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If you want a real blast from the past, the old gold box TSR videogames (which have remasters available on modern hardware) tend to take place around the Moonsea area, with Hillsfar and Philan.
I saw this "remembered realms" map about half a year ago, and managed to determine that I have 8 DnD characters for 5e, in various on-and-off campaigns. Currently NONE of them are in the coloured area.
I'm afraid I don't have the time to do so right now, but thanks for the suggestion.
I think its strongly connected to how many of your campaigns use modules, as with the exception of ToA, every module settled in the material plane takes place in the colored region and near it. And as lore for the 15th century DR is only well developed for the sword coast, I personally tend to stage my campaigns there.
That's a fair assessment - although Rime of the Frostmaiden takes place just north of the coloured region (the ten towns aren't really on that map at all.)
Of course, one of the advantages of this is that you have a vast amount of "undefined" space to grow your campaign into if you want to make something up. Need to set your game in a kingdom with a monarch and political dealings? Why not Cormyr or Sembia? It's not like there's any published materials on what's been going on there in the last 200 years. Want a place where the Zhentharim are in charge and the local towns and villages are under the control of warring mercenary groups? How about the north Moonsea area, where Zenthil Keep is? Want to convert your game to a steampunk campaign without leaving Forgotten Realms? Boy do I have boat tickets to Lantan that you would love.
While none of this stuff has recent lore, the Forgotten Realms wiki has some surface level detail for everywhere, mostly cribbed from older editions. It's a really good resource if you want to take your campaign somewhere more exploratory, just have a read of what was there, and build your campaign ideas on top of it. Works a treat I think.
Yeah. I've seen some of it and it looks quite promising. Unfortunately, I'm one of those DMs who, for the love of his life, can't make a campaign with self-made stuff as it always ends in hyper fixation and over preparing on some parts, but complete lack of direction in others. I'm trying to get better, but modules just take of so much of that pressure, allowing me to fill in the gaps with actually well thought out content.
But if any DM wants to run a campaign in the places I so smugly called the ,,forgotten" part of the realms, then I'm always happy to see it.