D&D 5E Which Region in the Forgotten Realms and which Book?

[Staffan]

On another hand, Phlan, as played at my table, feels isolated; it has trade routes, but I don't have a clear sense of the most common destination of the caravans and ships which depart each day from Phlan. (I am assuming, until I learn more, that the major export of Zhentil Keep is "refugees", and that the major export of Thay is "refugees" with a sideline in "spies".)

One of the things 3e FR does get right is including imports and exports of each region. The Moonsea imports food and textiles, and exports forged metals, furs, gems, lumber, raw minerals, and slaves. It does not break it down by city, however. Thay imports iron, magic items, monsters, slaves, and spells, and exports artwork, fruit, grain, jewelry, magic items, sculpture, and timber. In 5e I'd probably quietly nix that whole "magic items" thing.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Now I've asked myself which region should I choose? I'm relatively new to the Forgotten Realms, so maybe you can recommend some regions?

FR is a traditionally a high-magic setting, which is an extra wrinkle to worry about when running 5e (because magic items are potentially quite the game-changers).

And more importantly: Which Setting Book should I buy? The 3e Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide? Or better the 4e Version (which is still available as a printed version, which I like)?
Maybe a single Book about, e.g. the Moonsee?

Whichever way you go, you're going to find a lot of game statistics that are of limited use. 4e's 'Points of Light' setting philosophy and PC-focus made settings into backdrops rather than the whole point of the campaign, so they tended to have a lot less detail (or detail focused on one small campaign area, like Neverwinter), and more player options, story hooks, and the like - fine if you wanted a campaign about PC Heroes of/in the Realms, not suitable if you want to know /about/ the Realms and it's important/powerful denizens like Elminster and the like. If you want a definitive vision of a setting, with detail and major NPCs, earlier eds will probably be closer to the mark. In general, the earlier you go, the more you'll get detail, clear/original vision, and a solid picture of the setting, with plenty of maps, organizations, NPCs, and the like. IIRC, there was an FR box set in the early 90s, if you could dig up a copy (heck, if you can get a db of old Dragon articles, Ed Greenwood's "_________ of the Realms" articles were pretty cool). Later supplements often tend, at least a little, to assume you're already familiar on some level. So far, 5e supplements have been adventures set in the realms, that only show you the realms in the context of the adventure - the middle part of HotDQ, for instance, was a protracted road trip tour of one region.


TL/DR: The older your FR sourcebook, the better.

 

[Nellisir]

FR is a traditionally a high-magic setting, which is an extra wrinkle to worry about when running 5e (because magic items are potentially quite the game-changers).

The abundance of magic items in FR is pretty campaign-specific.

In general, the earlier you go, the more you'll get detail, clear/original vision, and a solid picture of the setting, with plenty of maps, organizations, NPCs, and the like.

I'd say rather the opposite. The first FR boxed set was very much a broad overview; the second had more detail; but the 3e hardback has a lot more detail than either of them and ancillary material than either of them.

 

[TheCelric]

If you haven't gotten enough information yet, then I'll echo many of the others here and say that the 3rd edition hardcovers for the FR are by far the best resources you could ask for. I'm not saying that there isn't a wealth of information in other editions, because there certainly is, but those seemed especially usable and useful.

Cormyr is a great area to start, as are the Moonshea islands, the area around the Moonsea (Phlan, Mulmaster, Zental Keep (or the ruins of it)), Amn and Calisham, Chult (we had a cool adventure there)... There's lots of great areas.
2nd edition FR had softcover suppliments that detailed these regions pretty well, too, and you might be able to pick up PDF's at RPGNow.com. If you can, I'd say if was worth it.

There is also a Forgotten Realm Wiki, as if you didn't have enough options already...