In 2001, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. published the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, a Forgotten Realms campaign source book for use with the 3rd Edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The book was written by Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, and Rob Heinsoo, with the contributions of members of the Wizard company's staff. The book is 320 pages in length; illustrated in color, and hardbound. Image File history File links Frcs_book_cover. ... see also: 2000 in games, 2002 in games Games Released or Invented in 2001 Amber Sparks:Ultimate Destruction(remake) Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting released for the 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. ... Wizards of the Coast (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is a publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes. ... The Forgotten Realms Second Edition logo. ... The original Dungeons & Dragons set Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) published by Wizards of the Coast. ... A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which players assume the roles of fictional characters via role-playing. ... Ed Greenwood (born 1959) is a Canadian library clerk who invented the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. ... Sean K. Reynolds is a professional game designer who has worked on and co-written a number of D&D supplements for Wizards of the Coast. ... Skip Williams is a creator of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. ...

In 2002, the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting won the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game Supplement of 2001. see also: 2001 in games, 2003 in games Games Released or Invented in 2002 A Game of Thrones collectible card game Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game Amber Sparks:Ultimate Destruction 2 Rachet and Clank Kingdom Hearts Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Mad Maestro Game awards given in 2002 Spiel... The Origins Awards, presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design, are presented at the Origins International Game Expo for outstanding work in the game industry. ...

Contents

This is only the latest release of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for Dungeons and Dragons, and a number of changes have been made since the previous books were published by the former TSR, Inc. The most important update was to incorporate the significant revisions to the game system with the 3rd edition update. Various regional feats, character attributes, prestige classes, spells, and NPC statistics all use the new rule set. TSR was a company formed as Tactical Studies Rules in 1972 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye (and others later) to publish the rule set for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game (RPG). ... A non-player character or non-playable character is a fictional character in a role-playing game whose role is generally created and performed by the gamemaster. ...

The work has also made some notable updates to the campaign setting, including the widespread presence of Red Wizard enclaves in various cities, the presence of a mysterious group called the Shades in the southern Anauroch desert, and the increasing surface presence of Dark Elves in the Dalelands. The setting history has been updated to reflect the various major events, such as the changes to the Faerûn pantheon since the Time of Troubles, and the defeat of the Tuigan Horde. Faerûn is a fictional continent, the primary setting of the Dungeons & Dragons world of Forgotten Realms. ... A Pantheon (Greek: παν, pan, all + θεόν, theon, of the gods), is a set of all the gods of a particular religion or mythology, such as the gods of Hinduism, Greek mythology, Norse mythology. ...

The book is organized into nine chapters, covering in broad detail the campaign setting. The primary emphasis is on the continent of Faerûn, and the other continents are only briefly mentioned. The chapters are arranged as follows:

1. Characters — How to create a player character for the setting, including races, classes, regional feats, religions, and setting-specific prestige classes. (Many of these later have been merged into the version 3.5 release of Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide.)
2. Magic — An explanation of how magic operates in this setting, and a number of unique aspects of magic. A few additional spells are provided, primarily to support the new Domains.
3. Life in Faerûn — A general overview of life, lore, culture and commerce in this setting.
4. Geography — Each of the significant regions of the continent are explored, along with places of interest, cities, politics, and significant individuals.
5. Deities — Only the major deities are described in this edition, with the remainder of the pantheon detailed in other works. Several new Domains are introduced, with the incumbent spells listed in the Magic chapter.
6. History — This is an overview of the detailed history of this setting, with a lengthy time line at the end of the chapter.
7. Organizations — Groups, cults, and other organizations play an important role in the realms, and several of the most significant are detailed herein.
8. Running the Realms — This chapter provides useful advice for the Dungeon Master trying to run an adventure or campaign in this setting. A pair of brief sample adventures are included.
9. Monsters — A brief list of monsters unique to this continent are introduced, with a more extensive selection published later in other books.

This work contains a number of quality maps, and a fold-out map of the continent of Faerûn. There are also many sidebar topics and tables. A player character or playable character (PC for short) is a fictional character in a game, that is controlled by the player. ... A race is a population of humans distinguished from other populations. ... A character class represents a characters archetype and career in many role-playing games. ... Appearing in primitive form in the second edition rules of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and developed extensively in the third edition rules, Prestige Classes (PrC) are character classes that offer specialized, exclusive abilities once certain restrictive requirements are met. ... Cover of the 4th printing of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide The Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG or DMs Guide; in earlier editions, the Dungeon Masters Guide) is a book of rules for the seminal role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. ... Magic: The Gathering. ... Look up Culture on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikinews has news related to this article: Culture and entertainment Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Cultural Development in Antiquity Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Culture and Civilization in Modern Times Classificatory system for cultures and civilizations, by Dr. Sam Vaknin... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Monster is a term for any number of legendary creatures that frequently appear in mythology, legend, and horror fiction. ...

Source books

The following books have been published by Wizards of the Coast as 3rd edition D&D supplements to this setting.

• Faiths & Pantheons, Eric L. Boyd and Erik Mona, 2002, ISBN 0-7869-2759-3. A more complete reference to the deities of this setting.
• Lords of Darkness, Sean K. Reynolds and James Wyatt, 2001, ISBN 0-7869-1989-2.
• Lost Empires of Faerûn, Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout, 2005, ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
• Magic of Faerûn, Sean K. Reynolds, Duane Maxwell, Angel McCoy, 2001, ISBN 0-7869-1964-7.
• Player's Guide to Faerûn, Richard Baker, James Wyatt, 2004, ISBN 0-7869-3134-5. A "crunch"-centric 191-page hardcover book—updated and partially revised the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting to 3.5 Edition D&D.
• Races of Faerûn, Sean K Reynolds, Matt Forbeck, James Jacobs, Eric L. Boyd, 2003, ISBN 0-7869-2875-1.

These works provide additional geographic details on the various regions, as well as new prestige classes, creatures, and magic. see also: 2001 in games, 2003 in games Games Released or Invented in 2002 A Game of Thrones collectible card game Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game Amber Sparks:Ultimate Destruction 2 Rachet and Clank Kingdom Hearts Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Mad Maestro Game awards given in 2002 Spiel... see also: 2000 in games, 2002 in games Games Released or Invented in 2001 Amber Sparks:Ultimate Destruction(remake) Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting released for the 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. ... see also: 2003 in games, 2005 in games Games Released or Invented in 2004 San Juan (a card game based upon the board game Puerto Rico) Categories: Stub | 2004 ... Crunch may mean: Nestlé Crunch, a brand of candy and ice cream produced by Nestle. ... see also: 2002 in games, 2004 in games Games released or invented in 2003 Amun-Re Attika High Society (rereleased. ...

• City of the Spider Queen, James Wyatt, 2002, ISBN 0-7869-2874-3. (This book ties into R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen 6 book series.)
• Serpent Kingdoms, Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd, Darrin Drader, 2004, ISBN 0-7869-3277-5.
• Shining South, Thomas Reid, 2004, ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
• Silver Marches, Ed Greenwood and Jason Carl, 2002, ISBN 0-7869-2835-2.
• Unapproachable East, Richard Baker, Matt Forbeck, Sean K Reynolds, 2003, ISBN 0-7869-2881-6.
• Underdark, Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel, Jeff Quick, 2003, ISBN 0-7869-3053-5.