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Who better to present the Forgotten Realms than Ed Greenwood! From the book's introduction:


Welcome to the Forgotten Realms, the world I began crafting when I was six, before there was anything called Dungeons & Dragons or a roleplaying game industry. The world I still work on, every day.

It’s been a long, rich, rewarding road, and the Realms now grows around me courtesy of many loving creators, toiling busily. We’re building a world that never has to end, a setting that can forever be home to novels and roleplaying campaigns and board games and much, much more.

This book is a peek at the beating heart of the Realms, at what makes it work and seem alive. A bright buffet of lore, with buckets of little details about all sorts of things. A grand gallimaufry of matters Realmsian, for your perusal and enjoyment.

There is no “right” way to play D&D or to conduct a Realms campaign, and many gamers won’t use or want everything in this book. Yet if it spurs adventure ideas, or provides elements an overworked Dungeon Master can pick up and use rather than having to think through and create anew, it will be useful. It’s not an attempt to convince anyone to abide by every detail of canon, but rather to provide lore for those who want to use it, to make more time for unfolding adventures around the gaming table.

Real-world medieval or Renaissance conditions, arts, world views, religious beliefs, or standards of medicine don’t directly correspond to the Realms, just as steampunk fiction is seldom accurate Victoriana. So, DMs should feel free to twist matters to make their Realms seem excitingly—or unsettlingly—different.

By my deliberate design and my players’ preferences, play in my home Realms campaign has always featured these three characteristics.

1. Player characters have the freedom to do their own thing. Play unfolds in a large and detailed setting so I really can allow PCs the freedom to choose to stroll north today, instead of returning to that mystery in the alley to the south they stumbled into yesterday. No Dungeon Master’s carrot-and-stick, no railroading. I present the world, and the players around the table decide where to poke their characters’ noses. They control their destinies, and they impose their wills upon the world. (Yes, they see they can accomplish far more working together, as a united band of adventurers, and act accordingly.) My players run characters of various classes with different interests and obligations. For instance, clerics are under constant pressure from church superiors to do this, that, and the other. And yet, they also continuously pursue their own pet projects (notably investments and trade negotiations), as well as engaging in adventures with the Knights of Myth Drannor. Many play sessions begin with the characters holding a council wherein they debate and decide what to do next, rather than running through a prepared adventure. I lay out the buffet, and they sample what catches their eye.

2. The Realms is constantly unfolding. I keep a flow of current events (and rumors) burbling past my players’ ears to make the world seem alive around them and to present a continually renewed, rich selection of adventuring and roleplaying opportunities. Part of this ever-changing world is a steady stream of new nonplayer characters (NPCs), which make up the cast of thousands that is the Realms. The key to the Realms is not just that it has a past, but that things happen; history is being made every day. So, over time (and game editions), prices fluctuate and currency morphs. If values given here in gold pieces (gp), silver pieces (sp), and copper pieces (cp) don’t seem right for your campaign, change them. Merchants overcharge when they can, and undercharge when they must.

3. Subplots and intrigues abound. I love them, and so do my players. This means mysteries large and small, little secrets and big ones, clever and sinister behind-the-scenes villains (if I wrote Sherlock Holmes, his landlady would eventually turn out to be a sweetly manipulative crime boss, hiding behind his notoriety and proximity), and power groups galore. I try to keep my players so busy their characters have a hard time finding enough time to go off adventuring; there have seldom been less than a dozen subplots in play at a time. Tied to this is the clear understanding that people, groups, and events are all connected in the Realms, so every word and deed has consequences, just as in real life. Of course, in the Realms, the stakes are higher, the pace faster, and the mundane and boring elements are minimized. Clear and swift rewards keep Realmsplay from ever being a daily grind.

These characteristics are key to the longevity and depth of my home Realms campaign, and the thirst for detail that my superb players exhibit has spurred me to build it into the Realms. This in turn made it seem more real to my players, making their imaginary achievements matter more.

My first players were the Company of Crazed Venturers. Then rose the Swords of Eveningstar, who became the Knights of Myth Drannor. With other players, I explored the Realms in short-term public library games whose participants portrayed chartered adventuring bands in Cormyr and the Dales such as the Company of the Unicorn and the Company of the Manticore. At conventions for two decades, on three continents, the Baron’s Blades (hired bodyguards and agents of the baron of Hawkhill in the remote farming foothills of northeastern Amn) have fared forth into adventure.

It’s all been a lot of fun, and along the way the Realms has gained far more lore and depth than could ever be published.

Well met! Mount up and join the ride!

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