So I’m a long time GM of several settings, only for the most part I strictly ran homebrew material on custom worlds. I want to start running more close to lore games. I have already looked up maps which helps a lot but this only fixes the geography issue (links below)
what is the best way to learn the settings outside of novels? I have all the books offered on DDB right now but have only used them for character creation or monsters. Whats a good starting point. Thanks.
Start at the very beginning - Lost Mine of Phandelver. Between LMoP and Dragon of Icespire peak there's lots to get to grips with in terms of the Sword Coast. Then I'd be looking at Icewind Dale, Storm King's Thunder, Descent into Avernus,.
Really though, I'd be looking back to the older adventures and modules for earlier game editions. They did a far better job imo of exploring that world. Much of it these days is really watered down I suspect because it's better to focus on the things people will use rather than won't (because more people homebrew than use official adventures I suspect).
Learning the FR lore is a pretty monumental task. There’s literally decades of it, some of which is self-contradictory, or at least it seems that way to me. And there’s been a few retcons, and major world-shaking events when a new edition comes out.
There’s two main ways of looking at it. The easier one is to stick with the current official WotC take that says anything pre-2014 is not canon. That makes it much more reasonable. There’s adventures explicitly set in the FR. And maybe some novels? I haven’t been following that part as closely, but I assume Drizzt is still running around. Also the BG3 video game may be canon, I’m not sure on that. It definitely refers to events from published adventures.
If you want to do a deep dive and learn everything from all 40-some years, your best bet is the FR wiki. It’s about as comprehensive a look at the lore as there is, but you’re talking practically PhD levels of commitment to read it all.
You might want to consider how much detail you want for Forgotten Realms lore and what you plan to do with it.
All of the major D&D settings have substantial lore - FR likely has the most. In addition, FR has been used as a setting through most editions of D&D and it has evolved over time with world changing events happening that affect various aspects of the world. So when playing in the FR you not only need to decide WHERE you set the adventure but WHEN, assuming you want to follow FR lore in some way.
However, as with a home game, you can pick and choose which FR lore to use, you can choose when you run your adventure, if folks wonder about what's going on it could be that your specific adventure is set either before or after events in the FR time line(s)? :)
In terms of getting to know FR lore - I am far from an expert but I'd suggest looking at fan sites that have drawn from published sources and books.
The following looks like a decent timeline but I can't attest to its accuracy:
The forgotten realms fandom site also has a lot of material but it includes content from all the D&D editions. I don't know if it includes 3rd party content or other perhaps less reliable sources though. (The sourcebooks page appears to be content from both books and sourcebooks but mostly officially published).
Basically, source material is so extensive for FR and spans so many editions that it would be challenging to "learn it all". The main take away though is that each edition of D&D is mostly set in a discrete part of the FR timeline so if you are running 5e you can focus mostly on the more recent publications drawing from the older stuff to fill in the many parts not covered in 5e.
The map I have seen in SKT just covers most of the Sword Coast of FR. The actual world is much larger and the first link from the OP is probably the best I have seen :). The SKT map is a small part on the left side of the big map. (unless I missed another map in SKT? :) ).
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So I’m a long time GM of several settings, only for the most part I strictly ran homebrew material on custom worlds. I want to start running more close to lore games. I have already looked up maps which helps a lot but this only fixes the geography issue (links below)
what is the best way to learn the settings outside of novels? I have all the books offered on DDB right now but have only used them for character creation or monsters. Whats a good starting point. Thanks.
Faerun surface:
https://i.ibb.co/dgYvsZ7/Faerun-Map-Redone-Roll-20-Res-Hexes.jpg
faerun underdark
https://www.realmshelps.net/faerun/underdark/geography.shtml
Start at the very beginning - Lost Mine of Phandelver. Between LMoP and Dragon of Icespire peak there's lots to get to grips with in terms of the Sword Coast. Then I'd be looking at Icewind Dale, Storm King's Thunder, Descent into Avernus,.
Really though, I'd be looking back to the older adventures and modules for earlier game editions. They did a far better job imo of exploring that world. Much of it these days is really watered down I suspect because it's better to focus on the things people will use rather than won't (because more people homebrew than use official adventures I suspect).
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
Learning the FR lore is a pretty monumental task. There’s literally decades of it, some of which is self-contradictory, or at least it seems that way to me. And there’s been a few retcons, and major world-shaking events when a new edition comes out.
There’s two main ways of looking at it. The easier one is to stick with the current official WotC take that says anything pre-2014 is not canon. That makes it much more reasonable. There’s adventures explicitly set in the FR. And maybe some novels? I haven’t been following that part as closely, but I assume Drizzt is still running around. Also the BG3 video game may be canon, I’m not sure on that. It definitely refers to events from published adventures.
If you want to do a deep dive and learn everything from all 40-some years, your best bet is the FR wiki. It’s about as comprehensive a look at the lore as there is, but you’re talking practically PhD levels of commitment to read it all.
You might want to consider how much detail you want for Forgotten Realms lore and what you plan to do with it.
All of the major D&D settings have substantial lore - FR likely has the most. In addition, FR has been used as a setting through most editions of D&D and it has evolved over time with world changing events happening that affect various aspects of the world. So when playing in the FR you not only need to decide WHERE you set the adventure but WHEN, assuming you want to follow FR lore in some way.
However, as with a home game, you can pick and choose which FR lore to use, you can choose when you run your adventure, if folks wonder about what's going on it could be that your specific adventure is set either before or after events in the FR time line(s)? :)
In terms of getting to know FR lore - I am far from an expert but I'd suggest looking at fan sites that have drawn from published sources and books.
The following looks like a decent timeline but I can't attest to its accuracy:
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/the-forgotten-realms-axedus/t/world-history-timeline?gclid=Cj0KCQjw4vKpBhCZARIsAOKHoWS4b6tr4hW6spYAQS2mlEK_4sxtQl4Yx86XY66w63vkwG0s1lJJeXsaAh73EALw_wcB
The forgotten realms fandom site also has a lot of material but it includes content from all the D&D editions. I don't know if it includes 3rd party content or other perhaps less reliable sources though. (The sourcebooks page appears to be content from both books and sourcebooks but mostly officially published).
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Portal:History
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Portal:Sourcebooks/Sourcebooks
Basically, source material is so extensive for FR and spans so many editions that it would be challenging to "learn it all". The main take away though is that each edition of D&D is mostly set in a discrete part of the FR timeline so if you are running 5e you can focus mostly on the more recent publications drawing from the older stuff to fill in the many parts not covered in 5e.
P.S. Those maps you linked are really nice.
The book, Storm King's Thunder, has a map of FR.
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HERE.The map I have seen in SKT just covers most of the Sword Coast of FR. The actual world is much larger and the first link from the OP is probably the best I have seen :). The SKT map is a small part on the left side of the big map. (unless I missed another map in SKT? :) ).