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==Reception== In his book ''[[The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible]]'', [[Sean Patrick Fannon]] describes the Forgotten Realms as being "the most ambitious fantasy game setting published since [[Tekumel]]",<ref name="FRGB" /> and that it "may be the most widely played-in game setting in RPG history".<ref name="FRGB" /> Similarly, in literature, the novels written in the Forgotten Realms setting have formed one of "the industry's leading fantasy series".<ref name="Milliot2007">{{cite journal | last = Milliot | first = Jim | date = October 22, 2007 | title = Wizards Brews New Fiction Line | journal = [[Publishers Weekly]] | volume = 254 | issue = 42}}</ref> Over time these novels have gained "unprecedented popularity",<ref name="Oxoby2003">{{cite book | last = Oxoby | first = Marc | year = 2003 | title = The 1990s | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group | isbn = 978-0-313-31615-9 | page = [https://archive.org/details/1990s0000oxob/page/148 148] | url = https://archive.org/details/1990s0000oxob/page/148}}</ref> which led, as Marc Oxoby noted in his book, ''The 1990s'', to the novels having an "extraordinary shelf life", remaining in print for many years.<ref name="Oxoby2003" /> This popular reception has also been reflected in public libraries; for example, Joyce Saricks states in ''The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction'' that the novels have been among the most requested books by fans of the fantasy genre.<ref name="Saricks2001">{{cite book | last = Saricks | first = Joyce G. | year = 2001 | title = The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction | publisher = ALA Editions | isbn = 978-0-8389-0803-7 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/readersadvisoryg00sari/page/49 49β50] | url = https://archive.org/details/readersadvisoryg00sari/page/49}}</ref> ''D&D'' chroniclers Michael Witwer ''et al.'', in the book ''Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana'', noted that the "level of Tolkienesque history and detail that Greenwood had infused in his creation - and almost "real world" quality - granted the Realms an irresistible allure [...]. While at its core the Forgotten Realms is a familiar, almost traditional, medieval-styled fantasy setting, it boasted unprecedented scope". "It is, quite simply, Dungeons & Dragons at its very core."<ref name="AA" /> Aubrey Sitterson, for ''[[PC Magazine]]'', included the Forgotten Realms in a 2015 roundup of the "11 Best Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Settings" and wrote that "for most people, Forgotten Realms is synonymous with ''Dungeons & Dragons'', and with good reason: it's the setting that played home to the massively popular Baldur's Gate video game, as well as R. A. Salvatore's Drizzt books. Currently, it's the only campaign setting actively supported by ''D&D'' makers Wizards of the Coast, which would be restrictive if Forgotten Realms wasn't such an incredibly diverse place, housing classic European middle ages tropes, as well as a heroic fantasy take on African, Middle Eastern, and other real-world cultures".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sitterson |first=Aubrey |date=November 24, 2015 |title=11 Best Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Settings |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/11-best-dungeons-dragons-campaign-settings |access-date=2020-06-30 |website=PCMAG |language=en}}</ref> Brian Silliman, for [[Syfy#Syfy Wire|SYFY Wire]] in 2017, described the Forgotten Realms as "a classic fantasy backdrop" and highlighted that "at one time in our history, our world and this one were connected, but over time this magical realm was, well, forgotten. It is an ideal place for any ''D&D'' adventure, inspiring limitless possibilities for any smirking dungeon master".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Silliman|first=Brian|date=2017-09-20|title=25 fantasy worlds from the past 25 years we'd want to visit|url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/25-fantasy-worlds-from-the-past-25-years-wed-want-to-visit|access-date=2020-06-30|website=SYFY WIRE|language=en|archive-date=2020-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630212122/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/25-fantasy-worlds-from-the-past-25-years-wed-want-to-visit|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2019, academic Philip J. Clements called the "highly popular" Forgotten Realms "an unusually well-developed D&D setting" and "more-or-less the flagship setting for D&D". He also noted that it has received the greatest number of supplements.<ref name="PJC">{{cite thesis |last=Clements |first=Philip J. |date=December 2019 |title=Dungeons & Discourse: Intersectional Identities in Dungeons & Dragons |type=PhD |url=http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1573729920432102 |access-date=January 20, 2021 |page=78}}</ref> In a retrospective on the legacy of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', academic Daniel Heath Justice commented that the "''Forgotten Realms'' was explicitly based on the civilized-versus-savage binary and leaned in hard on [[racial essentialism]] in its sadistic black-skinned drow led by vicious matriarchs and their terrible spider goddess, firmly melding anti-Blackness with misogyny, a once-civilized people gone feral under the debased rule of women".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Justice |first=Daniel Heath |title=Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |year=2024 |isbn=9780262547604 |publication-date=May 10, 2024 |chapter=Hack The Orcs, Loot The Tomb, And Take The Land |chapter-url=https://www.rascal.news/hack-the-orcs-loot-the-tomb-and-take-the-land/}}</ref> === Edition updates === The 4th edition update to the Forgotten Realms brought massive lore changes which were "tied to a number of other design philosophies" and the Forgotten Realms "simultaneously had become a grittier setting, on the edge of collapse, while also becoming a more fantastic one, full of wonder and mystery".<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Appelcline|first=Shannon|title=Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide (4e) - Wizards of the Coast {{!}} Product History|url=https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/57376/Forgotten-Realms-Campaign-Guide-4e|access-date=2020-06-30|website=DriveThruRPG|language=en}}</ref> Jason Wilson, for ''[[VentureBeat]]'', highlighted that unlike the Time of Troubles cataclysm, the 4th edition Spellplague cataclysm was "one players never embraced in the same manner as the earlier disaster".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wilson|first=Jason|date=2015-10-19|title=Sword Coast Legends isn't last generation's D&D β and that's sometimes a bad thing|url=https://venturebeat.com/2015/10/19/sword-coast-legends-review/|access-date=2020-06-30|website=VentureBeat|language=en-US}}</ref> Shannon Appelcline, author of ''Designers & Dragons'', wrote: <blockquote>[The 4th edition] ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide'' may be the most controversial D&D book ever produced by Wizards. That's entirely due to the large-scale destruction of the Realms. Similar updates have been tried by other companies β to reinvigorate settings, to make them more accessible to new players, or to make them more adventuresome. [...] It never seems to go well, because old fans feel left behind. With that said, some folks did love the changes, because the setting was now more playable, more accessible, more fantastic, and more PC centered. [...] Meanwhile, a series of adventures and novels called ''The Sundering'' (2013β2014) reversed many of the 4e changes to the Realms, but without rebooting the timeline. Instead, the Realms continues to evolve and advance, as it has since its earlier days.<ref name=":4" /></blockquote> R. A. Salvatore was also publicly unhappy with the 4th edition changes to the Forgotten Realms:<ref>{{Cite web|last=Grabianowski|first=Ed|date=October 2, 2014|title=R. A. Salvatore and Erin M. Evans Bring War to the Forgotten Realms|url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/r-a-salvatore-and-erin-m-evans-bring-war-to-the-forgo-1640573706|access-date=2020-06-30|website=io9|language=en-us}}</ref> <blockquote>[B]asically, we authors were handed a document and told how things were going to be. We were asked our opinions, but they mattered very little β the changes were being driven from a different direction. [...] To have characters that have built such a strong history, then have that upset on the orders of someone else was very disconcerting. I will admit that the abrupt changes forced me into an uncomfortable place, and from that place came some of the better things I've written, but I very much preferred the way it was done this time, with 5th Edition and the changes, where we, the authors, were told what was happening to the game and asked how we could make the world and the lore live and breathe it.</blockquote>Christian Hoffer, for ''[[ComicBook.com]]'', reported that Wizards of the Coast's 5th edition publishing strategy, which focuses on the Forgotten Realms and newer intellectual property for campaign settings, has created a rift in the fan base where some "feel that this push for new players has come at the cost of keeping the game's current players sated" by not updating campaign settings that "predate the Forgotten Realms". Hoffer highlighted that Wizards of the Coast has a much slower publication schedule than with previous editions with a focus on quality and profit and "the D&D teams knows that they have plenty of great campaign settings in their back pocket and are either actively developing more settings or have ideas for them further down the line".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hoffer|first=Christian|date=January 25, 2020|title=The Divide Brewing Among Dungeons & Dragons Fans|url=https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/dungeons-and-dragons-exandria-wildemount-dragonlance/|access-date=2020-06-30|website=ComicBook.com|language=en}}</ref>
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