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."
​

[video=youtube;XFdU3fUeBSI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XFdU3fUeBSI[/video]
​

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I am just so glade I wont be able to make Gen Con this year... I am in general disgusted by this blatant cash grab based on a universe that he didn't even fully create the modern version of... I bet the fans would go nuts if WotC C&D him, and I doubt they would... but man would that give me a good laugh.

 

[Queer Venger]

Wow, awesome. Bring it on Mr. Greenwood, cant wait for this project. If this book (or series of books) is anything close to his Ed Greenwood Presents: Elminster's Forgotten Realms book, then I will likely buy 2. Im super excited that EG is spearheading this project. Since Im going to Gencon I'll also get it autographed!!

 

[Agamon]

Then again, perhaps if the book isn't really an in-universe history of the Realms, but rather is ABOUT the 50-year long development of the Realms, that would probably fly legally.

This is my take. It's not campaign fluff, it's the real life history of the creation of the setting.

 

[Reynard]

I am just so glade I wont be able to make Gen Con this year... I am in general disgusted by this blatant cash grab based on a universe that he didn't even fully create the modern version of... I bet the fans would go nuts if WotC C&D him, and I doubt they would... but man would that give me a good laugh.

Yeah! And what's with all this BS about building memorials and naming cons after that Gygax guy? He barely had anything to do with D&D for 20 years before he died but still acted like he created the hobby or something. What a mooch.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Yeah! And what's with all this BS about building memorials and naming cons after that Gygax guy? He barely had anything to do with D&D for 20 years before he died but still acted like he created the hobby or something. What a mooch.

funny, I on the other hand think we owe everythin to Gygax, and have said so many times over the years... thanks for pretending that I didn't though...

My problem is Ed is a shameless self promoter who is trying to cash in on the fact that he did do some cool things a few years ago, and in doing so trying to over shadow the real innovators... Like Dave and Gary....

Ed is no more or less important than any other setting creator (who all him too we owe some respect and should acknowledge), How ever his "Ow I remember when I was 5 or 6 I started telling stories" is no more or less important to our hobby then I used to make up stories about my GI Joes, and Army men, or my super hero idea that to this day I try to pitch, that I was young when I first wrote stuff for... when/if I get published that is the date that matters...


Heck my characters I made up as a kid (unlike ed, being a normal person I don't remember exact days and years) had a lot of similarities to the character Terry Mcginuses from batman beyond... if in 2018 I get published I can certainly clarify it is based on idea's I had pre batman beyond, but claiming an anniversary for it that makes it longer lived then batman beyond is at best a bit self aggrandizing, and at worst self centered egotism run amuck.


The Realms is closer to 30 then 50, I have gone over this before...

 

[Kramodlog]

Ed is no more or less important than any other setting creator.

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!).

 

[Reynard]

funny, I on the other hand think we owe everythin to Gygax, and have said so many times over the years... thanks for pretending that I didn't though...

My problem is Ed is a shameless self promoter who is trying to cash in on the fact that he did do some cool things a few years ago, and in doing so trying to over shadow the real innovators... Like Dave and Gary....

Ed is no more or less important than any other setting creator (who all him too we owe some respect and should acknowledge), How ever his "Ow I remember when I was 5 or 6 I started telling stories" is no more or less important to our hobby then I used to make up stories about my GI Joes, and Army men, or my super hero idea that to this day I try to pitch, that I was young when I first wrote stuff for... when/if I get published that is the date that matters...


Heck my characters I made up as a kid (unlike ed, being a normal person I don't remember exact days and years) had a lot of similarities to the character Terry Mcginuses from batman beyond... if in 2018 I get published I can certainly clarify it is based on idea's I had pre batman beyond, but claiming an anniversary for it that makes it longer lived then batman beyond is at best a bit self aggrandizing, and at worst self centered egotism run amuck.


The Realms is closer to 30 then 50, I have gone over this before...

I honestly cant parse what you are mad about, other than the fact that Greenwood was like every other dreamer and DM -- yourself included -- except in one very important way: he sat ass in chair and applied fingers to keyboard (to paraphrase JMS) and did the work instead of just dreaming.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I honestly cant parse what you are mad about, other than the fact that Greenwood was like every other dreamer and DM -- yourself included -- except in one very important way: he sat ass in chair and applied fingers to keyboard (to paraphrase JMS) and did the work instead of just dreaming.

if he called it an auto biography I would have no problem, if he called it 30 years with the realms I would have no problem...

my problem has nothing to do with sitting ass in chair, I have written novels and settings, including mulit nanowimo... that doesn't make me any better then anyone else... neither does it put Ed anywhere above any other setting creator...

again you try to pretend my issue is against something it is not...

 

[GMforPowergamers]

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!).

wait how is that different from Greyhawk?!?!?!?

 

[Kramodlog]

wait how is that different from Greyhawk?!?!?!?

I see. For you it is sort of a Gygax vs. Ed thing. It might be why you insist the Realms aren't 50 years old, cause that would mean they are older than D&D.

Anyway, I'll leave you alone trying to defend Gygax from Ed. This debate is pointless.