So, the very first product to bear the Forgotten Realms logo was Douglas Niles’ novel Darkwalker on Moonshae (1987), but that book was not conceived as about the Forgotten Realms at all. Instead it reflected with Niles’ own world or one under development at TSR’s UK division (or some combination of the two); the half-finished novel was stranded when TSR UK was shuttered.

Meanwhile, Greenwood’s Moonshae Isles was this remote, rather sleepy archipelago (it sounds sort of like a combination of Harn and Earthsea, which I must say is rather appealing). It was deemed too large and too empty for the public-facing campaign setting, so it was removed and replaced with Nile’s Celtic-themed realm. I don’t know if it is amusing or aggravating or what, but Greenwood always avoided bringing in obvious real-world cultures into his home Realms, so it is fairly ironic that the first major TSR addition was the plopping of a British-shaped island onto the map.

The book is almost entirely lore. History, geography, sociology, important people, groups, factions and so on. Very little in terms of mechanics. I honestly can’t quite say why I feel like this one is more usable as a game sourcebook than FR1, but I feel like it is, even with less attribute block and zero explicit adventure hooks.

Couple other interesting things. First, this is the second generic world that Niles created that wound up bolted onto the Realms. The first was the Bloodstone Lands. And, he also bolted someone else onto the Moonshaes — Aaron Allston’s Korinn Archipelago is here, making N4: Treasure Hunt a retroactive Forgotten Realms adventure.

Tim Hildebrandt cover art, which I find somewhat surprising. I think this is one of maybe three contributions to the visual history of D&D. It’s quite tranquil. Interiors by the great George Barr. I am really unused to this idea of having really good illustrations in a FR sourcebook. That is definitely something that dropped off in the ’90s.