So, how generic is Forgotten Realms really?

So, how generic is Forgotten Realms really?

I've always thought of it as "generic high fantasy as it can get", but recently, playing through BG I & II and reading some adventure modules, it sounds a lot more like a sort of "Points of Light" setting (at least Faerun in the North/Sword Coast area) with its city states and free settlements dotting a wild landscape, with thousands of ruins from fallen empires and tombs from forgotten kings waiting to be explored at every corner.

It seems like the sort of setting where adventuring is an actual career option since settlements don't have a large government body to rely on for security, so most monster/magic related problems fall on to free-lance adventurers.

Is this a warped or outdated view on the setting?

I mean, it's still late medieval fantasy, with dwarves living underground, barbarians and orc tribes in the north, and elves in the forests. That being said, it does a good job of being believable, and a great setting for D&D. Plus, the lore's been built up for decades.

It's not Eberron or Dark Sun, but it's also not your high school GM's not-Lord of the Rings setting either.

Is the Icewind Dale trilogy a good introduction to the setting?

It's a good introduction to a very specific area of the setting. Find Icewind Dale on this map.

There's no single book that covers more than small, specific area of the setting.

I think DnD gets unfairly shit on for some things and rightfully for others. There is actually some depth you can delve into, most people just make their own shit up and use the setting as a raw reference.

Why do so many dnd video games take their name from a west coast FR town?

FR is not so much 'generic' as a hodgepodge grab-bag of fantasy. Think of any fantasy thing and you are almost guaranteed to find it there.

Because they're usually set in or near that West coast FR town.

It has a fair number of decent points that are nested in generic framing. But the focus is often not set on the imaginative material because the writers seem to thing we want to read the generic stuff and might get scared or something.
It manly suffers from not letting the "monster" societies interact with the player race societies. Where it overcomes that, for example in the underdark it has it's better material. It always implies that interesting creatures and stuff is there but then relegates that part as pure spawnpoints for monsters. And it is fixated on Waterdeep, which I don't find compelling. Further it suffers from cloning its environments. Every country needs its generic druid and elf wood. If a piece of lore has cool creatures or proceeding it isn't to be placed in the spotlight, but squirreled away in a time capsule dungeon or in a fringe region.

It is like another case of Elders Scrolls writing, hide that lore in the books and paint the countryside generic medieval.

Eh, it's sort of outdated.
It was the style that you mentioned - lots of wilds and squabbling city states with a shitton of ruined empires ready for looting.
Now, here comes the thing - that was implicit in just about everybody's games back then, so all the FR splats didn't need to go into detail about it. They just talked about the parts that were an exception to the norm.
Enter 3.X, and that style was forgotten. People talking about FR didn't think that there was setting information that wasn't explicitly called out in the books.

That's a shame. I'd really love to see more books, either RPG splats or fiction, on that kind of "forgotten wilderness" exploration that was the assumed setting of old school gaming.

You have to hunt down the better parts. I think the Drow and Underdark stuff is nice since it is a non standard environment and society.

I keep meaning to dig deeper myself. But I admittedly let it sit in my backlog because I know I'll have to filter through the filler and it is a bit obtuse to judge the potential of a book, approaching the setting today.

Genuine interesting societies in Faerun worth putting research into:
>Netheril
>Thay
>Rashemen
>Halruaa
>Calimshan
>Amn
>Underdark

Dull societies that you shouldn't invest too much time into because they're generic fantasy:
>Sword Coast
>Silver Marches
>Tethyr
>Cormyr
>Dalelands

Weirdly it is only generic high fantasy on the surface. Dig a bit deeper and it has some pretty non-standard elements. It can unfortunately also be rather convoluted given the major events of the setting the Time of Troubles, the Spellplague etc were largely included to explain rules changes between editions of D&D.

I've always seen being an adventurer in FR as less of a career option and more of a lifestyle choice. It is a big like organised crime, once you are in its hard to get out. A lot of the setting revolves around large organisations like the Harpers, the Zhentarim etc and they want to take on board people with varying talents.

Might be an idea to watch some of the FR setting guide videos on YouTube. There are loads.

I think Greyhawk is more generic, but I prefer it to FR, which I think is just boring.

>your high school GM's not-Lord of the Rings setting
I know you just came up with this phrase on the fly, but it hit way too close to home for me.

Miss my highschool playgroup. They were the best. And that setting was the fuckin' coolest. Basically it was Dragonlance meets LotR.

It's the Marvel(or DC) universe of fantasy.

Forgotten Realms is what made cliche generic high fantasy what it is.

What a terrible analogy.

FR is the Gundam of Fantasy.

>>Cormyr
>fantasy 1984 where wizards watch you for thoughtcrime
>generic fantasy

All I know is that Sword Coast and Spine of the World are very comfy names for a coastline and mountain range. However the Spine of the World should go north-south and divide the continent into two parts, with a rainshadow desert immediately to the east of the mountains, then becoming fertile again and verging into unknown territory the further east you go.

I wonder why they don't put stuff like this in the (3.5) campaign guide. Sure needed to hear that the mountain are indeed mountains though...

The same reason they ignored the AD&D lore bits about advanced Drow prosthetic limbs and either the drow or the gnomes inventing steam engines: WotC are retards.

The wheel turns again, Lews Therin...

that's mostly the western heartlands, which is where bg1 takes place

but yeah, most of the criticism of forgotten realms is really overblown

My biggest problem with FR is that most of the games and 90% of the content after 2e is set in the west. My fondest 2e tabletop/videogame moments were in Cormyr, Sembia, Dalelands, and the Moonsea. I don't think my 2e group ever went to the west coast.

FR is the "moe anime" of fantasy

>a sort of "Points of Light" setting
Maybe in the original box set. The Dalelands do have a bit of that feel to them. I think Greenwood already fucked that up before publication with his Dragon articles though.

>tfw you realize for the first time that Dragonlance is older than the FR
Weird.

>advanced Drow prosthetic limbs
The regular elves have them too, supposedly, made out of silver. (They're clearly inspired by the elf king Nuada in Irish mythology)