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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[Morrus]

OK, that's enough. Just about everybody in this thread has reported everybody else several times over. There's already a thread where the age of FR is being argued about; it doesn't need to spill into every thread, especially given how absurdly trivial the argument is. Please do not bring that particular subject up again in this thread. That goes for everybody.

 

[Kramodlog]

Mod Edit: Post removed in accordance with Morrus' request to drop the subject. ~Umbran

 

[Jiggawatts]

Thank you Morrus.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

I like how the Realms Secretariat website discusses the origin of the term "grognards."

Thanks Napoléon.

What I am most looking forward to are the weekly updates on the untold Realms history. I am hoping for information on the design decisions that went into creating the Forgotten Realms under TSR, and later WotC, as well as details about how Realms novels were written and edited.

Right after that is the fan creations section. We'll get to see something of what Ed's friends have dreamed up when they take off their work hats, put on their fan hats and tinker with the Realms.

 

[Lily of the Valley]

I do not understand. How can the 50th anniversary of the creation of the FR create such animosity?

Anyway, I want some juicy RPG gossip!

 

[Schmoe]

it means we don't count... now if you want to make an argument for 79 (or when ever first dragon article, for some reason I thought in the other thread it was 83 or 84, but I', no expert) that still isn't 50 years...

we count Tolkien from publication dates... always have... we can celebrate him just fine with 36 years of the realms or 2 years of the realms... the problem isn't celebrating the author it's inflateing the number of years...

I gurantee you if you ask 1,000 people at random if they count the day the story was written or the day the story was published, atleast 90% would say publish... so when you say something like 50 years... it is deceptive....

It's clear that Ed saying this is a "50 year anniversary" bothers you because you feel it is dishonest self-promotion based on the publication date. I get that, and from an official publication perspective you have a point, but I think there's another aspect you're not considering.

For people who are fans of creative works, there is often a real interest in the creative process that went into generating those works. Fans of painters often seek out and treasure sketches and informal pieces by an artist. Music buffs will study and research when a composer created one of his great works, and all of the background that went into it. For someone who really appreciates a work, the history of everything that went into that work before it was published is a real treasure. From that perspective, I have absolutely no problem with Ed Greenwood celebrating 50 years of history for the Forgotten Realms. He has every right to do so.

 

[Charles Wright]

I still like Ed Greenwood. He can self-promote all he wants.

 

[Charles Wright]

I'm sure that Jim Butcher considers the "Dresdenverse" much older than the first printed works with Harry Dresden in them.

David Eddings started working on the world for the Belgariad and the Mallorean a good five to ten years before he started writing those books. I don't think it would be disingenuous of him to say that world is more than 33 years old (it was first published in 1982).


(P.S. Before anyone points it out, I'm aware that the main passed on in 2009.)

 

[Morrus]

I do not understand. How can the 50th anniversary of the creation of the FR create such animosity?

Anyway, I want some juicy RPG gossip!

It's clear that Ed saying this is a "50 year anniversary" bothers you because you feel it is dishonest self-promotion based on the publication date. I get that, and from an official publication perspective you have a point, but I think there's another aspect you're not considering.

For people who are fans of creative works, there is often a real interest in the creative process that went into generating those works. Fans of painters often seek out and treasure sketches and informal pieces by an artist. Music buffs will study and research when a composer created one of his great works, and all of the background that went into it. For someone who really appreciates a work, the history of everything that went into that work before it was published is a real treasure. From that perspective, I have absolutely no problem with Ed Greenwood celebrating 50 years of history for the Forgotten Realms. He has every right to do so.

I asked that the subject be dropped in this thread. Both of you please stay clear of this thread from now on.

 

[Maggan]

I'm excited that there will be more pieces added to the jigsaw that is the history of the roleplaying game genre. It's easy to forget to take notes while we're in the middle of it, so this is a cool thing.

/Maggan