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Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster's Forgotten Realms

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The Forgotten Realms is the most successful and widely known Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting ever created, and it owes its existence to creator Ed Greenwood.

This 160-page book describes the campaign setting as it lives and breathes in the imagination of its creator. Through the alter ego of Elminster, Archmage of Shadowdale, Ed Greenwood presents the Realms as a setting where companies of crazed adventurers are born and have rich lives, and where they get to call the shots. In this book, Ed presents a world where friendships are forged, endless intrigues unfold, and heroes wage war against the monstrous inhabitants of famous dungeons and untamed wildernesses.

Product History

Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster's Forgotten Realms (2012) is an edition-neutral sourcebook for the Forgotten Realms. It was published in October 2012.

Farewell to 4e. (Take Two.) Two months before the release of Elminster's Forgotten Realms, Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue (2012),
appeared as an edition-neutral sourcebook, marking the end of the D&D 4e era (2008-2012). This was a trend that Wizards had also following during the transition between D&D 3e and 4e (2007-2008); it was intended to keep supplements relevant even past the lifespan of a game edition.

Now, Elminster's Forgotten Realms put the final nail in 4e's coffin: not only was it another edition-neutral book, but it was also the first book to do away with the D&D 4e trade dress. Its cover and interior instaed mixed elegant blacks with constrained parchments — a big change from the brighter colors and plainer whites used during the D&D 4e era.

Returning to the Realms. Elminster's Forgotten Realms was also the harbinger of another major change: a return to the Forgotten Realms. During the 4e era, Wizards' production plans called for the publication of just three books for each setting, after which the company would move on to a new world in the next year. The Forgotten Realms got its spotlight in 2008, and for a few years after that, the only support for the setting came from organized play programs like Living Forgotten Realms (2008-Present) and D&D Encounters (2010-Present).

D&D Insider offered a little support for the Realms with the advent of Ed Greenwood's "Eye on the Realms" column in Dungeon #172 (December 2009), but Wizards didn't publish any more mass-market book until almost the end of the 4e product line, when Neverwinter Campaign Setting (2011) and Halls of Undermountain (2012) appeared. Five Realms RPG books produced over five years was a historic low that had never been seen before. It was a total that was matched by any one or two years of Realms publication from 1987-2007. But now, that nadir was finally ending.

The inflection point came with the publication of the editionless Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue and Elminster's Forgotten Realms. A year later, when Wizards started publishing new mass-market RPG books again, the Realms would once more be at the heart of the game. From summer 2013 to the end of 2015, Wizards has published another seven mass-market Realms adventures plus one sourcebook. They've also produced three mass-market Realms PDFs, including two more adventures and one mini-sourcebook.

Origins. Wizards had a simple concept for Elminster's Forgotten Realms: get Realms creator Ed Greenwood back in the game. They wrote:

"We basically went to Ed and said hey, why don't you take all your campaign notes, all the information you've been putting together for your FR campaign and let's compile it into a book. Show us the Realms as you've developed it in your campaign setting and let's get that to everybody. It's our celebration of the Forgotten Realms and pulling back the curtain to show you what the designer of the campaign setting has done."

Unearthing the History of the Realms. When Greenwood handed the Realms over to developer Jeff Grubb and TSR in the '80s, he sent them numerous packets of Realmslore material that detailed the world. Elminster's Forgotten Realms for the first time ever reprints about 30 pages of those notes, making it a crucial historical reference for fans of the setting.

The earliest packets date back to 1986 and are each labeled "An [Xth] Look at the Realms". They're type-written and sometimes illustrated. Though the first packet was "just" 15 pages, longer 40-60 page packets followed. Each week, Grubb would ask Greenwood to detail something, and he would, sending out the response by snail mail. Of the "looks" excerpted in Elminster's Forgotten Realms, the 7th is the longest, listing a count of 205 pages!

The details depicted in these brief excerpts are amazing. One packet includes a person-by-person census of Shadowdale. Another responds to a potential cover for the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1987) with hand-drawings of "Robin Hoody" Realms costumes that moved away from the near-naked swords & sorcery conceptions of fantasy that had been popular in the '60s ad '70s. With so much detail, it's no wonder that TSR decided to publish a whole setting — and it's no wonder that it quickly became TSR's most deeply and most supplemented world!

Exploring the Realms. Prior to the publication of Elminster's Forgotten Realms, TSR and Wizards had published four major Forgotten Realms references: the 1e Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1987), the 2e Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (1993), the 3e Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2001), and the 4e Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide (2008). They were each major overviews of the Realms … and totally unlike this new reference.

If Elminster's Forgotten Realms has any predecessor, it's Ed Greenwood's own series of Volo Guides (1992-1996, 2000). Like those books, this one is all about the details of the Forgotten Realms: the small-picture Realmslore rather than the big descriptions. It's about how people live their lives, not where political boundaries are drawn. It's entirely fluff, but richly detailed fluff.

The details of Elminster's Forgotten Realms are divided into six major parts: life in the realms; laws and orders; hearth and home; money matters; gods and followers; and the art (i.e., magic). Even sections that seem like typical gaming fare aren't. Thus, the section on gods doesn't just talk about the deities that people worship, but also why the people of the Realms tolerate evil churches and how temples raise funds.

The setting of Elminster's Forgotten Realms was somewhat surprising for fans. It's largely focused on life in the 1350s, before any of the changes brought on by the D&D game. Sentences here and there touch upon events as late as the 1400s, but they're mostly asides and additions, not the core of the content. Some fans thought this might herald an upcoming reboot to do away with the changes implemented by D&D 4e, but D&D 5e (2014) continued right on with the Realms' metaplot chronology — albeit while reversing some of D&D 4e's major effects.

About the Creators. Greenwood is of course the creator of the Forgotten Realms. Following his work on the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide (2008), he'd largely stepped away from RPG work on the Realms during the 4e era, so this marked a major return.

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.

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Reviews (5)
Discussions (19)
Customer avatar
Chad O October 11, 2024 7:08 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The softcover book is cheaper than the PDF. I was going to buy this but that's just silly so I guess I'll pass.
Customer avatar
Kablooey F November 29, 2022 8:28 pm UTC
why no hardcover?
Customer avatar
Heath I February 22, 2022 5:06 pm UTC
I think there's a typo in the "Farewell to 4e paragraph": It mentions this book "Elminster's Forgotten Realms, Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue". I haven't been able to find even a reference to this publication anywhere outside of this summary and believe its actually just "Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue", which is discussed later in the text. I believe they're the same publication.
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Customer avatar
Matthias B February 22, 2022 5:14 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The typo is just the single colon after "Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue". If you remove it the whole sentence makes sense again.
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Customer avatar
Heath I February 22, 2022 9:31 pm UTC
Umm, there is no single colon after "Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue", but there is one in the middle. I think the typo is that you're italicizing "Elminster's Forgotten Realms, ". You've referenced two different book titles: 1) Elminster's Forgotten Realms, Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue and 2) Menzoberranzan: City of Intrigue

My issue was that I was trying to find book #1, which I don't think exists as #2 is the real title.
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Customer avatar
Matthias B February 23, 2022 7:10 am UTC
PURCHASER
...See more
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Customer avatar
Heath I February 23, 2022 3:33 pm UTC
ah, i'm stupid. thanks!
Customer avatar
Ben R May 11, 2021 11:16 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Just got my POD copy. To give some information on the quality - the softcover looks great, and the binding feels just fine for a book of this size. The paper used is matte, which means it doesn't look nice but it does mean the book is nice and lightweight. It is definitely true that whatever source they used to print from is comparatively low resolution. Text is blurry, and the art suffers for it. There are white margins around all sides of the page. But it's not egregious - no massively wasted space, and all the text is legible throughout at any size. The art is all still identifiable - you can tell what you're looking at.
Is it as nice as owning an original? No. Is it as nice as it could possibly be? No. Is it completely usable, readable, nice to look at, and a fraction of the cost of a secondhand copy? Absolutely. So keep that in mind. This doesn't replace owning an original if you're a collector, but if you want a physical copy of the book at the table to use and reference, it beats printing out the...See more
Customer avatar
Mike B January 17, 2021 3:51 am UTC
Has the print on demand improved for this title? This seems to be the only way to purchase a copy of it.
Customer avatar
Hayden S November 22, 2020 12:03 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I just got the PDF but all the pictures are blank. Anything I can do to fix this?
Customer avatar
Jo-Jo E October 12, 2020 7:12 pm UTC
Does this still suffer from blurry text?
Customer avatar
Aarón C August 04, 2020 1:46 pm UTC
I just received a POD copy for me and a copy for my friend of this book and it's quite bad quality. DMsGuild refunded me the cost, but I recommend to avoid printed copies of this book as scan is not very good (blurry text) and PDF did not get treatment appropiated for POD considerations, and you will get white margins on all pages, side, top and bottom, displaced spine image, etc. Also, standard color is not very good for the quite colorful and vibrant pieces of interior art.
Get the PDF, it's an awesome book, and wait until WotC fix this thing and add premium color option in case you want in printed.
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Customer avatar
Matthias B August 04, 2020 1:51 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Could you have told me that more than a week ago?
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Customer avatar
Aarón C August 04, 2020 1:54 pm UTC
DMsGuild/DTRPG customer service is very good and they will help you regarding a refund, I just received mine today and they were fast and helpful. I wanted to warn about this product ASAP but I can't travle back in time, sorry Matthias! :P
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Customer avatar
Matthias B August 06, 2020 12:09 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Well, I've got it. The PoD version may not be the best but it is usable unlike some others I've got which are not useable.
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Customer avatar
William G August 28, 2020 8:21 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I concur the PoD is abysmal quality. My copy has large white bleed bars on either side. Really not what I had come to expect from DTRPG PoD.
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Customer avatar
William G August 28, 2020 10:21 pm UTC
PURCHASER
But yes customer support were incredibly responsive. So kudos to them.
Customer avatar
Matthias B July 22, 2020 5:31 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I've got one question about the PoD: Are the pages all on the correct sheets? I've got one PoD book in which that was not the case and the book became unsuable because the page numbering could not be seen and tables/images which originally spread across two pages were now on the different sides of one sheet.
Customer avatar
Chokechai V July 07, 2020 7:42 am UTC
PURCHASER
Is there a hardcover available?
Customer avatar
Andrés L July 04, 2020 2:09 am UTC
PURCHASER
Does anyone have a picture of how the softcover POD looks? i am worried it will break appart with that many pages
Customer avatar
charles B May 14, 2020 4:25 pm UTC
I am considering using this in a solitaire Basic and Xpert rules...
with a splash of Basic Fantasy .
Will this work?
Customer avatar
Stephen G January 29, 2020 10:53 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Does it have detailed maps? Especially Shadowdale and surrounding areas?
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Customer avatar
Shane J January 29, 2020 11:38 pm UTC
PURCHASER
No not really, there aren't many maps at all. There's a map of Halruaa, plus the map you can see on page 9 of the Preview.

What is in the book, is described well in this Twitter thread:
https://twitter.com/newbiedm/status/1047683748161105922
Customer avatar
Matt B May 24, 2019 7:21 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Great POD copy.
Customer avatar
Shane J December 18, 2018 6:11 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This PDF doesn't show the images in GoodReader on my iPad. Kind of disappointing, since that is where I read all my other PDFs.
Customer avatar
Brian R October 04, 2018 2:32 am UTC
It's great to know that this is POD. If I already didn't own this, I'd grab it from here. Besides an insight into Ed's original vision, it's a great resource for almost any era of the Realms!
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