Last week, Wizards of the Coast expanded the 2024 edition of Dungeons and Dragons with two expansion books bringing us back to the epic world of the Faerûn, also known as the Forgotten Realms.
Despite the popularity of the Forgotten Realms (its the setting for both Baldur’s Gate 3 and the most recent Dungeons & Dragons movie), this is the first sourcebook for the setting for 5th Edition D&D and the first since 2012’s Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster’s Forgotten Realms which served as a transitional book as 4th Edition ended and 5th Edition began.
Forgotten Realms was my passion during my time in university. 3rd Edition D&D’s Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting was released on June 1st, 2001 and I started college two months later. The very first D&D character I created was a mounted mercenary for hire who hailed from the Dalelands. To say I was excited to get my hands on these books would be a vast understatement.
Thankfully they did not disappoint! Almost everything you could want out of a Forgotten Realms core setting is included. On the player side of the fence, in Heroes of the Forgotten Realms, are a primer on Faerûnian race relations, new subclasses connected to the various realms, origins tied to famous organizations, a deep dive on the gods of the realms, some awesome equipment, spellfire, and perhaps most impressively, a large section dedicated to the many organizations that make the realms distinct.
The DM guide, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, each of the six major regions are given extensive histories, political guidance, NPC and location blurbs, and the DM toolbox, a collection of unique rules for renown, bastions, encounters, and even complete adventures. Where past supplements have provided the history, this latest update also gives DMs the framework for adventures, with great detail, to get their players hooked into the various regions of the world.
Most impressively perhaps is The Lost Library of Lethchauntos, a complete adventure that brings characters from level 1 to 3. This adventure is set in the Dalelands, but there is a thorough guide to adapting it to any of the other major regions. As a longtime DM, this adventure is beautifully crafted, and I would suggest that for getting new players interested in the game, this may be a better entry point than the new starter box, Heroes of the Borderlands.
It’s not surprising to see so much care put into the first Forgotten Realms campaign setting expansion in over a decade. We’re only two years removed from the release of the Dungeons and Dragons film which featured many iconic Faerûn aspects such as the Harpers. 2023 was also the year that Baldur’s Gate 3 was released which introduced a whole new generation to the beautiful Sword Coast city as well as the entire realms through its incredible cast but also support characters like Elminster and Volo.
That said, you don’t need these books to play Dungeons and Dragons. Greyhawk, the generic setting that is presented in the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide has its own fantastic history. And, no one’s stopping you from creating your own world or worlds in which you and your friends can tell stories.
However, Faerûn is a great place to go for inspiration on how to build up your own world as it has the benefit of decades of storytelling fleshing out the world’s history from the fall of Netheril to the Time of Troubles to the Spellplague and beyond. So even if you don’t plan on playing games in the Forgotten Realms, players and DMs alike can find inspiration within the pages of these two expansions.
Personally, I am hoping to start up a new in-person campaign in the new year, and will definitely be suggesting the Forgotten Realms as the setting for our story. This is because my party is mostly new to Dungeons and Dragons, but everyone is familiar with the setting thanks to the aforementioned video game and film. I think it will be a great way to ease them into something familiar.
If you have a new or long-lasting adventuring party and you plan on telling stories in Faerûn then you should definitely pick these books up. From the character options to the DM toolkits there’s really something there for everyone, of every level of experience.
Rich Stein (He/Him) has been playing D&D since the late days of Advanced D&D and enjoys tabletop RPGs of all flavors. He’s currently playing in a Fabula Ultima campaign and planning a Shift campaign for his 8 year old and their friends. He hopes to get a Dungeons and Dragon campaign with some close friends and family kicked off in the new year. He thinks Magic the Gathering would translate very well to an RPG system, but that system unfortunately isn’t Dungeons and Dragons so the world may never see it happen.