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The ''Forgotten Realms'' is a Fictional Setting for the '' Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)'' Fantasy Role-playing Game , created by Canadian author and game designer Ed Greenwood . Commonly referred to as simply ''The Realms'', it became the most popular setting with ''D&D'' gamers in the 1990s , boosted by the success of novels by authors such as R. A. Salvatore and numerous Computer Role-playing Game s such as '' Pool Of Radiance '' and '' Baldur's Gate ''. The primary focus of the setting is the Supercontinent of Faerûn , part of the world of Abeir-Toril , an Earth -like planet with many real world influences. It is a highly developed and comprehensive fantasy world, comprising of many characters, places and events, detailed in a long line of game products, novels and accesories published since the late 1980s . It is currently one of the two campaign settings that ''Dungeons & Dragons'' publisher Wizards Of The Coast is still officially creating new material for, the other one being the Eberron campaign setting. HISTORY Initial release The ''Forgotten Realms'' were originally designed by Greenwood as his own personal adventure campaign, from which he began publishing a series of short articles detailing the setting in '' Dragon '' magazine. Although ''The Realms'' were yet to be an official campaign world, the first module based on the setting, '' H1 Bloodstone Pass '', was released in 1985 by TSR . The first fully official ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Set'' (often referred to as 'the old grey box') was later released in 1987 as a boxed set of two source books and four large maps, designed by Greenwood in collaboration with author Jeff Grubb . Late 80s-Mid 90s After the initial popularity of the ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Set'', the first novel based on the setting, ''Darkwalker on Moonshae'', the first of ''The Moonshae Trilogy'', by author Douglas Niles was published in May 1987. The following year saw the release of the first novel to feature the highly successful character Drizzt Do'Urden , who has since appeared in more than seventeen subsequent novels, many of which have featured on the New York Times Best Seller List .1 In 1988 the first in a line of ''Forgotten Realms'' Computer Role-playing Game s, '' Pool Of Radiance '' was released by Strategic Simulations, Inc . The game was quite popular, winning the Origins Award for ''Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1988'', and in 1992, the game was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System . In 1989, . The setting received a revision in 1993 to update it to the newer second edition ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D)'' rules system, with the release of ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting'', containing three books and various 'monster supplements'. Additional material for the setting, as well as further novels by various authors, was released steadily throughout the 1990s. Late 90s-Present '' in 2000 , as well as '' Icewind Dale '' a separate game that utilised the same Game Engine . Several popular ''Forgotten Realms'' characters such as Drizzt Do'Urden and Elminster made minor appearances in these games. With the release of the revised ''Dungeons & Dragons'' rules system in 2000 by Wizards Of The Coast , the ''Forgotten Realms'' campaign setting received its own revision, released in 2001 , updating the official material and advancing the timeline of the game world. In 2002 , the latest revision of the ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting'' won the Origins Award for ''Best Role-Playing Game Supplement of 2001''. THE WORLD Geography Main article: Faerûn Geography . The planet of .2 Various products detailing specific areas of Faerûn have been released, and as such much of the continent has been heavily detailed and documented to create a highly developed setting. In early editions of the setting, ''The Realms'' shared a unified Cosmology with various other Campaign Setting s. In this way each of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign settings were linked together to form one interwoven world connected by various Planes of existence. With the release of the 2001 ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting'', the setting was given its own distinct and separate cosmological arrangement, with unique planes not connected to those of the other settings.34 Religion Religion plays a large part in the ''Forgotten Realms'', with deities and their followers being an integral part of the world. They do not have a passive role, but in fact interact directly in mortal affairs, answer prayers, and have their own personal agendas. A huge number of diverse deities exist within several Polytheistic pantheons; a large number of supplements have documented many of them, some in more detail than others.56 Much of the history of the ''The Realms'' detailed in novels and source books is concerned with the actions of various deities or ''The Chosen'', mortal representatives with a portion of their deities' power, such as Elminster and the Seven Sisters . Above all other deities is Ao the Overlord. Ao does not sanction worshipers and distances himself from mortals. He is single-handedly responsible for the Time Of Troubles , or Godswar, as seen in '' The Avatar Trilogy ''. See also: List Of Forgotten Realms Deities . Characters The setting is the home of several iconic characters popularized by authors, including Elminster the wizard, who has appeared in several series of novels created by Greenwood himself, and Drizzt Do'Urden the highly popular Drow ranger created by R. A. Salvatore . OFFICIAL MATERIAL Source materials The ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting'' has seen three complete revisions of the core setting over four editions of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' rules:
Various campaign accesories, including:
Novels Main article: List Of Forgotten Realms Novels . Numerous novels concerning the fictional events of the ''Forgotten Realms'' have been released by many authors, including:
Computer games Main article: List Of Forgotten Realms Computer Games . A large number of computer role-playing games have been released since the inception of the ''Forgotten Realms''. Notable titles include:
FOOTNOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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