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
The original gray boxed set received a revision in 1993 to update it to the second edition "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D)" rules system, with the release of a new "Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting" boxed set, containing three books ("A Grand Tour of the Realms", "Running the Realms", and "Shadowdale") and various "monster supplements", with a new graphic look. Additional material for the setting was released steadily throughout the 1990s. Forgotten Realms novels, such as the "Legacy of the Drow" series, the first three books of "The Elminster Series", and numerous anthologies were also released throughout the 1990s, which led to the setting being hailed as one of the most successful shared fantasy universes of the 1990s. These novels in turn sparked interest in role-playing activity by new gamers.