Community Spotlight: Forgotten Realms Reader

 This is the series where I point out other creators that either have their material focused partially or completely on the Forgotten Realms.

Today I want to mention another blog, this one found at Forgotten Realms Reader. I became aware of this one on accident! As you can see, my url is really similar. I wanted to have my domain as Reader, and not Reading, but I discovered it was already taken. What a pleasant surprise. While Silver, the blogger, is not as active as I am here, there are still some good articles on their site that work in tandem with some of mine, and others covering books I have yet to read. Silver, for example, is caught up with Drizzt, while I am in the middle. Silver's blog also began in 2009, many years before this one!

Check it out!

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You can track my current progress here.

Community Spotlight: Owen Edwards Book Reviews

 Owen Edwards is staple watching for me. While not strictly Forgotten Realms related, he has reviewed The Finder's Stone Trilogy (like me), Drizzt, and campaign diaries. He also does much on Appendix N reading. These are books listed in the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide as influential to the game. I read these myself but don't talk about them here explicitly. 

Go check him out! 

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You can track my current progress here.

Community Spotlight: Religion in the Realms

 It is time to put another spotlight on the great Forgotten Realms community. This time we are looking at another podcast, this one sharing indispensable knowledge and lore. Those familiar with D&D in general and the Realms specifically will know that gods and goddesses do exist, it's not a question like it is in our world. They commune with their churches and give spells to their followers. 

BUT there are a lot of these deities. Religion in the Realms has you covered. The podcast started with going over the Pantheons themselves and the latest episode is about Loviatar, the maiden of pain. I highly recommend going through any of these that may pertain to a session you are planning or a character you are building. I even went through Kelemvor's for this post.

You can find the podcast in the usual places, they are all linked here. Follow the podcast to keep up to date on what's next on Twitter as well.

Amarast!

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You can track my current progress here.

Community Spotlight: Renfail

 Those who have not lived under a rock realize that the Forgotten Realms is much more than a D&D campaign setting. Magic cards call it home, hundreds of novels, and many video games. I got my own start with video games when I was a child, and while I will go more into that another time, that same series just got a new entry after many years. 

Baldur's Gate 3 is now out! Of course, early access has been available for a few years, but I have been enjoying the content of one creator in particular. He has been streaming much and releasing guides for the expansive world of Baldur's Gate 3.

Beyond that, he has played the older Baldur’s Gate games, Icewind Dale, the new Dark Alliance, and other adjacent things to Forgotten Realms and D&D. 

Check out his channel here.

Check out his Baldur’s Gate 3 playlist here. 

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You can track my current progress here.

Community Spotlight: Ed Greenwood

 It would be ridiculously for me not to share the work Ed Greenwood is currently doing online. He has been an active source of Realms lore for decades and since fifth edition most of this has come from answering questions on Twitter. Recently he has moved to YouTube videos and Patreon, and I think it’s worthy of mentioning.

Ed Greenwood created the Forgotten Realms decades ago, but he is still active in his creation. He helps with pronunciation, locations, characters and more. I had Ed on my channel once and he’s absolutely a generous and fun guy. 

He also has a website where you can get some apparel. 

Anyway, there would be no community without Ed Greenwood, and since the Realms are very rarely getting official products that are worthwhile, it is a treat that we can support the creator himself and get more Realms lore while at it.

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You can track my current progress here

Community Spotlight: The Sembian Revival by Longwinded One

This is first in a series of short articles I will be writing to showcase some of the great fan-made Forgotten Realms content out there. Considering I am a fan and the community here is rather small, I still find it is helpful to have some sort of camaraderie with other members in the Realms fandom.

So first and foremost, I want to highlight a fun podcast by the Longwinded One, website here (YouTube if you prefer). Specifically, the fourth season which is titled The Sembian Revival. It is a sort of audio drama about Sembia in 1491 DR, a sort of follow-up to the Erevis Cale novels, particularly the last one, The Godborn. It was released in short episodes, originally based off the events of a campaign played around a table before being messed with to create a story in podcast form. The whole thing can be listened to on platforoms where podcasts are hosted, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Each episode can also be listened to on YouTube. There is a final episode, number 200, which is all of them combined to make a more than five-hour long experience somewhat like a short novel.

This is a story that will take you on a tour of Sembia and even some close locations like Battlerise, Cormyr. It is very well researched and put together. Fans of epic campaigns will not be disappointed. 

The one thing left out of the final episode are all the interviews the host, Jared, was able to put together throughout, including talking with Realms names like Ed Greenwood, Philip Athans, Richard Lee Byers, Dave Gross, John Pruden and Clayton Emery. There are also interviews with the cast, so you can get to know them. Of all the content I have watched in recent years, this just might be the most underrated. Almost no one knows about this show, and I think many Realms fans would enjoy it considering the dearth of novels and other lore heavy materials today.

I know that there was a follow up campaign in Cormyr, and maybe someday we will get a similar audio drama in podcast form going over those events. I would be ecstatic if that happens, but for now, go and check out The Sembian Revival from Longwinded One.

It is also worth noting, that it was my conversations with Jared that led to this blog being created. I was reading many Forgotten Realms novels as I was rocking my newborn daughter and in conversation with him on Twitter. That was almost three years ago, to the day, I created this blog.

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You can track my current progress here.