Forgotten Realms

The Forgotten Realms is a fictional alternate world that has been published as a campaign setting for Advanced Dungeon &amp; Dragons (AD&amp;D) and Dungeons &amp; Dragons (D&amp;D) 3rd Edition, by TSR, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast (WotC).

It was originally created in 1967 as a setting for short stories by Ed Greenwood but it has since become the most enduring campaign setting for D&amp;D.

The primary focus of the setting is the continent of Faerûn, part of the world of Abeir-Toril, an Earth-like planet with certain obvious influences and similarities from the real world and fantasy fiction.

The Forgotten Realms setting owes a lot of its popularity to the many novels using the setting, like R. A. Salvatore's works detailing the life and adventures of the famed drow Drizzt Do'Urden, as well as computer games like Pool of Radiance, Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights.

Time of Troubles
The Time of Troubles was a cataclysmic time period in the history of the Faerûn. Taking place during 1358 DR, the Year of Shadows, the Time of Troubles was a period during which the deities of Faerûn were forced to walk the earth in their mortal avatar forms. Several major deities died during the Time of Troubles (see deaths, ascensions, and resurrections) and a handful of mortals rose to divinity.

Present day
The interpretation of the term "present day" in the Forgotten Realms depends entirely upon the context in which it is used. Dungeon Masters are free to use the first edition, second edition, third edition or (when released) fourth edition sourcebooks to form a setting for their games of D&D. Alternatively, they may set their games at any point during the Realms' past or future. The novels set in the Realms cover a wide variety of time periods too. This wiki does not focus on one specific time as being the "present day" - instead, it endeavours to provide specific date references where possible.

Geography
The planet of Abeir-Toril consists of several large continents, including Faerûn, the focus of the setting, which was first detailed in the original Forgotten Realms Campaign Set, published in 1987 by TSR. The other continents include Kara-Tur, Zakhara, Maztica, Anchorome, and other as-yet unspecified landmasses. Kara-Tur, roughly corresponding to ancient East Asia, was later the focus of its own publication, Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms, released in 1988.

Various products detailing specific areas of Faerûn have been released, and much of the continent has been heavily detailed and documented to create a highly developed setting. See the sourcebooks portal for an extensive list of products.

In early publications about the setting, The Realms shared a unified cosmology with various other campaign settings. In this way each of the Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings were linked together to form one interwoven world connected by various planes of existence. With the release of the 2001 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, the setting was given its own distinct and separate cosmological arrangement, with unique planes not explicitly connected to those of the other settings.

1st edition
The first Forgotten Realms resource for Dungeon Masters was the Bloodstone Pass module, released in 1985. This was followed by the full-blown boxed set named the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set, released in 1987 and affectionately known to this day as the "Grey Box." It placed the Realms timeline near the end of 1357 DR 1st edition D&amp;D did not have a great deal of official materials compared to the amount that would follow with 2nd edition.

2nd edition
The campaign setting was rewritten for 2nd edition D&amp;D and released in 1993 as the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, but later revised in 1996. 2nd edition advanced the Realms timeline by a decade, and the campaign setting puts the timeline near to the end of 1367 DR. It is set after the cataclysmic events of the Time of Troubles in 1358 DR in which deities were killed, new deities were created and many places in the Realms were altered.

3rd edition
The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting for 3rd edition D&amp;D was a book rather than a boxed set like the two previous editions. It advanced the timeline to 1372 DR.

3.5 edition
Because this edition of D&amp;D was not wholly new and merely altered the 3rd edition rules, no campaign setting was released to coincide with the adoption of 3.5 edition. Instead, the Player's Guide to Faerûn provides an update to the campaign setting to bring it in line with 3.5 rules.

Sourcebooks
The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting has seen three complete revisions of the core setting over three editions of Dungeons & Dragons rules:


 * Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1987) &mdash; called "The Old Gray Box", and including Cyclopedia of the Realms and DM's Sourcebook of the Realms, 4 poster maps and 2 hex grids &mdash; for 1st edition AD&D.
 * Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 2nd edition (1993, revised edition in 1996) &mdash; another boxed set, including A Grand Tour of the Realms, Running the Realms, Shadowdale, 4 poster maps, Monster Compendium sheets and 2 hex grids&mdash;for 2nd Edition AD&D and post-Time of Troubles.
 * Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition (2001)&mdash;a 320-page hardcover book with poster map &mdash; for 3rd edition D&D.

Various campaign accesories, including:


 * Menzoberranzan (1992)&mdash;A 240 page boxed set detailing the drow city of Menzoberranzan, which featured heavily in The Dark Elf Trilogy.
 * City of Splendors (1994)&mdash;A 320 page boxed set detailing the city of Waterdeep. A revised version entitled City of Splendors: Waterdeep for 3.5 edition was released in 2005.
 * Sea of Fallen Stars (1999)&mdash;A campaign expansion that covers the events of The Threat from the Sea trilogy.
 * Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas (1999)&mdash;A PC-based atlas with over 800 maps of the Realms in Campaign Cartographer format.
 * Players' Guide to Faerûn (2004)&mdash;A supplement detailing the creation and play of characters within the Forgotten Realms setting.

A number of older, out of print sourcebooks are available for free on the Wizards website and provide a good way to discover more about the Forgotten Realms before deciding to spend money on the more modern products.

Website
A website with realmslore made up of articles by Ed Greenwood and other Realms authors, with weekly updates.

Video games
A large number of computer role-playing games have been released since the inception of the Forgotten Realms. Notable titles include:


 * Pool of Radiance (1988) - The first Forgotten Realms based computer game released, also the first in a long series of Gold Box engine games.
 * Neverwinter Nights (AOL game) (1991) - The first graphical Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG).
 * Baldur's Gate (1998) - The first game to utilise the Infinity Engine, it was highly popular and spawned a sequel.
 * Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000) - Several other games based on this engine were also released, including Icewind Dale.
 * Neverwinter Nights (2002) - a highly popular third-person perspective role-playing game set in the Forgotten Realms. The game features online play and a toolset allowing creation of new adventure modules.
 * Neverwinter Nights 2 (2006) - the long-awaited sequel to Neverwinter Nights, using an upgraded 3d engine and an improved (but more complicated) toolset.