The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting was published in 2001 by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. It is a Forgotten Realms campaign sourcebook for use with the 3rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The book was written by Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, and Rob Heinsoo, with the contributions of members of the Wizards company's staff. The book is 320 pages in length; illustrated in color, and hardbound.
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 Shadovar in the southern Anauroch desert, and the increasing surface presence of drow in the Dalelands. The setting history has been updated to reflect the various major events, such as the changes to the Faerûnian 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:
- People — 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 Faiths & Pantheons. 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.
This work contains a number of maps, including a fold-out map of the continent of Faerûn. There are also many sidebar topics and tables.
Adventures
Anauroch: The Empire of Shade • City of the Spider Queen • Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave • Into the Dragon's Lair • Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor • Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land • Sons of Gruumsh • The Twilight Tomb