I guess "Remembered & Much-Beloved Realms" doesn't attract adventurers the same way, though. Kind of like the "Caverns of Moderate Comfort."

— Luke Maynard (@lukemaynard) September 8, 2017

Nothing false about it! From our real-world POV, the ways (gates/portals) to reach the Realms were "Forgotten" for long enough that the…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 8, 2017

…name of the world was, too, hence "Forgotten Realms" (the "lost" place where dragons and vampires et al came from). TSR wanted to nix…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 8, 2017

…the real-world connections, but loved the name and kept it.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 8, 2017

@TheEdVerse Hello Ed, I've been working on this Waterdeep environs' map, and it's been quite a work. Need some information to make it right pic.twitter.com/4puE3qjDdx

— Eduardo F Vieira (@mineirodabahia) September 12, 2017

1- Is the distance between Waterdeep and the Dessarin ok?
2-Is the distance between Waterdeep and the Rathills ok? Hi, Eduardo! Nice map. The Dessarin is WAY too close, and therefore, so is the Rat Hills (think of a three hour or longer slow dung-wagon…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 12, 2017

…journey, once outside the southernmost city gate). Once beyond the meadows where citizens picnic and nobles fly their falcons, kept as…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 12, 2017

"common" land (in the main, for caravan camping and assembly use), which lie directly east of the city, farmland beyond is all owned by…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 12, 2017

…someone. In the 1200s and earlier, it was mainly held by nobles, who rented it to tenant farmers (Deep families growing their own food…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 12, 2017

,,,and selling the xcess), but over the years, nobles needing coin have sold off more and more, until by the 1400s, nobles only retain…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 12, 2017

…their more distant estates (Amphail and beyond, mainly up that road), and wealthy commoners own the farmlands near the city. And almost..

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 12, 2017

..all of them rent those lands out for tillage or grazing (mainly tillage). These farms produce food crops, and sometimes fatten up…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 12, 2017

…livestock by grazing: both things that can't be done inside the city walls in the scale needed to do more than feed one family.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 12, 2017

dont remember where i saw it, a rule about fixing buildings in waterdeep was not allowed or something? or old info? #dndwas like, some law or something in the deep about owning a building or business or something i read somewhere, unsure

— PastorGall (@PastorGall) September 22, 2017

Certain wards have from time to time been under Lord's decrees to not RAZE buildings (due to a trick of buying several adjacent structures..

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 22, 2017

…and knocking them all down to build something towering and palatial that in some cases blocked alleys and neighbours' accesses, using…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 22, 2017

the false pretext "oh, they were unsafe"). Like many cities, hard daily experience has led the Deep to have laws about what you can do to…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 22, 2017

…existing buildings, yours and those belonging to others, and when and where you can build new ones (back in Ahghairon's time, a rich…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 22, 2017

…Calishite came to town with a small army of bodyguards and tried to build a warehouse/TOLL BOOTH! across the Way of the Dragon!). As…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 22, 2017

…Madeiron Sunderstone once remarked, "There's always SOMEone." (Being an utter git.) ;} So, rules to curb utter gitdom…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 22, 2017

They have very much survived. One will be the setting for much of this year's Mirt tale (and all of the Mirt adventure). DM's Guild, Nov.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 22, 2017

@TheEdVerse Within Toril, what is the legality of looting the dead? Recently dead (ie, a bandit) and long-dead (grave goods from a tomb)?

— Max Ximenez (@maxximenez) September 8, 2017

Illegal in law-and-order jurisdictions, always illegal for royalty&nobility. For the 2 examples you cite, most folk would look the other wayTo clarify: it's legal to loot a bandit who attacked you in the forest, but not a mugger who attacks you in a city?

— Max Ximenez (@maxximenez) September 9, 2017

Often, yes. In a city, the Watch steps in. THEY want to see what's in his pocketses. If you can convince them that THIS STUFF is yours, …

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 9, 2017

…just snatched, you may get it back on the spot. That's the price of civilization. Needless to say, a lot of bodies get looted BEFORE…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 9, 2017

…anyone cries for the Watch. ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 9, 2017

how common are inter-humanoid species relationships in the realms? Do they tend to get looked down upon?Commoner than most folk in the Realms notice, or believe. As high as 20 percent in some places. How they're viewed varies widely, with the..

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…viewers. More rural = more accepting of the status quo, whatever it is (usually little mixing, except humans/elves in forest areas), …

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

but in cities, more tolerant ("not my business, so long as their coins are good and they offer me no violence"). In some city-states, the…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

rulers/ruling class "set the tone" (and the general populace usually accepts rather than being at odds). Rural homesteaders, prospectors,..

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

foresters, miners, explorers, and adventurers are most tolerant of all ("we all forge our own roads, and judge not the roads of others"). ..

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

These are generalizations, and may not hold true in any specific case. But the Realms is not our real world: humans in the Realms are used..

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

..to truly mixed-race society. Which doesn't mean there aren't racial mistrusts (few trust orcs, and no one sane trusts a drow or illithid).

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

can you describe what Arabel looks like from the street on a typical day? What do the buildings and people look like?Cobbled streets (overlaid by tiny mud and dung patches here and there), all wide enough for 2 large wagons to comfortably pass and still…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…leave room for foot traffic. Buildings three or four floors high (with cellars, too), and steeply-pitched shingle or shake or slate …

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…roofs (almost no tiled roofs due to winds and severe winter cold), those roofs being steeply-pitched ("highpoint") to shed snow; many…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…chimneys and dormers. Half-timbered ("Tudor") upper floors that jut out over streets, lower floors of fitted fieldstone and/or brick. …

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

Most buildings battered/weathered, but good and solid (rebuilt often due to chimney fires, high storm winds, winter "claw"). Many warehouses

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…and wagons; clearly a caravan/trading city, wherever your eye falls. Many horse troughs and pumps (freeze during winter, when cellar…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…pumps that don't are used exclusively), but kept filled in other months in case of raids out of the Stonelands, so city never runs short

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…of untainted water (Crown law about this). Other laws: streets may not be blocked except by Purple Dragons and Town Watch (i.e. be …

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…careful when parking wagons). People: wide ethnic mix of humans (drow, "goblinkin," and half-orcs not welcome), dwarves. A passing…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…scattering of gnomes, halflings, and elves. Much transient (caravan and peddler/wayfaring merchant) traffic. Covert Crown spies keep…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

..watch for Cormyr over who arrives and leaves (to guard against rebellion, not just invasion, though this is more historical holdover…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…than sharp concern, these days). Rainwater shed from roofs goes down wide pipes into barrels and cellar-cisterns. Youth with slings…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…keep pigeons and the like rare sights within the city walls. Camping paddocks for caravans outside city walls, policed by Purple Dragons

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

(who provide firewood, and forbid the cutting of brush for some distance around Arabel, except for the brush clearing they themselves do, ..

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

…to make sure any potential besiegers lack cover).
Think that covers the basics. Just ask if you'd like more.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

A pleasure!

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 18, 2017

dear sage, do you know of any wandering bladesinger masters in the Realms my elf may apprentice to? Do they have any quirks?I know of at least a dozen. Most are loners, but a few (Laethra Longtresses comes to mind) are gregarious and might take on an apprentice. +

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 21, 2017

Laethra's quirks include a love of swimming down raging whitewater rivers, and an itch to climb high spires and roofs. She has caches…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 21, 2017

…and tiny hidehold refuges in ruins all over the Sword Coast and Moonsea Norths. Doth Laethra sound suitable? ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 21, 2017