So I've decided to put trying to run wacky house-ruled versions of Haveneast for a while, and have begun DMing a Forgotten Realms campaign on IRC. I have a problem though: I'm not really sure which products to look into/use for the game. I have access to the FRCS, Player's Guide, Magic of Faerun, Monsters of Faerun, Unapproachable East and Races of Faerun. I think I'm starting the game in the mountains in the north of Amn, and was wondering if anyone had any tips or book suggestions for information on that area or any other parts of Faerun.
Are any of the materials such as Serpent Kingdoms, Lost Empires of Faerun, Champions of Valor/Ruin, Lords of Darkness, etc. useful? What about Silver Marches, City of Splendors: Waterdeep, and others? Also, does anyone have any links to good adventures set in FR?
there is tons of material out there for the Realms. I tend to use the core book, magic of faerun and races of faerun the most, they give you a great jumping point in running the realms. The other books are more specific if you want to run in a specific region, like hte shinning south. You might be able to find ton of second edition material, that can be just as useful except the crunch is all 2nd edition, but the fluff lore, is excellent to use. All the other books you stated pretty much will work to flesh out your game.
The silver marchs are a excellent place to start, my very own forgotten realms group started there, and travelled through the high forest, they eventually found themeselves north in icewindale. Also the Westgate region is another great starting point if you want to build your own towns or cities. There hasn't been much writing of the surronding city, so that could be a great place to start. The realms is huge, and you can tailor your game to any part of it.
If your going to use waterdeep, also a great place to start a city campaign, I would look for the 2ed box set of the waterdeep. The third could have been better. Teh 2ed had great maps and tons of lore.
So i hope this helps. I've been playing the realms for awhile so should you need a hand do hesitate to ask question i'd be glad to help.
Try- www.candlekeep.com. This is a great resource of Realms lore that could help you.
Thanks for the info.
I'm looking at likely including something about Waterdeep and maybe the Silver Marches in my game later on. I've got Unapproachable East but I don't know if I can/will want to use that with them being in Amn and all (Amn/The Western Heartlands are my best-known areas because of Baldur's Gate/Baldur's Gate 2). I'll definitely look into Westgate and the Silver Marches as something to extend into within a few levels (the game started all the way down there at level 1). :)
I find the second edition material really great for settings in the Realms. You can download PDFs of Volo Guides from the Wizards website, a sort of blue planet guide to different regions in the Realms. They are really useful for getting a better idea of the character of the regions. And they are free on the internets!
Troll, you may consider searching (googling) for a Forgotten Realms campaign called "Northern Journey." It has been being written for several years, and the creators put tons of work into it, and it has a lot of details on one of my favorite areas of the Realms, the "Cold Lands." (Damara, Narfall, etc).