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Doc Filth
Seeker
55 Posts |
 Posted - 21 Apr 2010 : 16:53:58
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What's your favourite Forgotten Realms game product? Having been looking over a lot of the older stuff, mine would have to be either the City of Splendors boxset (for sheer volume and the cool Adventurers Quarter stuff), the 2nd Edition Campaign Setting (just for the nostalgia), or, for its presentation of the Realms as a proper living, breathing world, the Volo's Guide series - probably "Volo's Guide to the Dalelands", if I had to pick one.
Anyone else?
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Noxica
Acolyte
23 Posts |
Posted - 21 Apr 2010 : 17:08:06
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I like any source books pertaining to evil organizations, Calimshan or Eastern Continents like Thay and Shou. All of these places have been ruined in 4ed, So that new stuff doesn't count.
EDIT/ SPOILER: By Ruined I mean, Literally Destroyed, Not a bash on 4e. |
Edited by - Noxica on 21 Apr 2010 17:20:52 |
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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
Posted - 21 Apr 2010 : 19:44:49
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Oh, come on, this is impossible. The Grey Box is a clear contender, as is Forgotten Realms Adventures. Dreams of the Red Wizards, Elminsters Eulogies, Dwarves Deep, Waterdeep and the North, Shining South (2nd ed.) etc.
OK, its a tie between the Grey box and Forgotten Realms Adventures. |
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dragonfriend
Seeker
Italy
65 Posts |
Posted - 21 Apr 2010 : 20:29:32
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Too many products..too many masterpieces
I love City of Splendors and Ruins of MythDrannor. A great surprise was Elminster's Ecologies....too many, too many.
Every time I open an old Realms box or sourcebook I dream. I travel from well known Waterdeep to its Undermountain. From my beloved Tethyr to bucolic Dalelands. Every city, every tavern, every person is a mystery, a dream, a discovery. Somethimes I wish I could travel the Shinig South, see the bay of Dolphins, the plains of the Shaar, drink a beer with the hins of Luiren. Or spend a night in lodge in Rashemen.
The Realms are a special place to me. I'm 34, I love my life and spend a night in the Realms with my friends once a week is part of it. |
Edited by - dragonfriend on 21 Apr 2010 20:30:30 |
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Doc Filth
Seeker
55 Posts |
Posted - 21 Apr 2010 : 20:50:35
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quote:
Originally posted by dragonfriend
Too many products..too many masterpieces
I love City of Splendors and Ruins of MythDrannor. A great surprise was Elminster's Ecologies....too many, too many.
Every time I open an old Realms box or sourcebook I dream. I travel from well known Waterdeep to its Undermountain. From my beloved Tethyr to bucolic Dalelands. Every city, every tavern, every person is a mystery, a dream, a discovery. Somethimes I wish I could travel the Shinig South, see the bay of Dolphins, the plains of the Shaar, drink a beer with the hins of Luiren. Or spend a night in lodge in Rashemen.
The Realms are a special place to me. I'm 34, I love my life and spend a night in the Realms with my friends once a week is part of it.
I know exactly how you feel.  The Realms (and Waterdeep and the Dales, particularly) are places that I feel so easily familiar with I once described them to a member of my gaming group as my "Mental second home".
And seconding (thirding?) the love for Elminster's Ecologies, an excellent set. |
Edited by - Doc Filth on 21 Apr 2010 20:51:09 |
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Elfinblade
Senior Scribe
Norway
377 Posts |
Posted - 21 Apr 2010 : 22:56:56
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| El's ecologies or the grey box for me :) |
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Joran Nobleheart
Senior Scribe
USA
495 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2010 : 16:56:57
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| Ruins of Myth Drannor, with all of the Volo's Guides series just a breath away. My favorite guide is Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast which details my favorite part of the Forgotten Realms. Volo's Guide to Waterdeep is my second favorite, I think. |
Paladinic Ethos
Saint Joran Nobleheart |
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2450 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2010 : 17:45:07
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Probably Sea of Fallen Stars, for me, but really there's too many to do it justice. Better, perhaps, would be this:
Top 5 (in no particular order):
* Sea of Fallen Stars
* Cloak and Dagger
* Volo's Guide to All Things Magical
* Demihumans of the Realms (not technically a lore book, but I've gotten a whole bunch of great ideas from it)
* The Deity Trilogy (F&A, P&P, DD) |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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Cleric Generic
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
565 Posts |
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Kno
Senior Scribe
452 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2010 : 20:37:08
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| Drizzt's Guide to the Underdark and Empires of the Shining Sea |
z455t |
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2450 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2010 : 20:47:33
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| See, this is what makes this question impossible. I posted my list, then immediately kicked myself for forgetting the Guide to the Underdark. Empires of the Shining Sea wasn't on there, but only because I don't run games that far south. It's a great product, and easily deserves to be on peoples' lists. |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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sfdragon
Great Reader
2285 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2010 : 21:48:21
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| lost empires |
why is being a wizard like being a drow? both are likely to find a dagger in the back from a rival or one looking to further his own goals, fame and power
My FR fan fiction
Magister's GAmbit
http://steelfiredragon.deviantart.com/gallery/33539234 |
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Sill Alias
Senior Scribe
Kazakhstan
588 Posts |
Posted - 24 Apr 2010 : 11:01:38
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I did not read all guides, but...
I liked Elder Evils, Libris Mortis, Drow of the Underdark, Code of Harpers and Planescape. I am on the way for the 4th ed. |
You can hear many tales from many mouths. The most difficult is to know which of them are not lies. - Sill Alias
"May your harp be unstrung, your dreams die and all your songs be unsung." - curse of the harper, The Code of the Harpers 2 ed.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31799 Posts |
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Sill Alias
Senior Scribe
Kazakhstan
588 Posts |
Posted - 24 Apr 2010 : 11:39:58
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Sure thing! |
You can hear many tales from many mouths. The most difficult is to know which of them are not lies. - Sill Alias
"May your harp be unstrung, your dreams die and all your songs be unsung." - curse of the harper, The Code of the Harpers 2 ed.
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Brimstone
Great Reader
USA
3290 Posts |
Posted - 24 Apr 2010 : 12:49:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Doc Filth
What's your favourite Forgotten Realms game product?
Anyone else?
All of them...     |
"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1644 Posts |
Posted - 24 Apr 2010 : 17:17:32
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The Volo's Guides and Silver Marches.
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froglegg
Learned Scribe
317 Posts |
Posted - 24 Apr 2010 : 17:52:47
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The Old Grey Box!
2. Waterdeep and the North.
3. Moonshae.
4. Empires of the Sands.
5. The Savage Frontier.
6. Dreams of the Red Wizards.
7. Under Illefarn.
MMMMM......Just like a fine wine, the stuff just gets better with age.
John |
Long live Alias and Dragonbait! Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb the Realms need you more then ever!
On my word as a sage nothing within these pages is false, but not all of it may prove to be true. - Elminster of Shadowdale
The Old Grey Box gets better with age! |
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Victor_ograygor
Master of Realmslore
Denmark
1076 Posts |
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Neil Bishop
Learned Scribe
Singapore
100 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2010 : 05:19:13
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Faiths & Avatars.
It brought me back to D&D. I always hated generic clerics and there are hundreds of adventure and campaign seeds in this one book. It was also, IMO, the beginning of the removal of all the "stupid stuff" from FR (generic adventures by generic designers incorporated into FR without any concern about flavour or names... oh, and some crappy novels) and Eric L Boyd's magisterial building of FR canon with the support of other talented scribes such as Steven Schend and George Krashos. |
Regards
NXB |
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Quale
Master of Realmslore
1757 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2010 : 10:28:12
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| Cloak and Dagger, followed by Sea of Fallen Stars and Waterdeep |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36906 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2010 : 14:41:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Quale
Cloak and Dagger, followed by Sea of Fallen Stars and Waterdeep
Which Waterdeep product? We've had a bunch of them! |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Quale
Master of Realmslore
1757 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2010 : 18:35:31
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| City of Splendors boxed set of course, size matters |
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Tyranthraxus
Senior Scribe
Netherlands
423 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2010 : 18:41:48
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| Hmm... it's hard to choose but I guess Cloak and Dagger and Lords of Darkness (3e). I somehow like to know more about the various power groups of the Realms. |
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Jakk
Great Reader
Canada
2165 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2010 : 23:13:54
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Heh... favourite Realms product... well... the following are in approximate order of publication, and I'll try to come down to a single title by the end of it...
1st Edition:
The Original Grey Box (still my fave paper maps of the Realms);
FR1 Waterdeep and the North (Ed's depiction of Ed's most brilliant urban creation, for sheer density of information);
FR3 Empires of the Sands (I'm a Shoon fan... interesting things are afoot in the south in my Realms);
FR5 The Savage Frontier (my two longest-running campaigns, one as a player and the other as DM, were set primarily in the North).
2nd Edition:
FR Adventures (even though it omitted Archveult's Skybolt in the Wizard Spells chapter; otherwise, a brilliant wealth of material);
FOR1 The Draconomicon (a brilliantly-done treatise on dragonkind);
FOR4 The Code of the Harpers (more from Ed; both campaigns mentioned above got involved in Harper intrigue, and several PCs in both campaigns earned their silver pins);
FOR6 The Seven Sisters (more from Ed; and no, they did not finish all our quests before we got there, and my PC only ever met one of them (The Simbul) very briefly; in the campaign I DM'ed, the PCs met Alustriel and Laeral, just as briefly);
Pages From the Mages (for obvious reasons, I hope);
Faiths & Avatars (and its companion volumes Powers & Pantheons and Demihuman Deities, because you can never have too many deities);
FR11 Dwarves Deep (more from Ed; dwarves in the Realms haven't received nearly as much attention as I would like);
FR13 Anauroch (more from Ed; brilliant first coverage of an area that had fascinated me ever since the OGB);
Lands of Intrigue (SHOON! and this is simply the best place in the Realms to run a political campaign);
Cult of the Dragon (because dracoliches are bad@$$);
Sea of Fallen Stars (some brilliant stuff here, esp. Myth Nantar);
Skullport (just because those skulls are so danged weird);
Secrets of the Magister (again for Ed's brilliant creativity);
Cloak & Dagger (so much potential from this source went untapped);
Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark (despite, not because of, the fact that Drizzt's name and likeness are on the cover; a simply excellent reference to the Lands Below).
Okay, now 3rd Edition/3.5: these are in alphabetical order, for no real reason:
Lords of Darkness 
Dragons of Faerun (do you really need to ask why?)
Lost Empires of Faerun (Imaskar, Netheril, and Shoon, oh my!)
Power of Faerun (another much-needed gap-filling title from Ed; both of the above-mentioned campaigns resulted in player characters establishing realms of their own and both campaigns were 2E, but I'm in the process of converting those PCs over to Pathfinder now; the other players were kind enough to give me copies of their PCs for future use as NPCs in my subsequent campaigns).
Serpent Kingdoms (Sarrukh FTW! More brilliant Ed lore here!)
Unapproachable East (Thay was quite evil enough without turning it into an undead kingdom; that being said, Szass Tam still ends up as the only ruler in my Thay).
And the three finalists (in random order) are...
Cloak and Dagger
Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark
Power of Faerun
The winner? Meh... if you think there can be only one, grab your claymore (or katana  ) and behead the other two; I can't decide.  |
Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.
If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic. |
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Gambit
Learned Scribe
110 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2010 : 23:24:23
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| So much good, juicy, lore-filled goodness, but I'm going to have to go with Faiths and Avatars, Demihuman Deities, and Powers and Pantheons, these 3 books are (IMHO) the epitome of what made 2E FR great. Those are followed by City of Splendors box set, and the Volo's Guides, and to throw a 3E book in there for posterity, Lost Empires of Faerun. |
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Joran Nobleheart
Senior Scribe
USA
495 Posts |
Posted - 26 Apr 2010 : 00:02:11
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quote:
Originally posted by Gambit
So much good, juicy, lore-filled goodness, but I'm going to have to go with Faiths and Avatars, Demihuman Deities, and Powers and Pantheons, these 3 books are (IMHO) the epitome of what made 2E FR great. Those are followed by City of Splendors box set, and the Volo's Guides, and to throw a 3E book in there for posterity, Lost Empires of Faerun.
Well said, my friend! |
Paladinic Ethos
Saint Joran Nobleheart |
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Fingal
Seeker
56 Posts |
Posted - 26 Apr 2010 : 18:53:55
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'Lands of Intrigue' and 'Empires of the Shining Sea' Are my favourite ones, I think. I've always really liked this quarter of Faerun and both of these sets are fantastic sources of information.
I also have a lot of affection for the 3e' 'Lords of Darkness' as well. |
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Favourite Realms product?
