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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
 Posted - 17 May 2010 : 06:16:04
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I had been playing in Greyhawk for a while as a player. I went to the game store to find the Greyhawk boxed set...and there too was the Original Grey Box for the Forgotten Realms. I bugged my mother, took both home, and I've been happy since.  |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2010 : 11:21:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Quale
What about the Five Shires?
I once asked Ed about using The Five Shires in the Realms... His response:
quote:
Sure. Superimpose the Luiren cities and government structure, shift places "just a little" to make room for them, and, yes, it works admirably for that. Almost as if someone designed it that way. ;}
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2010 : 15:32:07
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I just read the Five Shires again last night (a bit). I was amazed that I never really noticed the similarities between Ed's work there and the Forgotten Realms.
Good stuff there. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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dragonfriend
Seeker
Italy
65 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2010 : 19:37:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden
I just read the Five Shires again last night (a bit). I was amazed that I never really noticed the similarities between Ed's work there and the Forgotten Realms.
Good stuff there.
I'll read it asap
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Silverblade The Enchanter
Seeker
United Kingdom
61 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2010 : 14:54:03
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Well I started off with AD&D in 86 or so, I made a homebrew world which still play in :)
Greyhawk was too staid for my tastes, hm, I wonder if I actually discovered D&D due to the Rose Estes, Greyhawk books? so long ago...
From AD&D I read Dragonlance, and while great books, sucked as a game setting IMHO.
Then...was Darkwalker on Moonshae out BEFORE the Realms boxed set? I seem to recall it was?
Loved those books :)
then got the Forgotten Realms original "grey" boxed set, which was FANTASTIC!
pals didn't want to play anything but my homebrew world though, lol
I've rarely had the chance to be a player, always the DM, so the Realms has been where I have "played" the most, in computer games
from "Pool of Radiance" onwards |
www.silverblades-suitcase.com
Spelljammer & Dark Sun art, and much more! |
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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2010 : 15:12:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Silverblade The Enchanter
Then...was Darkwalker on Moonshae out BEFORE the Realms boxed set? I seem to recall it was?
I seem to remember this being correct, the first Moonshae book was published a short while before the campaign setting. If I remember correctly the books where originally meant to be a sort of Dragonlance for the UK branch of TSR, but when this folded the books were fitted into the Realms instead. |
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Mournblade
Master of Realmslore
USA
1287 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2010 : 18:50:13
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I just want to point out as an american of a very international bent, I think it awesome that the first few posts were from Kazakhstan, and Russia. I have travelled extensively and I have always encountered like minded people.
That said, my introduction to the realms was:
1. My friend John introduced me to the Elminster columns in Dragon. (To which I always wondered how Bigby would relate)
2. Darkwalker on moonshae (I think it was released the summer before the realms release)
3. SSI's Pools of Radiance gold box simulataneously with the Grey box 1st edition release. You see when I got the grey box, I did not read much of it, i skipped around and mined stuff for my homebrew middleschool world (Yeah one of THOSE). When I played Pool of Radiance the questions of "What is this place about?" "Why is a norse god mentioned in this game?", and "Who is Bane?" started to flow, and then i devoured the information in the box set.
I collapsed my home world, and started using forgotten realms.
However, when DARK SUN was released, I revisited my home world and basically used the old characters as 'historical epics' as I made ATHAS my middle school world destroyed.
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A wizard is Never late Frodo Baggins. Nor is he Early. A wizard arrives precisely when he means to... |
Edited by - Mournblade on 18 Aug 2010 18:53:19 |
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PaulSKemp
Forgotten Realms Author
808 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2010 : 19:06:58
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Read Darkwalker on Moonshae at the recommendation of a friend. Followed that up with The Crystal Shard.
And off things went from there.  |
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Galuf the Dwarf
Senior Scribe
USA
495 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2010 : 19:18:18
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I actually played Baldur's Gate 2 first, then restarted with BG1 and invested in Icewind Dale 2 and a ton of the novels (mostly Salvatore's and Greenwood's). The rest, as they say, is history.  |
Galuf's Baldur's Gate NPC stats: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8823
Galuf's 3.5 Ed. Cleric Domains: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14036
Galuf's Homebrew 4th Edition Races: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13787
Galuf's Homebrew Specialty Priest PrCs: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14353
Galuf's Forgotten Realms Heralds and Allies thread: forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8766 |
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Archimedes of Syracuse
Acolyte
USA
28 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2010 : 19:56:50
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This is a cool topic I love reading everyones tales of how they stumbled onto the realms. For me, it was junior year and I couldn't have hated reading more, i never read I would barely read my assigned book. My best friend at the time was the opposite, he loved reading and read every day and i never got it. One day I went to the book store with him and his father just to tag along. While at the store, I remember in detail how this happened because the realms honestly changed my lif
Him |
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Archimedes of Syracuse
Acolyte
USA
28 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2010 : 20:09:08
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This is a cool topic I love reading everyones tales of how they stumbled onto the realms. For me, it was junior year and I couldn't have hated reading more, i never read I would barely read my assigned books for school. My best friend at the time was the opposite, he loved reading and read every day and i never got it. One day I went to the book store with him and his father just to tag along. While at the store, I remember in detail how this happened lol we were standing at a table of books and I was making fun of him for how stupid books are and out of the corner of my eye I saw the cover art for sea of swords and loved it, read the back and loved it, his father came up behind me and said I know you don't read but give that book a shot and I'll buy it for you. I said ok we went home and 1 page later I was hooked and now 7 years later I can honestly say the realms changed my life and I couldn't love it anymore, I read daily, and looking back at that kid who despised books, it blows my mind. Thank you Ed for changing my life. Oh and Ed lock wood cause that sea of swords is still one of m favorite cover arts.
Him |
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skychrome
Senior Scribe
713 Posts |
Posted - 18 Aug 2010 : 20:57:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Galuf the Dwarf
I actually played Baldur's Gate 2 first, then restarted with BG1 and invested in Icewind Dale 2 and a ton of the novels (mostly Salvatore's and Greenwood's). The rest, as they say, is history.
Seems BG2 has been an entry point for quite a lot of people. I am currently playing IWD2 and even though it is a good game, it comes nothing close to BG2, which captures the spirit like no other. |
"You make an intriguing offer, one that is very tempting. It would seem that I have little alternative than to answer thusly: DISINTEGRATE!" Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick 625 |
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Halidan
Senior Scribe
USA
470 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2010 : 02:52:53
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| Actualy, I first met the Realms through Ed's articles in Dragon magizine. E think the first one that really made an impression on me was "From the City of Brass to Dead Orc Pass" man article on incorporating gates into your campaign. From there, I read "Deadwalker on Moonshae" and then picked up the original grey box when it was published. I've been hooked ever since. |
"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied,
"If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Allen Poe - 1849 |
Edited by - Halidan on 20 Aug 2010 17:38:24 |
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althen artren
Senior Scribe
USA
780 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2010 : 04:06:22
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Ruins of Myth Drannor box set. Boy, I always wanted to
run a group with it. Never did though. |
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Hooch9
Acolyte
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2010 : 04:49:59
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| Like many, I played Baldurs Gate. I remember it well. I was at my cousins house in the Rogue Valley in Oregon. He had various computer games, like Starcraft and Age of Empires 2. I saw him play both and thought they were pretty cool. Then he showed me Baldurs Gate. I've always been into video game RPGs, and thought Baldurs Gate was pretty good (even though I had zero concept of D&D at the time). I liked it so much that I got it. Eventually, the whole Forgotten Realms setting came over me, then I had realized what the game was all about. Even though I've never played in a Forgotten Realms D&D game, I love the setting. A few years later, I bought the Dark Elf Trilogy. Now, it is my mission to get through as many novels as I can. And all because I was introduced to a video game. |
Sheriff: Oh one other thing Earlie. Your boy needs to be in school.
Earlie Cuyler: School? Ain't dat da damn place where they got all dem uhh lets see, whatcha call um uhh? Fold outs covered in scriblins wrote up all over.
Earlie Cuyler: uhh? Books?
Earlie Cuyler: uh-uh, uh-uh, No they square like a magazine.
Sheriff: Books Earlie.
Earlie Cuyler: Noo not not that, but something like that, I wanna say boooooo...
"Don't you start with me. I have hobbies. I collect autographs. I don't Judge you for all those books you read!"
-Both of those quotes are from Squidbillies. |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6645 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2010 : 08:08:47
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I fell in love with the Realms (without intending to at all) through Ed's articles in Dragon. Pages From the Mages was such brilliant D&D work that it just couldn't be ignored. So I would attempt to file off the FR places and some names and write over Greyhawk places because I had the GH boxed set and loved it and wanted to place this material in my GH world.
Then the Ol' Grey Box was released which I purchased as soon as it hit my gaming store - sometime in early 1988 as I recall. The brown parchment paper, the cool mage sigils, the special rules to beef up dragons - I loved it all. And that's when it hit me: names, places, events: lots of them. Most of them with no detail other than a bare mention. I felt like I'd just bought a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and dumped the contents out on my coffee table.
So I did what any obsessive, "devil in the detail" person would do - I started cataloguing stuff. As the FR series came out, there was more and more stuff to try and weave together to try and get a better handle on the cohesive whole. And then with that, of course, came the countless questions. Was Whisper of the Zhentarim the same Whisper mentioned in FR4 The Magister? Just how did Aubayreer fit into the rulers of Aglarond outlined in FR6 Dreams of Red Wizards? Who was sister to who (if you read the Ol' Grey Box, the Seven Sisters are never grouped in anything other than 4 or 5 maximum - with those groupings changing from reference to reference)? The questions mounted up and I was thinking of putting pen to paper and writing to Dragon to see if they would be kind enough to forward the letter on to Mr Greenwood when ...
... along came the internet. Specifically the still alive but now relic of a wonderful bygone age called the REALMS-L e-mail list. What? I could sign up and get 30-70 e-mails a day from people wanting to talk Forgotten Realms? Count me in! And so I started posting and responding and questioning and ... occasionally ... arguing about what soon became the focal point of my creative energies.
Then one day I got an e-mail out of the blue. Well, not really out of the blue. More like out of my wildest dreams. Ed Greenwood decided to e-mail me about one of my grand pronouncements to the REALMS-L that Elaith Craulnobur had a striking similarity to the GH NPC Lanolin (see the original Rogues Gallery accessory) and that Ed must have modelled Elaith on that creation.
Well, Ed was kind enough to chide me gently, telling me that Elaith actually pre-dated Lanolin and D&D for that matter and then of course unleashed the full force of his generosity on me in a single sentence: If you ever have any questions or want anything clarified regarding the Realms feel free to e-mail me.
And that's how I met with the Realms.
-- George Krashos
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"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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Dewaint
Learned Scribe
Germany
148 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2010 : 09:34:42
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one of my friends mastered Dragonlance which was pretty awesome. In those days I still stick to a selfmade AD&D campaign which took most of my time after school. So i looked around and stumbled over a new TSR Campaign Box in gray and with a cool cover on it I read through the books and mastered the Myth Drannor miniadventure in it. Then I noticed the "Darkwalker on Moonshaes" novel and it took 3 weeks to read it 'cause of my bad English it was breathtaking, so wonderfully detailed campaign where so much lore was available through novels, Dragon articles and Dungeon adventures.
It was Love from the beginning  |
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Silverblade The Enchanter
Seeker
United Kingdom
61 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2010 : 14:02:17
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Jorkens
yeah back then Uk TSR did a lot of good stuff, like the original "Fiend Folio"!
George
I agree, the original grey boxed set was *beautiful!* :)
that layout and artwork evoked something rarely ever achieved since, alas.
Tone and imagery are utterly vital at mood setting.
For exmaple, Spelljammer, Dark Sun and Planescape had their own fonts and colours etc back in the day, each helped bind the "feel" of the settings, you know?
For those who liked the computer games, there was also Menzoberanzan which was actually quite good IMHO, but very overlooked :)
The "Pools" series was a blast!! from cleaving all the damn kobolds/goblins in Pool of Radiance, lol, up to those crazy encounters in "Pools of Darkness", wow!!
Fun was taking on and beating "The Mulmaster Beholder Corp" Muhaha!
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www.silverblades-suitcase.com
Spelljammer & Dark Sun art, and much more! |
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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2010 : 16:42:50
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quote:
Originally posted by Silverblade The Enchanter
Jorkens
yeah back then Uk TSR did a lot of good stuff, like the original "Fiend Folio"!
Ah, the Carbunkle
Not to mention their modules, many of the absolute best TSR modules were produced by that team, with B10 of course being the high point. |
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Salius Kai
Learned Scribe
USA
217 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2010 : 20:16:25
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Baldur's Gate. The first one. I was, and very much still am, addicted to the game. Have yet to play the second one.
I immediately followed that game with IceWind Dale 2 (likewise, I have yet to play the first installment of that series).
After learning it was an actual campaign world, I bought the Campaign Setting, and then started delving into novels. FR is still my setting of choice (though we usually play homebrew worlds), although I do admittedly cringe when I look at what 4th edition has done to it... |
"Welcome to these walls of infinite knowledge."
Salius Kai |
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Silverblade The Enchanter
Seeker
United Kingdom
61 Posts |
Posted - 19 Aug 2010 : 22:46:35
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Jorkens
well the Fiend Folio was fuill of the weird, good and ...well, not "bad" but..."flumphy" ;)
Salius kai
I didn't play BG2, properly, until last week, oddly enough, even though I got mentioned in it, lol!! damn good game :) |
www.silverblades-suitcase.com
Spelljammer & Dark Sun art, and much more! |
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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
Posted - 20 Aug 2010 : 08:14:56
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quote:
Originally posted by Silverblade The Enchanter
Jorkens
well the Fiend Folio was fuill of the weird, good and ...well, not "bad" but..."flumphy" ;)
Oh, I like the Fiend Folio, but the Carbuncle has to be the most hilarious monster ever created. A suicidal, intelligent armadillo with a jewel stuck in its forehead (which it feels the need to tell everyone the value of)compulsively trying to disrupt groups of people? How do you beat that? |
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Wenin
Senior Scribe
585 Posts |
Posted - 20 Aug 2010 : 14:56:12
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I put other, mainly cause I didn't understand some of the choices as they didn't seem to fit.
21 years ago, while in high school, my gaming group was playing in and around Keep on the Border lands. It was dull and boring, as we didn't know anything about the areas. Then the GM at the time introduced me to the Realms, that he didn't know about at all. He bought the Grey Box set, and he thought it was totally cool. I read through it, and enjoyed how everything was very informative about the regions you could play within. I was hooked. We transferred our characters through a portal, and then promptly retired them, creating an adventurers guild based out of Westgate. It was the Jun Horde. =)
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Session Reports posted at RPG Geek.
Stem the Tide Takes place in Mistledale.
Dark Curtains - Takes place in the Savage North, starting in Nesmé. I wrapped my campaign into the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but it takes place in 1372 DR. |
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Balduran Lavidah
Seeker
France
83 Posts |
Posted - 20 Aug 2010 : 15:39:28
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Aussi étrange que cela puisse paraître, mon premier contact de FR fut dans un des nombreux livres dont "vous êtes le héros". Je devais avoir 8 ans à cette époque et je me rappelle avoir commencé comme ça. Pourtant, ce n'est pas ces livres qui m'ont le plus marqué, mais le jeux PC Baldur's Gate :)
_______________________________________________________________________
Strange as it may sound , my first contact with EN was in one of several books including "You're a hero . I was about 8 years old at that time and I remember how it started .
Yet this is not the books I found most marked, but the PC games Baldur 's Gate :) |
"Le savoir s'apprend. La curiosité forme le savoir." |
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Lily M Green
Learned Scribe
Australia
115 Posts |
Posted - 01 Oct 2010 : 13:43:55
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| Interesting you should ask. I've known a few people (OK boys / men) who were tabletop gamers in my time. My brother & my cousins used to play when I was a kid - of course being 80's brats the obvious introduction (to the DND world at large) was the cartoon - and I was a regular Saturday night Realmswidow when I was with my ex boyfriend. (Again, no girls allowed). We started playing Baldur's Gate via a home LAN but for some reason we never finished it. (I say some reason, we probably split up, he was dropped from the party so to speak :D) I eventually found my way back in via the Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance games. (which get hauled out at least twice a year, I've just deleted saves from my memory card from 2004!) I'm now looking for a good place to start with the novels and doing an epic Baldur's Gate-athon. |
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and taste good with ketchup.
A Dark Alliance - Beyond Baldur's Gate |
Edited by - Lily M Green on 01 Oct 2010 16:13:59 |
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Erik Scott de Bie
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
4598 Posts |
Posted - 01 Oct 2010 : 17:07:56
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I read Darkwalker on Moonshae at about age 11.
This was followed fairly quickly by Elfshadow, Streams of Siver, the Halfling's Gem, Exile, and Sojourn (oddly, I did not have the first book of either of those trilogies), at which point I realized this was all part of one series of books I was reading.
We started gaming in the Realms around the same time, and my longest running 2e/3e character was a moon elf thief (later rogue) who was the sworn enemy of Artemis Entreri (we actually did fight at one point--it was cool).
I started writing at age 13, my first extended project being a detailed narrative backstory for this character (it was supposed to be 10 pages--it turned out being around 45). That was pretty much the moment I knew I was doomed to be a writer.
So I pretty much credit the Realms with not only my interest in reading and one of my favorite hobbies, but also the basis of my whole writing career.
So thanks Ed, Jeff, Bob, Elaine, et al. You really did change my life, and at this point, I'm hoping I can pay it forward.
Cheers |
Erik Scott de Bie
'Tis easier to destroy than to create.
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars" |
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Julian Grimm
Seeker
86 Posts |
Posted - 01 Oct 2010 : 20:08:04
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My intro to the Realms was through the comic book and magazine ads that TSR ran in the 80's. I hadn't even played AD&D yet but knew I liked the world from what I saw. To make a long story short; when I saw the Greybox at the local comic shop I bought it without a second thought.
I have been trying to find scans of those old TSR ads. Does anyone know where to look, Google fails me on this. |
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see
Learned Scribe
235 Posts |
Posted - 04 Oct 2010 : 07:38:42
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| Omnivorously consuming AD&D material from the local bookstore, grabbed a copy of the Old Gray Box. |
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How did you met with the Realms?
