So, I have a ton of FR books for various editions, but I'm looking to trim my physical collection down considerably. What would you consider from the various editions to the "the best" sourcebooks to hang on to?
So far, I'm planning to keep:
1E Gray Box set
2E Boxed set (Gold cover)
3E Campaign book
2E's Forgotten Realms Atlas
Ruins of Undermountain series
(Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog)
I'm strongly considering keeping FR1 - FR16, and FOR03 - Pirates of the Fallen Stars (for nostalgia). I'm eying the 3E area books (Lost Empires, Silver Marches, Serpent Kingdoms, Shining South, etc.), but am unsure how good the lore in them is and if they would be better than the FR1-FR16 series; I'd like to keep from duplicating info (beyond the base edition settings). I have all of the 1E-3E books electronically, so I'm primarily interested in what'd be good to keep around as a physical copy for casual reading.
Any suggestions?
Just going over the FR1-FR16 listing:
FR1 - Waterdeep - keep if you don't have the City of Splendors boxed set; if not, the boxed set is more useful.
FR2 - Moonshae - if you play there keep; also, the Moonshaes have not really been given a full treatment elsewhere.
FR3 - Empires of the Sands - keep only if you don't have the Lands of Intrigue boxed set (and / or the Calimshan book)
FR4 - The Magister - Not useful enough to keep;
FR5 - The Savage Frontier - I'd always keep this pne, because it's one of the best 1E books, but if you have The North boxed set, you can afford to lose it.
FR6 - Dreams of the Red Wizards - Definite Keep.
FR7 - Hall of Heroes - not useful enough to keep; most of the NPCs in there will either never be used in campaign (novel characters), or have been written up elsewhere (Elminster, and the staple NPCs)
FR8 - City System - keep it if you have it, because of the additional info on Waterdeep and the maps.
FR9 - Bloodstone Lands - These have not gotten the full treatment elsewhere, so worth keeping, but of you don't venture there, you can afford not to.
FR10 - Old Empires - this depends on which era your playing in; if it's pre-Times of Troubles, keep; if post-Time of Troubles, the lore in Lost Empires of Faerûn is better.
FR 11 - Dwarves Deep - Keep. Very good writeup of dwarven culture, and if you have a dwarf PC or some dwarf NPCs, it's worth it.
FR12 - The Horde (or, what if Osprey Publishing made a Realms supplement) - Not really worth it from a lore point of view. If you want to play with the Hordelands, the Hordelands boxed set is better.
FR13 - Anauroch - Keep. If you want to use Anauroch as a sandbox (pun intended), this is the place to be.
FR14 - The Great Glacier - corner case; if you play there, keep it; if not, then don't.
FR15 - Gold and Glory (or, what if Osprey Publishing got to make a second Realms Supplement) - not that useful.
FR 16 - The Shining South - I think the lore in this one is outdated; I use the lore in the 3E Shining South and Serpent Kingdoms as the baseline even in pre-1372 DR games.
If you have some of the boxed sets, these are worth keeping around for the maps, and casual readin): The North, Lands of Intrigue, City of Splendors. Also nice for casual reading: any Volo's Guide, the three 2E god books (Faiths & Avatars; Powers & Pantheons; Demihuman Deities); Cloak & Dagger.
I have not played much 3E, but the books that I like for some hidden gems; Lost Empires of Faerûn, Serpent Kingdoms, Shining South