Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
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In 2002, the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting won the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game Supplement of 2001.
Contents
This is only the latest release of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons, and a number of changes have been made since the previous books were published by the former TSR, Inc. The most important update was to incorporate the significant revisions to the game system with the 3rd edition update. Various regional feats, character attributes, prestige classes, spells, and NPC statistics all use the new rule set.The work has also made some notable updates to the campaign setting, including the widespread presence of Red Wizard enclaves in various cities, the presence of a mysterious group called the Shades in the southern Anauroch desert, and the increasing surface presence of Dark Elves in the Dalelands. The setting history has been updated to reflect the various major events, such as the changes to the Faerûn pantheon since the Time of Troubles, and the defeat of the Tuigan Horde.
The book is organized into nine chapters, covering in broad detail the campaign setting. The primary emphasis is on the continent of Faerûn, and the other continents are only briefly mentioned. The chapters are arranged as follows:
- Characters — How to create a player character for the setting, including races, classes, regional feats, religions, and setting-specific prestige classes. (Many of these later have been merged into the version 3.5 release of Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide.)
- Magic — An explanation of how magic operates in this setting, and a number of unique aspects of magic. A few additional spells are provided, primarily to support the new Domains.
- Life in Faerûn — A general overview of life, lore, culture and commerce in this setting.
- Geography — Each of the significant regions of the continent are explored, along with places of interest, cities, politics, and significant individuals.
- Deities — Only the major deities are described in this edition, with the remainder of the pantheon detailed in other works. Several new Domains are introduced, with the incumbent spells listed in the Magic chapter.
- History — This is an overview of the detailed history of this setting, with a lengthy time line at the end of the chapter.
- Organizations — Groups, cults, and other organizations play an important role in the realms, and several of the most significant are detailed herein.
- Running the Realms — This chapter provides useful advice for the Dungeon Master trying to run an adventure or campaign in this setting. A pair of brief sample adventures are included.
- Monsters — A brief list of monsters unique to this continent are introduced, with a more extensive selection published later in other books.
Source books
The following books have been published by Wizards of the Coast as 3rd edition D&D supplements to this setting.
- Faiths & Pantheons, Eric L. Boyd and Erik Mona, 2002, ISBN 0-7869-2759-3. A more complete reference to the deities of this setting.
- Lords of Darkness, Sean K. Reynolds and James Wyatt, 2001, ISBN 0-7869-1989-2.
- Lost Empires of Faerûn, Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout, 2005, ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- Magic of Faerûn, Sean K. Reynolds, Duane Maxwell, Angel McCoy, 2001, ISBN 0-7869-1964-7.
- Player's Guide to Faerûn, Richard Baker, James Wyatt, 2004, ISBN 0-7869-3134-5. A "crunch"-centric 191-page hardcover book—updated and partially revised the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting to 3.5 Edition D&D.
- Races of Faerûn, Sean K Reynolds, Matt Forbeck, James Jacobs, Eric L. Boyd, 2003, ISBN 0-7869-2875-1.
- City of the Spider Queen, James Wyatt, 2002, ISBN 0-7869-2874-3. (This book ties into R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen 6 book series.)
- Serpent Kingdoms, Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd, Darrin Drader, 2004, ISBN 0-7869-3277-5.
- Shining South, Thomas Reid, 2004, ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
- Silver Marches, Ed Greenwood and Jason Carl, 2002, ISBN 0-7869-2835-2.
- Unapproachable East, Richard Baker, Matt Forbeck, Sean K Reynolds, 2003, ISBN 0-7869-2881-6.
- Underdark, Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, Jeff Quick, 2003, ISBN 0-7869-3053-5.
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