This book is a great idea. As a Forgotten Realms loyalist, I'd love to get my hands on it.

Before I add it to my shopping cart, however, a few questions:

• How many pages is it?
• Is it written in timeline format like they did in the FRCS or is each year detailed in a paragraph or so?
• What percentage of the book is taken up by the Salvatore short story?

This book is a great idea. As a Forgotten Realms loyalist, I'd love to get my hands on it.

Before I add it to my shopping cart, however, a few questions:

• How many pages is it?
• Is it written in timeline format like they did in the FRCS or is each year detailed in a paragraph or so?
• What percentage of the book is taken up by the Salvatore short story?

Thanks!

• 96
• Each year gets a paragraph or so, with more details for more recent years
• Apparently not much since I failed my spot check to see it.

Some of the spoilers are:

I get the sinking feeling it's the last Realms book I'll ever buy.

This book is a great idea. As a Forgotten Realms loyalist, I'd love to get my hands on it.

Before I add it to my shopping cart, however, a few questions:

• How many pages is it?
• Is it written in timeline format like they did in the FRCS or is each year detailed in a paragraph or so?
• What percentage of the book is taken up by the Salvatore short story?

Thanks!

here is a page with some excerpts from the book

www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4ex/20070911a

Hear from the creator of the Realms himself, Ed Greenwood

http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9905

and

SirUzra wrote

Shar and Cyric kill Mystra. As a result the weave goes crazy, Dweomerheart is destroyed. Azuth and Velsharoon go MIA in the Astral Plane as a result, leave no one to restore magic.
Helm and Tyr fight over Tymora. Tyr kills Helm. It's beleived Cyric manipulated it. The House of the Triad is broken and Ilmater removes his domain from it to join Sune in Brightwater.

Tyr, Lanthander, and Sune move against Cyric, imprisioning for a 1,000 years.

Lolth & Eilistraee seem to kill all the Drow gods in their little chest game.

The Orcs establish a permanant Kingdom in the North.

Myth Drannor's mythal is restored. Srinshee returns of Myth Drannor and give Ilsevele Miritar the Rule's Blade to become coronal. Queen Amlaruil returns to Myth Drannor, planting the Treee of Souls there.

Cormyr goes to war with Shade after Alusair executes a spy. Avoun V comes of age and becomes the King. He's having problems with his nobles.

Moradin leads an attack on Hammergrim and destroys it.

Halaster is dead.
Blackstaff is dead.
Selune has been laid to rest, she's really dead now, no longer a ghost.
Elminster is in hiding.

Basically it's all on the last 2 pages of Grand History of the Realms. The last entry is about Mystra dying and Spell Plague, her domain, Cyric, and Azuth and Velsharoon.

The books ends with...

"Sages in centuries to come mark the Weave's destruction in the Year of Blue Fire as the end of the old world, and the terrible beginning of the new."

For a campaign that's NOT going to be a point of light setting, it sure does.

So we don't know the fate of the Chosen of Mystra or the Sever Sisters, we don't really know what happen to the surface Drow, and we don't know how magic is restored to the Realms. Leading speculation; a new Mystra or Ao promotes Elminster, removing him from the land but not from Forgotten Realms.

Thanks for the summary. Do not take this as sarcasm. Now I don't have to buy it. (Actually, I probably wasn't going to anyhow. I figure the FRCS 4e will bring me up to speed.)

the only thing I didn't like about the book was the reused pics they had.

I saw a picture of a warforged!! in there, and a picture from the dungeon#123 epic-level adventure Quicksilver Hourglass.

the only thing I didn't like about the book was the reused pics they had.

I saw a picture of a warforged!! in there, and a picture from the dungeon#123 epic-level adventure Quicksilver Hourglass.

Yeah lots of recycled art.

Mactaka wrote:

the only thing I didn't like about the book was the reused pics they had.

I saw a picture of a warforged!! in there, and a picture from the dungeon#123 epic-level adventure Quicksilver Hourglass.

Yeah lots of recycled art.

That's the part that disappoints me the most, actually. Not only was most of the art recycled, but a lot of the recycled art isn't even Forgotten Realms art. There's pieces in there from Eberron, Greyhawk, Age of Worms, and all sorts of other non-denominational books like Book of Exalted Deeds and the Complete Books. I'm sure that the words are well-researched and informative, but it's too distracting for me to see warforged and worshipers of Iuz in there. It'd be like reading a "History of Star Wars" book that was illustrated with images from Star Trek, Dr. Who, and the X-Files.

That said... it's pretty much an invaluable resource, it looks like, if you want to write anything to do with the Realms. It's all right there for you to look up! Pretty Handy.

Aside from the art issues, I don't mind them shaking up the realms a bit to make it more in line. Hell, all they were really doing is responding to all the people who kept complaining "Oh, the realms has too many NPC's and Gods that muddle in mortal affairs." Not anymore.

Lolth & Eilistraee seem to kill all the Drow gods in their little chest game.

Was this a typo? Or a subtle jab at the usual art depiction of female drow? :)

Of course, those weren't the people that were making the setting lucrative, but I'm tired of having this discussion.

As far as the artwork goes, the warforged was particularly problematic, because not only was it recycled, but it had a caption on it that made it seem like it had something to do with a history point regarding a trapped dragon being tortured. What the hell did this have to do with a warforged?

Unless they were torturing him by making him play Eberron . . . hm . . .

I'm kidding . . . I'm kidding . . .

But yeah, that one was really distracting.

My big question is how much of this is new?

I look to all my 3.5 Supplements, including Lost Empires, my FRCS, and my collection of novels, and I'm wondering whether this is simply WotC's last grasp for cash in Forgotten Realms until the new edition comes out, or whether there really is any value in forking out another $30.

I should also add that I found a third party source called "Grand History of the Realms" ... looks fan-written, circa 2005... but nice and free.

Of course, those weren't the people that were making the setting lucrative, but I'm tired of having this discussion.

Perhaps the Realms aren't as lucrative as they once were. That might be a reason why they are being shaken up.

the only thing I didn't like about the book was the reused pics they had...a picture from the dungeon#123 epic-level adventure Quicksilver Hourglass.

Actually it's not from #123's "The Quicksilver Hourglass" (though they are similar and that was my first thought, too). It's a ctually the picture of the raam from issue #133 (p.84). That one didn't bother me near as much as the war-forged though, because the picture was a raam (an undead giant) used as a picture of the Dodkong (an undead giant), so it worked pretty well I suppose.

My big question is how much of this is new?

I look to all my 3.5 Supplements, including Lost Empires, my FRCS, and my collection of novels, and I'm wondering whether this is simply WotC's last grasp for cash in Forgotten Realms until the new edition comes out, or whether there really is any value in forking out another $30.

I should also add that I found a third party source called "Grand History of the Realms" ... looks fan-written, circa 2005... but nice and free.

That's probably the work that inspired this one. Rich Baker sold the WOTC guys on this product based on Brian's work in that resource. That having been said, its got all of that stuff, plus a lot more things filled in. Any time Brian ran across contradictory sources, or something that just was never answered, he skipped over it, because he didn't want to include anything that wasn't canon.

With Ed Greenwood, George Krashos, Tom Costa, and Eric Boyd on board, they actually fixed or filled in some of the contentious spots, and added some sidebars on Imaskar, Jhaamdath, Netheril, and the Creator Races that all have new material in them.

For example one of the sidebars intimates that Bazim-Gorag may not have actually been a Slaad lord.

KnightErrantJR wrote:

Of course, those weren't the people that were making the setting lucrative, but I'm tired of having this discussion.

Perhaps the Realms aren't as lucrative as they once were. That might be a reason why they are being shaken up.

I'm sure that exactly the reason right there. That probably why its the first setting they are releasing in 4th edition as well.

Its fine if they want to do whatever they are doing, its there setting. I know as a long time geeky fan that probably isn't representative of anyone on the planet, I'm already not interested in 4th edition Realms. Can't speak for anyone else though.

What percentage of the book is taken up by the Salvatore short story?[/list]

Thanks!

Thank poor Helm, but 0% of the book it taken up the the RAS story, as they ended up dropping it for space reasons, the actual history being the focus, and following Realms history isn't one of RAS' strong suites.

baron arem heshvaun wrote:

Lolth & Eilistraee seem to kill all the Drow gods in their little chest game.

Was this a typo? Or a subtle jab at the usual art depiction of female drow? :)

I'm a leg and tight a$$ man myself.

It'd be like reading a "History of Star Wars" book that was illustrated with images from Star Trek, Dr. Who, and the X-Files.

Or something like this? http://www.icewebring.com/images/TNG-GhostShip.jpg

Corrodan wrote:
Or something like this? http://www.icewebring.com/images/TNG-GhostShip.jpg

*laughs* Which bothers you more, that Riker, Data, and La Forge seem to be stuck in a Battlestar: Galactica plot, or that they're facing the Millenium Falcon?

Thanks for the summary. Do not take this as sarcasm. Now I don't have to buy it. (Actually, I probably wasn't going to anyhow. I figure the FRCS 4e will bring me up to speed.)

Save your money. Don't purchase that 4E crap.

I'm more annoyed with the FR changes than 4e, and that's saying alot. I grew up with the realms and I don't understand why we couldn't have just moved to a new world rather than destroying what was there.

I still PbP in a Traveller game and I hope the FR becomes a repeat of the Megatraveller / New Era debacle. For those of you that aren't familiar with that niche game, a civil war was introduced in Megatraveller that was mostly hated - so the publisher responded by wiping out the whole universe with a 'virus' forcing a point of light setting and claiming that that amount of lore that had grown up around the old galactic order was scaring off new players. Virtually EVERYONE hated this.

What happened? Most people who play Traveller pretend the civil war / virus never happened -- and most published materials now play along.

This may be wishful thinging - but part of what made the Realms appearing was that after playing there more than half of my life it felt like home -- now it seems like they could have just as easily created a new setting.

I should also add that I found a third party source called "Grand History of the Realms" ... looks fan-written, circa 2005... but nice and free.

Got a link?

I still like this product. and would love to play in the realms, as soon as I get out my black marker and get my supply of Retcon from Torchwood.

I would actually buy this except for the very out of context picture of the warforged where a dragon is supposed to be and reused art.

Saurstalk wrote:

I should also add that I found a third party source called "Grand History of the Realms" ... looks fan-written, circa 2005... but nice and free.

Got a link?

Sorry, since the free PDF is the same product by the same author, it is no longer available since the GHotR has appeared. The free PDF was the version which made WotC hire Brian R. James and convert his opus magnum into a full fledge source book.

Jam412 wrote:

Saurstalk wrote:

I should also add that I found a third party source called "Grand History of the Realms" ... looks fan-written, circa 2005... but nice and free.

Got a link?

Sorry, since the free PDF is the same product by the same author, it is no longer available since the GHotR has appeared. The free PDF was the version which made WotC hire Brian R. James and convert his opus magnum into a full fledge source book.

Ah, I see. Thanks Lanx.

On another note, has WotC ever made public, the fates of more mortal FR characters? I'm particularly interested in whether or not Artemis survived. I realize that a long time has passed, but he does have some shade essence running through him.