Ed Greenwood (born 1959) is the creator of the Forgotten Realms. He first began in 1967,[2] writing fiction set in his imagined world. He created the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting for his own D&D games in 1975, and its popularity with other gamers through Dragon Magazine led to TSR's purchase of the setting in 1986.[1]
“
I wanted the Realms to be not a nice place, not a safe place, but I wanted it to be a place I wouldn't mind exploring and spending time in. As in nicer than the real world when you're a lonely nerdy kid, which I was.
”
— Ed Greenwood on creating the Realms.[3]
Although Elminster is the in-world alter ego for Ed,[4] this was done for editorial purposes, as it was requested to him by TSR, Inc. However, Elminster is not a character that Ed himself would have picked as his alter ego if given the choice.[5]
When not writing Realmslore or yet another book, Ed keeps himself busy by attending conventions and working as a library clerk in Canada where he lives at a farmhouse in Ontario.[6]
Ed's ambition is to fully detail the entirety of the Forgotten Realms, fleshing out every place in full detail, but he admits that this is an unrealistic goal and is unlikely ever to be achieved.[7]
Ed has authored many more—including the detailed Volo's Guide series—and continues to DM his own campaign. He has written regular Realmslore columns for the Wizards of the Coast website and continues his writing about the realms on his personal website.[8]
In addition to all these activities, Ed works as a library clerk (and sometimes as a librarian) and has edited over a dozen small press magazines. When not appearing at conventions, he lives in an old farmhouse in the countryside of Ontario.[9]
Contents
Works[]
Novels[]
- Shandril's Saga
- Spellfire (1988)
- Crown of Fire (1994)
- Hand of Fire (2002)
- Elminster series
- Elminster: The Making of a Mage (1994)
- Elminster in Myth Drannor (1997)
- The Temptation of Elminster (1998)
- Elminster in Hell (2001)
- Elminster's Daughter (2004)
- The Shadow of the Avatar Trilogy
- Shadows of Doom (1995)
- Cloak of Shadows (1995)
- All Shadows Fled (1995)
- The Cormyr Saga
- Cormyr: A Novel (1996)
- Death of the Dragon (2000)
- The Harpers series
- Crown of Fire (1994)
- Stormlight (1996)
- Double Diamond Triangle Saga
- The Mercenaries (1998)
- The Diamond (1998)
- Sembia: Gateway to the Realms
- "The Burning Chalice", a short story in The Halls of Stormweather (2000)
- Knights of Myth Drannor
- Swords of Eveningstar (2006)
- Swords of Dragonfire (August 2007)
- The Sword Never Sleeps (November 2008)
- Sage of Shadowdale
- Elminster Must Die (August 2010)
- Bury Elminster Deep (August 2011)
- Elminster Enraged (August 2012)
- The Sundering
- The Herald (2014)
- Chosen Heirs
- Death Masks (June 2016)
- Other titles
- Silverfall: Stories of the Seven Sisters (1999)
- The City of Splendors: A Waterdeep Novel, with Elaine Cunningham (2005)
- The Annotated Elminster (November 2007)
- Spellstorm (novel) (2015)
Novellas[]
- "One Comes Unheralded, to Zirta" - originally written in 1967, published in The Best of the Realms II (2005)
- "Elminster at the Mage Fair" - Realms of Valor (1993)
- "So High A Price" - Realms of Infamy (1994)
- "The Eye of the Dragon" - Realms of Magic (1995)
- "A Slow Day In Skullport" - Realms of the Underdark (1996)
- "The Whispering Crown" - Realms of the Arcane (1997)
- "The Place Where Guards Snore at their Posts" - Realms of the Deep (2000)
- "When Shadows Come Seeking A Throne" - Realms of Shadow (2002)
- "Lord of the Darkways" - Untold Adventures (June 2011)
Adventures[]
- The Bloodstone Wars (July 1987)
- Shadowdale (adventure) (June 1989)
- Tantras (adventure) (August 1989)
- Waterdeep (adventure) (August 1989)
- Halls of the High King (January 1991)
- Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (June 1992)
- Expedition to Undermountain (June 2007)
Boxed sets[]
- Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1987)
- City System (1988)
- The Ruins of Undermountain (1991)
- Menzoberranzan (boxed set) (December 1992)
- Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 2nd edition (1993)
- The Ruins of Myth Drannor (March 1993)
- City of Splendors (boxed set) (July 1994)
- Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 2nd edition (revised) (1996)
Sourcebooks[]
- Lords of Darkness (1988)
- Waterdeep and the North (March 1988)
- The Magister (June 1988)
- Hall of Heroes (April 1989)
- Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990)
- Dwarves Deep (January 1991)
- The Drow of the Underdark (July 1991)
- Anauroch (sourcebook) (December 1991)
- Volo's Guide to Waterdeep (January 1993)
- The Code of the Harpers (September 1993)
- Volo's Guide to the North (December 1993)
- Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast (October 1994)
- The Seven Sisters (May 1995)
- Volo's Guide to Cormyr (July 1995)
- Pages from the Mages (November 1995)
- Volo's Guide to the Dalelands (January 1996)
- Volo's Guide to All Things Magical (October 1996)
- Prayers from the Faithful (December 1997)
- The City of Ravens Bluff (November 1998)
- Secrets of the Magister (January 2000)
- Volo's Guide to Baldur's Gate II (July 200)
- Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition (June 2001)
- Silver Marches (sourcebook) (July 2002)
- Serpent Kingdoms (July 2004)
- Power of Faerûn (March 2006)
- The Grand History of the Realms (September 2007)
- Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide (August 2008)
- Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster's Forgotten Realms (October 2012)
Dragon magazine[]
- "The Haunted Bridge", Dragon magazine 307 (May 2003)
Newsletters[]
- Secrets of the Sages (Summer 1988)
Appendix[]
Further Reading[]
- Allen Varney (February 1998). “ProFiles: Ed Greenwood”. In Dave Gross ed. Dragon #244 (TSR, Inc.), p. 112.
- Ed Greenwood, The Hooded One (2004-03-18). Questions for Ed Greenwood (2004). Candlekeep Forum. Retrieved on 2022-05-08.
- Matt Chapman (2015-06-11). Interview: Ed Greenwood (Web). In Matt Chapman ed. Dragon+ #2. Wizards of the Coast. p. 15. Retrieved on 2017-07-16.
- John Houlihan (2016-06-30). Forging the Forgotten Realms (Web). In John Houlihan, Christopher Perkins eds. Dragon+ #8. Wizards of the Coast. p. 15. Retrieved on 2018-05-23.
- Matt Chapman (2017-10-31). The Art of Storytelling (Web). In Matt Chapman, Bart Carroll eds. Dragon+ #16. Wizards of the Coast. p. 7. Retrieved on 2018-05-23.
- Ed Greenwood (08-04-2019). Ed Greenwood: How The Realms Began. EN World. EN Publishing. Archived from the original on 06-30-2021. Retrieved on 07-17-2021.
- Ed Greenwood (09-20-2020). Ed Greenwood's Literary Influences (Tweet). theedverse. Twitter. Archived from the original on 09-20-2020. Retrieved on 05-08-2022.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- Profile at Wizards of the Coast
- Ed Greenwood interview at YouTube
- The Edverse
- Author Profile: Ed Greenwood (archived 2005-01-22)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Allen Varney (February 1998). “ProFiles: Ed Greenwood”. In Dave Gross ed. Dragon #244 (TSR, Inc.), p. 112.
- ↑ Foreword to Elminster at the Magefair in The Best of the Realms.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood and the Mages & Sages Podcast (time stamp 1:17:25). (10-09-2021).
- ↑ Ed Greenwood (October 2012). Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster's Forgotten Realms. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 0786960345.
- ↑ Dungeons & Dragons editors (September 2007). “Unsolved Mysteries of D&D”. In Erik Mona ed. Dragon #359 (Paizo Publishing, LLC), p. 28.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood. Encyclopedia of Things. Wizards. (2009-06-20). Retrieved on 2018-01-06.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood (2001-05-09). Ed Says: Geography. Realmswatch. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2005-07-25. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
- ↑ Edverse. Edverse. (2015-03-15). Retrieved on 2018-01-07.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood. Encyclopedia of Things. Wizards. (2009-06-20). Retrieved on 2018-01-06.
