| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Anarchitect |
Posted - 13 Dec 2012 : 19:45:36
Hello Candlekeep scribes. I'm opening this topic today (first time I actively take part on this sites forum, even though I've been a viewer for the last 4 years) because up until today I failed to find a properly made reading guide for the Realms. I came upon Iluvrien work piece over the internet which is very confusing to follow since it takes each book individually in a chronological order (I still salute him for his fine work on it, still hoping it will be finished one day).
Basically what I think the Realms lacks is a reader's guide that ties in together different trilogies, by different authors by: minor characters, major characters, realms location, etc.
I think this is necessary because just recently I have discovered on one of the post topics that The Haunted Land Trilogy is somehow connected with The Neverwinter Saga. I think this guide will help those who want to know the background story for some of the big sagas of the realm they are reading.
If you fellow scribes can post as many connections as possible between each book series in the Forgotten Realms, I'll try to scrap the information together and make this reading guide.
Thank you in advance fellow scribes! |
| 22 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| ChurchofShar |
Posted - 31 Dec 2012 : 20:39:19
O-Love is really well done, I've used it countless times.
One thing I've always wanted though was a basic list of everything, including the e-stories, the Dragon stories, short-stories in the compilations and other related material.
I was thinking of a way to do this in text. Right now I just list my own alphabetically, but I was thinking a basic printable list could work something like this:
YEAR
Novels listed by publish date - bold black text, enlarged font
- - Red text bullets below for prequels (if any)
- - Blue text bullets for sequels (if any)
- - Black text bullet for related work/notes
An example would be:
2007
Shadowstorm, Paul S. Kemp (The Twilight War Trilogy, book 2, August 2007)
- Shadowbred, Paul S. Kemp (The Twilight War Trilogy, book 1, November 2006)
- Shadowrealm, Paul S. Kemp (The Twilight War Trilogy, book 3, December 2008)
- Follows: The Halls of Stormweather/Resurrection, Paul S. Kemp (Sembia, book 1, July 2000); Shadow's Witness, Paul S. Kemp (Sembia, book 2, November 2000); Twilight Falling, Paul S. Kemp (The Erevis Cale Trilogy, book 1, July 2003); Dawn of Night, Paul S. Kemp (The Erevis Cale Trilogy, book 2, June 2004); Midnight's Mask, Paul S. Kemp (The Erevis Cale Trilogy, book 3, November 2005)
- Precedes: Godborn, Paul S. Kemp (The Sundering, book 2, LATE 2013)
- Related Short Stories: Another Name for Dawn, Paul S. Kemp (Dragon Magazine #277); All the Sinners Saints, Paul S. Kemp (Dragon Magazine #297); Soulbound, Paul S. Kemp (Realms of the Dragons, August 2004); Continuum, Paul S. Kemp (Realms of War, January 2008)
There are as many ways to format something like this as you can imagine. Separating the list by year would make it somewhat easier to read. Publish chronology, prequels and sequels can be easily captured and understood this way. Also editing any additions in would be extremely simple.
If a person wanted to keep it all black text, use designated fonts instead of the colour. Or both.
It seems extensive, but once a template is pasted it's just fill in the blanks. Using O-Love and other resources such as author pages and this site, the list could be extremely complete and a version date marked to maintain accuracy.
|
| Dennis |
Posted - 29 Dec 2012 : 10:55:02
quote:
Originally posted by realmsrider
quote:
Originally posted by Aulduron
You can easily read Neverwinter without reading The Haunted Lands, with no confusion.
Try reading Return of the Archwizards with no realms knowledge. Impossible.
Believe it or not, it's my proper 'introduction' to the Realms. So, definitely not impossible.  |
| The Sage |
Posted - 27 Dec 2012 : 01:19:54
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Aulduron
quote:
Try reading Return of the Archwizards with no realms knowledge. Impossible.
I don't see any relevance between our comments.
I might have enjoyed the Return of the Archwizards more without any Realms knowledge...
I don't think we necessarily need to go that far. If one's not already familiar with the way characters like Khelben tended to operate in the Realms, then one's reading of the RotA trilogy would be more enjoyable. I'd state that you'd probably need some basic knowledge of the Realms -- specifically concerning the history of Netheril, or just a general understanding of such -- but the less one knows of the main NPCs involved, the better.
The fact that there is such a drastic contrast between the way Denning's interpretations of characters like Khelben work and how they've generally been depicted in the Realmslore, makes for some rather distracting comparisons. |
| realmsrider |
Posted - 27 Dec 2012 : 00:29:30
quote:
Originally posted by Aulduron
quote:
Try reading Return of the Archwizards with no realms knowledge. Impossible.
I don't see any relevance between our comments.
It was Christmas. I was drunk. I don't know either. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 26 Dec 2012 : 22:54:28
quote:
Originally posted by Aulduron
quote:
Try reading Return of the Archwizards with no realms knowledge. Impossible.
I don't see any relevance between our comments.
I might have enjoyed the Return of the Archwizards more without any Realms knowledge... That way, I wouldn't have been scratching my head when established NPCs acted in the worst possible fashion, despite plenty of Realmslore to the contrary. |
| Aulduron |
Posted - 26 Dec 2012 : 17:48:00
quote:
Try reading Return of the Archwizards with no realms knowledge. Impossible.
I don't see any relevance between our comments. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 26 Dec 2012 : 16:33:37
quote:
Originally posted by Anarchitect
quote:
Originally posted by realmsrider
quote:
Originally posted by Aulduron
You can easily read Neverwinter without reading The Haunted Lands, with no confusion.
Try reading Return of the Archwizards with no realms knowledge. Impossible.
What books should be read before "Return of the Archwizards" trilogy?
In my opinion, anything. The more books the better! If you never get to the RotA books, that's not really such a bad thing.
My own opinions on that trilogy aside, there's nothing that's really required before reading those books. Other than Denning's re-use of his favorite characters, nothing in those books really builds on any other Realms novels. (And not so much on prior Realmslore, either.  ) |
| Anarchitect |
Posted - 26 Dec 2012 : 14:12:04
quote:
Originally posted by realmsrider
quote:
Originally posted by Aulduron
You can easily read Neverwinter without reading The Haunted Lands, with no confusion.
Try reading Return of the Archwizards with no realms knowledge. Impossible.
What books should be read before "Return of the Archwizards" trilogy? |
| realmsrider |
Posted - 26 Dec 2012 : 06:42:44
quote:
Originally posted by Aulduron
You can easily read Neverwinter without reading The Haunted Lands, with no confusion.
Try reading Return of the Archwizards with no realms knowledge. Impossible. |
| Aulduron |
Posted - 26 Dec 2012 : 01:51:31
You can easily read Neverwinter without reading The Haunted Lands, with no confusion. |
| BEAST |
Posted - 20 Dec 2012 : 20:55:07
I couldn't possibly use that yarn thread chart.
In my RAS Realms chronological list, I color-code publications to show what major series they belong to.
But we would run out of recognizable, monitor-friendly colors really fast if we were to try to color-code every Realms series! |
| Anarchitect |
Posted - 20 Dec 2012 : 16:11:29
Also, all the books are more or less in their chronological order by realm calendar.
So beside drizzt, elminster and cain main arc, what other books are connected to the sundering? |
| Anarchitect |
Posted - 19 Dec 2012 : 14:50:06
This is the first version of the "World Tree" I've started.
Next I'll be adding "The Haunted Land" trilogy and "The Twilight War" trilogy connection to the drizzt book, their other connection to their characters and all posible conections to THE SUNDERING.
I'll be asking for fixez to any errors and orders.
This was not made to be estetic yet!
Here it is:
http://imgur.com/gfWzc |
| realmsrider |
Posted - 16 Dec 2012 : 04:47:27
quote:
Originally posted by Entreri3478
I think the inter-connection between Realms novels can be best represented by something like that weird yarn chart from the TV show Heroes.
http://www.heroesrevealed.com/stuff/heroes-character-map/
A tangled web indeed. Also the tie-ins with other world/book series like the Lost Gods trilogy, Ravenloft and Abyssal Plague. The Sundering will make FR history even more convoluted. |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 16 Dec 2012 : 04:19:13
I think the inter-connection between Realms novels can be best represented by something like that weird yarn chart from the TV show Heroes.
http://www.heroesrevealed.com/stuff/heroes-character-map/
|
| realmsrider |
Posted - 16 Dec 2012 : 02:09:26
Indeed. The book Ring of Winter, for example, contains a passing reference to a character from Crusade, by the same author. And the fiendish butler in Ring of Winter is mentioned, in passing, in Elfshadow. And all three books, of course, have references to the Time of Troubles, though usually not to anything specific in the novels.
[/quote]
Yes. In Shadowdale the ring of winter is mentioned as a failed quest that killed Kelemvor's merc group and there was a couple of novels that mentioned Azoul's daughter was missing till she showed up in Crusade. I love world building sooo much |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 15 Dec 2012 : 22:16:07
This kind of guide could get out of hand quickly and basically just depends on how detailed you want to be. Jeez, the book Once Around the Realms has characters from probably 20 different Realms books. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 15 Dec 2012 : 20:39:48
quote:
Originally posted by Firestorm
quote:
Originally posted by Anarchitect
Hello Candlekeep scribes. I'm opening this topic today (first time I actively take part on this sites forum, even though I've been a viewer for the last 4 years) because up until today I failed to find a properly made reading guide for the Realms. I came upon Iluvrien work piece over the internet which is very confusing to follow since it takes each book individually in a chronological order (I still salute him for his fine work on it, still hoping it will be finished one day).
Basically what I think the Realms lacks is a reader's guide that ties in together different trilogies, by different authors by: minor characters, major characters, realms location, etc.
I think this is necessary because just recently I have discovered on one of the post topics that The Haunted Land Trilogy is somehow connected with The Neverwinter Saga. I think this guide will help those who want to know the background story for some of the big sagas of the realm they are reading.
If you fellow scribes can post as many connections as possible between each book series in the Forgotten Realms, I'll try to scrap the information together and make this reading guide.
Thank you in advance fellow scribes!
The entire realms is connected in some way. You never know who is going to pop up in what book because every author can use the NPC's provided they get clearance(Assuming someone else does not have plans for them)
Indeed. The book Ring of Winter, for example, contains a passing reference to a character from Crusade, by the same author. And the fiendish butler in Ring of Winter is mentioned, in passing, in Elfshadow. And all three books, of course, have references to the Time of Troubles, though usually not to anything specific in the novels. |
| realmsrider |
Posted - 15 Dec 2012 : 05:57:44
quote:
Originally posted by Firestorm
quote:
Originally posted by Anarchitect
Hello Candlekeep scribes. I'm opening this topic today (first time I actively take part on this sites forum, even though I've been a viewer for the last 4 years) because up until today I failed to find a properly made reading guide for the Realms. I came upon Iluvrien work piece over the internet which is very confusing to follow since it takes each book individually in a chronological order (I still salute him for his fine work on it, still hoping it will be finished one day).
Basically what I think the Realms lacks is a reader's guide that ties in together different trilogies, by different authors by: minor characters, major characters, realms location, etc.
I think this is necessary because just recently I have discovered on one of the post topics that The Haunted Land Trilogy is somehow connected with The Neverwinter Saga. I think this guide will help those who want to know the background story for some of the big sagas of the realm they are reading.
If you fellow scribes can post as many connections as possible between each book series in the Forgotten Realms, I'll try to scrap the information together and make this reading guide.
Thank you in advance fellow scribes!
The entire realms is connected in some way. You never know who is going to pop up in what book because every author can use the NPC's provided they get clearance(Assuming someone else does not have plans for them)
The truth is, the tie between Neverwinter and haunted lands is minor so far as we know right now. Thay was always one of the most popular settings in forgotten realms, and now a few thayans are invading neverwinter at the behest of Thay's leader.
Such a guide actually exists, but in the form of many many sourcebooks and wikipedia.
I think http://www.o-love.net/realms/ is my favorite go to guide because what better way to experience the Realms than in the order they were written? When you consider that each novel, at least in the TSR days, was a spin off of a module or sourcebook it adds that much more flavor. You can really see this world forming. |
| Firestorm |
Posted - 15 Dec 2012 : 03:05:04
quote:
Originally posted by Anarchitect
Hello Candlekeep scribes. I'm opening this topic today (first time I actively take part on this sites forum, even though I've been a viewer for the last 4 years) because up until today I failed to find a properly made reading guide for the Realms. I came upon Iluvrien work piece over the internet which is very confusing to follow since it takes each book individually in a chronological order (I still salute him for his fine work on it, still hoping it will be finished one day).
Basically what I think the Realms lacks is a reader's guide that ties in together different trilogies, by different authors by: minor characters, major characters, realms location, etc.
I think this is necessary because just recently I have discovered on one of the post topics that The Haunted Land Trilogy is somehow connected with The Neverwinter Saga. I think this guide will help those who want to know the background story for some of the big sagas of the realm they are reading.
If you fellow scribes can post as many connections as possible between each book series in the Forgotten Realms, I'll try to scrap the information together and make this reading guide.
Thank you in advance fellow scribes!
The entire realms is connected in some way. You never know who is going to pop up in what book because every author can use the NPC's provided they get clearance(Assuming someone else does not have plans for them)
The truth is, the tie between Neverwinter and haunted lands is minor so far as we know right now. Thay was always one of the most popular settings in forgotten realms, and now a few thayans are invading neverwinter at the behest of Thay's leader.
Such a guide actually exists, but in the form of many many sourcebooks and wikipedia. |
| jornan |
Posted - 14 Dec 2012 : 21:52:09
I have often thought of making a "web" chart of which books are connected to which and how, but that would be a MASSIVE undertaking. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 14 Dec 2012 : 01:28:57
You can actually just ask any scribes which series is connected to which. If there's a semblance of a 'guide,' it would have to change every month, or every time a new novel is released. |
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