Now, This is Gamer Porn!

"It is called the City of Splendors: Waterdeep, most populous and powerful of the cities of the north. It is a city of wealth, adventure and danger. More men have died in its taprooms and bars than in all the sieges ofDragonspear castle. Success and death lurk in its shadowed entranceways and dimly-lit streets.

"Come explore the greatest city of the Realms in this incredible new boxed set dealing with urban fantasy adventures. Waterdeep is detailed in no less than 10 expanded maps, embellished with typical building interiors suitable for use in any campaign setting. In addition, a full-size poster of Waterdeep is provided, along with a grand-scale three-dimensional map of Castle Waterdeep, hub of the city's government. In addition to all of these maps, a 32 page City System booklet provides encounters and street scenes, special features and details of Waterdeep, and methods of creating types of buildings in monuments in the pockets of those unfortunate enough to get in a player character's way. Designed for use with Waterdeep, these new features are suitable for use anywhere in the Forgotten Realms! It's all here-all you add is your imagination."

My latest ebay acquisition arrived today and I gleefully tore open the shipping box, to unearth my brand new used copy of the Forgotten Realms City System! The box has some creases, but the contents are in great shape! I think I got a good deal. With shipping I paid $10.50 and the folks at the Acaeum inform me that it's a first printing. No idea if Collector's care about the City System printings, but I'm still enough of a Collector myself, to be a little pleased by that fact. I also see that the Grey Box I picked up last week is a first printing, coming with the advert for the Secrets of the Sages newsletter. According to the Acaeum, again, only one issue of this newsletter was ever released:

"Secret of the Sages. The First printing of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting boxed set came with a form that could be filled out to receive the Forgotten Realms newsletter, Secrets of the Sages. Only a single issue of this newsletter was released, in the summer of 1988; it is 8 pages, and contains short descriptions of places in the Realms that were left out of the boxed set (Aglarond, Evermeet and Halruaa). The last page (inside back) has a map of "The North" region. (Thanks to Shane Voelker, Brett Easterbrook, and Travis Masoner for this info)."

I found the image on the Forgotten Realms wiki. A very impressive site with tons of information. It would be nice if WotC would make stuff like this available online.

Back to the City System. Now, why did they called this product City System? Couldn't they find some marketable way to say "Gigormous Collection of Waterdeep Maps and Encounter Table Booklet!"? Judging from the copy on the back of the box, reproduced above, they were trying to push the idea that it was usable with any city in the Realms. Kind of silly, considering that the meat of the box is 12 full color maps of Waterdeep! I suppose they were worried about whether or not such a specialized box set for the Forgotten Realms, would sell. Hah! The City System was released in 1988, still under the auspices of First Edition and early in what would become a flood of releases for the campaign setting. 

And speaking of FR releases, I'm now on the hunt for a copy of this little number on the left. I know it's available from WotC as a free download, but I'd rather have a physical copy.

Specialist MU's in the Forgotten Realms Grey Box

From page 28 of the Cyclopedia of the Realms:

Thalantyr, 15th level magic-user, specializes in Conjuration/Summoning spells. ( + 1 on all his saving throws, - 1 on saving throws against his Conjuration/Summoning attacks).

Does anyone know if this is something Ed used in his games, or were the TSR designers already tossing around ideas for 2e? I can't recall any other 1e supplements, which mentioned MU specialization. It's an obvious enough idea, of course. Just curious, as to whether or not this might be the first use of it in an official TSR product.

I am, of course, reading the Grey Box in preparation for running it. I'm interested in seeing if the idea comes up again, as well as what other, similar tid-bits, I might find.

Into The Forgotten Realms

Several years ago, I found myself out of work for an extended period of time. To ease that particular pain, I sold some stuff on ebay. Including, quite a large chunk of my gaming collection. Some of what I sold off I didn't miss at all and in truth, a small purge would have been a good thing. But, there were a few items, which I regretted parting with. Including the 1987 Forgotten Realms Grey Box.

Thanks to Ebay, I was able to rectify that and my "new" Grey Box came in the mail today! It's in decent shape, though it's seen some play and there are a few wear slits in the corner folds of the maps. My original set came with two of the clear hex overlay thingies and this one only has one. Otherwise, it's complete, including advert inserts. No markings in the books or on the maps. The box is in decent shape, with some general shelf wear, but no splits or anything. Cool!

Way back when, I had a few of the early Realms products and read some of the novels. I initially bought the Grey Box when it was first released, loved reading it and thought highly of Mr. Greenwood's setting.

Though it was a few years after their initial release, I read R. A. Salvatore's Icewind Dale trilogy, Dark Elf Trilogy and the first three books in the series that came after that one. I enjoyed them and still think that Mr. Salvatore tells a good story. He also writes melee scenes, very well! But at that point I was kind of burnt out on Drizzt and stopped. I've yet to read another Drizzt tale.

My ceasing to keep up with Drizzt's adventures, had nothing to do with all the "Drizzt Hatred," flying around the internet, over the years. While I got online fairly early, it was quite some time before I investigated the online gaming scene. I was very busy with other pursuits and had little to do with conventions, the local Game Store, etc. I also never played 2e and bought very few gaming products in the 90's. It was several years, before I saw just how bloated the Realms had become and while it's true that my gaming was a bit sporadic during that period, I never once had a player roll-up a Drow Ranger. So, my fond memories of the early books of Mr. Salvatore's series, are untainted by annoying, angsty Drizzt Clones. Just as my memories of the Forgotten Realms themselves, of the Grey Box and those early Realms supplements, are blissfully free of poisonous feelings or cynicism of any kind.

I did buy the Forgotten Realms Adventures Hardcover. I still have it. It escaped being sold by virtue of being dilapidated. The "Time of Troubles," thing, kind of annoyed me. I liked the Cities of the Heartlands section and must have read that chapter about a hundred times, over the years.

I bought the 3e Realms book and three of the then new supplements. Elminster, looks rather buff, for a gazillion year old geezer. I like the picture on the right, much better.

When WotC put out the 4e Realms, well, I think Michael Curtis Said it Best.

I'd love to see an Old School Realms revival. As I wrote not too long ago, there aren't many Realms sites out there, anymore. I'd like to see that change and it would be even sweeter, if those new sites were based on the 1987 Grey Box.

My re-aquisition of the Grey Box wasn't merely to rectify my earlier mistake. I've never run a published setting and I think I might learn a thing or two by doing so. So, with all that being said, I'm going to run the Forgotten Realms. While I might still decide to go with AD&D, LL/AEC should work just fine. (I finally teased out what was bugging me about that.)

I have the Grey Box, FR1- Waterdeep and the North and some 1e Dragon Magazine material. I want to pick up the City System off of Ebay and I might hunt up a few other early items from the FR series. If there's anything I should be sure not to miss, let me know. I'm starting the campaign in whatever year it is the Grey Box starts and will be sure to deviate from "Canon," from there. :)