AD&D era)

And then, Forgotten Realms has a novel line...

Cheers!

 

[Kramodlog]

Sure is has all those books and boxes, but does it mean it is more detailed?


for clarity.

 

[Charles Wright]

I would say that question is disingenuous. Simply because it's FR doesn't mean that they didn't put as much effort into the sourcebook as they did others.

Most settings from TSR/WotC have far more details than I tend to use anyway.

This discussion has gone from ludicrous to plaid.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

The one good thing about having a doubter is that it gives people an opportunity to lay out the facts and let readers make up their own mind.

And if there's ever any doubt, one can always Ask Ed directly over at Candlekeep.*

This entails signing up of course, but every new person grows the Realms community that much more.


*All questions ferried from Candlekeep to Ed and back again, via the lovely THO.

 

[Sonny]

well I really don't know middle earth that well, I'll play your game... what do we know about FR that we don't know about ME? What details are missing?

Names and members of entire families, the price of a mug of ale at the local tavern - how it rates to other taverns in the area. Out of the 100+ faiths, most have detailed holy days, dogma, etc.. City maps, building maps...

There's a ton of detail in the Forgotten Realms - way more then Middle Earth. But that's to be expected. After all, what we know of Middle Earth is drawn from the writings of one man. Where the Forgotten Realms has had dozens of people detailing it over the years.

Of course, whether or not that detail is useful or relevant is up to the individual reading or playing in the setting.

 

[HobbitFan]

Why is that every time a thread brings up the Realms people post a bunch a crud about how much they dislike the setting?

Not cool...in any way.

Everyone, like what you like and by all means, share the love. Just don't pee in anyone's wheeties, please.
There's stuff that should be shared and talked about and then other stuff that should just be left well enough alone.