What is the connection between the whole Forgotten Realms universe, D&D and RA Salvatore books?

Question

Be specific, please. No wikipedia copy/pasting. Just explain it to me, I don't mind long answers. Thank you.

Answer 1

Good, because I type a lot. Start with D&D - Gary Gygax back in the early 70's came up with this part - a game where people could pretend to be characters based on Tolkien's Hobbit trilogy. Direct references are made to "Orcs" (Tolkien specific creatures), and general fantasy such as elves, dwarves, wizards, goblins, etc. He comes up with a system that can take all that into account, and makes a generally playable game system that has balance and rewards. It takes off faster than limbs flying away from a landmine.

After a while, Gygax's company can't grow fast enough to deal with all the stuff - and he's getting tired of doing it all himself anyway. He liscenses several ideas out to independant writers that take a thought and run with it. Some examples: Spelljammer (space based with a kind of Krull/Dune style of play), Athas (power destroys world, and people have to conserve and be extra good to keep what little life is left - mostly desert based), Al-Qadim (based in the middle east, for cultural flair), and Forgotten Realms, among several other major ones.

Forgotten Realms (and all the others) agrees to keep the gaming system with only relatively minor rules adjustments/embellishments and tell a vague, backdrop story about what's going on where and when they are written. For example, the maps are made, power structures and schemes are plotted, a brief history of events is given - basically to keep the storyteller (Dungeon Master) from having to create everything from scratch. It's hard, you know, to do it all and have to go to work at 9.

Salvatore got a liscense to tell stories based on Forgotten Realms' backdrop story - and the smaller stories (modules) that were provided by the creators of FR. It's basically a fleshing-out of one way the game could have been played in a very unlikely set of circumstances, while painting over mundane things like dice rolls and mountain dew breaks.

I wouldn't say it's as boring as NASCAR (go fast, turn left), but I was rather disappointed with some of the writing - our storylines amongst friends for 20 odd years seemed to me to be fresher - albeit probably less appealing to a large audience. If the storyline I had been playing wasn't along the same lines when they were written, I probably wouldn't have bothered: Tolkien's work was FAR superior - but Salvatore did help keep the fire going, and I thank him for that, at least.

Answer 2

D&D is the general rules set. The canvas.

Forgotten Relms is a setting with specific characteristics to set it apart from other settings. The paint.

The R.A. books are written about specific characters within the setting. The brush and painters hand.

EDIT to JD: Ed Greenwood wrote the first FR stories for Dragon Magizine and released the first Module in 1985. FR was released as a full setting in 1987 by Greenwood and Jeff Grubb. The first FR novel was released in 87 as well and was written by Doug Niles. RA and his characters were not introduced until 1988.

Not trying to start a fight, just provide the facts. Yes RA has written the most Realms specific novels (15 or so), he was not the first or the most influential as the Realms were based off of Greenwood's own personal game world. Not Salvatore's books.

Answer 3

D&D is the rules set. It uses a wide variety of campaign settings for continuity and 'flavor.' Examples include the Realms, Greyhawk, Eberron, and several now-defunct settings like DragonLance, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, etc. The rules set may change - AD&D to 3.0, 3.0 to 3.5 - but the setting maintains continuity.

Wizards of the Coast (formerly TSR) makes a large effort to maintain continuity between fiction and the game settings. The caveat is that not everything translates between the two. Major events are 'canonical,' but minor details may not translate. For example, a character may perform an action or have an ability that isn't supported by the game rules.

Back in the day, TSR published adventure modules that took PCs through some of these major events. Now, they mostly show up as footnotes in the rulebooks and are only explained in detail in the fiction. A recent trend has reversed that somewhat - the war of the Spider Queen is a perfect example.

Hope that helps...

Answer 4

I assume you are referring to the Drizzit books. Drizzit is a NPC (non-player character) in the Forgotten Realms setting. FR is a campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons, a roleplaying game. D&D is owned by Wizards of the Coast (WoTC), which is owned by Hasbro.

Drizzit is a drow elf, a race of evil elves that live deep underground. In the Forgotten Realms, and most D&D settings, the drow are wholely evil and feared for their magical and fighting prowess. Drizzit escaped the underdark and comes to the surface, where he fights his drow nature to become a force of good in a chaotic world. He's a great character, but unfortunately a bit too popular and the reason so many gamers want to play dual-scimitar weilding rangers in D&D games.

The Forgotten Realms is what is considered a high-powered, high magic world. Most fantasy settings are magical, but FR is probably the most magical of them all, and home to more high-powered NPCs than just about every other setting.

Answer 5

all i have to add is that i'm pretty sure the ra salvatore character and books came long before the D&D and forgotten realms, they were incorporated later because the dark elf was so popular.