Forgotten Realms
Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the "Dungeons & Dragons" ("D&D") fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories. Several years later, Greenwood brought the setting to the "D&D" game as a series of magazine articles, and the first Realms game products were released in 1987. Role-playing game products have been produced for the setting ever since, as have various licensed products including novels, role-playing video game adaptations (including the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game to use graphics), and comic books. The Forgotten Realms is one of the most popular "D&D" settings, largely due to the success of novels by authors such as R. A. Salvatore and numerous role-playing video games, including "Pool of Radiance" (1988), "Eye of the Beholder" (1991), "Baldur's Gate" (1998), "Icewind Dale" (2000) and "Neverwinter Nights" (2002).
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
To usher in the new edition of "Dungeons & Dragons", major events occur in the world. The most notable of these include the death of the goddess Mystra and her Weave, and the subsequent Spellplague, a phenomenon which occurs with the decomposition of the Weave and either kills spellcasters or drives them mad. This Spellplague causes calamitous events in the environment and the natural world, such as animation of giant statues, violent earthquakes, corruption of various beings into monsters, and the collapse of some regions of the Underdark. Popular characters such as Elminster and Drizzt Do'Urden are stated to be included. An additional campaign setting book, covering the city of Neverwinter and its environs was released in 2011, while an overview of the history, both fictional and real-world, of the Realms was published as "Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster's Forgotten Realms" in 2012, written by Realms creator Ed Greenwood.