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The Grand History of the Realms is a compendium of events in a chronological order for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. In terms of having the information in one place, in one hardcover, it does a solid job. Having all the various timelines from dozens of products at your fingertips is a nice touch.
The book, for the most part, benefits from being in the Forgotten Realms line. It has the same faded yellow page graphic design as other products, impressive use of page layout, and top notch art. The timeline has occasional sidebars of various information, like points of view by those who were living at the time.
For example, during the year 1365, we see what happens when a Red Wizard winds up meeting Alvaerele Tasundrym, a sworn of Mystra who demands that the Red Wizard urge his fellows on to creating greater and greater magic items and spells because the Lady of Magic demands their very best!
There are several maps included with the product. Each showing a different time. Maps are nice to look at, but unless you’re running an actual campaign in that era, not particularly useful. One of the biggest things that surprised some was that the timeline ends in 1385. In the FRCS, 1372 is the final timeline. Of course since then we’ve had the Year of Rogue Dragons in 1373 and then… well, it gets a little strange.
In 1374 for example, dragon eggs start falling from the sky. If the 4e rumors are true, it’s an explanation of why there will be Dragonborn in the setting. There’s also an in-game explanation for why dragonspawn are in the setting.
How about in 1384 where due to a divine misunderstanding that Helm and Tyr duke it out over the love of Tymora. This breaks up the Triad.
Stranger still, is that in 1385, we’ve got huge events like the muder of Mystara, destruction of several planes, banishment of several gods, and other huge events. Sounds like another preparation for 4e.
My biggest problem with this product is that in a different format, it’s available online as a 100 page PDF. Another problem is that the art is reused. Some of the art, like that of the warforged on page 49, are inappropriate. In and of itself, those things probably wouldn’t bother me is this book didn’t cost as much as a standard 160 page book that would generally boast all new writing and all new art. For those who don’t feel that reprinted art and information is a problem, this is a 4 star product for you.
For those who feel that there should be no discount, I look at another book that’s more or less a reprinting of text with reused art, the Rules Compendium. It doesn’t cost the same. While it’s only a few dollars less expensive, the fact that somewhere at the WoTC infrastructure, someone recognized that it shouldn’t be standard to charge full price for reused work, indicated to me that this book should’ve had a few dollars slashed off.
In terms of 4e, this product has no game mechanics so if you’re looking for a useful product for all editions of your FR game, especially if you’re interested in the long distant past of the setting, the Grand History of the Realms is perfect of you.
