"Old school" Forgotten Realms references

[Knightfall]

Okay, I'm not thrilled about where the Forgotten Realms is going for 4e, so I figured I'd go in the other direction and see which 1e Forgotten Realms products are the best to try to add to my collection.

I have pretty good understanding of the 2e Realms products but not the ones that came before 2nd Edition.

Specifically, I'm wondering which of these classic 1E Realms products to consider?

Empires of the Sands
Dreams of Red Wizards
The Magister

Note: I already have the Kara-Tur boxed set.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Okay, I'm not thrilled about where the Forgotten Realms is going so I figured I'd go in the other direction and see which 1e Forgotten Realms products are the best to try to add to my collection.

I have pretty god understanding of the 2e Realms products but not the ones that came before 2nd Edition.

Specifically, I'm wondering which of these classic 1E Realms products to consider?

Empires of the Sands
Dreams of Red Wizards
The Magister

Note: I already have the Kara-Tur boxed set.

Since you are the "god" of 2nd edition I will keep my suggestions to the mortal realm of 1E

1) Get the original boxed set from 1987
2) Waterdeep and the North

Anything else is simply gravy. IMHO the Realms jumped the shark in 1989 with the avatar garbage.

 

[Knightfall]

Since you are the "god" of 2nd edition I will keep my suggestions to the mortal realm of 1E

Oops.

1) Get the original boxed set from 1987
2) Waterdeep and the North

Anything else is simply gravy. IMHO the Realms jumped the shark in 1989 with the avatar garbage.

Well, I already have the 1993 boxed set and I don't hate the Avatar stuff, but I am interested in learning more about the Realms, pre-Avatar. How hard do you think it would be to find the original boxed set?

 

[Henry]

forgotten realms 1987 items on eBay.com

...not too hard.

If you want PDFs, I don't think WotC ever got around to converting the old Grey box set.

 

[Staffan]

http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...1313&satitle=forgotten+realms+1987&category0=If you want PDFs, I don't think WotC ever got around to converting the old Grey box set.

You mean this one?

 

[JeffB]

FR0 (OGB)
FR1- W&TN
FR5- TSF


Good to go- thats all I ever really needed, but I'm a Heartlands fan- all that other tacked on stuff turns me off.

But for a decentvariety I'd pick up FR1-FR7 or so- stop at the one that is just a bunch of famous Realms NPCs

Though I have to say I *really* enjoyed Cloak & Dagger, and a few other 2E products ( HHoEveningstar & FR Adventures come to mind)

 

[Obryn]

I have, I think, most or all of the 1e Realms run - back when they hadn't yet been overrun by Chosen of Mystra and hundreds of powerhouse NPCs. It's still my favorite Realms. (4e Realms is my second-favorite.)

Most of the 1e supplements are nearly mechanics-free; they're 90%+ setting. Most, not all.

Empires of the Sands is pretty awesome, as is Dreams of the Red Wizards. Other outstanding ones are Waterdeep and the North; The Savage Frontier; Old Empires; Dwarves Deep; and The Shining South. Moonshae's pretty good for what it is, but I don't personally care for Moonshae-style adventuring.

The Magister is one of my less-favorite ones, and contains quite a lot more mechanical stuff. It's still a fun read, but less directly useful to a non-1e game. Although I loved Hall of Heroes once upon a time, it's sadly become an example of my least favorite things about the Realms.

There are a few weird ones, like Cities of Mystery and Gold & Glory that I just kinda ignore.

Anyway, yeah, good luck! I know you can get all of these for cheap in PDF form.

-O

 

[jdrakeh]

Okay, I'm not thrilled about where the Forgotten Realms is going so I figured I'd go in the other direction and see which 1e Forgotten Realms products are the best to try to add to my collection.

I have pretty good understanding of the 2e Realms products but not the ones that came before 2nd Edition.

Specifically, I'm wondering which of these classic 1E Realms products to consider?

Empires of the Sands
Dreams of Red Wizards
The Magister

Note: I already have the Kara-Tur boxed set.

Of those products? Just Dreams of the Red Wizards and Empires of the Sands, really.

 

[Knightfall]

I have, I think, most or all of the 1e Realms run - back when they hadn't yet been overrun by Chosen of Mystra and hundreds of powerhouse NPCs. It's still my favorite Realms. (4e Realms is my second-favorite.)

Most of the 1e supplements are nearly mechanics-free; they're 90%+ setting. Most, not all.

Empires of the Sands is pretty awesome, as is Dreams of the Red Wizards. Other outstanding ones are Waterdeep and the North; The Savage Frontier; Old Empires; Dwarves Deep; and The Shining South. Moonshae's pretty good for what it is, but I don't personally care for Moonshae-style adventuring.

The Magister is one of my less-favorite ones, and contains quite a lot more mechanical stuff. It's still a fun read, but less directly useful to a non-1e game. Although I loved Hall of Heroes once upon a time, it's sadly become an example of my least favorite things about the Realms.

There are a few weird ones, like Cities of Mystery and Gold & Glory that I just kinda ignore.

Anyway, yeah, good luck! I know you can get all of these for cheap in PDF form.

-O

Thanks for the breakdown, Obryn. It sounds like I should definitely look into getting Empires of the Sands. But what is it about?

I already have The Savage Frontier as it is one of the free downloads on WotC's website.

I'm less interested in the 2E products as I own many of them at one point but had to sell them. Having to buy them again would feel counterproductive. I'm more likely to buy the 3e versions especially for the Shining South and the Old Empires. But, I'm not sure yet.

A FLGS here in Edmonton has Dreams of the Red Wizards but it doesn't have the map. Can anyone tell me what the map for that product has on it? Is it a overview of Thay or something else?

 

[Obryn]

Thanks for the breakdown, Obryn. It sounds like I should definitely look into getting Empires of the Sands. But what is it about?

Empires of the Sands is about Amn, Tethyr, and Calimshan. All are covered very thoroughly. Apart from some character sheets, it's almost completely flavor and background.

A FLGS here in Edmonton has Dreams of the Red Wizards but it doesn't have the map. Can anyone tell me what the map for that product has on it? Is it a overview of Thay or something else?

It's a Dalelands-scale map of Thay, pretty much what you'd expect.

-O