As the title says. I'm not suggesting the name be changed or anything, just wanted to point out that this bloated, overfed beast of a world is in no way "forgotten." They've mapped out most of the sword coast so hard that you can't go a mile without finding some sort of dungeon or town. Yes, I get that the point is the world is wild and there are hidden secrets all around, but it doesn't feel that way anymore to me. Greyhawk, Mystara, Dragonlance... those are the real forgotten realms.
I might be wrong with this, but I swear I remember reading the reason it's called the Forgotten Realms...
I think it was originally some parallel world to our Earth, but as time wore on - the worlds drifted apart. As the worlds drifted apart and people couldn't move between the two, the people on Earth began to forget it existed. Now it's just us nerdy D&D players who remember it.
If I can find my source, I'll post it.
From the Wikipedia. I know it's not an original source, but I've read it in a few locations but don't want to try and track down the original books that said it.
"The Forgotten Realms is a fantasy world setting, described as a world of strange lands, dangerous creatures, and mighty deities, where magic and supernatural phenomena are quite real. The premise is that, long ago, the Earth and the world of the Forgotten Realms were more closely connected. As time passed, the inhabitants of planet Earth have mostly forgotten about the existence of that other world – hence the name Forgotten Realms. On the original Forgotten Realms logo, which was used until 2000, small runic letters read "Herein lie the lost lands", an allusion to the connection between the two worlds. " - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgotten_Realms
"Realms", in the case of the Forgotten Realms, refers to the original meaning of the word, not as a dimension in the multiverse, but as a kingdom/nation/whatever. The idea is that the nations that currently exist are built on top of nations that used to exist but fell due to some cataclysmic event or another, and those nations were built atop previous nations, and most people aren't educated enough about history to know that the patch of land they currently live on top of was once part of another nation that they wouldn't recognize.
I might be wrong with this, but I swear I remember reading the reason it's called the Forgotten Realms...
I think it was originally some parallel world to our Earth, but as time wore on - the worlds drifted apart. As the worlds drifted apart and people couldn't move between the two, the people on Earth began to forget it existed. Now it's just us nerdy D&D players who remember it.
If I can find my source, I'll post it.
From the Wikipedia. I know it's not an original source, but I've read it in a few locations but don't want to try and track down the original books that said it.
"The Forgotten Realms is a fantasy world setting, described as a world of strange lands, dangerous creatures, and mighty deities, where magic and supernatural phenomena are quite real. The premise is that, long ago, the Earth and the world of the Forgotten Realms were more closely connected. As time passed, the inhabitants of planet Earth have mostly forgotten about the existence of that other world – hence the name Forgotten Realms. On the original Forgotten Realms logo, which was used until 2000, small runic letters read "Herein lie the lost lands", an allusion to the connection between the two worlds. " - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgotten_Realms
I like Forgotten Realms.
Also, I agree with what you posted about Earth and Toril once being more closely connected (I think Earth is the original homeworld of the Old Empires of Mulhorand and Unther, which ironically were my intro to Forgotten Realms).
I might be wrong with this, but I swear I remember reading the reason it's called the Forgotten Realms...
I think it was originally some parallel world to our Earth, but as time wore on - the worlds drifted apart. As the worlds drifted apart and people couldn't move between the two, the people on Earth began to forget it existed. Now it's just us nerdy D&D players who remember it.
If I can find my source, I'll post it.
From the Wikipedia. I know it's not an original source, but I've read it in a few locations but don't want to try and track down the original books that said it.
"The Forgotten Realms is a fantasy world setting, described as a world of strange lands, dangerous creatures, and mighty deities, where magic and supernatural phenomena are quite real. The premise is that, long ago, the Earth and the world of the Forgotten Realms were more closely connected. As time passed, the inhabitants of planet Earth have mostly forgotten about the existence of that other world – hence the name Forgotten Realms. On the original Forgotten Realms logo, which was used until 2000, small runic letters read "Herein lie the lost lands", an allusion to the connection between the two worlds. " - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgotten_Realms
I like Forgotten Realms.
Also, I agree with what you posted about Earth and Toril once being more closely connected (I think Earth is the original homeworld of the Old Empires of Mulhorand and Unther, which ironically were my intro to Forgotten Realms).
I like the forgotten realms also and so do my players so I guess we will continue to play forgotten realms campaigns for quite some time.
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"Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced"- Soren Kierkgaard
As the title says. I'm not suggesting the name be changed or anything, just wanted to point out that this bloated, overfed beast of a world is in no way "forgotten." They've mapped out most of the sword coast so hard that you can't go a mile without finding some sort of dungeon or town. Yes, I get that the point is the world is wild and there are hidden secrets all around, but it doesn't feel that way anymore to me. Greyhawk, Mystara, Dragonlance... those are the real forgotten realms.
Do you have any idea how big the Forgotten Realms is?
There are no less then 3 continents that have never been explored on Toril, (Osse, Katashaka, and Achrome at mininium), there is Toril's sister world Abeir, there is a bunch of planets in Realmspace like Glyph, Coliar, Gardan, H'Catha, Anador, ect..., even the Forgotten Realms sun is inhabited and all of these worlds are filled with explored space. And of these places have a Feywild, Shadowfell, Border Plane of Fire, Border Plane of Air, Border Plane of Earth, Border Plane of Water, Border Plane of Ice, Border Plane of Mud, Border Plane of Ash, Border Plane of Magma and Border Ethereal reflections of each of these worlds within realmspace. Then you have the demiplanes like the Celestial Nadir and the Night Parade. I could continue? Still think everything has been explored? There is more to FR then just the Swordcoast.
yes, but my point is A.) They only focus on the Sword Coast, arguably the most boring of the locations on Toril, and B.) Said location, Sword Coast, has been explored to death. There are multiple unmapped and unexplored continents on literally every setting, Forgotten Realms is not unique in that regard.
yes, but my point is A.) They only focus on the Sword Coast, arguably the most boring of the locations on Toril, and B.) Said location, Sword Coast, has been explored to death. There are multiple unmapped and unexplored continents on literally every setting, Forgotten Realms is not unique in that regard.
What about Cormyr and the Dalelands? Haven’t they been focused on a lot too?
yes, but my point is A.) They only focus on the Sword Coast, arguably the most boring of the locations on Toril, and B.) Said location, Sword Coast, has been explored to death. There are multiple unmapped and unexplored continents on literally every setting, Forgotten Realms is not unique in that regard.
The setting was named long ago before this edition with its focus on the Sword Coast. Hence why the setting is still called the Forgotten Realms
Metagaming is to say Forgotten Realms. I doubt most people that live in the realm even know that the continent is called Faerun or the world is called Toril, much less Abeir-Toril. Most have never heard of Kara-Tur or Maztica. But that doesn't mean they aren't interested in tales of far away places.
I would wager that very few of your players know that much about the world either. They've heard of places in the Sword Coast. Maybe they once heard of Elminster. But just like the inhabitants of the realm, the players are quite likely interested in tales of far away places.
What an opportunity we have to utilize the resources we choose to use in our own version of these Forgotten Realms making up new places and new peoples and new stories to go along with the stories of old. And you know what? If you don't like any of it, you can create your own world(s) and call them what you wish and use the example of Toril to help you guide how the settlements work together, how to provide in-depth history, how to create memorable characters. Personally, I don't see a downside here...
So, the problem is the plural of "Realms" rather than just the singular "Realm" and not "Forgotten"?
Lots of Realms in the FR that are no longer known. Focusing on Sword Coast actually accentuates the forgotten status of other realms. That stated, the more WotC defines the world, the less world there is for players to explore as storytellers begin to be restricted into established lore of these formerly forgotten places.
Also, "Forgotten Realms" has a nice marketable ring to it. I won't ignore that.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I can't think of a single place where there is soooo much lore that I can't create my own original story in any part of the Forgotten Realms. There are places where there are a few highlights, but certainly nothing is over saturated so I can't tell a story. Not to mention that the calendar of years progresses on and many items are forgotten in a year or two. How often has Spellplague even come up in a 5e campaign? Most of the players that I interact with don't even know what the Spellplague was and it was certainly something of relatively recent history. There are millions of stories to be told in 1492 and another million to tell in the Year of the Tyrant's Pawn. And does anyone even remember the Year of the Twelve Warnings? I'm sure it was much different in Daggerford than it was in Neverwinter, much less in Red Larch.
As the title says. I'm not suggesting the name be changed or anything, just wanted to point out that this bloated, overfed beast of a world is in no way "forgotten." They've mapped out most of the sword coast so hard that you can't go a mile without finding some sort of dungeon or town. Yes, I get that the point is the world is wild and there are hidden secrets all around, but it doesn't feel that way anymore to me. Greyhawk, Mystara, Dragonlance... those are the real forgotten realms.
Some have indicated something to this, but I heard it confirmed from Greenwood’s own lips. The realms are not internally forgotten; they were forgotten by Earthlings. Long ago, Ao craft the worlds from realm space. The first gods were approved or crafted by Ao. A lot happened before human and elves appear. Empires of nonhumanoids rose and fell. The human come along and one empire the Imaskar, have wizards that open a portal to Earth and take thousands of Slav… involuntary interns. They brought with them the worship of their gods. Later events would lead to humans returning to Earth to invite gods of earth to be worshiped in Faerûn. There are still portal to Earth and they are the reason Earth used to believe in dragons, griffons, etc. but they are closing up and while you might find an Ed of the Greenwood researching spells with Elminster these occurrences are fewer and and fewer. As a people Earthlings have forgotten the realms of Toril, and when you play there you are in those Forgotten Realms. So, you’ll find worship of Amon-Re or Tyr, but why they are there was forgotten by Earthlings and all but the most esoteric of Faerûn’s scholars.
Ah, now we get to the heart of your problem, and Hasbro’s. Swordcoast was the “safe” beginners land, with little to no “involuntary Internships” and blood sacrifices. In earlier editions we’d begin there and when these wicked things showed up, PCs would crush them, usually following their trail out of the “safe” lands. Hasbro is stuck between nerfing the rest of Faerûn; thus, pissing off the players that want to oppose the evil cults & empires, and only publishing material in the kiddy pool. In 5e they’ve gone with the kiddy pool option. So, yeah, the kiddy pool is pretty full. They won’t recognize the old material, but you can totally still use it.
Lol. I suggest you look up the Gazeetter series for Mystara and get back to us on what's forgotten. Literally every country detailed in a 100 pg supplement, calenders that go so far as to note sunrise, sunset and time zones and an almanac that gives day by day events over 4+ years....
Sidenote: The Forgotten Realms has had over 40+ years if published history. At this point there are probably tens of thousands of pages of information. Nearly all of the other settings have similar amounts of development.
As others have stated the FR is forgotten by earthlings (except those of us that rediscovered it via D&D) not by the folks of the world. Actually having 35,000 years of history (and lore) makes it easier not harder to create adventures as you have some ancient bit just about every where you look so it’s imagination time. That is, to me anyway, what makes FR so nice - more than half of my world building is already done for me. AND there is enough undescribed space ( or barely outlined space) left on the Faerun continent to simply take something from the sword coast (like Phandalin) and plop it down somewhere else (like Luiren) and complete reset the adventures. Then you have the other continents - Maztica, Kara Tur, zakhara, and at least 3-5 other continents still labeled unknown (at least to Faerunians and us) that are waiting for folks to explore them if they want.
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Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
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As the title says. I'm not suggesting the name be changed or anything, just wanted to point out that this bloated, overfed beast of a world is in no way "forgotten." They've mapped out most of the sword coast so hard that you can't go a mile without finding some sort of dungeon or town. Yes, I get that the point is the world is wild and there are hidden secrets all around, but it doesn't feel that way anymore to me. Greyhawk, Mystara, Dragonlance... those are the real forgotten realms.
...K...
"Normality is but an Illusion, Whats normal to the Spider, is only madness for the Fly"
Kain de Frostberg- Dark Knight - (Vengeance Pal3/ Hexblade 9), Port Mourn
Kain de Draakberg-Dark Knight lvl8-Avergreen(DitA)
My forgotten realms is forgotten. What everyone else puts into their realms doesn't mean its in mine.
I might be wrong with this, but I swear I remember reading the reason it's called the Forgotten Realms...
I think it was originally some parallel world to our Earth, but as time wore on - the worlds drifted apart. As the worlds drifted apart and people couldn't move between the two, the people on Earth began to forget it existed. Now it's just us nerdy D&D players who remember it.
If I can find my source, I'll post it.
From the Wikipedia. I know it's not an original source, but I've read it in a few locations but don't want to try and track down the original books that said it.
"The Forgotten Realms is a fantasy world setting, described as a world of strange lands, dangerous creatures, and mighty deities, where magic and supernatural phenomena are quite real. The premise is that, long ago, the Earth and the world of the Forgotten Realms were more closely connected. As time passed, the inhabitants of planet Earth have mostly forgotten about the existence of that other world – hence the name Forgotten Realms. On the original Forgotten Realms logo, which was used until 2000, small runic letters read "Herein lie the lost lands", an allusion to the connection between the two worlds. " - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgotten_Realms
I spend way too much time reading the lore of the Forgotten Realms.
"Realms", in the case of the Forgotten Realms, refers to the original meaning of the word, not as a dimension in the multiverse, but as a kingdom/nation/whatever. The idea is that the nations that currently exist are built on top of nations that used to exist but fell due to some cataclysmic event or another, and those nations were built atop previous nations, and most people aren't educated enough about history to know that the patch of land they currently live on top of was once part of another nation that they wouldn't recognize.
I like Forgotten Realms.
Also, I agree with what you posted about Earth and Toril once being more closely connected (I think Earth is the original homeworld of the Old Empires of Mulhorand and Unther, which ironically were my intro to Forgotten Realms).
I like the forgotten realms also and so do my players so I guess we will continue to play forgotten realms campaigns for quite some time.
"Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced"- Soren Kierkgaard
Do you have any idea how big the Forgotten Realms is?
There are no less then 3 continents that have never been explored on Toril, (Osse, Katashaka, and Achrome at mininium), there is Toril's sister world Abeir, there is a bunch of planets in Realmspace like Glyph, Coliar, Gardan, H'Catha, Anador, ect..., even the Forgotten Realms sun is inhabited and all of these worlds are filled with explored space. And of these places have a Feywild, Shadowfell, Border Plane of Fire, Border Plane of Air, Border Plane of Earth, Border Plane of Water, Border Plane of Ice, Border Plane of Mud, Border Plane of Ash, Border Plane of Magma and Border Ethereal reflections of each of these worlds within realmspace. Then you have the demiplanes like the Celestial Nadir and the Night Parade. I could continue? Still think everything has been explored? There is more to FR then just the Swordcoast.
yes, but my point is A.) They only focus on the Sword Coast, arguably the most boring of the locations on Toril, and B.) Said location, Sword Coast, has been explored to death. There are multiple unmapped and unexplored continents on literally every setting, Forgotten Realms is not unique in that regard.
What about Cormyr and the Dalelands? Haven’t they been focused on a lot too?
The setting was named long ago before this edition with its focus on the Sword Coast. Hence why the setting is still called the Forgotten Realms
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Metagaming is to say Forgotten Realms. I doubt most people that live in the realm even know that the continent is called Faerun or the world is called Toril, much less Abeir-Toril. Most have never heard of Kara-Tur or Maztica. But that doesn't mean they aren't interested in tales of far away places.
I would wager that very few of your players know that much about the world either. They've heard of places in the Sword Coast. Maybe they once heard of Elminster. But just like the inhabitants of the realm, the players are quite likely interested in tales of far away places.
What an opportunity we have to utilize the resources we choose to use in our own version of these Forgotten Realms making up new places and new peoples and new stories to go along with the stories of old. And you know what? If you don't like any of it, you can create your own world(s) and call them what you wish and use the example of Toril to help you guide how the settlements work together, how to provide in-depth history, how to create memorable characters. Personally, I don't see a downside here...
So, the problem is the plural of "Realms" rather than just the singular "Realm" and not "Forgotten"?
Lots of Realms in the FR that are no longer known. Focusing on Sword Coast actually accentuates the forgotten status of other realms. That stated, the more WotC defines the world, the less world there is for players to explore as storytellers begin to be restricted into established lore of these formerly forgotten places.
Also, "Forgotten Realms" has a nice marketable ring to it. I won't ignore that.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I can't think of a single place where there is soooo much lore that I can't create my own original story in any part of the Forgotten Realms. There are places where there are a few highlights, but certainly nothing is over saturated so I can't tell a story. Not to mention that the calendar of years progresses on and many items are forgotten in a year or two. How often has Spellplague even come up in a 5e campaign? Most of the players that I interact with don't even know what the Spellplague was and it was certainly something of relatively recent history. There are millions of stories to be told in 1492 and another million to tell in the Year of the Tyrant's Pawn. And does anyone even remember the Year of the Twelve Warnings? I'm sure it was much different in Daggerford than it was in Neverwinter, much less in Red Larch.
Some have indicated something to this, but I heard it confirmed from Greenwood’s own lips. The realms are not internally forgotten; they were forgotten by Earthlings. Long ago, Ao craft the worlds from realm space. The first gods were approved or crafted by Ao. A lot happened before human and elves appear. Empires of nonhumanoids rose and fell. The human come along and one empire the Imaskar, have wizards that open a portal to Earth and take thousands of Slav… involuntary interns. They brought with them the worship of their gods. Later events would lead to humans returning to Earth to invite gods of earth to be worshiped in Faerûn. There are still portal to Earth and they are the reason Earth used to believe in dragons, griffons, etc. but they are closing up and while you might find an Ed of the Greenwood researching spells with Elminster these occurrences are fewer and and fewer. As a people Earthlings have forgotten the realms of Toril, and when you play there you are in those Forgotten Realms. So, you’ll find worship of Amon-Re or Tyr, but why they are there was forgotten by Earthlings and all but the most esoteric of Faerûn’s scholars.
My Brews:
Race: Tropical Dwaves Spells: Summon Spirits Rites of Mummification
Monster: Osprey Feat: Skill Mastery–Animal Handler (Provides DCs for training animals applicable to those with and without this feat)
If nothing else we can jump ahead or back 300 years. The maps are still good.
My Brews:
Race: Tropical Dwaves Spells: Summon Spirits Rites of Mummification
Monster: Osprey Feat: Skill Mastery–Animal Handler (Provides DCs for training animals applicable to those with and without this feat)
Ah, now we get to the heart of your problem, and Hasbro’s. Swordcoast was the “safe” beginners land, with little to no “involuntary Internships” and blood sacrifices. In earlier editions we’d begin there and when these wicked things showed up, PCs would crush them, usually following their trail out of the “safe” lands. Hasbro is stuck between nerfing the rest of Faerûn; thus, pissing off the players that want to oppose the evil cults & empires, and only publishing material in the kiddy pool. In 5e they’ve gone with the kiddy pool option. So, yeah, the kiddy pool is pretty full. They won’t recognize the old material, but you can totally still use it.
My Brews:
Race: Tropical Dwaves Spells: Summon Spirits Rites of Mummification
Monster: Osprey Feat: Skill Mastery–Animal Handler (Provides DCs for training animals applicable to those with and without this feat)
Lol. I suggest you look up the Gazeetter series for Mystara and get back to us on what's forgotten. Literally every country detailed in a 100 pg supplement, calenders that go so far as to note sunrise, sunset and time zones and an almanac that gives day by day events over 4+ years....
Sidenote: The Forgotten Realms has had over 40+ years if published history. At this point there are probably tens of thousands of pages of information. Nearly all of the other settings have similar amounts of development.
Original source was Ed Greenwood. Worth looking up some of his videos on YouTube if you want to learn some obscure stuff about the Forgotten Realms.
As others have stated the FR is forgotten by earthlings (except those of us that rediscovered it via D&D) not by the folks of the world. Actually having 35,000 years of history (and lore) makes it easier not harder to create adventures as you have some ancient bit just about every where you look so it’s imagination time. That is, to me anyway, what makes FR so nice - more than half of my world building is already done for me. AND there is enough undescribed space ( or barely outlined space) left on the Faerun continent to simply take something from the sword coast (like Phandalin) and plop it down somewhere else (like Luiren) and complete reset the adventures. Then you have the other continents - Maztica, Kara Tur, zakhara, and at least 3-5 other continents still labeled unknown (at least to Faerunians and us) that are waiting for folks to explore them if they want.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.