Starting a Forgotten Realms Campaign [Archive] - Wizards Community

Starting a Forgotten Realms Campaign [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
LordBolt118
09-21-06, 10:28 AM Ok, so I'm a new Dm, running an Eberron campaign. But, something about the Forgotten Realms piqued my interest-the high fantasy of it all! So, I now have the FRCS book, and I'm ready to write my first adventures, but for one problem.

I have no idea what to involve!

With Eberron I'm following the Schema adventures, but with Forgotten Realms, I have no idea where to begin. I mean, there are so many cool people and places...

So, a little campaign help would be nice. Just some ideas on:

Where to begin;
Maybe a starting adventure or two;
Any sourcebooks;
Some help on maybe an overall plot...not asking you to tell me everything, just give me a couple ideas for me to work with!

Books I own, and therefore can reference:

3 Core, FRCS, PHB II, DMG II.
The Ubbergeek
09-21-06, 11:29 AM I like some of those places from the old videogames... they are good spot, not too populated usually, quite wild.

There was Phlan (the ruins, Zhentarim forces, goblinoids...), the North (with neverwinter, the Ten Citries and so on), etc...

Should find some places interesting there.
Garidas
09-21-06, 01:08 PM I would start with:

1. Talk to your players about characters (races and classes allowed, etc. Personally I would allow mostly everything, but start small to large). Okey, when making the character talk about why he is there, where he recive his training, and place of birth, etc.
2. Use this to start (and change, maybe):
-One (or more) character is robbed at night when newly entered a city (choose a city, waterdeep or neverwinter maybe), the character is crazy about getting his money back and starts looking for them. At higher level the character(s) find out that a large guild are making crimes coming more into the streets.
-Plague is running through the city, no one knows whats causing it, but they know it is not a natrual diseas, must be doing something with magic.

You can work out from this. To start small, use a city you want to use in beginning, read about it and when you play more, you learn more and can add more cities in. Maybe put Afflitions and like.

-Garidas
Alediran
09-21-06, 03:35 PM Second, start Player Characters at level 4th, in my experience is the best starting level, you are still weak, but already you get a couple options, both for caster and non-caster types.
LordBolt118
09-21-06, 04:28 PM Hmm...alright, some good ideas.
albone
09-21-06, 04:38 PM I'm getting ready to start a brand new FR campaign as well, and after talking it over with my group, we're going to be starting in the Silver Marches. There's tons of great material in the FR book and there's also a Silver Marches sourcebook.

And it fair to mention that this the first time ever playing FR, me or my group.

Dig it!
LordBolt118
09-21-06, 04:47 PM Heh...yeah, digging!

But that book sounds interesting...can anyone explain what is included in it?
Jiggawha
09-21-06, 05:37 PM Silver Marches was my almost favourite sourcebook (I wish some other FR books went that way) though its the oldest in 3E. In first chapter it describes the Lay of the Land, second Exploring the Wilds (describes flora and fauna and climate), third Cities of Luruar (Silverymoon, Everlund, Mithral Hall ect.), fourth People of the Silver Marches (Defense and Warcraft, Uthgardt ribes), fifth Politics and Powers (power groups), sixth Heroes of the North (6 Prcs), seventh Monsters, Eighth (a few adventures, my least favourite part).
Jiggawha
09-21-06, 05:38 PM Also for urban types I recommend Waterdeep.
jokei
09-21-06, 07:25 PM I'm also running my first F.R. campaign.
I got Lords of Darkness, which I've found to be really useful. It details a number of evil power groups in Faerun, giving endless ideas for campaigns, it has high and low-powered organisations and contains stats for sample encounters for all levels.
Personally, I started in the Silver Marches, but that's just an aesthetic choice on my part, I think there's plenty of room to pick up any flavour you like.
I also have the Waterdeep book, which is good, but I've found Lords of Darkness to be more useful and inspiring.
"Overall plot", wow, there's so much to choose from in Faerun. Personally, I'm gearing my campaign towards the City of Shade and the chaos (sic) they're causing, but with a hell of a twist - when the city of shade emerged from the Plane of Shadow, it also allowed something else to come through:coolcthul - one of these... I'm planning on seeing this through to epic level so there's plenty of time for me to develop this and many diversions for the PC's to go through. I'll probably get some comments on this, but I don't think you need to start a campaign with the end in mind, you can just see where it goes, unless you and/or your players have a burning desire for something.

Good luck
Manshoon
09-21-06, 07:46 PM Well met, traveller!

As your voyage to the realms was a long one, maybe you should start with reading about Faerun's past.

This is a link where you can download a lot of the old material (pre 3rd edition)for free:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads

It's not up to date, but it may surely give you an idea of some of the regions and a lot of the realms' history.

After you got to know the lands and their past you may want to learn what is happening there now(and buy the new material:D ).

But there are people who can easily live without the new stuff.:cool:
primemover003
09-21-06, 11:03 PM While Lord Manshoon's advice about digging up ancient Realms lore is helpful, the vast amount of information about the Realms can be daunting for a new DM.

My advice is to read the FRCS first. It has pretty much everything you need to get started in the Realms today. I would recommend picking up the Player's Guide To Faerun if you play 3.5 as it has updated all the feats and most of the spells to the newest revision.

Once you have that down there are a number of places to start running a campaign. The Silver Marches and the Dales are quite popular and the FRCS is geared to start many campaigns there. However there are several Regional sourcebooks you can use to focus your campaigns (assuming you have or want to spend the money).

Silver Marches
Waterdeep: City of Splendors
Unapproachable East
Shining South
Serpent Kingdoms (details Yuan-ti and other scaly folk in the Realms)
Lords of Darkness: details evil power groups
Champions of Ruin: running evil characters/NPC's in the realms
Champions of Valor: goodly power groups that can help your Good PC's
Dragons of Faerun: all about dragons, the Cult of the Dragon, church of Tiamat

If you can get your hands on them there a few 2nd edition resources that I've found to be invaluable. The Volo's guide series explores the realms from a Faerunians viewpoint (less game info, more travel guide for players & DM's). Manshoon's link will take you there!
Jiggawha
09-22-06, 04:46 AM I'm also running my first F.R. campaign.
I got Lords of Darkness, which I've found to be really useful. It details a number of evil power groups in Faerun, giving endless ideas for campaigns, it has high and low-powered organisations and contains stats for sample encounters for all levels.
Personally, I started in the Silver Marches, but that's just an aesthetic choice on my part, I think there's plenty of room to pick up any flavour you like.
I also have the Waterdeep book, which is good, but I've found Lords of Darkness to be more useful and inspiring.
"Overall plot", wow, there's so much to choose from in Faerun. Personally, I'm gearing my campaign towards the City of Shade and the chaos (sic) they're causing, but with a hell of a twist - when the city of shade emerged from the Plane of Shadow, it also allowed something else to come through:coolcthul - one of these... I'm planning on seeing this through to epic level so there's plenty of time for me to develop this and many diversions for the PC's to go through. I'll probably get some comments on this, but I don't think you need to start a campaign with the end in mind, you can just see where it goes, unless you and/or your players have a burning desire for something.

Good luck

If you really like LoD then you should try Cloak & Dagger, it hasn't got 3e stuff but for the feel of the organizations it's perfect (way much lore than any 3e sourcebook).
jokei
09-22-06, 05:24 AM If you really like LoD then you should try Cloak & Dagger, it hasn't got 3e stuff but for the feel of the organizations it's perfect (way much lore than any 3e sourcebook).

Excellent, thankyou.

As an aside, I really like the FRCS tome, but it was a bit "information overload" at first; Lords of Darkness wasn't too much information to wade through.

I also created a little township at the junction between Sundabar, Ascore and Citadel Adbar. I wanted to start somewhere free from realmslore, so I could pillage stuff from other places and conveniently use it without disturbing any published stuff I want to use in future - laziness, kinda.
Imruphel
09-22-06, 07:20 AM Another option if you only want to use the FRCS and the free 2E downloads is to start an adventure in Ashabenford in the Dalelands (a map is provided in FRCS).

You can either create your own adventure or, if you own Dungeon 84 (?) it has an adventure called Raiders of Galath's Roost. It's a nice little adventure, albeit deadly, and can provide hooks for further adventures involving the Zhentarim and their desire to take over the Dalelands. You can also throw in some drow encounters using Lords of Darkness for some ideas.

All that said, buy Silver Marches- it really is terrific and then set your campaign there. Begin in Deadsnows and fight orcs and hobgoblins (an ideal place to set an updated Keep on the Borderlands too, IMO). I also like the Unapproachable East and will set my soon-starting campaign there.

One other suggestion. The thing I like most about FR as a DM is that the powers (the gods) are well-described. I like having the machinations of the powers to be behind all the various plots and schemes in my games. It helps provide an underlying logic to various in-game events.
jokei
09-22-06, 07:27 AM ...should of said earlier - Dungeon magazine is a pretty good resource: (although) not enough Forgotten Realms stuff, but there's plenty you can cannibalize in there and some FR stuff.
Manshoon13
09-24-06, 09:01 PM I recommend to do something with the Cult of the Dragon, it's an evil necromatic group who turns dragons into dracoliches. I have based a plot I am doing on it:

The players witness a big ritual, you can find more on the ritual in the Lord's of Darkness, and the Cult is about to turn the gold dragon into a draoliche, the dragon does not want to. So the Pc's barge in and slay the Cult memebers. It is a really cool plot because you can do a lot with having the Cult get revenge.
MerrikCale
09-24-06, 09:37 PM If you are planning on sourcebooks, you need the Forgotten Realms Setting Book, but I would also get Faiths and Pantheons, Races of Faerun, and for the bad guys, Lords of Darkness. Magic of Faerun is good too.

In terms of where, you probably want to have an idea of what your players are looking and what theme your looking for. It might also help to pick some place that has a sourcebook, such as the Silver Marches, the Moonsea, or Waterdeep. The Dalelands and/or Sembia are good too. I always liked Neverwinter.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
LordBolt118 09-21-06, 10:28 AM	Ok, so I'm a new Dm, running an Eberron campaign. But, something about the Forgotten Realms piqued my interest-the high fantasy of it all! So, I now have the FRCS book, and I'm ready to write my first adventures, but for one problem. I have no idea what to involve! With Eberron I'm following the Schema adventures, but with Forgotten Realms, I have no idea where to begin. I mean, there are so many cool people and places... So, a little campaign help would be nice. Just some ideas on: Where to begin; Maybe a starting adventure or two; Any sourcebooks; Some help on maybe an overall plot...not asking you to tell me everything, just give me a couple ideas for me to work with! Books I own, and therefore can reference: 3 Core, FRCS, PHB II, DMG II.
The Ubbergeek 09-21-06, 11:29 AM	I like some of those places from the old videogames... they are good spot, not too populated usually, quite wild. There was Phlan (the ruins, Zhentarim forces, goblinoids...), the North (with neverwinter, the Ten Citries and so on), etc... Should find some places interesting there.
Garidas 09-21-06, 01:08 PM	I would start with: 1. Talk to your players about characters (races and classes allowed, etc. Personally I would allow mostly everything, but start small to large). Okey, when making the character talk about why he is there, where he recive his training, and place of birth, etc. 2. Use this to start (and change, maybe): -One (or more) character is robbed at night when newly entered a city (choose a city, waterdeep or neverwinter maybe), the character is crazy about getting his money back and starts looking for them. At higher level the character(s) find out that a large guild are making crimes coming more into the streets. -Plague is running through the city, no one knows whats causing it, but they know it is not a natrual diseas, must be doing something with magic. You can work out from this. To start small, use a city you want to use in beginning, read about it and when you play more, you learn more and can add more cities in. Maybe put Afflitions and like. -Garidas
Alediran 09-21-06, 03:35 PM	Second, start Player Characters at level 4th, in my experience is the best starting level, you are still weak, but already you get a couple options, both for caster and non-caster types.
LordBolt118 09-21-06, 04:28 PM	Hmm...alright, some good ideas.
albone 09-21-06, 04:38 PM	I'm getting ready to start a brand new FR campaign as well, and after talking it over with my group, we're going to be starting in the Silver Marches. There's tons of great material in the FR book and there's also a Silver Marches sourcebook. And it fair to mention that this the first time ever playing FR, me or my group. Dig it!
LordBolt118 09-21-06, 04:47 PM	Heh...yeah, digging! But that book sounds interesting...can anyone explain what is included in it?
Jiggawha 09-21-06, 05:37 PM	Silver Marches was my almost favourite sourcebook (I wish some other FR books went that way) though its the oldest in 3E. In first chapter it describes the Lay of the Land, second Exploring the Wilds (describes flora and fauna and climate), third Cities of Luruar (Silverymoon, Everlund, Mithral Hall ect.), fourth People of the Silver Marches (Defense and Warcraft, Uthgardt ribes), fifth Politics and Powers (power groups), sixth Heroes of the North (6 Prcs), seventh Monsters, Eighth (a few adventures, my least favourite part).
Jiggawha 09-21-06, 05:38 PM	Also for urban types I recommend Waterdeep.
jokei 09-21-06, 07:25 PM	I'm also running my first F.R. campaign. I got Lords of Darkness, which I've found to be really useful. It details a number of evil power groups in Faerun, giving endless ideas for campaigns, it has high and low-powered organisations and contains stats for sample encounters for all levels. Personally, I started in the Silver Marches, but that's just an aesthetic choice on my part, I think there's plenty of room to pick up any flavour you like. I also have the Waterdeep book, which is good, but I've found Lords of Darkness to be more useful and inspiring. "Overall plot", wow, there's so much to choose from in Faerun. Personally, I'm gearing my campaign towards the City of Shade and the chaos (sic) they're causing, but with a hell of a twist - when the city of shade emerged from the Plane of Shadow, it also allowed something else to come through:coolcthul - one of these... I'm planning on seeing this through to epic level so there's plenty of time for me to develop this and many diversions for the PC's to go through. I'll probably get some comments on this, but I don't think you need to start a campaign with the end in mind, you can just see where it goes, unless you and/or your players have a burning desire for something. Good luck
Manshoon 09-21-06, 07:46 PM	Well met, traveller! As your voyage to the realms was a long one, maybe you should start with reading about Faerun's past. This is a link where you can download a lot of the old material (pre 3rd edition)for free: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads It's not up to date, but it may surely give you an idea of some of the regions and a lot of the realms' history. After you got to know the lands and their past you may want to learn what is happening there now(and buy the new material:D ). But there are people who can easily live without the new stuff.:cool:
primemover003 09-21-06, 11:03 PM	While Lord Manshoon's advice about digging up ancient Realms lore is helpful, the vast amount of information about the Realms can be daunting for a new DM. My advice is to read the FRCS first. It has pretty much everything you need to get started in the Realms today. I would recommend picking up the Player's Guide To Faerun if you play 3.5 as it has updated all the feats and most of the spells to the newest revision. Once you have that down there are a number of places to start running a campaign. The Silver Marches and the Dales are quite popular and the FRCS is geared to start many campaigns there. However there are several Regional sourcebooks you can use to focus your campaigns (assuming you have or want to spend the money). Silver Marches Waterdeep: City of Splendors Unapproachable East Shining South Serpent Kingdoms (details Yuan-ti and other scaly folk in the Realms) Lords of Darkness: details evil power groups Champions of Ruin: running evil characters/NPC's in the realms Champions of Valor: goodly power groups that can help your Good PC's Dragons of Faerun: all about dragons, the Cult of the Dragon, church of Tiamat If you can get your hands on them there a few 2nd edition resources that I've found to be invaluable. The Volo's guide series explores the realms from a Faerunians viewpoint (less game info, more travel guide for players & DM's). Manshoon's link will take you there!
Jiggawha 09-22-06, 04:46 AM	I'm also running my first F.R. campaign. I got Lords of Darkness, which I've found to be really useful. It details a number of evil power groups in Faerun, giving endless ideas for campaigns, it has high and low-powered organisations and contains stats for sample encounters for all levels. Personally, I started in the Silver Marches, but that's just an aesthetic choice on my part, I think there's plenty of room to pick up any flavour you like. I also have the Waterdeep book, which is good, but I've found Lords of Darkness to be more useful and inspiring. "Overall plot", wow, there's so much to choose from in Faerun. Personally, I'm gearing my campaign towards the City of Shade and the chaos (sic) they're causing, but with a hell of a twist - when the city of shade emerged from the Plane of Shadow, it also allowed something else to come through:coolcthul - one of these... I'm planning on seeing this through to epic level so there's plenty of time for me to develop this and many diversions for the PC's to go through. I'll probably get some comments on this, but I don't think you need to start a campaign with the end in mind, you can just see where it goes, unless you and/or your players have a burning desire for something. Good luck If you really like LoD then you should try Cloak & Dagger, it hasn't got 3e stuff but for the feel of the organizations it's perfect (way much lore than any 3e sourcebook).
jokei 09-22-06, 05:24 AM	If you really like LoD then you should try Cloak & Dagger, it hasn't got 3e stuff but for the feel of the organizations it's perfect (way much lore than any 3e sourcebook). Excellent, thankyou. As an aside, I really like the FRCS tome, but it was a bit "information overload" at first; Lords of Darkness wasn't too much information to wade through. I also created a little township at the junction between Sundabar, Ascore and Citadel Adbar. I wanted to start somewhere free from realmslore, so I could pillage stuff from other places and conveniently use it without disturbing any published stuff I want to use in future - laziness, kinda.
Imruphel 09-22-06, 07:20 AM	Another option if you only want to use the FRCS and the free 2E downloads is to start an adventure in Ashabenford in the Dalelands (a map is provided in FRCS). You can either create your own adventure or, if you own Dungeon 84 (?) it has an adventure called Raiders of Galath's Roost. It's a nice little adventure, albeit deadly, and can provide hooks for further adventures involving the Zhentarim and their desire to take over the Dalelands. You can also throw in some drow encounters using Lords of Darkness for some ideas. All that said, buy Silver Marches- it really is terrific and then set your campaign there. Begin in Deadsnows and fight orcs and hobgoblins (an ideal place to set an updated Keep on the Borderlands too, IMO). I also like the Unapproachable East and will set my soon-starting campaign there. One other suggestion. The thing I like most about FR as a DM is that the powers (the gods) are well-described. I like having the machinations of the powers to be behind all the various plots and schemes in my games. It helps provide an underlying logic to various in-game events.
jokei 09-22-06, 07:27 AM	...should of said earlier - Dungeon magazine is a pretty good resource: (although) not enough Forgotten Realms stuff, but there's plenty you can cannibalize in there and some FR stuff.
Manshoon13 09-24-06, 09:01 PM	I recommend to do something with the Cult of the Dragon, it's an evil necromatic group who turns dragons into dracoliches. I have based a plot I am doing on it: The players witness a big ritual, you can find more on the ritual in the Lord's of Darkness, and the Cult is about to turn the gold dragon into a draoliche, the dragon does not want to. So the Pc's barge in and slay the Cult memebers. It is a really cool plot because you can do a lot with having the Cult get revenge.
MerrikCale 09-24-06, 09:37 PM	If you are planning on sourcebooks, you need the Forgotten Realms Setting Book, but I would also get Faiths and Pantheons, Races of Faerun, and for the bad guys, Lords of Darkness. Magic of Faerun is good too. In terms of where, you probably want to have an idea of what your players are looking and what theme your looking for. It might also help to pick some place that has a sourcebook, such as the Silver Marches, the Moonsea, or Waterdeep. The Dalelands and/or Sembia are good too. I always liked Neverwinter.