| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Faraer |
Posted - 17 Jul 2005 : 03:35:41
How did you first encounter the Realms? |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Thauranil |
Posted - 27 Nov 2013 : 13:03:29
I played the BG games first but frankly I had no idea what the realms were at that time , it was when I read the Crystal Shard that I became a fan of the setting. |
| Werthead |
Posted - 26 Nov 2013 : 17:35:42
Playing EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (the first one) on my Commodore Amiga in 1992, followed by reading THE CRYSTAL SHARD and realising the (quite big) map of Icewind Dale was a tiny little corner of the map of the Sword Coast in the EYE OF THE BEHOLDER instruction manual. |
| froglegg |
Posted - 19 Nov 2013 : 00:38:32
It was 1987 and I was home on leave for X-Mas and I went into a gaming shop/comics shop and there it was.
The Old Grey Box had my heart at hello.
John |
| Barastir |
Posted - 18 Nov 2013 : 13:34:03
When I was younger and started playing RPG I was crazy about martial arts, and so I wanted to buy the Kara-Tur setting. The guy on the only RPG store here in Brasilia told me Kara-Tur was part of the Forgotten Realms world, and so I bought the golden boxed set, who have just been released back then (at least around here, it was in 1992). I was kinda disappointed for not finding oriental stuff in the box, but started DMing in the Realms, and looking for more info. After a little time I read the Icewind Dale trilogy, the Song and Swords books... And so the Realms won my heart. I still like Kara-Tur (to the point of making 2e rules to use them in my Realms), but Faerūn came to stay!  |
| Alruane |
Posted - 18 Nov 2013 : 06:52:20
That is partly how I got started, BG games. Back in 2001 I played Baldur's Gate Shadows Of Amn, changed my views on fantasy as a whole! I became ENGULFED and obsessed with Forgotten Realms. I actually played the first BG after the second one. :P |
| hashimashadoo |
Posted - 18 Nov 2013 : 05:05:55
I played an SSI game briefly as a child but I can't remember which one nor did it make me more interested in the Realms. Baldur's gate got me started around the same time 3rd edition DnD was released. I purchased it entirely by accident at a computer fair and loved it to bits. I didn't know there was a sequel but then my DM got Shadows of Amn and I started obsessively collecting anything containing realmslore I could get my hands on. |
| The Arcanamach |
Posted - 17 Nov 2013 : 23:35:13
From Dragon Magazine. |
| Alruane |
Posted - 17 Nov 2013 : 21:49:00
My encounters were from a combination of novels as well as early PC games. |
| Belorin |
Posted - 27 Aug 2009 : 05:17:23
First read the Darkwalker on Moonshaetrilogy then bought the gray box, before that I ran whatever module was new, AD&D, D&D basic/expert, etc.
Bel |
| RedneckBadgerLord |
Posted - 31 Jul 2009 : 01:01:18
I bought the original Bauldur's Gate at Big Lots for six bucks, and loved it! |
| Matt James |
Posted - 31 Jul 2009 : 00:14:45
First Memories? With my older brother, Brian R. James when he went to a FLGS called "Its Your Move" in Littleton, Colorado. He picked up a funky little gray box with a cool barbarian dude on the front. We've been living in a fantasy world ever since. Okay, I am significantly younger than him (7 years) but I do have many fond memories of him letting me tag along. I even had my first D&D roleplaying experience at age 7 when I got to play a Human Fighter named "Lightfoot" at some San Deigo game day event.
There are a lot of memories but the majority of them start around 1988 when the setting was first released. |
| Lord Necro |
Posted - 30 Jul 2009 : 16:46:08
I came across a FR book in our library: The Crypt of the Shadowking, and thats what started it for me. |
| Auzoros |
Posted - 30 Jul 2009 : 16:38:25
Spellfire was my first FR experience and the original Eye of the Beholder PC game. It wasn't long after that, that I had the Old Grey Box. |
| bolf66 |
Posted - 16 May 2009 : 23:32:46
for me it all started with,the dark elf trilogy that was my gate way now I'm in the realms everychance I get as this world holds my body so in turn does the realms hold my mind |
| houstonderek |
Posted - 23 Apr 2009 : 12:01:31
I learned of the Realms through Mr. Greenwood's articles in Dragon. I was fascinated that there was a whole other world outside of Oerth, fully formed and with a deep history as interesting as anything I had read about in the history books.
|
| skychrome |
Posted - 26 Mar 2009 : 22:55:51
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I think we've wandered away from the original topic...
Yes archmoderator, we humbly beg your pardon!  
I will return to my study desk inmediatley!
However I cannot deny that those books played a significant role in hooking me up with fantasy worlds, which then led via BG2 to delve into the Realms.  |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 26 Mar 2009 : 20:47:04
I think we've wandered away from the original topic... |
| swifty |
Posted - 26 Mar 2009 : 20:12:43
did you ever read titan.it was a bit like a realmsian book of lore full of maps and the main bad guys of the world.out of the pit was great as well.like an a to z of all the monsters.if i remember gold dragons were the most powerful. |
| skychrome |
Posted - 26 Mar 2009 : 19:05:06
quote:
Originally posted by swifty
id you know ian livingstone went on to become head of eidos interactive.home of lara croft.
Yes, saw it a while ago on Wikipedia. On the photo he does not look that old yet for someone who wrote fantasy books in the 80s.... 
Well anyways, those books where really good. I still remember when I arrived in the tower's top room to meet the boss villain in Citadel of Chaos. And I loved Iain McCaig's illustrations in City of Thieves!
- |
| swifty |
Posted - 26 Mar 2009 : 13:21:05
id you know ian livingstone went on to become head of eidos interactive.home of lara croft. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 25 Mar 2009 : 22:34:49
quote:
Originally posted by swifty
are you from the uk.not sure if they had fighting fantasy in the states.
They did. I had some of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, and read a bunch more, circa late 80's-early 90's. |
| skychrome |
Posted - 25 Mar 2009 : 22:30:08
quote:
Originally posted by swifty
are you from the uk.not sure if they had fighting fantasy in the states.
No, from Germany but I moved overseas. However back then in the late 80s /early 90s my school library had German versions of those books and quite a lot actually. Must have read about 5 or 6 different books.
- |
| swifty |
Posted - 25 Mar 2009 : 19:51:09
are you from the uk.not sure if they had fighting fantasy in the states. |
| skychrome |
Posted - 25 Mar 2009 : 02:38:05
quote:
Originally posted by swifty
only brought it coz the cover reminded me of the fighting fantasy books by steve jackson.still one of my fave trilogies.
Aw man! Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston! Those books were just great! I especially loved City of Thieves and Citadel of Chaos. That's how fantasy is supposed to be.
I consider the Realms being relatively rather similar to their settings, not as chaotic though maybe.
I started getting hooked up with the realms when I bought Baldur's Gate 2.
The atmosphere, the rules, the characters... it was just amazing.
I looked for Fearun maps so I could follow the games locations in Amn and Tethyr and that brought me into the rulebooks etc and from there straight into the novels.
My first novel was The Black Bouquet which was fortunately was a good one in my opinion (though it took me a long time to find out, where on Faerun the setting takes place).
Since then I am constantly reading FR novels. The Erevis Cale Trilogy and War of the Spiderqueen almost drove me crazy! Amazing fantasy literature! |
| Lethesia |
Posted - 23 Mar 2009 : 22:01:10
Well met Swifty. :) |
| swifty |
Posted - 23 Mar 2009 : 21:10:28
well met lethesia.my first intro was darkwalker on moonshae in 88 in british shop wh smith.only brought it coz the cover reminded me of the fighting fantasy books by steve jackson.still one of my fave trilogies. |
| Lethesia |
Posted - 23 Mar 2009 : 19:07:59
All of my knowledge of the realms was from my brother, who's been playing D&D sinse before I was born, when I was about 5 my mom helped me make a character AD&D and I "played" with everyone else. My whole family has been playing ever sinse. (parents, 5 siblings)I'm only up to 3, and some 3.5 because they keep changing it so fast, I dun have money for whole set of new books!  |
| BEAST |
Posted - 06 Jan 2009 : 15:40:48
1st edition of RAS's novel The Crystal Shard back in spring, 1988, for me. I had known about the D&D game and the cartoon earlier, but I didn't want to work so hard to play a game (school work load whooped me). Received a puzzle with Larry Elmore art as a birthday present, and was coerced by my mom to go to the library for some summer reading, where I found the book with that same Elmore pic on the cover. Continued reading those D&D "Choose Your Own Adventure" books until stumbling across TCSh in a junior high school book fair. Liked the cover; thought it looked more subdued, less flashy than most of the other cover art. Also loved the fact that it looked like a lot shorter read than TLOTR... |
| Zanan |
Posted - 06 Jan 2009 : 09:19:43
Well, first encountered the Realms via Menzoberranzan, the PC game. Had been playing various at the time, including the legendary Ultima Underworld I & II, Ravenloft: Stone Prophet II, or Elder Scrolls: Arena. Going to England - greetings to all graduates/students of Keele University! - I encountered a Sword & Sorcerey society during my studies and joined up. We played the Night Below campaign within the Realms and I got myself my first FR books back then, the Old Grey Box (Huzzah!). It was mainly novel-reading afterwards, but since 1998 I've been playing on a weekly basis. |
| tahlia |
Posted - 06 Jan 2009 : 06:45:16
A friend on a book forum introduced me to them. Before that I had read very few fantasy books. |
