Quote from: Zachary The First;7569711) Which edition of the setting did you play most? How much did you change in the setting versus play as canon?

Probably 1e and 2e

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569712) What was your favorite region or area of the Realms, and why?

Definitely the Waterdeep, and the Dalelands

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569713) What did you like about the Realms? What did you dislike most?

The maps! Holy fuck, loved them! I disliked most of the big NPC's (like Elminister, and so forth) so I mostly ignored them/didn't use them.

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569714) How many Chaotic Good drow with twin scimitars and a magic panther showed up at your table?

Zero (See above)

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569715) Finish this sentence...if I could change one thing about the Forgotten Realms, past or present, I.....

No sunder and/or spell plague. Dumb, and unnecessary in my opinion.

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569716) How many Forgotten Realms novels have you read?

Maybe one. Honestly don't recall.

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569717) Which Forgotten Realms sourcebook, if any, stood out to you as particularly well done, regardless of edition?

Waterdeep and the North, City System, The Dalelands, and The Savage Frontier. Honestly I wont go so far as to say they were "well done". But I used the crap out of them.

1) Which edition of the setting did you play most? How much did you change in the setting versus play as canon?

The 2nd Edition Box set was the first campaign setting I ever bought and I played the crap out of it. For the most part we kept thing cannon according to the box but I never read any of the novels.[/B][/B]

2) What was your favorite region or area of the Realms, and why?

My favorite region was the Moonsea or Chult. The Moonsea was where our Realms campaign began and I like the Zhents as badguys even if I probably played them more like Cobra then anything else. As for Chult well who doesn't like ancient ruins and dinosaurs?

3) What did you like about the Realms? What did you dislike most?

I liked the grandness of the setting and how it had a little bit of everything. I must have read that blue book a 1000 times. Also the maps. I didn't like all the NPCs being so powerful or when more and more "cannon" was introduced and some of my players started reading the novels and thus cannon lawyering started happening

4) How many Chaotic Good drow with twin scimitars and a magic panther showed up at your table?

zero surprisingly

5) Finish this sentence...if I could change one thing about the Forgotten Realms, past or present, I.....

...Would lower NPC levels (or not list them at all).

6) How many Forgotten Realms novels have you read?

none except the first dritz book.

7) Which Forgotten Realms sourcebook, if any, stood out to you as particularly well done, regardless of edition?

I really ate up all of the 2nd ed ones although looking back they weren't all necessarily good. (I'm looking at you Guide to the Underdark) I did enjoy the three God books' flavor and the box set itself.  

[/QUOTE]

I'm running a 4e D&D Forgotten Realms campaign, set around Loudwater in the Gray Vale/Shining Vale region. This is the first FR campaign I've run. It's based off the 4e Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting assisted by Waterdeep & the North, occasional reference to the Grey Box, and lots of use of the FRWiki, but is definitely non-canon. Driz'zt was referenced obliquely once in an NPC's Sending ("bloody drow's panther pissed in my boot!"); Elminster passed away peacefully in Shadowdale a couple years ago. The big metaplot is Szass Tam's alliance with Orcus and battle with Netheril for world domination.

Quote from: Zachary The First;756971So, with another edition of Forgotten Realms soon to arrive, let's go back and talk about what's come before. I'm interesting in everyone's take on the Realms. I know we've had some people take the Gray Box and do some cool things, and the 3e setting has its share of fans, too. There was also the big departure and shake-up when it came to 4e.

So, for those of you who have played or run in the Forgotten Realms:

1) Which edition of the setting did you play most? How much did you change in the setting versus play as canon?

2) What was your favorite region or area of the Realms, and why?

3) What did you like about the Realms? What did you dislike most?

4) How many Chaotic Good drow with twin scimitars and a magic panther showed up at your table?

5) Finish this sentence...if I could change one thing about the Forgotten Realms, past or present, I.....

6) How many Forgotten Realms novels have you read?

7) Which Forgotten Realms sourcebook, if any, stood out to you as particularly well done, regardless of edition?

1. 1e box.  Paid no mind to the canon.

2. The area around Tantras, because at the time there was little detail of that coast and I could make it what I wanted, which was a rough frontier area compared to Cormyr.

3. Believe it or not, its sword & sorcery feel.  Until the novels really got rolling, FR felt much more Sword & Sorcery than medieval.  Look at the cover to the original box set: that figure does NOT say "medieval ren faire".

4. None.

5. Would get rid of a bunch of the influence of the novels; I'd make it much more wild again.

6. I can't say for sure, maybe 3 or 4. I read Darkwalker on Moonshae, spellfire, the first Icewind Dale book; I don't know if one or two others.  I had very quickly outgrown them, having realized that I could spend my time reading far far better fiction.

7. Not sure. I don't think I ever really used a lot of the sourcebooks.  I had one about the huge desert north of Cormyr; I had looked at Waterdeep and the North, Ruins of the Undermountain box set, I don't know if Al Qadim counts?  Anyways, I mostly didn't use the sourcebooks.

RPGPundit

Apologies for not following the requested format...

My experiences with Forgotten Realms were using 1st and 2nd edition ADnD.

I hated it.

I thought the setting was boring, lame, unimaginative, and uninteresting.

Granted, I was playing under DMs that I didn't think were very good, however, this was my first experience with the setting, and first impressions are the ones that last the longest.

Some of my friends told me I HAD to read the novels - fucking terrible. Horrible writing, terrible editing, characters whose motives made absolutely no sense. Possibly literature's worst "wizard,"

I'm seriously not trying to act like a troll here, but the best character in the whole goddamn thing is the one everyone hates the most (and I admit, he's pretty dumb too, but at least he was interesting, and at the time, fresh).

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569711) Which edition of the setting did you play most? How much did you change in the setting versus play as canon?

2e mostly. Only recently acquainted with the 1e gray box, which is much cooler.

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569712) What was your favorite region or area of the Realms, and why?

Partial to Neverwinter (because of the PC game, I admit it) and Luskan. I'd love to run a Leiberesque gritty urban S&S game with a gang of Luskan adventurers exploring Old Illusk and getting mixed up with the Five Captains and the Arcane Brotherhood.

Waterdeep and Silverymoon can die in a fire, though. Even Cormyr feels cooler.

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569713) What did you like about the Realms? What did you dislike most?

I like how it feels archetypal and accessible without being a straight calque of historical cultures like BECMI/RC's Mystara or WFRP's Old World (except for the late, unfortunate, tacked-on "expansions" of Kara-Tur, Zakhara and Maztica). I like the "points of light" feel with sparse petty kingdoms and city-states surrounded by very dangerous wilderness seeded with the ruins of ancient empires. I like the secret societies: Red Wizards, Zhentarim... I don't quite get the Harpers though I want to like them.

I dislike the thick cruft of canon, the "better than you could ever possibly hope to be" NPCs and the generally clear-cut morals of everyone. Lords of Waterdeep good, Zhentarim bad. I like things a bit more muddied.

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569714) How many Chaotic Good drow with twin scimitars and a magic panther showed up at your table?

Zero. Hate Drizzt.

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569715) Finish this sentence...if I could change one thing about the Forgotten Realms, past or present, I.....

...would ignore all post-1e canon and seriously tone down the gray box NPCs. Also muddy up things a bit with asshole Lords of Waterdeep and loveable Luskan pirate captains, as mentioned above.

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569716) How many Forgotten Realms novels have you read?

One. A recent one with some Erevis Cale character. Seriously meh.

Quote from: Zachary The First;7569717) Which Forgotten Realms sourcebook, if any, stood out to you as particularly well done, regardless of edition?
[/B]

I like Savage Frontier (1e) and Silver Marches (3e), though I admit to not having read a lot of them. Oh, Faiths & Pantheons was cool too, but I don't recall whether it was 2e or 3e.