1994, Poland, Europe, my RPG first time. DM: " You are walking through Cormanthor Forest and see a giant spider web across the patch. What are you doing?".
1987, Waldon Books in the Mall, Fayetteville, NC. I saw the horse rider in the mist cover and knew I was home. I was reading Raymond E. Feist Riftwar and Empire series and felt a certain kinship in the two worlds that I loved. We played, and continue to play, so much in the FR, loved the geopolitical world building as well as the pantheon. Thank you so much for your creative worldbuilding! I can't get enough of this channel and always am excited when a new episode drops.
2001, in a big book fair we still get in my hometown there were some older books on a sales bin in the local D&D publisher at the time. I left that fair with the 2nd edition collection of forgotten realms books. Shadowdale, undermountain, a grand tour of the realms and running the realms, as well as a AD&D revised 2nd ed. players handbook Those were probably my first D&D and rpg books ever.
Getting arrested in Neverwinter. We broke out eventually, DM really didn't want it to be as easy as lifting a key. Then my poor thief Viad tripped the first trap he came across and got smooshed. lol But it hooked me.
As DM I generally have stories going on that the PCs only occasionally intersect with. I like to tell players new to my table that its a player driven campaign and they are free to ignore all the plot hooks and pursue their own path. But all their choices will have an impact on the world for good or ill.
I was a 6yr old boy when my big brothers brought me into their campaign. I watch the dnd cartoon and really wanted to be the barbarian kid with a club with scale mail but my brother guided me to be like the OGs: a true neutral grey elf fighter/magic-user/thief; and the fragged anyone who was different lol. Couple years later, my big brother would only let me be DM despite my begging him to take his old seat. He said it was because i memorized everything about Kara-Tur. Thanks again Ed. I'd love to hear stories about Gary and all the others I've seen their names countless times.✌️
1987. Moved from Basic D&D to 1st Edition to 2nd Edition. It was the first setting I bought. Grey Box edition. Feel in love with the setting from the first day. Amazing work Mr. Greenwood, thank you 🙂
Listening to Ed talk about the Forgotten Realms was like listening to Albert Einstein talk about Relativity. I wish they would have used his sagely advice when WoTC rolled out the Red Wizards on their recent video. Ed is a treasure to both the Realms and Dungeons and Dragons as a whole. Thanks so much for sharing.
this is some Tenets plot, if he created the idea of Elminster in forgotten realms Elminster could travel back in time and seed the idea of Elminster and the forgotten realms in all possible time lines to ensure its survival agains the mind flayer empire of the future.
I watched one video and subbed.. Then I had to know how long Elminster had a TH-cam. Ed you are the greatest. I love your books and your realms. To me, you are the God of DungeonMasters.
My brother still plays the same character (among others) he started playing in the 5th grade. We are all in our 40s today. I’m 49. Elwyn Aramanthalis. He has become an NPC when i Dm for other groups. Has a guild called Arcana Magna. And is a high lord of the House of Aramanthalis and is more a friendly trickster that always has an unexpected twist. We have stats for him in becmi, ad&d, and 3.X. And shadow of the demon lord. My early characters are all dead. Great book selections you are giving. I need to reread some of them
Ed i have been playing since '82 . i never had a chance to officially say thank you .I lost my mother young too , i also dove into fantasy and your world you shared with us was a big part of escaping . Bless you good sir . and truly , deeply ,and eternally grateful.
My first experience of the Forgotten Realms was in the novels, Spellfire I think I was 18 at the time. I've always loved reading, imagining wonderful places I could go... now, I'm 46 and part of me still feels that child like wonder and desire to see the (less dangerous) places of worlds like Toril, if places like this were real, if magic exists, I would DIVE into studying to become a wizard 🤣. Those books made it a little more real for me. Thank you Ed :) I heard this story a while ago. Now... I've LONG wondered (if the gates to Toril actually existed, not in game terms) if Elminster would help a person coming from earth go back via his gate to Earth right away or just be a bit of a prick and have them run around like a chicken doing some tasks just for the fun of it.
I think Elminster is slowly transferring his essence into Ed. Mystra wants to spread the magic beyond Toril, and Ed's doing it with Forgotten Realms. I only really delved into the Forgotten Realms as a setting when I was 18 as a DM so I could expand from the Dragon of Icespire Peak box. For my 21st birthday last month my boyfriend got me a scroll map of Faerun, and I'm still running the same game
Nice to see you out here on TH-cam, Ed! @MrRhexx, and others, have some rather interesting deep dives into the Forgotten Realms lore, that seem well researched. My exposure was a few FR box sets and modules for AD&D, and got further into the setting via the 90's and early 00's video games. More recently with 5e D&D. Good stuff!
Thank you so much, Ed, for all the years playing in your world and having a D&D blast! I was born when it started with you, but I'm very grateful! Don't let the newer folks and systems ruin or turn from the beauty and fun you brought us!! 🙏🙂What a wonderful story of beginnings for us...thank you!!
Great interview and very thought provoking. Thanks for sharing. I first came upon the term multiverse from the Arduin books by Dave Hargrave and then read the Elric series after that. But I was aware that Hyperborea by Robert E Howard was an alternate earth or ancient earth. That CS Lewis had created a dimensional portal of the wardrobe. I still read things like 1632 by Eric Flint and love those types of stories. TSR codified roleplaying, but as kids we were already doing it while we played growing up. When we got miniatures (plastic army men, cowboys, indians, dinosaurs, spacemen, GI Joes, Barbies, Johnny West) we began roleplaying. We just didn't have the dice. This is how I explained it to my daughters and wife when they attempted to learn to play roleplaying games. Both daughters are now grown and are gaming ladies and have been playing since they were small. Keep up the amazing work Ed.
These are amazing. Mr. Greenwood is a treasure. Thank you, Mr. Greenwood for sharing your world with us all, and allowing the rest of us to escape our mundane lives and adventure within your beautifully created world.
When it comes to d&d settings, did you have much input in planescape, spelljammer or other similar products that featured references or parts of the Forgotten Realms?
My dungeon master told us of this mysterious city called Myth Drannor. We didn't go straight there, but kept hearing about this dangerous place in rumors in the world. Good stuff.
Chris Perkins once said in an interview that the forgotten realms has its name from all these forgotten civilizations (Founding Races, Elfs, Dwarfs etc) Aparrently he was wrong
Wow…. Listening to Ed you can really tell his level of intelligence and knowledge, especially in terms of literature and mythology. Truly a treasure! Thank you, sir!!
15:19 I really like how Ed Greenwood was mentioning this it's not just the DM creating the NPCs but also the players. Which I've seen amongst other sessions before. Custom NPCs just create themselves
This is fascinating! I need to check out the early realms stuff as the current state of the realms I have not found particularly compelling. Yet all these stories have so much flavor and flair!
The thing a like about the realms is that while it has myriad array of "Points of interest". It also has the realistic fantasized projection of all the diverse old cultures of the world in a "realistic" way. And each and everyone of them has all the powerful, secretive, intriguing and unique pieces of the puzzle to make a complete campaign setting. From medieval Europe to the jungles of Africa or the mystic Asia or even a cosmopolitan setting, if you fancy it, you'll find it on the map! The loose structure gives a lot of freedom and continuity, Now if Mystria would stop having 'accidents' every time new D&D edition comes out... . . . Or is she really the goddess of ret-coning all along messing with the realms from the depths of Limbo or worse...?
Computer nerd from '85 my first encounter was the Eye of the Beholder games, I think, memory from early years is fuzzy :) tried out the Hero Quest board game, read some Dragonlance and found there were other settings, and recognized Waterdeep like coming home - once I learnt better English it just expanded from there, inspiring how vast all of it is, thank you for keeping it going! Faerun was here long before I existed, may it last long after I do not.
I dare say, this sounds like the Tall Witch has done well, time will tell😊 Speculation and observation aside, the prize is within reach. Working with dragons is exhausting 😅 I deeply appreciate all the amazing work you have done for this. I do hope that I get a chance to pay you in kind for your efforts. This has helped countless people in surprising ways, and will do more so in the future.
Very insightful and made with a lot of heart. That’s what seems to be missing from today’s world but I’m glad you guys are putting knowledgeable content out for those that found DnD or any other ttrpg games as a beacon of light especially in hard times, that’s where I fell in love with the game and this channel has my full support always
I used to draw so many maps and create my own little mythos and stories with my best friend as a child. Whenever we’d make a character for any game we’d add them to our “lore”. Two of our favorites to this day are characters we made for a video game Gauntlet Dark Legacy, the character limit for names was a mere 5 so we made Vaard the Yellow Wizard and his obviously evil scheming jester Hoade. I just wish I could write books for them that weren’t terrible. (Found the beginnings of some stories I wrote in my teens and I almost wanted to rip them up cause they were so derivative.)
Listening to Ed takes me back to 1975 when I discovered what became D&D. Took some of the stress out of college. Have to admit I prefer his Realms to Greyhawk.
I had to take a moment to pause the video in order to see if the Hand Harp and a Lyre are the same thing. From what I can tell they are. I actually learned to play music because of playing a bard in D&D for so long. I have always thought that both Volo and Elminster represent different apsects of Ed's personality.
The original Forgotten Realms is one of the best Fantasy settings I know. The old AD&D sourcebooks are still my main source for all things FR. It is interesting, but not really surprising, that two of the Seven Sisters are the first characters 'created' for this world. I would really like to seem all seven of them return in their full glory.
Great video Mr. Greenwood! Just a question for you: do you know the world of Aventuria? The setting behind the Dark Eye rpg? If yes, what do you think of this setting?
Ed's process of writing sounds very much like how Tolkien described his process. It's like he was discovering a history of a world that already existed, not creating a brand new one.
So perhaps poetically, when Mirt was getting-in-deep, he ended up somewhere(_____deep) where other depths out-scaled what depths of trouble he never went beyond, as the scope of the stories and characters expanded? don't worry about the old-comic book tackyness of Mirt, Ed. things have changed so quickly in such a short amount of time, in less time than even the lifetime of one parent and that of their child, it's no wonder that stories are changing so quickly. too.
Did the Thoans in the world of tiers perhaps help you/Ed escape feelings of inevitability or control over fate, as he was finding little support with just the one work-committed parent, in perhaps also a religiously-oppressive start in life, which is something many go through,.. but in a way that inspired being able to control one's own? It's good to then see how other worlds connected to the realms like Abeir and others further away in the void, or parallel to the realms, then, could also be further indicators of religion finally losing it's grip on us all, even if for however long, our making-do with what we've got, might feel for some embarassing, in terms of what only they-few pioneers, had to expose to the wider world, when sci-fi often used to be decried as a waste of time, or childish, compared to hard or emperial science. You're one of them Ed! onya mate. spending that much time writing, rather than playing, ATM, might not have the same appeal, but things like cybernetics, will not only increase the potential for a lot of creation-of-imagination, but also synchronised creation, with or without long narratives. What we will find, in long narratives, will still be unable to be replaced somehow, by the eye-catching, or simply gratuitous, so however storytelling will, will not need to be written narratives, per se, but they WILL remain, storytelling, you can kick the bucket, being sure of that.
It'd be very interesting to know what Ed thinks about the current state and changes of d&d and the Forgotten Realms setting. I think many things have changed since he created it, there have been polemics and debates about a lot of stuff, but it'd be nice to hear from the creator himself since we're so lucky to have him here on TH-cam. In my opinion, what was great about the previous versions, were the limits. There were attributes limitations, race and alignment boundaries, but they weren't debilitating anyhow; they would just create meaning for the game and actually inspire your creativity and fantasy. Nowadays the trend seems to be to equalize everything, new manuals are taking away racial malus and bonus, campaigns are ignoring backgrounds of cities, regions and races in the name of inclusivity and politically correctness, alignment restrictions for classes basically don't exist anymore. Everything looks so plain, everything is possible. Back then, I loved limitations because I've always wanted to play around them, make unusual characters, but do it in a reasoned way, all lore considered. Creativity used to come from boundaries and limits, not from limitless possibilities. I wonder what's Ed's take on this.
I agree, the streamlining of everything is a major problem, really in any fandom at this point. WOTC saw DnD grow in popularity, greed got the better of them so they make these changes to attract more people, perhaps to the detriment of dnd and it's settings
According to the video game publisher Nexon, they invented the fantasy genre, and the developers of Dark and Darker could have only gotten inspiration for their game from them.
Well maybe he was not youre alterego back there. But, i think, yeah he is now. Sortoff. Imagen Mage, i say, its a good alterego for a real mage, I raise on youre stories and worlds, so i feel that way.
Mr. Greenwood. Why did you choose the ancient-Greek-like system of gods over the monotheistic one? For me (a fan of the Middle Ages), it has always been a puzzle and a hindrance.
Back in the 60s and 70s, my older brother and I invented stories in much the same way, but we didn't invent any lasting worlds. I didn't create my 1st world setting in 1982, and that world is lost to time. My 1st lasting world started in 1983 and has evolved since.
His parents die he gets lost discovers a deep empowerment and love of Magic and were givin a life long goal to spread the lore and love of magic becoming in many lives one of the most influenceal decent Old Sage of all time. Just saying El'S favoriote wizard spell was shapeshifting and spying instead of big dancy displays of power if I'm not way off.
Hey, Ed! When is Dungeons and Dragons Online going to get more Forgotten Realms content? Seems like ages since that MMO (which is superior to Neverwinter/WoW-lite) visited Faerun. The game already has the High Road, so there should be paths to Waterdeep all the way to Luskan!
Sir I can't explain how both our minds think of the same shit but I absolutely predicted the 11:35 or atleast made my own version. Okay, so I wanted to play a Fairy bard who somehow got lost in the portal city of Sigil. Now through some grand escape the PC "Zapp" makes his way through the city opening any door/portal that looked familiar while being pursued. The door he picks is intact our current reality. Not only that but drops right in the middle of a musical festival somewhere. In my mind it was a way of adding some comedy to the role. Making new age quips etc. In the middle of all this I was pondering why there isn't a God directly related to bards. Example every other God can play an instrument but not every God sole focuses on it. So back to the tale. Zapp feeling so inspired by the music and people around him decides so reveal himself to the audience and begins playing his Lute. My opinion on faith and God's is similar to D&d's view. The more faith or "thought" you put into something gives it power. Zapp being in our reality invigorated our worlds magic or atleast "jumpstarted" it after magic being absent for so long. Zapp playing for this gigantic crowd along with the magic he brought with him would spawn a new God. The God of Rock "Atherious (the Sonic Sovereign) Zapp eventually would move on to be a mix between Bard and Cleric. Lmao I loved making him but he eventually had to become a NPC due to how much his character blew up. Anyone feel free to use Atherious. Just role play him as Jack Black from Tenacious D or School of Rock and it works out just fine. Thanks for the time and anyone who got through my horrible grammar
Moral of the story is someone mentions to Zapp about where he came from. While explaining he mentions he went through a world with "No gods and only one race. HUMANS! Many different types and they all hated eachother" he later mentions "its a realm many in our world have FORGOTTEN" in which I pause from Dm'ing to say "And welcome to the Forgotten Relams" usually end the session like that if I ever use this storyline in particular. Hahahahaha love it.
D&D and TTRPG's were always a way for me and a lot of my friends to escape from our real-world problems. Now, the new generation of players and people who could careless about the game are cramming everyones real-world issues into the game. I hate playing D&D now because these johnny-come- laties are telling me I'm a racist because I have evil orc's in my game. I miss and love the memories I have of playing D&D with my friends all night through the weekend. The excitement of waiting the whole week just to do it again the next weekend.
that is only the symptom of a greater problem Many pop culture descriptions of non western cultures were racist, not necessarily intentionally but OTOH Barker the maker of Tekumel was very racist to the marrow of the bone. And then there are people who suffered under racism IRL
@@joshuaosiris Yes, next year or so i play for 30 years but there are people who play without a care of the traumata gamers on their table may have experienced from rape to PTSD
@@thodan467 I'm sure you have played for thirty years.🙄 The only thing you are doing is giving me more evidence that proves my point! You and people like you are the reason WoTC is dying. Congratulations on tearing down what great men like Ed Greenwood built.
Something I do want to ask you, Ed. What was your opinion in the recent attempt for WoTC's execs to utterly fuck over everyone for money? I'd love to hear your opinion on their handling of the entire game system and how it nearly killed the desire for people to play DnD?
The Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide p 96. Tirumala is a holy city built on seven hills according to the book with your name on it. This was ruled by the pure evil rakshasa Tirumala is called the "so-called Holy City" in this entry. This whole idea involving the kenku and rakshasa in Estagund is pretty weak based on the great setting of the Adama. But in this case, how absolutely lame you went -- Tirumala is a location with 7 holy hills in India. Shame on Wotc for not editing this out.
What was your first experience with the Realms?
1994, Poland, Europe, my RPG first time. DM: " You are walking through Cormanthor Forest and see a giant spider web across the patch. What are you doing?".
In the early 90s, a friend introduced me to the gray box with its huge maps: "Wow!"
1987, Waldon Books in the Mall, Fayetteville, NC. I saw the horse rider in the mist cover and knew I was home. I was reading Raymond E. Feist Riftwar and Empire series and felt a certain kinship in the two worlds that I loved. We played, and continue to play, so much in the FR, loved the geopolitical world building as well as the pantheon. Thank you so much for your creative worldbuilding! I can't get enough of this channel and always am excited when a new episode drops.
2001, in a big book fair we still get in my hometown there were some older books on a sales bin in the local D&D publisher at the time. I left that fair with the 2nd edition collection of forgotten realms books. Shadowdale, undermountain, a grand tour of the realms and running the realms, as well as a AD&D revised 2nd ed. players handbook
Those were probably my first D&D and rpg books ever.
Getting arrested in Neverwinter. We broke out eventually, DM really didn't want it to be as easy as lifting a key. Then my poor thief Viad tripped the first trap he came across and got smooshed. lol But it hooked me.
I refuse to believe that 5 Year Old Ed Greenwood didn’t have a full white beard.
;}
At 5 it was a neatly trimmed, well groomed but after 4 decades he got lazy as many old folks do and let it go. 😁
🤣
He did say clean SHAVEN. which means he was shaving already.
@@Gannon2145good spot
This needs way more views, honestly. This is super important nerd history. I don't think people realize how much is owed to this setting.
"Everyone around the characters should be doing stuff. They should all have lives." So true.
As DM I generally have stories going on that the PCs only occasionally intersect with. I like to tell players new to my table that its a player driven campaign and they are free to ignore all the plot hooks and pursue their own path. But all their choices will have an impact on the world for good or ill.
I was a 6yr old boy when my big brothers brought me into their campaign. I watch the dnd cartoon and really wanted to be the barbarian kid with a club with scale mail but my brother guided me to be like the OGs: a true neutral grey elf fighter/magic-user/thief; and the fragged anyone who was different lol. Couple years later, my big brother would only let me be DM despite my begging him to take his old seat. He said it was because i memorized everything about Kara-Tur. Thanks again Ed. I'd love to hear stories about Gary and all the others I've seen their names countless times.✌️
1987. Moved from Basic D&D to 1st Edition to 2nd Edition. It was the first setting I bought. Grey Box edition. Feel in love with the setting from the first day. Amazing work Mr. Greenwood, thank you 🙂
I'm glad you love the "old grey box" as much as we do!
When I was young, it was the books... They said things, they told me things, and it was glorious! Of course I wanted to reciprocate, so I write music.
Thank you for creating my favorite Fantasy world!❤
You're very welcome!!!
Listening to Ed talk about the Forgotten Realms was like listening to Albert Einstein talk about Relativity. I wish they would have used his sagely advice when WoTC rolled out the Red Wizards on their recent video. Ed is a treasure to both the Realms and Dungeons and Dragons as a whole. Thanks so much for sharing.
He's a white male. Didn't you hear they hate white people, especially white males.
Sure, Ed wasn't Elminster, but that was because Ed created Elminster because Elminster knew he was Ed.
this is some Tenets plot, if he created the idea of Elminster in forgotten realms Elminster could travel back in time and seed the idea of Elminster and the forgotten realms in all possible time lines to ensure its survival agains the mind flayer empire of the future.
Of course Ed isnt Elminster.... Ed created him and everything else... which makes him AO haha
@@Scott.webb64 But what if Elminster played cubid to make sure Ed's parents met, and therefore created Ed? :D
Elminster is just an avatar of Ed!
@@Scott.webb64ah yes, Ed is the Hidden One… hidden in plain sight!
A young boy of six, with a flowing white beard...
I watched one video and subbed.. Then I had to know how long Elminster had a TH-cam. Ed you are the greatest. I love your books and your realms. To me, you are the God of DungeonMasters.
Elminster, pulling a fast one and telling us all his character Ed Greenwood is real.😂
I always imagined Ed to be a bit like Fizban from the Dragonlance series😅
My brother still plays the same character (among others) he started playing in the 5th grade. We are all in our 40s today. I’m 49. Elwyn Aramanthalis.
He has become an NPC when i Dm for other groups. Has a guild called Arcana Magna. And is a high lord of the House of Aramanthalis and is more a friendly trickster that always has an unexpected twist. We have stats for him in becmi, ad&d, and 3.X. And shadow of the demon lord.
My early characters are all dead. Great book selections you are giving. I need to reread some of them
Ed i have been playing since '82 . i never had a chance to officially say thank you .I lost my mother young too , i also dove into fantasy and your world you shared with us was a big part of escaping . Bless you good sir . and truly , deeply ,and eternally grateful.
Thank you, Ed, for sharing this awesome story with us!
Thank you for listening! I'm just happy to be sharing my stories.
My first experience of the Forgotten Realms was in the novels, Spellfire I think I was 18 at the time. I've always loved reading, imagining wonderful places I could go... now, I'm 46 and part of me still feels that child like wonder and desire to see the (less dangerous) places of worlds like Toril, if places like this were real, if magic exists, I would DIVE into studying to become a wizard 🤣. Those books made it a little more real for me. Thank you Ed :)
I heard this story a while ago. Now... I've LONG wondered (if the gates to Toril actually existed, not in game terms) if Elminster would help a person coming from earth go back via his gate to Earth right away or just be a bit of a prick and have them run around like a chicken doing some tasks just for the fun of it.
Love that the discord is called the yawning portal. Just began my journey with companions into undermountain a month ago
Yes, Ed. I read your first Realms story from 1967 :)
I think Elminster is slowly transferring his essence into Ed.
Mystra wants to spread the magic beyond Toril, and Ed's doing it with Forgotten Realms.
I only really delved into the Forgotten Realms as a setting when I was 18 as a DM so I could expand from the Dragon of Icespire Peak box.
For my 21st birthday last month my boyfriend got me a scroll map of Faerun, and I'm still running the same game
Nice to see you out here on TH-cam, Ed!
@MrRhexx, and others, have some rather interesting deep dives into the Forgotten Realms lore, that seem well researched. My exposure was a few FR box sets and modules for AD&D, and got further into the setting via the 90's and early 00's video games. More recently with 5e D&D. Good stuff!
I've been imagining myself as elderly wizards since I was about 10 so it's not that far of a stretch, heh. Thanks for sharing Ed.
Thank you so much, Ed, for all the years playing in your world and having a D&D blast! I was born when it started with you, but I'm very grateful! Don't let the newer folks and systems ruin or turn from the beauty and fun you brought us!! 🙏🙂What a wonderful story of beginnings for us...thank you!!
Thank you for this channel, Mr. Greenwood! Forgotten Realms is one of my favorite destinations, ever! Since the 80s.
Thank you Mr Greenwood for keeping it and us realms. May you ever never be a forgotten.
Great interview and very thought provoking. Thanks for sharing. I first came upon the term multiverse from the Arduin books by Dave Hargrave and then read the Elric series after that. But I was aware that Hyperborea by Robert E Howard was an alternate earth or ancient earth. That CS Lewis had created a dimensional portal of the wardrobe. I still read things like 1632 by Eric Flint and love those types of stories. TSR codified roleplaying, but as kids we were already doing it while we played growing up. When we got miniatures (plastic army men, cowboys, indians, dinosaurs, spacemen, GI Joes, Barbies, Johnny West) we began roleplaying. We just didn't have the dice. This is how I explained it to my daughters and wife when they attempted to learn to play roleplaying games. Both daughters are now grown and are gaming ladies and have been playing since they were small. Keep up the amazing work Ed.
These are amazing. Mr. Greenwood is a treasure. Thank you, Mr. Greenwood for sharing your world with us all, and allowing the rest of us to escape our mundane lives and adventure within your beautifully created world.
Neat to learn about the origin of why called Forgotten Realms! =)
Thank you Mr Greenwood, you are such a fascinating narrator and your stories are enlightening! Best health to you!
When it comes to d&d settings, did you have much input in planescape, spelljammer or other similar products that featured references or parts of the Forgotten Realms?
Ed is one of the best world builders we have.
Elminster got me into writing
My dungeon master told us of this mysterious city called Myth Drannor. We didn't go straight there, but kept hearing about this dangerous place in rumors in the world. Good stuff.
Amazing! I love Ed's origin stories. I started playing d and d in 1977. I stil do.
Cheers Jeff
Chris Perkins once said in an interview that the forgotten realms has its name from all these forgotten civilizations (Founding Races, Elfs, Dwarfs etc)
Aparrently he was wrong
At this point, the setting is as much Perkins' as it is Ed's.
@@CaptPoco That doesn't mean you get to just make shit up.
Post the continuation of the talk, please.
They're available on his Patreon.
Wow…. Listening to Ed you can really tell his level of intelligence and knowledge, especially in terms of literature and mythology. Truly a treasure! Thank you, sir!!
15:19 I really like how Ed Greenwood was mentioning this it's not just the DM creating the NPCs but also the players. Which I've seen amongst other sessions before. Custom NPCs just create themselves
Curiously, when we just listen without looking at the video - we see John Delancey (aka the Q).
This is fascinating! I need to check out the early realms stuff as the current state of the realms I have not found particularly compelling. Yet all these stories have so much flavor and flair!
Was Dove really first imaged back in 1965 as a knight in Full Plate armor?
So good to hear from young Ed.
My first experience with the Realms would be reading Spellfire, which is an Amazing book. - After reading this book I was hooked!
The thing a like about the realms is that while it has myriad array of "Points of interest". It also has the realistic fantasized projection of all the diverse old cultures of the world in a "realistic" way. And each and everyone of them has all the powerful, secretive, intriguing and unique pieces of the puzzle to make a complete campaign setting. From medieval Europe to the jungles of Africa or the mystic Asia or even a cosmopolitan setting, if you fancy it, you'll find it on the map! The loose structure gives a lot of freedom and continuity,
Now if Mystria would stop having 'accidents' every time new D&D edition comes out...
.
.
.
Or is she really the goddess of ret-coning all along messing with the realms from the depths of Limbo or worse...?
Murlynd from Circle of eight was the best player character. Techno cowboy.
Computer nerd from '85 my first encounter was the Eye of the Beholder games, I think, memory from early years is fuzzy :) tried out the Hero Quest board game, read some Dragonlance and found there were other settings, and recognized Waterdeep like coming home - once I learnt better English it just expanded from there, inspiring how vast all of it is, thank you for keeping it going! Faerun was here long before I existed, may it last long after I do not.
I dare say, this sounds like the Tall Witch has done well, time will tell😊
Speculation and observation aside, the prize is within reach.
Working with dragons is exhausting 😅
I deeply appreciate all the amazing work you have done for this. I do hope that I get a chance to pay you in kind for your efforts. This has helped countless people in surprising ways, and will do more so in the future.
The last full statement about "If you want to make a campaign about re-greening the world" is something a LOT of people need to hear.
A bunch of wood elves turning the deserts into forests would be a nice story.
Very insightful and made with a lot of heart. That’s what seems to be missing from today’s world but I’m glad you guys are putting knowledgeable content out for those that found DnD or any other ttrpg games as a beacon of light especially in hard times, that’s where I fell in love with the game and this channel has my full support always
The story behind the name of the Forgotten Realms would make for an amazing movie where our world finds out about the Forgotten Realms again.
Love his book collection! ❤
Heh. That's a tiny corner of my writing office. There are 400,000 books in this house and in two shipping containers in the yard...
I used to draw so many maps and create my own little mythos and stories with my best friend as a child. Whenever we’d make a character for any game we’d add them to our “lore”.
Two of our favorites to this day are characters we made for a video game Gauntlet Dark Legacy, the character limit for names was a mere 5 so we made Vaard the Yellow Wizard and his obviously evil scheming jester Hoade. I just wish I could write books for them that weren’t terrible. (Found the beginnings of some stories I wrote in my teens and I almost wanted to rip them up cause they were so derivative.)
Don't rip them up! You were STORYTELLING. That's precious; it's what makes us human!!
as aN Major Artificer fan i would love to hear Ed Greenwoods opinion on them and talk more about how they effect the weave and weave it into items
The way you describe jumping the worlds looks very much like the one uses by Roger Zelazny in his book Princes of Amber series.
Listening to Ed takes me back to 1975 when I discovered what became D&D. Took some of the stress out of college. Have to admit I prefer his Realms to Greyhawk.
But you cannot deny that ToEE was very special, it was the first campaign that I played, I soon discovered the Grey Box FR after that I was hooked!
2nd edition. Had all kinds of modules. Dragon and Dungeons.
YER LOVED ED!!!
I still think Elminster and Volo are your alter egos, depending on how you are feeling at the time.
Heh. But there are times I feel more like Storm, or Jhaele Silvermane, or Mirt. If I've eaten something gassy, definitely Mirt.
Thanks for posting ♥️ interestingAF
I had to take a moment to pause the video in order to see if the Hand Harp and a Lyre are the same thing. From what I can tell they are.
I actually learned to play music because of playing a bard in D&D for so long.
I have always thought that both Volo and Elminster represent different apsects of Ed's personality.
Hey Ed, thank you for giving me a world I could get lost in.
Your kindergartener: Learning about 123, abc
Ed Greenwood in Kindergarten: Spaceships exploding, dragons WIZARDS FUCK YEAH
The original Forgotten Realms is one of the best Fantasy settings I know. The old AD&D sourcebooks are still my main source for all things FR. It is interesting, but not really surprising, that two of the Seven Sisters are the first characters 'created' for this world. I would really like to seem all seven of them return in their full glory.
I wonder if Ed has seen the D&D movie yet. I thought they did pretty well with the Realms lore and references.
Great video Mr. Greenwood! Just a question for you: do you know the world of Aventuria? The setting behind the Dark Eye rpg? If yes, what do you think of this setting?
TE AMO
Ed's process of writing sounds very much like how Tolkien described his process. It's like he was discovering a history of a world that already existed, not creating a brand new one.
Thank you for your video
So perhaps poetically, when Mirt was getting-in-deep, he ended up somewhere(_____deep) where other depths out-scaled what depths of trouble he never went beyond, as the scope of the stories and characters expanded? don't worry about the old-comic book tackyness of Mirt, Ed. things have changed so quickly in such a short amount of time, in less time than even the lifetime of one parent and that of their child, it's no wonder that stories are changing so quickly. too.
Reallmy, Realmy, Realmy the Gate Keepers ... Fascinating Stuff. Serious chat cloaked in the Forgotten Realms ...
Didn't Ed spy on Elminster and Mordenkainen when they were exchanging stories with one another?
I did. In many PAGES FROM THE MAGES articles in the pages of The Dragon.
Did the Thoans in the world of tiers perhaps help you/Ed escape feelings of inevitability or control over fate, as he was finding little support with just the one work-committed parent, in perhaps also a religiously-oppressive start in life, which is something many go through,.. but in a way that inspired being able to control one's own? It's good to then see how other worlds connected to the realms like Abeir and others further away in the void, or parallel to the realms, then, could also be further indicators of religion finally losing it's grip on us all, even if for however long, our making-do with what we've got, might feel for some embarassing, in terms of what only they-few pioneers, had to expose to the wider world, when sci-fi often used to be decried as a waste of time, or childish, compared to hard or emperial science. You're one of them Ed! onya mate. spending that much time writing, rather than playing, ATM, might not have the same appeal, but things like cybernetics, will not only increase the potential for a lot of creation-of-imagination, but also synchronised creation, with or without long narratives. What we will find, in long narratives, will still be unable to be replaced somehow, by the eye-catching, or simply gratuitous, so however storytelling will, will not need to be written narratives, per se, but they WILL remain, storytelling, you can kick the bucket, being sure of that.
I am enamored with the Moonshae Isles.
May you get to meet him soon, in the flesh, living of course (and corpreal, and materially, oh you get the idea...Ed).
It'd be very interesting to know what Ed thinks about the current state and changes of d&d and the Forgotten Realms setting. I think many things have changed since he created it, there have been polemics and debates about a lot of stuff, but it'd be nice to hear from the creator himself since we're so lucky to have him here on TH-cam.
In my opinion, what was great about the previous versions, were the limits. There were attributes limitations, race and alignment boundaries, but they weren't debilitating anyhow; they would just create meaning for the game and actually inspire your creativity and fantasy. Nowadays the trend seems to be to equalize everything, new manuals are taking away racial malus and bonus, campaigns are ignoring backgrounds of cities, regions and races in the name of inclusivity and politically correctness, alignment restrictions for classes basically don't exist anymore. Everything looks so plain, everything is possible.
Back then, I loved limitations because I've always wanted to play around them, make unusual characters, but do it in a reasoned way, all lore considered. Creativity used to come from boundaries and limits, not from limitless possibilities.
I wonder what's Ed's take on this.
I agree, the streamlining of everything is a major problem, really in any fandom at this point. WOTC saw DnD grow in popularity, greed got the better of them so they make these changes to attract more people, perhaps to the detriment of dnd and it's settings
According to the video game publisher Nexon, they invented the fantasy genre, and the developers of Dark and Darker could have only gotten inspiration for their game from them.
Well maybe he was not youre alterego back there. But, i think, yeah he is now. Sortoff.
Imagen Mage, i say, its a good alterego for a real mage,
I raise on youre stories and worlds, so i feel that way.
Darkwalker on Moonshae
❤
Mr. Greenwood. Why did you choose the ancient-Greek-like system of gods over the monotheistic one? For me (a fan of the Middle Ages), it has always been a puzzle and a hindrance.
Some of the video seemed chopped off at the end?
Back in the 60s and 70s, my older brother and I invented stories in much the same way, but we didn't invent any lasting worlds. I didn't create my 1st world setting in 1982, and that world is lost to time. My 1st lasting world started in 1983 and has evolved since.
Forgotten Realms is not a world created for DnD, it is the world that created DnD.
Prefer a reprint of BECMI rules and the Gazetteers. Oh, and a reprint of X10 complete with counters.
I can't think of a single five-year-old I've ever met who was clean-shaven.
His parents die he gets lost discovers a deep empowerment and love of Magic and were givin a life long goal to spread the lore and love of magic becoming in many lives one of the most influenceal decent Old Sage of all time. Just saying El'S favoriote wizard spell was shapeshifting and spying instead of big dancy displays of power if I'm not way off.
Hey, Ed! When is Dungeons and Dragons Online going to get more Forgotten Realms content? Seems like ages since that MMO (which is superior to Neverwinter/WoW-lite) visited Faerun. The game already has the High Road, so there should be paths to Waterdeep all the way to Luskan!
Sarlona ftw!
😮😊
Sir I can't explain how both our minds think of the same shit but I absolutely predicted the 11:35 or atleast made my own version.
Okay, so I wanted to play a Fairy bard who somehow got lost in the portal city of Sigil. Now through some grand escape the PC "Zapp" makes his way through the city opening any door/portal that looked familiar while being pursued. The door he picks is intact our current reality. Not only that but drops right in the middle of a musical festival somewhere. In my mind it was a way of adding some comedy to the role. Making new age quips etc.
In the middle of all this I was pondering why there isn't a God directly related to bards. Example every other God can play an instrument but not every God sole focuses on it. So back to the tale. Zapp feeling so inspired by the music and people around him decides so reveal himself to the audience and begins playing his Lute.
My opinion on faith and God's is similar to D&d's view. The more faith or "thought" you put into something gives it power. Zapp being in our reality invigorated our worlds magic or atleast "jumpstarted" it after magic being absent for so long. Zapp playing for this gigantic crowd along with the magic he brought with him would spawn a new God. The God of Rock "Atherious (the Sonic Sovereign)
Zapp eventually would move on to be a mix between Bard and Cleric. Lmao I loved making him but he eventually had to become a NPC due to how much his character blew up.
Anyone feel free to use Atherious. Just role play him as Jack Black from Tenacious D or School of Rock and it works out just fine. Thanks for the time and anyone who got through my horrible grammar
Moral of the story is someone mentions to Zapp about where he came from. While explaining he mentions he went through a world with "No gods and only one race. HUMANS! Many different types and they all hated eachother" he later mentions "its a realm many in our world have FORGOTTEN" in which I pause from Dm'ing to say "And welcome to the Forgotten Relams" usually end the session like that if I ever use this storyline in particular. Hahahahaha love it.
D&D and TTRPG's were always a way for me and a lot of my friends to escape from our real-world problems. Now, the new generation of players and people who could careless about the game are cramming everyones real-world issues into the game. I hate playing D&D now because these johnny-come- laties are telling me I'm a racist because I have evil orc's in my game. I miss and love the memories I have of playing D&D with my friends all night through the weekend. The excitement of waiting the whole week just to do it again the next weekend.
that is only the symptom of a greater problem
Many pop culture descriptions of non western cultures were racist, not necessarily intentionally but
OTOH Barker the maker of Tekumel was very racist to the marrow of the bone.
And then there are people who suffered under racism IRL
@@thodan467 You are the people I'm talking about. Thank you for the best example I could possible offer as evidence.
@@joshuaosiris
Yes, next year or so i play for 30 years
but there are people who play without a care of the traumata gamers on their table may have experienced from rape to PTSD
@@thodan467 I'm sure you have played for thirty years.🙄
The only thing you are doing is giving me more evidence that proves my point!
You and people like you are the reason WoTC is dying. Congratulations on tearing down what great men like Ed Greenwood built.
@@joshuaosiris
your point is what except the right to behave unethical
I keep telling you Ed, Elminster is an Avatar of yours.
Duh.
Start believing;use the Astral Spell.
You already know Plane Shift.
It's not your alter ego. It's just who you wanted to be and be like? Okay, kind of sounds like your alter ego. Like Ian Fleming and James Bond.
Something I do want to ask you, Ed. What was your opinion in the recent attempt for WoTC's execs to utterly fuck over everyone for money?
I'd love to hear your opinion on their handling of the entire game system and how it nearly killed the desire for people to play DnD?
That’s probably something he should stay out of
You have a very real point there. My apologies. I just respect Ed Greenwood's opinion on it.
I am glad it ended well, at least.
Very insightful. Thank you!
The Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide p 96. Tirumala is a holy city built on seven hills according to the book with your name on it. This was ruled by the pure evil rakshasa Tirumala is called the "so-called Holy City" in this entry. This whole idea involving the kenku and rakshasa in Estagund is pretty weak based on the great setting of the Adama. But in this case, how absolutely lame you went -- Tirumala is a location with 7 holy hills in India. Shame on Wotc for not editing this out.
Sounds like Orcish propaganda to me, love it ^ ^
You are El the old same and you know it if you took the foreign of eds life it sounds like you
Cheapening everything you're working for? Sounds like WotC brand slogan lol
Thanks for sharing the world. FR novels, adventuring with my friends, using the canvas to tell my own stories. I really appreciate it.