Forgotten Realms: Campaign Seeting

by Ed Greenwood, Rob Heinsoo, Skip William, et al.

Book Overview

Dark perils and great deeds await. Welcome to Faer?n, a land of high magic, terrifying monsters, ancient ruins, and hidden wonders. From the forbidding forests of the Silver Marches to the teeming... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786918365
• ISBN13: 9780786918362
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 2.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.6" x 11.1"

Customer Reviews

By far, the best 3e resource book to date

Really, the only book that even comes close is Manual of the Planes. For those who have been playing in 2e Faerun, this book makes pulling together 2e and 3e much easier. The prestige classes are completely appropriate to the flavor of the Realms, and add a wonderful perspective on the capabilities of prestige classes over what the DMG shows. There is information on requirements to become an Archmage, Rashemen Witch, Divine Champion, etc. Some of the major players in the Realms have their character stats listed. Yes, this includes Elminster and Drizzt, as well as less-well-known people, such as a particular drow who's creating havoc in the Cormanthor Forest (Dalelands).There is detailed history and geography on each of the major regions. The combination of these two, I found, really helps to describe a distinct 'flavor' to characters. As an example, my players have indicated that they found the differences between the Western Heartlands and the Dragon Coast (adjacent areas) to be akin to the difference between the US Midwest and South, respectively. For those in Europe, this might be similar to the differences between Ireland and England.There are a considerable number of new feats, spells, and class enhancements to contribute to the FR feel. There are also lists of various plants, gems, and metals with details on their benefits or drawbacks, especially as they relate to magic or item creation. Between this and the descriptions of different 'normal' plants that players might encounter, I found it easier to describe the player's world with a broader brush, so to speak. One of the nice things contained herein is a list of all the relevent pantheon gods, and their high-level details. Several of the major deities have more detailed information. It would have been nice if more of the deities were explained further, but WotC does offer the rest of FR pantheon as a download from their website for free, so it is still available. In all, I use the book regularly. In fact, with the exception of only a couple prestige classes, I don't have any need for the Tome and Blood resource book, now that I have this and the Magic of Faerun books.

It has everything

This excellent new book from Wizards of the Coast gives you everything you need to run a D & D (3rd edition) campaign in the Forgotten Realms. It includes prestige classes, life in the Forgotten Realms, deities, and much more. This book was made with a quality that took my breath away (especially comparing it to the old historical Campaign Sourcebooks)! It includes many color and black-and-white illustrations and maps.I can't say more than it has *everything*! So, if you at all interested in the Forgotten Realms, or if you are interested in seeing a setting with interesting prestige classes and magical forms, then you must get this book!

So complete, it made me love the Realms

Since I started playing *D & D and becoming familiar with the various campaign worlds put out by TSR/WotC, I've always found Forgotten Realms to be my least favorite. To me, Greyhawk is rich in originality, and has a good, dark tone that makes a good backdrop for tough adventures. Krynn is by far my favorite, filled with high fantasy and romance, brought to life by some of the best fantasy novels to grace the market. The Realms is something I've always considered a melting pot of stock fantasy backdrops and super-munchkin character concepts (Drizz't, Elminister, etc). This treatment of the Realms, however, has changed my entire opinion of what I now consider to be an exciting and diverse world, full of possibilities. It's still a melting pot, but this book really plays up the diversity and how all of these different elements connect with each other. The geography and culture contained within the book's pages makes the Realm *real*, the regional feats are a great touch, and all the material in the book works great if nothing more as inspiration and ideas to steal for your own campaign world. Though it's expensive, I've found it to be worth every penny. The prestige classes are, in a word, LAME. However, that's to be forgiven since that's become the norm. Everything else is top-shelf. The book is also deceptively big because of the small typeset and the decision to cram as much information as possible into the book.

The Best Realms Yet

I've been using the FR setting in my games for years now, and I gotta tell ya, this time around the WotC folks have really outdone themselves. The book is a wonderful example of what a fantasy setting can become - a map, a ton of ideas, and a framework to hold them together. The FRCS gives you the nuts and bolts of running a realms campaign, (geography, weather, races, cultures, calendars, alphabets and languages) and then proceeds to give you a meltdown-inducing amount of adventure ideas. Add to that the Realms sourcebook gives you a host of new rules (what gaming product can resist?) for new magic, new feats (based on a characters origin-nice), new races, new organizations, and my personal favorite: new prestige classes. I'm sorry, but if you can read the description of the Archmage prestige class without salivating, you simply aren't RPG material. The new Archmage is devastatingly stylish, well conceived and (of course) frighteningly powerful. Archmages gain access to extremely powerful abilities called High Arcana in exchange for sacrificing spell slots (nice idea, that). So an Archmage can permanently give up a ninth level spell slot in exchange for the ability to cast any spell they have memorized as an energy bolt doing d6 per spell level + d6 per level of Archmage. (e.g. 4th level Archmage converts a level 4 spell into energy that does 8d6 damage as a ranged touch attack-no save). Rules to govern the Realms peculiar framework for magic, "the weave," are included. At first, they seem a little over-stylized, but they give the Realms another opportunity for role-playing flair, and provide an "in-game" way to describe magic and its effects. I particularly like the rules for the "shadow weave" as they offer numerous possibilities for villains and adventures. The new map for the realms has been altered slightly (to maximize the use of the map surface) and the artwork has really been stepped up. It's a marvelous and inspiring map, and I'm hoping that WotC will feel compelled to sell it as a rolled up (fold-free) poster. The amount of information on locales and personalities comes across like an all out assault on your faculties. There are hundreds upon hundreds of ideas, introductions, and other "mental fertilizer" for DMs of all persuasions. The individual entries are not very long, but you will find working knowledge and pointers on where to take a given setting for practically everything in Faerûn with a name. It is intended to serve as a jumping off point, and in this it succeeds brilliantly. Non-player characters are placed throughout the sourcebook as examples of members of organizations, new races, or prestige classes. Examples are by far the best way to get this kind of multi-faceted information across quickly. The stats for Drizzt-Do'Urden are presented to illustrate the rules for the Drow as a player race, the new regional feat rules, and to give you an opportunity to use him as an NPC. The Realms setting often takes some heat for havi

One of the best books released by Wizards of the Coast!

As someone who was mainly a Greyhawk DM, I've now fallen in love with Forgotten Realsm and have converted, after discussion and agreement with my players, my campaigns to the Forgotten Realms - I've played D & D for over 20 years, starting with Greyhawk.Wizards of the Coast has updated Faerun with a forward move in the timeline, 1372 DR, so that it synches up with the history of it's novelizations, as well as the fact that we see the rules set updated to the 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons.One of the most oustanding features of this product is it's scope and depth, both in regional information on nations and city-states and it's history, both of the world and of the individual nations. When looking at any nation, or city-state, we're given plot hooks, populations, resources, and other such information (stats for NPCs) that it gives you a sense of purpose when you're looking through the book with plans and thoughts of campaigns in your head.We're also given history that references other sections of the book, a detail index promotes this ideal, and shows a solid, constant purpose of the book - the more information given, the more you will want to use it, and the more flavored your game feels.Also the map of Faerun is given a face life, removing what many have felt of as unused spaces of blank water - as well as other features - and made into a more realistic map that fits on a solid page. This map is used many times internally, especially with a trade map that shows routes, resources, and other items to help flavor a campaign.The prestige classes, as well as information on high level camapigns gives you something to look forward to when other books are published - D & D Epic Level Handbook, etceteras. Also, with regional feats - something added to 3rd edition for the Realms in specific - also add tot he flavor, taste, of this Campaign Setting.Rich artwork, loving design, and full color layout makes this book one of the best buys, although at a price that is well worth it.Overall this book is one of the best books put out by Wizards of the Coast, far surpassing the design and feel of Dark*Matter (for Alternity) and Star Wars (another d20 game).As a resource for Dungeon Masters and Players alike, the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting is a good buy for the price, rich in all it's detail, and a lovely book in design and layout.New to the Realms, or an old hand, the setting is rich, the detail is strong, the history is in depth, the timeline detail, and the feel for adventure is rich.Do youself a favor, one of the best ones you can do if you're a gamer, and buy this book. You'll like it, love it, and very much you will want more of it!