| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Jarren Longblade |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 09:36:39
For me it was the novels, I had been playing D&D for 5 or 6 years before reading my first FR novel (pool of Radiance) this was 7 years ago. After that I just feel into the Realms. I now have almost every novel and am currently working of the Player Guides |
| 29 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| aragorn II |
Posted - 15 Jun 2004 : 21:52:07
As for me, I got involved in the Forgotten Realms with the arrival of Baldur's Gate. That got me wondering "Who is this Elminster and this Drizzt? And what is this Iron Throne and Zhentarim and Red Wizards of Thay, etc?" After that, I was hooked. |
| TwoBit |
Posted - 14 Jun 2004 : 21:16:29
My cousin got me to read my first fantasy book (DragonLance). After getting me through Raistlin's rise and fall, I couldn't get him to shut up about the FR namely Drizzt. Then he finally got me to read Homeland, it was pretty much a drope in the bucket after that. Salvator has keep me here since.
Twobit |
| Talwyn |
Posted - 13 Jun 2004 : 09:52:33
I started playing the Greyhawk campaign with friends at school around 1983 but was first attracted to the realms by the DC comic "Forgotten Realms" in 1989. As Lashan said earlier, GreyHawk was very limited to the descriptions of the various places but the realms was a rich and vibrant place.
Since then I have been using the realms for a long running campaign that has recently wound up due to people moving away to other states for work/careers etc.
Te best thing though I find with the realms is it's accessable and easy to believe in as a fantasy world.
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| Capn Charlie |
Posted - 13 Jun 2004 : 09:01:58
My first two experiences with the realms were frightening ones:
First, I acquired a copy of Shadowdale, and was totally freaked out by it. I was used to the incredibly low magic Conan world, and tolkein and Shanarra. This place with rampaging gods-made-flesh, spells that actually did stuff, and more "dnd o centric" party dynamics was a strange thing. I enjoyed it heartily, and spent the next year tracking down the rest of the trilogy.
In the intervening time the realms wer just another of the titles of series of books I would likely never be able to find. However, in this time I also began the invention of a roleplaying game before I knew such things existed(*).
My second began not too long into my career as a DM, wherin I created a campaign world with a hodge podge assortment of locales either nicked from novels(the city of Sicas, from Conan the Rogue even had a lego 3d layout!) and greyhawk adventure maps being stitched together. I found what looked to be an interesting dungeon adventure whose name, issue and even content are lost to the sands(or late night dnd binges, whatever) of time. I liked the city, and some of the NPCs. Unfortunately, smokepowder weapons were involved, and quite frankly, they scared the hell out of me. I almost ran away from the realms, at this point.
Over time the game dissolved, though, and I generally gave up on dnd. However it was at about this time I had my first run in with computers(better than apple IIes) and computer games, in general. IT was Baldur's Gate.
I loved it, it was a great dnd game. I played it heavily for a while, but what "got" me was the little tomes spread about the game detailing a vast history of the setting. A little older, (and arguably wiser) I took to the setting, and was in he process of tracking down and devouring drizzt novels as fast as I could get them when BGII was released, and with it the hinting to of the third edition.
I figured that twenty bucks was a small price to pay for a tome so beautiful(compared to the manuals that came before), and bought the PHB. Now I was a 3e fan(atic?). I started getting dragon again, and was devouring anything realmsian in the issues, as I built a homebrew world. Having never even read any of the boxed set(or even really knowing it existed...) I assumed that a campaign setting released would be a fairly bare bones thing, with only a few little dots of interest. The FRCS was finally released, and my homebrew game came to a climactic end, and the FR campaign I run to this day began.
I don't get to read as many of the novels as I would like, and I may not get my hands on the game books as soon after they are out as I might prefer, but for the most part I have almost every 3e forgotten realms item released.
After finding my way to the wizards boards looking for a patch(for some reason) for that abominable little thing in the original 3e PHB I found my way to the community of the online in general, and eventually trickled my way onto these boards as I grew mostly dissatisfied with the changes elsewhere. |
| Bookwyrm |
Posted - 13 Jun 2004 : 07:57:23
It was the books. I loved the idea of a shared-world series like the Realms, where the world was large enough that you could have several grand adventures going on and none of them would ever cross save as part of tavern tales. I've nothing against epic fantasy, but the Realms made the small stuff important to me.
So of course, by the time I get interested in the actual D&D side of things, I get WotC's love affair with RSEs and retconning. ::sigh:: |
| Steven Schend |
Posted - 10 Jun 2004 : 18:02:57
Like George, I remember Ed's DRAGON articles; the one that leapt to mind was Seven Swords, where I first encountered the lore-headache that was Ilbratha, Mistress of Battles. 
Still, I think I put my start with the Realms in the Introductions in CITY OF SPLENDORS, and since the file's at hand, here it is, reproduced (and acknowledged as property of Wizards of the Coast, (C)1994, 2004).
Forgive the anachronisms and all that, but it's my full reasons as to why I love the Realms (and one thing I've loved since then are all the friends and acquaintances I've made because of Ed's lovely world).
SES
Gateway to a Whole New World
It's funny how this project brings me full circle with TSR and role-playing games. If it weren't for fair Waterdeep, the City of Splendors, I might not be at this job today.
A few years back, I had gone off to college and set aside my role-playing games, belieiving I wouldn't have time, or I wouldn't find a group to play with, or a million other reasons. Suffice it to say that I hadn't played in a few years. Well, slowly but surely, I kept wandering into a game store in Madison, Wisconsin and I kept looking at the original FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Set . . . and looking . . . and looking again . . . but I never quite made it to the counter with my money. I'd bought a few boxes in the past that promised me a complete world for AD&D® adventures, and I'd been disappointed after opening them. So I waited, and my skepticism kept me from enjoying the Realms for a few weeks, until I saw FR1 Waterdeep and the North. It cost a bit less than the box, and the cover intrigued me, so I thought, "I'll try this supplement, and if I like what I see, I'll pick up the main set and start up a game." Well, I got home, opened the book, began reading, and . . . well, I was lost to the world for too many hours (as I found out on an exam the next day). Needless to say, Waterdeep swept me off my feet, I bought the boxed set, and was blown away by the Realms put together by these two guys named Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb. I was back into gaming for good! A few short years later, I find myself an editor at TSR, rubbing shoulders with the very folks who brought me back into the fold. Hmph . . . funny how serendipity works out like that. . . .
As I'm writing this, I'm also thinking through the work that went into this project. By the time this sees print, I'll have forgotten all the sleepless nights of work that caused me to walk around like a zombie for days; I won't remember how many times I called Canada to check, recheck, and corroborate facts with Ed; I might not even remember how much hair I pulled out in frustration while I tried to track down a fact I vaguely remembered about Kitten or the Copper Cup but couldn't find within the ten different texts that were consulted and compiled within this boxed set. (I hope the index in this box saves everyone else the hair loss!) What I will remember is a sense of pride and wonder in this marvelous place; despite severe burnout toward the end of this project, I'd still find myself stopping to daydream on some odd toss-off idea of Ed's and mine, and I'd realize Waterdeep had spun its magic about me all over again.
So, here we are at the gates of the City of Splendors once again, and you and yours are wondering what's within, right? What you'll find in this box is more on Waterdeep than ever printed before. Granted, we'll never get the entire city into a box, but don't worry—there's more than enough to keep you busy. This is the most comprehensive collection of data on the City of Splendors ever printed. You'll meet new people by the dozens, find new places for adventure and excitement, and hear of new dangers in the shadows. There are dozens of adventure hooks, plot hints, and ideas for further adventures within all four books, but like any real city, you've got to get to know the place before you can see its real intrigues and intricacies (in other words, I've given you the means to start a campaign and dropped a few hints about the whos/whats/whys of Waterdeep, but it's up to the players and the DMs to make the city sing).
So pack up your adventurer's kit, set your eyes westward, and soon you'll see the Crown of the North at the end of your trail. Head through the South Gate and hang a left—first round at the Copper Cup's on me! Hail and well met!
|
| Lashan |
Posted - 10 Jun 2004 : 11:22:07
I loved the articles about the magic swords and also the one about the magic shields. It was amazing to me. Some of the swords weren't the best magic item, but I found myself wanting them more then a more powerful sword because of the history of the weapon. Who knew what a Red Wizard was? Or what a Harper was that this scimitar was built to destroy? It was glorious to daydream about this and perhaps what a city named Silverymoon was like. |
| Thelonius |
Posted - 10 Jun 2004 : 08:35:55
AS i've said many times, my first encounter with the realms was the BG saga, but after that y read some Dragonlance's books and i started to be most attracted by the novels, finally i got the Trilogy of the avatar and i must say that this is better that the games. You know imagine the whole situation... i really do prefer the novels, and i'm thinking about the next one when i'm finishing the Avatar's Trilogy.  |
| Sarta |
Posted - 10 Jun 2004 : 06:40:26
I think my first encounter with the realms was through Dragon magazines, before the release of the grey box. I didn't own them, but had read articles from friends' copies. But I did buy the grey box set when it came out and was hooked.
Back then (and to a degree still) there were only three game settings that the world creators presented for gaming which were "real worlds" -- fleshed out before the advent of role playing games through literature: Glorantha (Runequest), Tekumel (Empire of the Petal Throne with various systems), and the Forgotten Realms. All three of these worlds were so detailed that one could spend their life plumbing their depths (and many still do).
Tekumel was simply too alien for me to get a grasp on. I finally admitted that it would be absolutely marvelous to play in games run by M.A. Barker, but it was simply beyond me to run games set there and still be true to the setting. I divested myself of all of my Tekumel stuff on Ebay about 5 years ago and made quite a bit of money.
I'm still very protective of my Glorantha and Forgotten Realms stuff.
Sarta
p.s. George, I remember investing a lot of time into researching more about Whisper and trying to read far more into his description and background. It was actually rather disappointing when I realized exactly how much of a peon he really was in the bigger scheme of things.
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| SiriusBlack |
Posted - 10 Jun 2004 : 05:30:09
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
I'm confident that 2004/2005 will be great years for quality of FR products.
-- George Krashos
Heck Yes! If nothing else, I'm going back to the beginning of my Realms journey....Hello again Waterdeep in 05. |
| Dargoth |
Posted - 10 Jun 2004 : 05:22:25
quote:
Originally posted by kuje31
The old SSI games for the apple/commodore 64 and the novels that tied into them. Like Wooly I can't recall which novel it was, that first drew me in. The first box set I ever got was a battered and taped together copy of Menzoberrazan from Crazy Egors..... Which I still have and gods do I miss that place.
Ah yes the good old days
I too was introduced through SSIs Pools Quartet Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades and Pools of Darkness. POR had NPCs you could hire but they didnt have names they just had the title there level had in 1ed ie The NPC 4th level fighters name was Hero |
| George Krashos |
Posted - 10 Jun 2004 : 05:05:40
Those Dragon magazine FR articles were addictive. I recall trying to revamp Ed's 'Pages From the Mages' article from Dragon #100 into a Greyhawk article by changing all the place names - there was no Ol' Grey Box back then.
After that, with the announcement of the pending release of the FR campaign world, Dragon gave us a teaser map that showcased Cormyr, the Dales and some of the Heartlands. I recall spending half an hour going through every map location trying to find "Waterdeep".
Then of course after the release of FR products I would agonise over questions such as whether Whisper of the Zhentarim (defeated by the Knights of Myth Drannor) was the same mage who created Whisper's Rod of Transportation. Or why the Agalrondian lineage in FR6 Dreams of Red Wizards didn't match up with 'Aubayreer's Workbook' from Pages of the Mages. Or ... well, the list could go on.
I'm guessing I really got hooked because there seemed like there was a huge amount of information out there of a type that had never really been provided for any gameworld, including Greyhawk. And it appeared that the "bottomless lore-pit" that is Ed Greenwood was just going to keep cranking stuff out. I bought a ticket and have stayed for the ride. A smashing one so far - and I'm telling you folks - it's going to get better. I'm confident that 2004/2005 will be great years for quality of FR products.
-- George Krashos
|
| SiriusBlack |
Posted - 10 Jun 2004 : 04:26:09
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
Oh man, I feel very old. I got hooked on the Realms with Ed's DRAGON articles starting with my first ever, "The Ecology of the Rust Monster" in issue #84.
-- George Krashos
And yet still you, unlike some others I won't mention, can recall the article/book/product that introduced you to the Realms. 
I love this thread as it reminds me of the gaming group I was with in Heidelberg, Germany when FR decided to enter my life. |
| George Krashos |
Posted - 10 Jun 2004 : 04:20:43
Oh man, I feel very old. I got hooked on the Realms with Ed's DRAGON articles starting with my first ever, "The Ecology of the Rust Monster" in issue #84.
-- George Krashos
|
| Lauzoril |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 22:13:02
For me, it started from the Dragonlance novels. After finishing the Dawning of a New Age Trilogy (I had readed the earlier trilogies and several stand-alone books), I felt my time with that world was finished. The DL novels weren't interesting anymore. Then, out of desperation for new reading material, I picked up the novel version of the Pool of Radiance, having played the game helped in choosing that. That was my entry novel to the Realms and I haven't looked back since.
About the attraction. For me, the Pool novel fleshed out the feeling of Realms quite well, it seemed much more diverse and different place, more life in several different layers etc. Various smaller and bigger threats instead of the main focus on Takhisis attacks every few century/decade.
Then I purchased the sequels which finally led me to the Avatar Trilogy and so on.
|
| Jacinth Greyfox |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 20:01:44
Bought the Grey Box when it came out. Liked some things about it but didn't really take to the Heartlands. Then TSR released The Savage Frontier by Paul Jacuays whos stuff i used to enjoy when he wrote for Judges Guild . Bought the supplement and found the area of the Realms that suited my tastes perfectly. |
| Lashan |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 17:58:09
I was much like Brother Ezra. I played Greyhawk and all the Basic and 1E stuff there was. I had the boxed Greyhawk setting, but it didn't inspire me. They had listings for the countries, but what I felt was a lack of content. They would list that 1.2 million humans lived in Geoff it was rulled by an Arch-duke, and it was situated in the Sheldomar Valley, but that was it. You never got a real feel for the game world (or at least I didn't). I longed for a game world that had flavor and detail.
That's when I was reading the old Dragon magazine articles that Ed Greenwood wrote. They were so intriguing! I wished that they would develop a game world that was based on that guy's stuff. I looked forward to each article to read about this game world. No one knew what Zhentil Keep was, but it sure sounded like a bad place! You never just found a short sword +1, but you found "The Mistress of Battle"! Always so much more exciting.
Then, the grey boxed set came out and I loved it. I do feel that the game has changed since the first set has come out and I haven't liked all the changes. I still like the basic concept of the game world and make my games true to what I consider the original. My FR isn't a magic heavy game world. OH, and I dislike the novels and dislike the effect they have had on the game setting. |
| hammer of Moradin |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 17:35:57
I bought the gray box and about the same time I bought and read the Avatar trilogy. That's where it all started. Already being a D&D junkie I needed novels to go with it, and the Realms were where I ended up. |
| Faraer |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 17:30:08
In 1990, someone I knew was running a campaign based on the H-series modules, and had a copy of Forgotten Realms Adventures. I was more into WFRP then though I'd played D&D before, and seen (without particularly registering) some of Ed's Dragon articles. I just got a hunch that the Realms was something solid and worthwhile, bought the Campaign Set, was drawn in by the sensibility, the self-belief and the impression of solid reality with more behind every corner. I gravitated to Ed's writing from the start, so though I bought FR3 and FR5 I liked FR1 (second Realms thing I bought) and FR4 much more. For some reason it took me a while to try the novels, but when I read Spellfire it took me right back to the Realms I first met and loved. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 17:21:02
quote:
Originally posted by SiriusBlack
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I don't recall which novel it was, but I enjoyed it enough that I got most of the other novels that were available at the time.
Memory loss in someone so young can never be a good thing. 
Pbbt!
Do you have any idea how many thousands of magazines, books, web articles, comics, etc, I've read since then? And how much just FR stuff I've read in that time? That was back in like '89 or '90...
I can narrow it down to about three books: Spellfire, Shadowdale, or Pool of Radiance. I can't narrow it down any further. |
| AlacLuin |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 16:37:51
quote:
Originally posted by kuje31
The old SSI games for the apple/commodore 64...
On a similar note, the Pool of Radiance game on the Nintendo.
And then, dare I say, the Drizzt books (then the harper series) |
| Kuje |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 15:59:57
The old SSI games for the apple/commodore 64 and the novels that tied into them. Like Wooly I can't recall which novel it was, that first drew me in. The first box set I ever got was a battered and taped together copy of Menzoberrazan from Crazy Egors..... Which I still have and gods do I miss that place. |
| SiriusBlack |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 15:46:51
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I don't recall which novel it was, but I enjoyed it enough that I got most of the other novels that were available at the time.
Memory loss in someone so young can never be a good thing.
|
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 15:30:01
I actually got into the Realms thru the Dragonlance comic book. One of my friends showed me the comic, and I enjoyed it and started reading it. I soon started reading the Dragonlance novels. I one day saw a Forgotten Realms novel, and, seeing that it was done by the same people that did Dragonlance, I decided to give it a shot.
I don't recall which novel it was, but I enjoyed it enough that I got most of the other novels that were available at the time. The richness and detail of the setting grabbed me in a way that Dragginglance failed to do.
My first FR game product was FR9 The Bloodstone Lands. Next I got Forgotten Realms Adventures. I picked up the old grey box, and then the 2nd edition boxed set came out a few months later. From there, I just got more and more stuff.
Right now I've got about 80% of the novels, and all but about 3 dozen of the modules, boxed sets, and other products. I'm working on completing my collection. |
| SiriusBlack |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 15:28:51
Waterdeep and Undermountain. A combination that has cast a spell over many. |
| DDH_101 |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 15:08:37
For me, it was Baldur's Gate 2. After playing the game, I started researching and bought myself a couple of Drizzt novels. Then I started to collect other FR series before actually moving onto D&D. |
| Mystery_Man |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 14:41:50
I'm wracking my brain but I can't pin it down.
I've played DnD in some shape or form since '83/'84.
I think it was at a gaming friends house who had all the boxed sets and let me thumb through them as we played him home brew. I thought "these are cool" and then the Baldur's Gate game came out and I said "I must have this". |
| Brother Ezra |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 14:25:42
For me it was the 1st edition grey box set. For the first 8 years of my involvement in the hobby, I had played in Greyhawk, and always pined for a setting that would give me more than a paragraph of information about the countries and geography of the game world. Then FR was released, and I got more than I could ever ask for. Once the regional supplements were released, I knew I was hooked, and never looked back.
These days, there's plenty of detailed settings from which to choose (Ebewrrong, Dawnforge, Midnight, Scarred Lands, Kalamar, etc.), but the Realms still catches my imagination like no other setting, and it has become a real place to me; when my players are in Heliogabalus, I can see the city in my mind's eye. I hear the sounds, smell the smells, and feel the pulse of the city. I know what the rolling hills of Soravia look like. I can see the sunrise over Lake Mogador. I recognize the majesty of the Galena Mountains. No other setting can do that for me. |
| Sarelle |
Posted - 09 Jun 2004 : 11:20:21
I had been playing FR, without me knowing it, since I began playing D&D. The basic 1e stuff (old and out-of-date) I was using was set in the Realms - but my DM nor I knew this, and he organised campaigns as his imagination took him.
This continued into our conversion to 2e (which had already been around for a very long time), before I stopped playing. Then I bought Baldur's Gate II and learnt A LOT more about the Realms, became interested again, read up on it, eventually read a copy of the Dark Elf Trilogy owned by a mate whilst me and my ex-DM were camping at a music festival, did more research, and eventually bought first the Fiend Folio then the core rulebooks, then the FRCS and F&P. I think I was hooked on the Realms after I finished BGII: Shadows of Amn. |
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