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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[Scrivener of Doom]

One of the things I really enjoy about reading Ed's replies via The Hooded One over at Candlekeep - aided and abetted by THO's own recollections - is the sense of breadth and depth to their game. There is a reason, explanation, and/or description for practically everything in their home game.

Even for non-FR fans, it's a serious piece of DMing with an emphasis on the MASTERING.

 

[Queer Venger]

I disagree. Ed Greenwood created a new standard for campaign settings. He gave us a setting with so much detailed information for every corner of the Realms, a rich history, inspiring maps and memorable NPCs. The quality has rarely been matched since. Even some later Realms products couldn't perform (I'm looking at you, 4e Realms!).

+1
EG is owed alot for creating one of the best, most expansive and detailed D&D campaign settings EVER. And a special thanks to him for years of publishing articles on the FR in Dragon magazine (where I first read about the FR). It was my first campaign world and Ive been telling stories there for most of my D&D life (close to 20 years). Naysayers can say what they want, fact is that FR is what most associate with D&D than any other world. The novels brand alone is a major component to its popularity.

 

[ashockney]

Thank you, Ed! Love your idea and look forward to seeing and hearing more.

 

[Janx]

It just occurred to me that the release of Ed's project at GenCon may coincide with a new Forgotten Realms campaign setting for 5e. Think about it: he's building the hype going over the history of the setting, and there's certainly information on the Candlekeep forum about updated material (such as the fate of Halruaa)

I actually would assume the inverse.

I haven't followed FR or 5e, but if FR hasn't been announced/talked about in relation to 5e from WotC, there is the very real possibility that WotC has moved on from FR.

Which would be why Ed is writing a book about FR on his own. If he's not going to be getting paid for FR from WotC anymore, he'll need to find a new vector for his material or move on in order to make rent money.

 

[Shasarak]

I actually would assume the inverse.

I haven't followed FR or 5e, but if FR hasn't been announced/talked about in relation to 5e from WotC, there is the very real possibility that WotC has moved on from FR.

Except for all the adventures that they keep on producing that are set in the Forgotten Realms of course.

Which would be why Ed is writing a book about FR on his own. If he's not going to be getting paid for FR from WotC anymore, he'll need to find a new vector for his material or move on in order to make rent money.

Or he could just keep working his Librarian job that he has because writing pays so well.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

There are novels by Ed already planned beyond the latest announced (Spellstorm) and WotC has stated they plan to focus on the Realms for some time to come.

 

[Carl H]

If Dungeons & Dragons has taught me anything, it's that imaginary worlds require no caveats to matter or be counted.

Happy 50th Forgotten Realms.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

+1
EG is owed alot for creating one of the best, most expansive and detailed D&D campaign settings EVER.

I don't know what makes the realms more expansive or detailed then ebberon, or grey hawk or Dragon lance... and you have to remember the realms isn't just ED... the best selling stories aren't even from him, but R A Salvator...

just because it has been pointed out I have been negative:

You know what ed is REALLY good at (and in this hobby is important) public speaking... he should totally give a class on getting people to listen to you alla "Win friends and influence people"

I also hope to hear what he thinks about chosen of all the gods, and the idea of whorshipers granting powers to there gods, and AO in general...

 

[MerricB]

I actually would assume the inverse.

I haven't followed FR or 5e, but if FR hasn't been announced/talked about in relation to 5e from WotC, there is the very real possibility that WotC has moved on from FR.

Wizards *have* been talking about FR. It's worth listening to the panels from GenCon last year.

It's just that they're not rushing into producing new books; they're very likely to produce a campaign setting book, but they're trying to work out the best way of approaching it.

Cheers!

 

[Staffan]

I don't know what makes the realms more expansive or detailed then ebberon, or grey hawk or Dragon lance...

Really?

Compare this to this, and then get back to me regarding the amount of detail we have on FR compared to Eberron.

Or for that matter, compare something like Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast to Five Nations, for a sense of the difference in depth between the settings. Mind you, I like Eberron, but the level of detail available for it doesn't come near that of FR. As to whether that's a good or a bad thing, that's a matter of taste, but the fact that FR is far more detailed is not up for debate.