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nkk
Acolyte
Canada
9 Posts |
 Posted - 18 Jan 2021 : 22:04:17
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Hi everyone, long-time lurker, first-time poster here.
I'm currently planning a Forgotten Realms campaign, for which I want to use a relatively minimal amount of official material so I have plenty of room to exercise my own creativity. To that end, I want to set it around the time presented in the 1E Gray Box, pre-time of troubles, though I'll be using 2E rules. It'll be an old school "hex crawl" sort of thing.
So aside from that set (I also have the 2E box set; great maps!), what products do you think will be essential? I'm thinking whatever book in the FR series covers the region I decide to go with (still not decided there), Faiths and Avatars for priest rules, the Forgotten Realms Atlas for the maps... anything you think I'm missing? I'm not adverse to using post-2E material if it's relatively edition-agnostic rules-wise and isn't tied too closely to a particular time period.
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3745 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2021 : 02:45:08
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| -I don't know how much use A Grand History of the Realms would be for planning/plotting an actual D&D campaign that you wouldn't be able to get from free online sources like the FR Wiki or here or whatever else, but that's basically one of- if not *the* best- sourcebooks out there from any edition (and it's edition neutral). |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
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nkk
Acolyte
Canada
9 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2021 : 05:09:21
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| I've actually had my eye on that one, but wasn't sure if it would cover enough of the time period in question (well, and before) to be worth it. |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2021 : 05:10:56
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quote:
Originally posted by nkk
I've actually had my eye on that one, but wasn't sure if it would cover enough of the time period in question (well, and before) to be worth it.
Welcome to Candlekeep nkk 
Grand History is an amazing work that has tons of "clack" available to use in a campaign.
Other than that, if you are wanting to keep as much creativity in your hands as possible, I think the OGB is good stuff all alone. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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nkk
Acolyte
Canada
9 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2021 : 05:16:14
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Thanks :)
Yeah, to be honest I probably just want it anyway, even if I don't end up using it that much, like the Atlas. But good to know people like it. |
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maransreth
Learned Scribe
Australia
157 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2021 : 07:23:35
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If your players will run into "named" characters you may want Hall of Heroes and the Heroes/Villains Lorebooks (both 2e) so you have stats if required.
Region sourcebooks as you said, irrespective of edition as the information is useful. Ed's Elminsters Forgotten Realms is an insight into day to day life for the common people of the Realms - definitely a must. Helps you to get into the mindset and the words Realmsians would use. The same with the Volo's guides if you are sticking to the "main areas" - North, Sword Coast, Cormyr and the Dalelands. The Volos guides give great info about taverns and inns that your characters would come across, rumours they would hear, etc when in town.
Elminster's Ecologies boxed set and two supplements are also useful for more info re specific areas.
If you are running 2e ruleset and want your players to have kits specific to the Realms, there are three "brown" 2e sourcebooks like PHBR1 - Complete Book of Fighters - Wizards and Rogues of the Realms, Warriors and Priests of the Realms and Demihumans of the Realms.
The list can go on and on as 2e's sourcebooks were so multitudious.
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2021 : 09:00:26
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Why force the game edition and the setting edition to be married?
Use whatever edition ruleset you prefer. Use whatever Realmslore you prefer. Mix and (mis)match if you like.
Some stuff gets included or excluded or modified in each edition. But once you've made the basic edition choices the rest of your decisions follow naturally. If you've already strayed from strict adherence to WotC's published "canon" path then the game and the Realms are your own to enjoy. |
[/Ayrik] |
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nkk
Acolyte
Canada
9 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2021 : 15:21:59
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quote:
Originally posted by maransreth
If your players will run into "named" characters you may want Hall of Heroes and the Heroes/Villains Lorebooks (both 2e) so you have stats if required.
Region sourcebooks as you said, irrespective of edition as the information is useful. Ed's Elminsters Forgotten Realms is an insight into day to day life for the common people of the Realms - definitely a must. Helps you to get into the mindset and the words Realmsians would use. The same with the Volo's guides if you are sticking to the "main areas" - North, Sword Coast, Cormyr and the Dalelands. The Volos guides give great info about taverns and inns that your characters would come across, rumours they would hear, etc when in town.
Elminster's Ecologies boxed set and two supplements are also useful for more info re specific areas.
If you are running 2e ruleset and want your players to have kits specific to the Realms, there are three "brown" 2e sourcebooks like PHBR1 - Complete Book of Fighters - Wizards and Rogues of the Realms, Warriors and Priests of the Realms and Demihumans of the Realms.
The list can go on and on as 2e's sourcebooks were so multitudious.
Thanks for all the great suggestions! I'll probably avoid kits but everything else looks like it'd be very useful.
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
Why force the game edition and the setting edition to be married?
Use whatever edition ruleset you prefer. Use whatever Realmslore you prefer. Mix and (mis)match if you like.
Some stuff gets included or excluded or modified in each edition. But once you've made the basic edition choices the rest of your decisions follow naturally. If you've already strayed from strict adherence to WotC's published "canon" path then the game and the Realms are your own to enjoy.
Oh, I'm not forcing edition and setting to be married. As I said, I'll probably be using 2nd edition rules. I just want to use the 1E era as a base (or maybe a few hundred years earlier, even) because it's the setting as originally presented, and because by starting there I have the least canon to keep track of (though, as you say, I could just ignore that anyway). I also generally prefer the TSR era to the WoTC era as far as supplements and modules go.
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Edited by - nkk on 19 Jan 2021 15:23:00 |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11902 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2021 : 15:56:46
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So, if you're just wanting an earlier timeline and whatever 2e ruleset useful information might be available, then all you're wanting is history information.
So, that being said, the question comes down to "what old history sources are there".
To that I'd say the main thing revolves more around where and less around when, because people can tell you all about books that may be set in the past, but if you're campaign doesn't visit there, what's the point? As to history resources, there's all the 2e boxed sets having historical information in them (i.e. The North, Empires of the Shining Sea, Lands of Intrigue, Spellbound, the Netheril boxed set, the hordelands boxed set, the Cormanthyr boxed set, the Menzo boxed set, City of Spendlors) plus the 1e/2e resource booklets like Old Empires, Bloodstone Lands, Dreams of the Red Wizards, driz'zt's guide to the underdark, cult of the dragon, etc... There's also the 2e god books Powers and Pantheons, Faiths and Avatars, Demihuman Deities, and Monster Mythology. There's also the class books for 2e specific to the realms like wizards and rogues of the realms and warriors and priests of the realms, and stuff like pages from the mages and prayers of the faithful. There's also from the 3e era lost empires of faerun, Grand history of the realms, Champions of Ruin, Champions of Valor, Serpent Kingdoms, etc....
This list can get really large obviously, but like I said before, if you're staying in the north... you don't need shining south or old empires, etc... |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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nkk
Acolyte
Canada
9 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2021 : 16:14:50
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
So, if you're just wanting an earlier timeline and whatever 2e ruleset useful information might be available, then all you're wanting is history information.
So, that being said, the question comes down to "what old history sources are there".
To that I'd say the main thing revolves more around where and less around when, because people can tell you all about books that may be set in the past, but if you're campaign doesn't visit there, what's the point? As to history resources, there's all the 2e boxed sets having historical information in them (i.e. The North, Empires of the Shining Sea, Lands of Intrigue, Spellbound, the Netheril boxed set, the hordelands boxed set, the Cormanthyr boxed set, the Menzo boxed set, City of Spendlors) plus the 1e/2e resource booklets like Old Empires, Bloodstone Lands, Dreams of the Red Wizards, driz'zt's guide to the underdark, cult of the dragon, etc... There's also the 2e god books Powers and Pantheons, Faiths and Avatars, Demihuman Deities, and Monster Mythology. There's also the class books for 2e specific to the realms like wizards and rogues of the realms and warriors and priests of the realms, and stuff like pages from the mages and prayers of the faithful. There's also from the 3e era lost empires of faerun, Grand history of the realms, Champions of Ruin, Champions of Valor, Serpent Kingdoms, etc....
This list can get really large obviously, but like I said before, if you're staying in the north... you don't need shining south or old empires, etc...
Thanks for the thoughts!
Do you think the 3E material is worth looking at, assuming it's relevant to the area centered on by the campaign? Or is quality fairly variable? |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36831 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2021 : 18:06:28
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| There was some good stuff in the 3E era, but that's also when the problems started creeping in. WotC wasn't coordinating stuff internally all that well (if at all) and it was that era when they stopped worrying about staying true to prior canon. |
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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Brimstone
Great Reader
USA
3287 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jan 2021 : 08:11:32
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Old Grey Box, FR1 though FR6, Cloak and Dagger, The Volo Guides, and the 2E Deity Books.
EDIT: The Hardcover Forgotten Realms Adventures is another good book.
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"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 |
Edited by - Brimstone on 20 Jan 2021 08:33:12 |
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nkk
Acolyte
Canada
9 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jan 2021 : 18:13:08
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Thanks so much for the suggestions, everyone!
I've ultimately decided to go with 1E rather than 2E as a system, not that this particularly changes how useful a lot of the material suggested so far will be. I've also almost decided on setting it in either Tethyr or Calimshan, so F3 has jumped to the top of my must-buy list. I know there are some later books and box sets covering these areas, and I'll probably have a look at them, but I like the less-detailed, more high-level approach of the early FR supplements for my purposes.
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Edited by - nkk on 20 Jan 2021 18:21:44 |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6673 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jan 2021 : 12:02:24
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Ignore the rules edition and get Lands of Intrigue and Empires of the Shining Sea instead. FR3 isnt a patch on those two products.
George Krashos |
"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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nkk
Acolyte
Canada
9 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jan 2021 : 17:06:06
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quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
Ignore the rules edition and get Lands of Intrigue and Empires of the Shining Sea instead. FR3 isnt a patch on those two products.
George Krashos
I'll definitely check them out, like I said, but they might be too detailed for my purposes. I may not even need FR3; the info in the Old Gray Box might be enough for me. |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3745 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jan 2021 : 00:49:27
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quote:
Originally posted by nkk
Do you think the 3E material is worth looking at, assuming it's relevant to the area centered on by the campaign? Or is quality fairly variable?
-Lost Empires of Faerun was one of the better 3e books (second in my opinion to the aforementioned Grand History of the Realms), and given the content, would be useful to pretty much any campaign regardless of when it's set. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
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nkk
Acolyte
Canada
9 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jan 2021 : 03:36:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
quote:
Originally posted by nkk
Do you think the 3E material is worth looking at, assuming it's relevant to the area centered on by the campaign? Or is quality fairly variable?
-Lost Empires of Faerun was one of the better 3e books (second in my opinion to the aforementioned Grand History of the Realms), and given the content, would be useful to pretty much any campaign regardless of when it's set.
Thanks for the suggestion! I hadn't heard of this one before, but it definitely looks like something I could use. |
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Essentials for a 1E-era campaign?
