Table of Contents (* for new or updated topics)

 1.5.      Other common questions
*1.5.1.    Any chance of a Realms movie?
 1.5.2.    What are the names of the days in the Realms?
*1.5.3.    On what years does Shieldmeet fall?
 1.5.4.    Is there gunpowder in the Realms?
*1.5.5.    Was there really a Forgotten Realms Comic?
 1.5.6.    Have "official game" versions of the artifacts from the
           FR comic books (the hand of Vaprak, etc.) been published?
           I thought they might be included in "Volo's Guide to All
           Things Magical" but I don't think they were.
*1.5.7.    Is there a particular order in which the Realms novels
           (particularly the Harpers series) should be read?
*1.5.8.    What's up with the runes used on the top of the FR logo?
           Are they Dethek?
*1.5.9.    What were The Spawn Wars?
*1.5.10.   Is there a list of the official Roll of Years?

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1.5. Other common questions
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1.5.1. Any chance of a Realms movie?

A chance?  Sure.  Is it likely?  Nope.

However, a D&D movie not set in the Realms IS in the works. See
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Movie.asp

A favorite sport of the Realms list is "casting" a Realms movie, arguing
over who would play Elminster, Drizzt, Storm, and so forth.  While this
may be fun for the people who haven't been through it before, most of
the list is heartily sick of the whole topic.  Be thou forewarned.
TOP | Intro

1.5.2. What are the names of the days in the Realms?

This was taken from a post by Bobby Nichols catdrag@vnet.net:

At GenCon '95, I asked Ed Greenwood about the days of the week (Ride) in
Faerun. I asked if there was a standard day or day name for the days of
the ride. He responded that the days of the ride differ from geographic
region to region, and usually have a religious connotation. There is no
standard set of day names.

Ed went on to say that the people of Faerun use the number of days to
indicate when something will happen as long as the number of days does
not exceed 30. For instance, if I was to see you in 10 days, I would say
"See you in a ten-day," not "See you in a ride" or "See you next ride,"
both of which are not as determinalistic as the first statement.

If you want to indicate an event in the future of past and this event
happens within 10 days of a major event, a Realmsian would say "Bessie
had her calf 3 days after the Lord came into his castle." or "Bessie's
calf was born 2 days before last Greengrass."

In other words, Realmsians do not use dates like we do -- my birthday in
Faerun is something like "12 days after Greengrass" not "Mirtul 12th."
Now IMC, I use "Firstday," "Seconday", "Thirday", etc. for my days of
the week, and I use dates like Americans do. Why? Well, to be blunt, my
players don't want to try to understand the FR method of dating. So it
is usually easier just to give in on this minor point. However, if you
write fiction, you might want to follow these rules.
TOP | Intro

1.5.3. On what years does Shieldmeet fall?

Brian Rodgers did the math:

In "recent" times, there would have been Shieldmeets in the years of
1348, 1352, 1356, 1360, 1364, 1368 and 1372 DR.

Jason Hatter confirmed:
Yup, that is correct.  IIRC, the novel Elfsong occurs in 1364, during
Shieldmeet. There is also a reference in the City of Splendors timeline,
IIRC.
TOP | Intro

1.5.4. Is there gunpowder in the Realms?

[Thanks to Paul Hoyak for this answer.]
Gunpowder does not exist in the Realms - however, the magical item known
as "smokepowder" does. It is fairly rare, as are firearms, but not as
rare as they were before the Time of Troubles (FRA gives a good timeline
for how guns develop in the Realms).

Also, the increase in spelljamming will also allow for more firearms and
smokepowder in the Realms.

Those who are likely to have firearms mostly include pirates, bandits
and brigands (who have really no idea how to use these "things" and have
next to no smokepowder), and the odd city guard captain!

Note that only the firearms found in FRA are in the Realms - the guns in
Combat & Tactics are NOT in the Realms as these are FAR too advanced for
the Realms current time.

Smokepowder can still be found in Waterdeep, fairly easily too.

It's only a myth that Gond created smokepowder for the Realms - but
that's not to say that it's not true!
TOP | Intro

1.5.5. Was there really a Forgotten Realms Comic?
There was both an AD&D Comic (36 issues or so) and a FR Comic (25 issues
or so) with some crossover annuals.  Both took place in the Realms
around the time of the Godswar, 1357-1359 DR.

Dragon 247 and 260 both contained stories about most of the characters
from those comics (by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak) 10 or so years after
the original comic stories.  Their AD&D stats also appeared in I believe
those two issues of Dragon.  Some of the characters also appeared in the
Lost Gods trilogy of novels and played an important role in the
ascension of Zaranda Star in Tethyr (see Lands of Intrigue).  You can
also find info about one of the characters in the write-up of Labelas in
Demihuman Deities and the Temple of Selune write-up in Powers and
Pantheons.
TOP | Intro

1.5.6. Have "official game" versions of the artifacts from the FR comic
books (the hand of Vaprak, etc.) been published? I thought they might be
included in "Volo's Guide to All Things Magical" but I don't think they
were.

Eric Boyd tells us:

The short answer is no.

There wasn't room in VGtATM to detail all the artifacts named in the
comic series, so I could only detail every other artifact mentioned in a
Realms product up until that point If you don't have access to the
comics (which most people don't), I did name all the artifacts mentioned
in the comic books in the intro to the artifacts chapter. Since most of
the artifacts were reeled off in a shouting match between Omen and
Elminster, and we know NOTHING about them at all, they are left wholly
up to the DM to detail. IIRC, the Hand of Vaprak and the Moonpenguin of
Boof were really the only "featured" artifacts of the various Realms
comics, and the comics revealed much of their powers during the course
of the stories they were involved in.
TOP | Intro

1.5.7. Is there a particular order in which the Realms novels
(particularly the Harpers series) should be read?

Eric Boyd explained:

You want to read "Elfshadow" then "Elfsong" then "Silver Shadows" then
"Thornhold" then "The Dream Spheres".

You want to read "Spellfire" before "Crown of Fire." (The former is not
technically a Harper book, but I would call it "Harpers #0".)

You want to read "Azure Bonds", then "The Wyvern's Spur" then "Song of
the Saurials" then "Masquerades".

You want to read "Crypt of the Shadowking" before "Curse of the
Shadowmage."

You want to read "The Parched Sea" before "The Veiled Dragon."

You want to read "Finder's Bane" then a Dragonlance book whose name I
can't recall and then "Tymora's Luck."

In other words, make sure to read all the books by the same author in
order.
TOP | Intro

1.5.8. What's up with the runes used on the top of the FR logo? Are they
Dethek?

Brian D. Gute knew:

The runes used on the top of the FR logo are not Dethek. They are the
"Common Tongue Runes" introduced in Dragon #69 in the article "Runes" by
Phil Taterczynski and Roger Raupp. The runes on the Forgotten Realms
logo spell out the phrase: Herein lie the lost lands

Just to make matters more confusing, an article entitled "Runestones" by
Ed Greenwood in which he introduced Dethek runes appears on the same
page as the "Common Tongue Runes" alphabet from the "Runes" article.
TOP | Intro

1.5.9. What were The Spawn Wars?

Eric Boyd:
The Spawn Wars have not been mentioned elsewhere, but you should be able
to piece together bits of information from DDGttU, particularly from the
write-up of Iltkazar.

The quick explanation:
There was a time before "Shanatar" was established when Alatorin was in
the hands of the drow and the other dwarven subkingdoms warred amongst
themselves. In those days, the dwarven gods were each associated with a
particular clan. The Spawn Wars saw the use of deepspawn to produce vast
numbers of dwarven troops quickly, who were then hurled into battle
against each other. Eventually, the dwarven kingdoms abandoned their
internecine strife and came together, although not all the deepspawn
were destroyed. It should be noted that the Spawned (as they were
called) were treated as second-class citizens at best and banned from
breeding. However, a few did, and some suspect that a taint of weakness
was introduced into the dwarven race in this fashion that now
contributes to the declining birth rate.

Deepspawn were first detailed in FR11 - Dwarves Deep, but they have
since appeared in other sources. (Definitely in one of the MC Annuals,
and I believe in another Realms product as well.)

A major infestation of deepspawn was found in The Beast Marches, NW of
Myth Drannor. This tidbit appeared long ago in Polyhedron or LC2 (can't
recall which). It was developed in "Fall of Myth Drannor". See the
timeline and causes of the fall in that module.

Other deepspawn that have appeared in the Realms include:
a) one under Zazesspur (see War in Tethyr where it was named)
b) one under Hellgate Keep (see the module)
c) one under Iltkazar (see DDGttU)
d) one under the Shipwreck Plains (see Wyrmskull Throne)

Ed and Steven tend to include a lot of throwaway references to deepspawn
appearing all over the place as well. A good way to think of them is
sort of like solitary beholders ... they're strong enough to establish
themselves at the top of the local food chain and be a major player in a
region.
TOP | Intro

1.5.10. Is there a list of the official Roll of Years?

Yes, at:
http://www.wizards.com/ForgottenRealms/DnDForgottenRealmsDownloads.asp

Be aware that 977 DR is missing, but has been semi-officially dubbed the
"Year of Swordforging".
TOP | Intro