FR4: The Magister (1988) switches gears. Rather than a sourcebook dealing with a geographic location, this one tackles a whole bunch of Forgotten Realms-specific magic items. Many of these items were first detailed in Ed Greenwood’s articles for Dragon Magazine and there is still lots of lore to be found in the historical notes for the items.

I like this sort of lore-building approach a lot. It is grounded in utility — these are all things you can give to players or build adventures around — but it is also part of the historical narrative — most of these items have passed through many hands. I love an in-world catalog for similar reasons, and this isn’t far off. Far more practical than the aerial big picture, you know?

My favorite is probably the wand that makes people repeat their last two rounds of action. There are some good swords and armor bits. And, because this is Ed Greenwood, there is a stack of books filled with new spells. Those are cool. What there isn’t is a lot of information on the titular Magister. I looked at FOR13, which actually details the history of Mystra’s champion, last year — it’s a cool lorebook and worth checking out. The guy on this cover was a Magister! It’s weird that they didn’t really get into the thing here. But then TSR is rife with these sorts of riddles.

That cover is by Jeff Easley and it’s a humdinger. Valerie Valusek is inside and I’m glad about it — her art really defines the early Realms for me (and it generally suffers when she isn’t on the job).