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Erikor
Seeker

Norway
60 Posts

Posted - 06 Apr 2023 :  00:12:52  Show Profile Send Erikor a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
I played Baldur's Gate and Shadows of Amn, and suddenly found "Elminster In Hell" for sale online. This was awesome, a book about a cool and mysterious character in games that I loved so I bought it. After that I bought a couple more Elminster books (I knew very little of the lore at the time but I still wanted to read about it), but then I couldn't find more books that could be delivered to Norway so after a while I forgot about the books. Until one day a co-worker told me about the Drizzt-books. This was many years later and now I could order from Amazon or bookstores from around the world. I bought the first Drizzt trilogy and after that I've read as much as I can.

I love that after years of reading I still have several books left.

TomCosta
Forgotten Realms Designer

USA
969 Posts

Posted - 06 Apr 2023 :  02:51:37  Show Profile Send TomCosta a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Started with the very first Darkwalker on Moonshae and read every book up till the 4E era, upon which I've only read sporadically.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36800 Posts

Posted - 06 Apr 2023 :  03:09:51  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I don't recall the exact year... But the Avatar books were still new, and it was the "From the publishers of the Dragonlance saga!" blurb that had caught my attention.

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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 06 Apr 2023 :  08:48:29  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
During lockdown

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Candlekeep Archive
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Seravin
Master of Realmslore

Canada
1284 Posts

Posted - 06 Apr 2023 :  21:45:17  Show Profile Send Seravin a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Likely in 1989 with Pool of Radiance, Azure Bonds, Spellfire and the Avatar trilogy
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Thauramarth
Senior Scribe

United Kingdom
729 Posts

Posted - 07 Apr 2023 :  06:50:23  Show Profile Send Thauramarth a Private Message  Reply with Quote
First book I got was Spellfire, and I remember getting it just after buying the 2nd edition PHB, so that must have been 1989? That ledcme to buy the Old Grey Box, still one of the best game buy decisions I ever made. Next up was the Crystal Shard, and the rest followed.
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader

USA
3243 Posts

Posted - 07 Apr 2023 :  14:48:13  Show Profile Send Ashe Ravenheart a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Shadowdale, in 1989.

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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Lord Karsus
Great Reader

USA
3740 Posts

Posted - 08 Apr 2023 :  17:07:47  Show Profile Send Lord Karsus a Private Message  Reply with Quote
-It was either The Summoning or Homeland, around 2002 or so? Not that long after I got the FRCS and started digging the setting.

(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)

Elves of Faerûn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerûn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium
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Delnyn
Senior Scribe

USA
921 Posts

Posted - 09 Apr 2023 :  16:24:42  Show Profile Send Delnyn a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I started in 1989 with Pool of Radiance. Next was Crystal Shard.
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KraziJoe
Acolyte

USA
17 Posts

Posted - 13 Apr 2023 :  22:02:18  Show Profile Send KraziJoe a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Late 80's I forget the original book I read. Maybe Azure Bonds, since I played the game on my C64 or maybe Spellfire. I was heavily engrossed in Fantasy due to Bards Tale, Might and Magic games and Sword of Shannara books as well as the Xanth novels and of course, DragonLance.

Edited by - KraziJoe on 13 Apr 2023 22:03:59
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Seravin
Master of Realmslore

Canada
1284 Posts

Posted - 20 Apr 2023 :  23:45:11  Show Profile Send Seravin a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by KraziJoe

Late 80's I forget the original book I read. Maybe Azure Bonds, since I played the game on my C64 or maybe Spellfire. I was heavily engrossed in Fantasy due to Bards Tale, Might and Magic games and Sword of Shannara books as well as the Xanth novels and of course, DragonLance.



Wow...your C64 days tie back to mine. Except I had the C128 and the amazing music that came with Ultima V. But I definitely played the gold box games (Pool of Radiance, Azure Bonds, Hillsfar, Secret of the Silver Blades) and of course Bard's Tale 1-3.
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BileDemon
Acolyte

14 Posts

Posted - 04 Jun 2023 :  23:52:03  Show Profile Send BileDemon a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Around 30 years ago the first Drizzt novels were given to me, borrowed from a library, the german version.
It was not until 2021 when I discovered there were even more novels, now thankfully as ebooks and in english, so I started reading again, with the Twilight Giants series. Don´t know why, but one day I was looking up the term Ettin(probably because I played the Al-Quadim game back then without knowing it was in the same setting, haha! ), stumbled across the Forgotten Realms Fandom and found the list of novels there, and I couldn´t stop reading! Good decision.

Edited by - BileDemon on 04 Jun 2023 23:55:13
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Varl
Learned Scribe

USA
284 Posts

Posted - 28 Jun 2023 :  01:51:02  Show Profile Send Varl a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Earlier this year. I started with the Harper series and I'm almost done. I only have Thornhold left, and I'm only halfway through it and I'm all in. I have to say Bronwyn has her hands full, particularly after what happened to the paladins of Thornhold. Brutal! Let's just say the faith of Cyric has totally piqued this DM's attention now. When gamers say the monsters aren't the real monsters in D&D, I have a clearer understanding who is.

I'm on a permanent vacation to the soul. -Tash Sultana
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bloodtide_the_red
Learned Scribe

USA
302 Posts

Posted - 28 Jun 2023 :  04:59:42  Show Profile  Visit bloodtide_the_red's Homepage Send bloodtide_the_red a Private Message  Reply with Quote
By the Stones.....I was there in the Time Before Time. Reading Dragonlance novels in the late 80's. And all the comics had TSR adds of "on the 3.725 day we rested" with a vague "coming soon from TSR"(and some of these adds were upside down because...the 80's). Then next month we got a tiny picture of Darkwalker on Moonshae 's cover. Then next month bigger, until we got the full page "terror in the isles" ad.

And Darkwalker on Moonshae was "from the publishers of Dragonlance" and had a "Forgotten Realms logo" on the cover....except the "Forgotten Realms" (AKA the Old Gray Box for 1E) had not come out yet.
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Caolin
Senior Scribe

769 Posts

Posted - 17 Oct 2023 :  08:05:39  Show Profile Send Caolin a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Darkwalker on Moonshae in 1987.
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Delwa
Master of Realmslore

USA
1270 Posts

Posted - 25 Oct 2023 :  18:58:37  Show Profile  Visit Delwa's Homepage Send Delwa a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I played the original Baldur's Gate games, then stumbled acroos the 3E Campaign Setting in my FLGS. Picked it up. Read it. The store's assistant manager suggested that I try the Year of Rogue Dragons series. I did. Loved it. Went to the Boarders in the mall and they pawned the entire Legend of Drizzt off on me. Enjoyed the first two series, got bored, found other novels. Elaine Cunningham and Paul Kemp have remained my favorites.

- Delwa Aunglor
I am off to slay yon refrigerator and spoil it's horde. Go for the cheese, Boo!

"The Realms change; seldom at the speed desired of those who strive, but far too quickly for those who resist." - The Simbul, taken from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Conspectus
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader

USA
4211 Posts

Posted - 25 Oct 2023 :  22:19:41  Show Profile Send Dalor Darden a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Darkwalker...late 80s; but can't remember if it was 87, 88 or 89?


The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me!
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Thelonius
Senior Scribe

Spain
730 Posts

Posted - 26 Oct 2023 :  11:00:26  Show Profile Send Thelonius a Private Message  Reply with Quote
My introduction to the Realms was, in fact, the Baldur's Gate game. After that I went to the nearest bookshop and got the three Time of Troubles books. After that I went through the Elfsong and the Azure Bonds sagas.

"If you are to truly understand, then you will need the contrast, not adherence to a single ideal." - Kreia
"I THINK I JUST HAD ANOTHER NEAR-RINCEWIND EXPERIENCE"- Discworld's Death frustrated after Rincewind scapes his grasp... again.
"I am death, come for thee" - Nimbul, from Baldur's Gate I just before being badly spanked
Sapientia sola libertas est
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Giant Snake
Seeker

80 Posts

Posted - 01 Nov 2023 :  16:40:52  Show Profile Send Giant Snake a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I’m the only other one who started with Drizzt? I don’t know why but the character appealed to me in every way right from the start. I don’t know why people don’t seem to like Thousand Orcs. First of all, the art on it was better than most and it featured the hero really well. Second, the intro set up what was going on quite well. This was right when the LotR movies came out so it was the perfect place to start.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36800 Posts

Posted - 02 Nov 2023 :  01:57:18  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Giant Snake

I’m the only other one who started with Drizzt? I don’t know why but the character appealed to me in every way right from the start. I don’t know why people don’t seem to like Thousand Orcs. First of all, the art on it was better than most and it featured the hero really well. Second, the intro set up what was going on quite well. This was right when the LotR movies came out so it was the perfect place to start.



I didn't like it because Drizzt has more reason than just about anyone in the Realms to know that just because someone was in a certain death situation, it doesn't mean they can't come back hale and hearty -- it's happened multiple times in his past. And yet, despite that, he assumes that an empty helm in a collapsed tower means that all of his friends are dead and that he'll never see them again. So the whole story starts off with an assumption that shouldn't have been made, especially given that Drizzt did not have any other proof that his friends were still in the tower when it fell.

And this was after reading like 30 other books about the same character. At some point, it's difficult to not get bored with endless variations on the same theme.

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Trumm
Acolyte

12 Posts

Posted - 09 Nov 2023 :  20:59:09  Show Profile Send Trumm a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I started with Drizzt (Homeland) as well, somewhere around 1998.
I was a huge fan back then, but as I grew older I lost interest in the characters as well as Salvatore's style of writing in general.

The Halls of Stormweather remains my all time favourite Forgotten Realms novel.
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Seravin
Master of Realmslore

Canada
1284 Posts

Posted - 09 Nov 2023 :  22:25:15  Show Profile Send Seravin a Private Message  Reply with Quote
So hard but my top 5, in no order:
Azure Bonds
Wyvern's Spur
Ring of Winter
Elfsong
The Simbul's Gift

For a Drizzt/Salvatore book, I actually like The Crystal Shard and Servant of the Shard, neither of which is one where Drizzt is the main character (servant doesn't even feature him)

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Gord
Acolyte

Canada
14 Posts

Posted - 07 Dec 2023 :  14:09:55  Show Profile Send Gord a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I started with Darkwalker on Moonshae in 1989.If I knew they existed before that, I would have sought them out for sure. Basically 1989 was when I discovered what FR really was. I had Under Illefarn when it was released, but didn't know what FR was because I never read any Dragon magazines up to that point.

But anyway, I read all FR novels that were out then and kept up with them through the early-mid 90's

I truly love many of the early trilogies and other novels. I am going to have to do some rereads i think so I can give proper rankings.
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Caolin
Senior Scribe

769 Posts

Posted - 30 Dec 2023 :  07:03:23  Show Profile Send Caolin a Private Message  Reply with Quote
1987
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