Forgotten Realms Adventures

Did You Know?

• The book was published as a 160-page hardcover according to its publication history.
• Interior illustrations were provided by Stephen Fabian, Ned Dameron, Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell, and Jeff Easley.
• The Dead Three (Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul) are described in the same manner as the 32 active deities.

Contents

Forgotten Realms Adventures is a hardcover, 154-page book that brings the campaign setting up to speed with the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. It takes the material first seen in the Forgotten Realms Sourcebook and Cyclopedia and revises it, incorporating changes from three years of subsequent products. The book covers the setting’s unique deities, secret societies, treasures, spells, and magic rules, and includes short descriptions and maps of the heartlands and its cities.

Each of the two authors contributes a one-page foreword. Jeff Grubb’s foreword explains that this volume marks the Realms’ transition to the new edition and offers a brief history of the world. The first chapter, spanning pages 1 through 13, focuses on what has changed in the Forgotten Realms since the original Campaign Set was published, specifically after the Time of Troubles—the events of the first three Avatar Series novels. Physical alterations to the world are also covered, including areas of dead magic, where no spells work, and wild magic regions, where spells can behave unpredictably.

Firearms are introduced to the setting here. Chapter 2, from page 15 to 39, examines three dozen deities of the Realms. It introduces specialty priests, a variant of the cleric class with a distinct set of abilities, and gives special rules for their use. The portfolios of 32 active gods are described, each accompanied by notes and an illustration for their specialty priests.

These include Auril, Azuth, Beshaba, Chauntea, Cyric, Deneir, Eldath, Gond, Helm, Ilmater, Lathander, Leira, Lliira, Loviatar, Malar, Mask, Mielikki, Milil, Mystra, Oghma, Selûne, Shar, Silvanus, Sune, Talona, Talos, Tempus, Torm, Tymora, Tyr, Umberlee, and Waukeen. The chapter also touches on nonhuman deities, elemental cults (Grumbar, Kossuth, Akadi, and Istishia), beast cults, and the cult of Ao. The Dead Three—Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul—are detailed in the same fashion as the living gods.

The third chapter, pages 41 through 67, addresses magic and how it has changed for mages in the Realms. It presents 81 commonly used spells, several of which are named after famous mages like Laeral, Khelben, the Simbul, and Elminster.

Reception

In the July 1990 edition of Games International, the reviewer was not impressed, commenting that the book contained no scenarios, only a tired blend of new rules, and recommended against its purchase except for Forgotten Realms completists. In the October/November 1990 issue of White Wolf Magazine, reviewer Lisa Stevens described the volume as a hodgepodge sourcebook of information useful to the Forgotten Realms DM, summarizing it as well-written and a great aid, and gave it an average review of 3 out of 5.