Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting

The Dungeon Master's Sourcebook of the Realms describes how to set up and run a campaign in the Forgotten Realms. A pair of miniscenarios is included, and information is provided on wilderness terrain and movement, important personalities, rumors, and significant and magical books.[1] Written from the perspective of Elminster the sage, the book introduces the campaign setting, explains how to use it, and offers adventure resources. Large areas were set aside to be developed for house campaigns, and no published materials were intended to be printed to exploit those areas, while one area detailed in this package was intended to have no subsequent publications use that area. The package covers only the western half of a single continent, with the eastern half reserved for future publication of Kara-Tur. Two complete dungeon-style adventures are provided: "Halls of the Beast-Tamers", a dungeon with many unconventional problem-solving exercises, and "Lashan's Fall", a dungeon with a mystery and an opportunity to parley with a monster.The "Books of the Forgotten Realms" section is a treatment of several magical tomes that suggests a variety of adventures, with a description of the appearance, history, and contents of each book.

The Cyclopedia of the Realms provides background information on and details maps of the locations in the accompanying maps of the Forgotten Realms.[1] It begins with an explanation of the Realms' treatment of time, names, language, and currency, and its gods and religion. The remaining 75 pages of the book is an encyclopedic and alphabetic listing of important places, races, nations, cultures, character classes, and organizations of the Realms.

The set includes four full-color, 34" x 22" maps, two of which combine to form a large-scale (1" = 90 miles) map of the western half of the vast Realms continent, while the other two provide a more detailed (1" = 30 miles) map of the regions featured in this campaign pack.

Shannon Appelcine detailed how Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb collaborated beginning in 1986 to publish Greenwood's Forgotten Realms campaign setting, and how "The result was the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (1987)."[2]^:72–73

The Forgotten Realms Campaign Set was written by Ed Greenwood, with Jeff Grubb and Karen Martin, and illustrated by Keith Parkinson, Jeff Easley, Clyde Caldwell, and Tim Conrad.[1] Greenwood and Grubb did the design, while Grubb was responsible for the development, and Karen Martin did the editing. It was published in 1987,[3] as a boxed set which included two 96-page books (the "DM's Sourcebook of the Realms" and the "Cyclopedia of the Realms"), four large color maps, and two clear plastic hex-gridded overlays.[1]

• "A Grand Tour of the Realms" – 128-page perfect-bound book describing the geographical regions of Faerûn
• "Shadowdale" – 96-page book on the town of Shadowdale including the adventure "Beneath the Twisted Tower".
• "Running the Realms" – 64-page book describing suggested ideas for running a campaign in the Realms
• 8 Monstrous Compendium pages
• 6 card-stock accessory sheets
• 4-fold out maps
• 2 transparent hex-grid overlays for use with the maps

Notable updates to the campaign setting included the widespread presence of Red Wizard enclaves in various cities, the presence of a mysterious group called the "Shades" in the southern Anauroch desert, and the increasing "surface presence" of Dark Elves in the Dalelands. The setting history was updated to reflect various major events such as the changes to the pantheon of Faerûn since the Time of Troubles, and the defeat of the Tuigan Horde.

The book was organized into nine chapters, which cover the campaign setting in broad detail. The primary emphasis is on the continent of Faerûn, and the other continents are only briefly mentioned. The chapters are arranged as follows:

1. Characters — How to create a player character for the setting, including races, classes, regional feats, religions, and setting-specific prestige classes. Many of these later have been merged into the version 3.5 release of Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide.
2. Magic – An explanation of how magic operates in this setting, and a number of unique aspects of magic. A few additional spells are provided, primarily to support the new Domains.
3. Life in Faerûn – A general overview of life, lore, culture and commerce in this setting.
4. Geography – Each of the significant regions of the continent are explored, along with places of interest, cities, politics, and significant individuals.
5. Deities – Only the major deities are described in this edition, with the remainder of the pantheon detailed in Faiths & Pantheons. Several new Domains are introduced, with the incumbent spells listed in the Magic chapter.
6. History – An overview of the detailed history of this setting, with a lengthy time line at the end of the chapter.
7. Organizations – Groups, cults, and other organizations play an important role in the realms, and several of the most significant are detailed herein.
8. Running the Realms – Practical advice for the Dungeon Master trying to run an adventure or campaign in this setting. A pair of brief sample adventures are included.
9. Monsters – A brief list of monsters unique to this continent are introduced, with a more extensive selection published later in other books.

This work contained a number of maps, and a fold-out map of the continent of Faerûn. There were also many sidebar topics and tables. Game statistics were provided for popular Forgotten Realms characters such as Drizzt Do'Urden, Artemis Entreri, Elminster, Khelben Blackstaff, Fzoul Chembryl and Manshoon.