Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Grimgnaw 01-11-07, 10:08 PM	I rather like Races of Faerun. It has some nice information on all the races, some new races, nice feats, cool prestige classes, and it talks a fair amount about the various cultural groups of humans which I think is very nice to read about before playing a human character from there.
DreamStalker 01-11-07, 11:27 PM	2nd Edition is Faiths & Avatars. 3rd Edition is Power of Faerun. Novels it is Evermeet.
Grimgnaw 01-12-07, 12:10 AM	Why do you like Power of Faerun? I got that book and was generally impressed with what I saw, but I wasn't really blown away.
Borris 01-12-07, 01:01 AM	2nd Edition: Sea of Fallen Stars 3rd Edition: Serpents Kingdoms / Lost Empires of Faerūn
Victor_Ograygor 01-12-07, 02:04 AM	2nd Edition: Sea of Fallen Stars 3rd Edition: lords of darkness --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many Forgotten realms fans on the net have asked themselves whey there isn’t a Role Playing Forum on the net. Whey isn’t there a place were you can role play with people all around the world, and discus thing concerning Forgotten Realms? Now such a place exist. Forgotten Realms Role Playing Forum http://s8.invisionfree.com/FR_RP
Ranger REG 01-12-07, 03:14 AM	Not a book: Kara-Tur boxed set. For 3e: Unapproachable East.
Jiggawha 01-12-07, 03:29 AM	2E: Sea of Fallen Stars 3E: Power of Faerun
Uinidal 01-12-07, 03:29 AM	2ed haven't played 3ed Lost empires of Faerun(and Waterdeep:city os splendors i think)
DreamStalker 01-12-07, 07:48 AM	I liked the concepts and expanded rules for running organizations. Really hammered home the impact PCs can have on a campaign world and how to manage all of that information. Furthermore, every bit of mechanics in that book went towards further tying in characters into the world. I am really big on drawing my characters politically, socially and even economically into the games I run. RP driven of course, yet I do like a little structure to handle the organizational aspects in the background rather than RP of paperwork and such. Thank you everyone for following my format:) BTW I also have a tendency to constantly change my favorites. Notice my favorite novel changes from the favorite novel thread and it has only been a week.
MerrikCale 01-12-07, 09:49 AM	Tough choice: Silver Marches, Magic of Faerun or Waterdeep
kelcimer 01-12-07, 02:59 PM	2e City of Ravens Bluff The three 2e god books (Faiths & Avatars, Demihuman Dieties, Powers & Panthens) together form a nice second.
The Simbul 01-12-07, 04:15 PM	Aside from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting itself i presume.. AD&D: The Seven Sisters, Pages from the Mages, Heroes/Villains Lorebook D&D 3E: Magic of Faerun, Lords of Darkness, Silver Marches D&D 3.5: City of Splendors: Waterdeep, Lost Empires of Faerun, Champions of Valor Honorable Mention: goes to Spellbound (AD&D), and Unapproachable East (D&D 3E/3.5), since I have used that region the most. However they basically are just two versions of the same book, with the exception that there is far less of a Thay-centric theme with UE, and that UE contains information on Thesk and the Great Dale. Meanwhile, UE had some poor artwork, and had far too much focus on Races, Feats, and Prestige Classes.
Grimgnaw 01-12-07, 09:50 PM	Why has everyone chosen the books they've chosen? That's certainly the most interesting part! And Simbul, it's possible no one has remembered to mention it but as for me I wasn't too thrilled by it. I think it did a good job scanning over things quickly (which was it's job) but I prefer the things that focus on a few more things specifically.
Azar_of_Faerun 01-13-07, 12:15 AM	Lost Empires of Faerun
ZolDarklock 01-13-07, 12:21 AM	some of the old stuff was really good...Moonshae, Old Empires, Savage Frontier, Waterdeep and the North, El's Ecologies "High Moors/Serpent Hills" seems accessories on areas nowdays lack a lot about the area they supposedly are about, and too much empasis on just special character classes, items and spells take away from the actual physical area itself... I wish they would do all future area accessories with an little more "El's Ecologies" style about the land itself, and an "old empires" style for the people, items, special classes and uniques spells, and including a nice well thought out campaign style module for the area would go along way in restoring a lot of faith back into the products they put out ... ;-) hint, hint...
kelcimer 01-13-07, 01:45 AM	Why has everyone chosen the books they've chosen? That's certainly the most interesting part! City of Ravens because it is so damn useful. If I am at a lack of an idea I just peruse it's pages. There's stuff on just about every page that sparks my imagination. Stats are easy. Ideas are hard. This book populates the city. Look it up in the free downloads section and read The Walking Tour in the back. The stuff I don't find exactly inspiring I can see easily inspiring someone else. The god books because they flesh out the gods. Who they are. I've found the ideas about how they manifest to be very useful at times, as well as church titles and current goings on of the church. Whenever I need a jump start on fleshing out a church I pull them up. And remember, gods and churches can be ANYWHERE, so no matter where you go in Faerun they will be relevent. Also, to understand a people, look to the kind of gods they have.
Kadasbrass 01-13-07, 03:31 AM	MY Favorite Book for FR 3rd Edition has been Shining South. If I do a FR campaign I use that region since its something part of FR that my group isn't familar with so it allows me to expand the "known" world at my own rate. Thou I do use Waterdeep too, I just like the Shining South since it has a rich history but not something the average player would know much about. The players are less likely to live in the shadows of epic NPCs.
Red_Wizard 01-13-07, 10:02 AM	2nd= Spellbound, Dreams of the Red Wizards, Netheril, Villians Lorebook and most others.....Didn't really hate anything from 2nd ed. :P 3rd= Serpant kingdoms, Lost Empires, and Lords of Darkness. Books I won't try to get started on. Though Favourite would definatly be The Watercourse Trilogy
GothicDan 01-13-07, 10:59 AM	Most Hated Books: Player's Guide to Faerun, Unapproachable East, Underdark, Mysteries of the Moonsea, Netheril set.
Old Sage 01-13-07, 07:57 PM	'Tis an easy choice for me... My own compiled "Border Kingdoms" sourcebook that contains ALL of Ed's published (so far) material on the region. :dancin:
MerrikCale 01-13-07, 08:54 PM	Most Hated Books: Player's Guide to Faerun, Unapproachable East, Underdark, Mysteries of the Moonsea, Netheril set. I didn't think Unapproachable East and Underdark were that bad.
Board_Rider 01-13-07, 09:14 PM	I like Lost Empires of Faerun.
Azar_of_Faerun 01-13-07, 10:58 PM	I didn't think Unapproachable East and Underdark were that bad. Don't feed the disembodied voice :)
FRBRAZIL 01-13-07, 11:48 PM	I think my favorite book is Lost Empires of Faerūn, and come on, Silver Maches could be better, but I like it...
Shemeska the Marauder 01-14-07, 11:52 PM	2e: Faiths & Avatars 3e: Fiendish Codex I (hey, it includes FR deities)
Alac Luin 01-15-07, 09:25 PM	2ed- Aurora's Whole Realm Catalog 3.X- Unapproachable East (not awe inspireing, but felt it was solid)
Bocklin 01-16-07, 03:58 AM	Sticking to the third edition: 1 - Lost Empires of Faerūn This book is incredibly useful in terms of getting the history and background to things right. Plus it has the right proportion of fluff/crunch. Feats and PrC are not so many and are well anchored in the book's fluff (all positive to me). 2 - Unnaproachable East Is the perfect regional book for me. A lot of fluff, important locales are covered (with good maps) and you also get to discover a bit about less-known locales. It also offers great plots to DMs and the character options are really something different ("good" different). 3 - Player's Guide to Faerūn A big pile of crunch, with a bit of fluff (that should probably not be there). But it is really the necessary accessory every player need to design truly 3.5 Realmsian characters. That's my personal top 3. Bocklin
Ateth_Istarlin 01-16-07, 04:50 AM	1E/2E - Aurora's Whole Realms catalogue (just the most useful book ever!) 3E - Lost Empires of Faerun, Silver Marches, & Magic of Faerun.
The ShapeLess One 01-16-07, 04:21 PM	3e Lost Empires of Faerūn, & Magic of Faerun. The only 2e I have is Elminster's Ecologies. I really like those anyhow.
Penknight 01-16-07, 04:29 PM	Boxed Set: The Ruins of Myth Drannor 2nd Edition: The Complete Book of Elves/Elves of Evermeet 3E/3.5: Nothing has really impressed me thus far.
theartistformerlyknownas 01-16-07, 05:25 PM	2nd- Code of the Harpers, Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves, and The Volo's Guide series. 3rd/3.5- The obvious nod to The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Silver Marches, Magic of Faerun, Power of Faerun , and Races of Faerun, in that order. The Volo's Guides were the most useful books I ever saw in my campaign, and the CotH was my overall favorite, for its infinite useful trivia on my favorite organization. With the release of 3rd edition, Magic of Faerun had the most crunch, which was doubly appreciated, Silver Marches being my favorite region gets auto kudos, (although the book was missing a few things I would have wanted to see, the articles from Ed filled it out nicely). Races of Faerun is my favorite book to loan out to beginning players looking to get into roleplaying (on loan to my girlfriend at the moment). And that's that.
bobsan 01-17-07, 12:12 PM	when it comes to 2nd Ed books, it's hard to decide. The 2nd Ed books, to me, just seemed to have the right feel to them and they all seemed great. I'll admit, three of my favs were the Waterdeep Box Set (I miss box sets), the Volo Series, and Aurora's Wholesale Realms. For 3rd Ed, I'd have to go with Lost Empires. It was chuck full of history and fluff (At least, moreso than most other 3rd Ed books seemed. Which I miss from my books)
Cincinnati 01-20-07, 09:03 PM	Shining South
ORC_Paradox 01-21-07, 08:19 AM	I like the Volo guides, but I have to say my all time favorite is Aurora's Whole Realms Cataloge. For 3e, I'd say the Lords of Darkness. I also like the quality of the 3e FR products. Everything from the fonts, to the paper used, to the map colors, to the page edge design. Visually, the FR books are very nice looking.
rigon 01-21-07, 12:42 PM	The Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1e Grey Box) No need for further books. R-
Bocklin 01-22-07, 03:07 AM	Hi All, Had some time on my hand and felt like making a count of the "votes" so far. I made a separate count for the 3rd edition and the older ones. The way I counted is as follow: if the person just named a book in one given edition, I attributed 4 points to that book. If more than one book was listed, the first one got 3 points and the second one 1 point. I know it's just my subjective system, but I had fun. That's what purpose number one, purpose number two was the ranking: In 3rd Edition, we have the following results so far: 1 - "Lost Empires of Faerūn", with 30 points! 2 - "Unnaproachable East", with 9 points 3 - "Power of Faerūn" and "Silver Marches", both with 8 points Then, in respective order, we have: SS, MoF, SK, LoD, RoF, W:CoS. Quite interesting to see how often LEoF was named. In 2nd and previous Editions, we have the following results so far: 1 - "Sea of Fallen Stars" and "Aurora's Whole Realm Catalog", both with 12 points 2 - "Faiths and Avatars", with 9 points On the third place, we have a bunch of books that got each named once on their own and thus have been attributed 4 points: "El's Ecologies", "Elves of Evermeet" and the "Volo Series". Other books were named in lists and never more than once, thus they got 3 or 1 points. Nothing of this is representative of anything (not even of these boards), but this is fun! :D Keep votes coming, I'd like to see how this goes... Bocklin Additional remarks: - I did not count the FRCS, and just moved to the next choice of the voter. - The Simbul had listed a lot of books and split 3.0 and 3.5, so it was hard to attribute points. I gave 1 for each first two books listed by her under 3.0 and 3.5, so she gets 4 points to give to 3rd edition books, like other voters. - Did not know what to do of GothicDan's most hated books, so I just ignored his bad feelings. ;) - I also did not include non-FR books that were named (e.g. Fiendish Codex). - Did not know what to do with products named "boxed sets" and listed apart, so I just ignored them (2 instances)
Teh Lurv 01-22-07, 11:32 PM	2nd Ed: I personally enjoyed the Volo Guides myself. I used the Volo's Guide to Waterdeep to great effect. Since the guides are mostly written in an ingame tone, it made a great game prop for the party to consult. 3rd Ed: I'd vote for Lost Empires but I have only glanced at my copy so far... So my vote is for Lords of Darkness. Most often consulted FR book I own.
yarethon 01-23-07, 08:25 AM	2e- Secrets of the magister; Cormanthyr empire of elves; hall of heroes ; Netheril empire of magic. ( in this order) 3E- Silver Marshes; Power of Faerun; Waterdeep ; Shining South . ( in this order) Secrets of the magister is, a "must read" book because of its quality and flavour. Cromanthyr has a huge amount of (good) information. I like hall o heroes better than it's sucessors ( heroes' lorebook and villains' lorebook). For the 3E books, clearly I do enjoy "lore" ... and those mentioned are my favorite.
Lilith-Darkmoon 01-24-07, 03:21 PM	2E: Volo's Guide to Cormyr 3E: Lost Empires of Faerun
DavidBedlam 01-26-07, 06:12 PM	I like the twin books Champions of Ruin and Champions of Valor. Mainly because I like how they can help you go and make a really good/evil character/npc without the over the top "look how increadably eeeeeeeevil this is" that The Book of Vile Darkness slips into sometimes. I haven't brought Unapproachable East, but that fluff looks mighty tempting.