@TheEdVerse what would the greeting be like for my adventuring party as they enter Calimshan? None of them have moved far from the Sword Coast, and the party has several rarer races (Tortle, firbolg, tiefling.) Would it be more unkind than their experiences in Waterdeep?

— The Biggest Lebowski (@Hipstertastic) April 1, 2020

1)
Calishites tend to be wary of obvious “outlanders,” and of adventurers. However, if the adventuring party travels with apparent purpose (as opposed to wandering, or publicly discussing where to go and what to do), most who 2)
…see them will assume they’ve been hired by someone in Calimshan to undertake a mission. They are still to be watched (as armed ‘potential trouble’) but not a cause for alarm, arming up, or informing any authorities. Unless they’re seen breaking and entering, …#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 1, 2020

3)
…stealing, or being arsonists, of course. Personal reactions to the rarer races will depend on the NPC's past personal experience (is this a monster? Tiefling = a genasi?)#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 1, 2020

with hexblade archetypes branching out, now with @matthewmercer’s bloodhunter is it safe to say that weapons could have a purpose based on their creation or crafter’s intentions. Not purely an intelligent weapon but an inanimate object with a simplistic sense of driveOh, yes. Many enchanted things in the Realms were created with an inherent sense of purpose. Which can be wonderful. Or creepy, irritating, scary, and even dangerous if a later owner doesn't know about it. Until too late. ;}#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 16, 2020

Yes.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2020

Thank you for answering. Could you refer me to the books or places where I could hunt down their Exact locations in the latest timelines? Last my research found (2e) they were tethered in certain trees and towers. With scattered mentions of individual scrolls from time to time I'm afraid not.
I wasn't being flippant when I replied to you, I was going as far as the heavy NDAs on the Nether Scrolls allowed me to go. (Yes, this is one of those "no-go" topics.)#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 14, 2020

Leaving out the novels, these sources have the most about the Nether Scrolls: Lost Empires of Faerûn, Netheril: Empire of Magic boxed set, the 2007 Anauroch: The Empire Of Shade, The Grand History of the Realms, Lords of Darkness, Races of Faerûn, and Magic of Faerûn.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 14, 2020

I understand. When you let a company sell something you want to share with the world, you lose some things. Thanks for replying though. It really is helpful. I hope that you or another author can sit down and give us a day in the life of Netherese wizards some time in novel form I would love that. We spend so much time writing "fate of the world hangs in the balance" tension or impending doom-laden scenes that a day in the life would be a wonderful change of pace. :}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 14, 2020

Gives a clear endpoint with a vague few thousand years before it happens. Plus idk if you or other authors have written in depth about the famous wizards mentioned in Netherils history and timelines. It’s leaders, saviors, or great inventors I've written a little, back when Netheril was my "dawn-of- time mighty magic kitchen sink catchall." ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 14, 2020

Yeah so many of the wizards you wrote about for those books seemed like they would have as much impact as Tensor, Elminster, Melf, or Mordekainen. Though some of them like Jeriah the chronomancer made me wonder what impact he had to be written down, but for 1 orc horde and death Jeriah wasn't my creation, so I'm afraid I can't speak to that. Nor was chronomancy in the Realms.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 14, 2020

Was Ioulam your creation? The one who created the first human made Mythal. No. A lot of cooks have had fun in the Realms kitchen.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 14, 2020

Or could I just wait for a book that says in a swinging 20s voice “Evil man has obtained massive power through ancient magics! Will he control the universe or will the hero’s stop his evil plots of the nether scrolls? Find out in the next Episode of D AND D!” Decisions, decisions…it's like life. None of us know what's going to hit us next.
Until it's too late, and we do.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 14, 2020

Hey @TheEdVerse, I am a new DM and I am currently running a campaign in 5e. It's located in Waterdeep and is going to revolve around the criminal underworld in the city. Could you tell me about all of the different (semi)criminal organisations and factions?

— Joris (@_waterbeemd_) April 8, 2020

1)
While many of the nobles, guildmasters, and even Masked Lords have been known to engage in shady dealings (often employing adventurers or mercenaries as agents, so as to avoid “dirty hands”), the Zhentarim have in the past openly engaged in nastiness, but these days employ 2)
…others (adventurers, dupes) for such work, and the Xanathar Guild (which isn't a guild at all, despite the name) is a front for the criminal gang run by the Xanathar, a beholder (or rather, a succession of beholders, using the same title, like the Dread Pirate Roberts in…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020

3)
…the Princess Bride movie, though the Xanathar was around before William Goldman wrote that movie script) located in the sewers of Waterdeep. The city has no Thieve’s Guild, but the Shadow Thieves keep trying to get back into the city, and there are remnants of 4)
…criminal groups like the Bloody Hand, as well as several gangs based down in Skullport. One of these is Bregan D'aerthe, a drow mercenary group headed by Jarlaxle Baenrae.
And informal cabals of a handful of thugs and/or sneak-thieves, often sponsored by an…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020

5)
…unscrupulous merchant, are constantly forming and trying to operate unnoticed in the Deep. They rarely succeed escaping the scrutiny of the Xanathar for long. WATERDEEP: DRAGON HEIST provides a good overview of these in its opening pages, and you can get a. 6)
…feel for some of the independent seedy operators in the city in my novel DEATH MASKS. Or for Waterdeep a century earlier, subtract Bregan D'aerthe and look at Elaine Cunningham's novels ELFSHADOW, ELFSONG, etc. (For Waterdeep in between these times, see the…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020

7)
…six-novel "Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep" series, all of which impart the feel of the seamier sides of Waterdeep.)#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020

would you consider the Realms Master a proper skyship? Or was its flight capability really just due to the astrolabe? It's a proper skyship. Of the Halruaan sort (see my DRAGON article). Jeff and I discussed that, way back when.
It spent much of its time overloaded, though, so without the astrolabe it would glide downwards (crash landing if not steered to a suitable meadow or field).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 27, 2020

Beautiful. Thanks. My current campaign is a direct sequel to the comic, set in 1492. Dwalimar lives on, his soul trapped in the Astrolabe. The PCs are his new crew as they search for the Rod of Seven Parts. Heh. Hiding particular segments of the Rod was an in-house TSR joke for a bit (Asmodeus using one as a baton, a halfling king using another as a walking-stick, Lolth splinting one of her injured spider-legs with another…and then the locations got, ah, ruder.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 27, 2020

I had liches using segments of the Rod in place of missing bones, deliberately (with spell-links cast so that segment could power/boost various magics they hurled). And DCS III had a marilith wielding two parts among her other weapons DCSIII?

— NewbieDM (@newbiedm) May 27, 2020

Donald C. Sutherland the Third. TSR artist (many illos in the original Monster Manual and early modules, co-designer of Queen of the Demonweb Pits) and later head of the map department. Now, sadly, no longer with us.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 27, 2020

It’s funny how the Rod of Seven Parts is one of the foundations of the “seven whatevers” in modern gaming. From Paper Mario to World of Darkness’ “Book of Nod” It's just a built-in quest sequel-maker. In-game justification for "and now you have to go on this other adventure and get this other piece." And so, irresistible to so many designers.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 27, 2020