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LWhitehead1
Learned Scribe
125 Posts |
 Posted - 07 Sep 2022 : 14:55:10
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Hi I was wondering what D&D 5th Books would I need to run and play in FR?,
I need sourcebooks other then the Sword Coast,
LW
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HighOne
Learned Scribe
216 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2022 : 15:53:55
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"Need" isn't the word I'd use. When 5E came out, there were no sourcebooks, and we played in FR just fine without them. You can use older sourcebooks if you have them, especially if they're 2E or 3E, as very little has changed in FR since then. There was the Spellplague in 4E, but most of those changes were reverted in 5E.
If you really want to stay up-to-date and make sure your tavernkeeper has the same name as the tavernkeeper in an official module, then you can just read the FR Wiki. Pretty much all the official information is there. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36812 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2022 : 16:32:19
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There are no 5E sourcebooks covering areas other than the Sword Coast.
WotC's current approach is "if we write an adventure set somewhere aside from the Sword Coast, we'll dribble a few facts about that area into the adventure." |
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3243 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2022 : 16:47:28
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The Sword Coast's Adventurer's Guide it the only book that details Campaign-specific items. The Player's Handbook has some information on the Realms in it.
The following are all the adventures that take place in the Realms for 5E, but they are pretty generic on lore information:
Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
Out of the Abyss
Princes of the Apocalypse
Storm King's Thunder
Tales from the Yawning Portal
The Rise of Tiamat
Tomb of Annihilation
Tyranny of Dragons
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
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I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4447 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2022 : 20:39:17
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| I'd highly recommend both The Border Kingdoms and Rasheman 5e sourcebooks. Excellent quality and mostly Lore driven pieces that help fill in those areas in the 5e timeline |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36812 Posts |
Posted - 07 Sep 2022 : 23:57:31
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quote:
Originally posted by Diffan
I'd highly recommend both The Border Kingdoms and Rasheman 5e sourcebooks. Excellent quality and mostly Lore driven pieces that help fill in those areas in the 5e timeline
To be clear, these are DM's Guild products, and not official WotC publications. They're very good; I'm just clarifying you're not going to find them on Amazon or the shelves of your FLGS. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4447 Posts |
Posted - 08 Sep 2022 : 11:52:31
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Diffan
I'd highly recommend both The Border Kingdoms and Rasheman 5e sourcebooks. Excellent quality and mostly Lore driven pieces that help fill in those areas in the 5e timeline
To be clear, these are DM's Guild products, and not official WotC publications. They're very good; I'm just clarifying you're not going to find them on Amazon or the shelves of your FLGS.
I should've clarified that, thanks!
I would also recommend the adventures Murder in Baldur’s Gate, Legacy of the Crystal Shard, and Dead in Thay. For one they come with great fold out maps of the region and they also do an admirable job of detailing the region and adding lore along with the adventure. Third, they can be played using 3.5. 4e, or 5e systems.
Taking Legacy of the Crystal Shard and then intertwining it with Storm Kings Thunder would be a great Icewind Dale style campaign. |
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TomCosta
Forgotten Realms Designer
USA
972 Posts |
Posted - 08 Sep 2022 : 21:30:46
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| Ed Greenwood has also co-authored several Realms books on DM's Guild, including the ones already mentioned on the Border Kingdoms and Rashemen, but also on Zhentil Keep, among others. Also Baldman Games got permission to develop the Moonshaes and has excellent material on DM's Guild. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36812 Posts |
Posted - 09 Sep 2022 : 00:28:19
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quote:
Originally posted by TomCosta
Ed Greenwood has also co-authored several Realms books on DM's Guild, including the ones already mentioned on the Border Kingdoms and Rashemen, but also on Zhentil Keep, among others. Also Baldman Games got permission to develop the Moonshaes and has excellent material on DM's Guild.
The Moonshaes book was a good one. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Azar
Master of Realmslore
1309 Posts |
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LWhitehead1
Learned Scribe
125 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2022 : 11:59:24
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Ok thanks for the list of adventure rpg books that set in FR setting,
LW |
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pancakewizard
Acolyte
United Kingdom
6 Posts |
Posted - 03 Oct 2022 : 15:18:47
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| Minsc and Boo's Journal of Villainy is, dare I say it, a more interesting and useful sourcebook for 5e than SCAG. It manages to tear itself away from the Sword Coast for much of it. |
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LordofBones
Master of Realmslore
1543 Posts |
Posted - 16 Oct 2022 : 14:46:05
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Every time I see Minsc and Boo in the context of 5e, I'm reminded of that art where Dynaheir literally became a harem attendant, Viconia wore conservative full plate and Xzar became an anime bishounen clown.
Xzar.
And there was Jaheira with the boobplate armor and the metal thigh-highs, in the same artbook that had a modestly dressed Viconia. |
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pancakewizard
Acolyte
United Kingdom
6 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jan 2023 : 13:29:55
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quote:
Originally posted by LordofBones
Every time I see Minsc and Boo in the context of 5e, I'm reminded of that art where Dynaheir literally became a harem attendant, Viconia wore conservative full plate and Xzar became an anime bishounen clown.
Xzar.
And there was Jaheira with the boobplate armor and the metal thigh-highs, in the same artbook that had a modestly dressed Viconia.
Fair, although Xzar is just a skull, the thing you're talking about is his even more insane clone. Also the Khalid art is very good.
Personally the BG companion characters are just the sideshow to the main content, for me. I find the group patron stuff, city snippets and fondly-remembered monster statblocks the bigger draw! |
Edited by - pancakewizard on 03 Jan 2023 19:37:52 |
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hashimashadoo
Master of Realmslore
United Kingdom
1155 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jan 2023 : 13:55:48
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Really, you only need the Player's Handbook and Monster Manual to run the Realms in 5th edition.
I will note though, that if canon Realmslore is of particular importance to you, of the DM's Guild suggestions given in this thread, only The Border Kingdoms is considered 100% canonical. This is by dint of two things:
1) Per Ed's contract with WotC, everything he writes is canon until WotC override what he's written.
2) Alex Kammer got special permission from WotC to get the entire book, even the content not written by Ed, made official.
Ed has contributed to several other books, and although what he wrote is canon, we can't tell which bits aren't written by him, and no special permission has been given regarding the rest of those books. Therefore, although there's canon realmslore inside, there's little in the way to tell which parts those are.
Minsc & Boo's Journal of Villainy, although written by a full-time WotC employee, is not considered canonical in the slightest. Same goes for the Moonshae Isles Regional Guide book, since Baldman's deal with WotC fell through before it was completed. Then there's also the WotC statement on canon that they made, which essentially says that only the hardback sourcebooks and adventure campaigns that they've published since 2014 can be considered canon to the 5e realms. So that means no licensed materials (comic books, novels, video games) or anything from before 5th edition, can be considered canon.
Again though, I refer you back to the first line of this post, as the rest ONLY matters if you really care about canon.
Another source of 5e Realmslore that hasn't been mentioned yet in this thread are the official Adventurers League adventure modules. You can learn a lot about the modern Moonsea region, Chult, and other places far from the Sword Coast that haven't been covered by other books in these modules.
Edit: I was reminded last night that, ever since Erin M. Evans took over writing for the Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms video game, it has become a very good source of new Realmslore. |
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Head admin of the FR wiki:
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Edited by - hashimashadoo on 04 Jan 2023 10:09:03 |
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Scots Dragon
Seeker
United Kingdom
89 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jan 2023 : 11:00:21
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Technically speaking the best resource you can get is one of the old campaign setting boxed sets for 1e or 2e, or the hardcover for 3e.
The information might be outdated, but it covers most of what you need in a full on 'entire setting' sense. |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4447 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jan 2023 : 19:07:00
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quote:
Originally posted by hashimashadoo
Another source of 5e Realmslore that hasn't been mentioned yet in this thread are the official Adventurers League adventure modules. You can learn a lot about the modern Moonsea region, Chult, and other places far from the Sword Coast that haven't been covered by other books in these modules.
To sort of piggy-back on the Adventure League idea, the Phlan set of adventures in-directly correlates with the adventure Monument of the Ancients 4e Adventure written by Brian R. James and Matt James - detailed in Dungeon #170, especially for the timeline of Phlan and that particular area of the Moonsea, which start around 1480 DR. Still, very little of both the 4E adventure and 5E AL missions talk much - if at all - about the Pools trilogy set in the city of Phlan.
Still, that's much better than what the Adventure League sort of did to Hulburg, considering that none of the events in the Sword of the Moonsea trilogy seem to have even been mentioned. When/If I run the Hulburg Adventure League quests, I'll have to go back and re-read the trilogy again beforehand and then fill in the blanks and make the adventures worth playing. |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6669 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jan 2023 : 04:46:57
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In truth, the AL adventures are pretty poor all round, IMO. I find them shallow and uninspiring in the main, and it often appears that none of the writers have bothered to do much research re previous sources to at least attempt a bit of continuity. Couple this with the universally horrible name choices that feature, and you have that great behemoth known as "organised play". Just my 2cp.
-- George Krashos |
"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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FR 5th version books that I need to run the realms
