We're looking for new writers to join us!

The new D&D Forgotten Realms books insist they're so freaking epic that it's kind of adorable

by: Randy - posted: 11/16/2025 5:09:00 PM
More On: Dungeons & Dragons

The Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide talks about "flavors of fantasy" in the Creating Campaigns chapter. There's Heroic Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Mythic Fantasy, Supernatural Horror, Mystery, Swashbuckling, and War. The most important flavor of fantasy, at least according to the new Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun and Adventures in Faerun duology is Epic Fantasy:

An epic fantasy campaign emphasizes the conflict between good and evil, with the adventurers on the side of good. These heroic characters are driven by a higher purpose than selfish gain or ambition. Characters might struggle with moral quandaries, fighting the evil tendencies within themselves as well as the evil that threatens the world. And the stories of these campaigns often include an element of romance: tragic affairs between star-crossed lovers, passion that transcends even death, and chaste adoration between knights and nobles.

Romance? Hey, there's a reason why some of the highest-rated RPG and adventure video games are so highly rated: They weren't afraid to make you pick between Ashley and Kaiden in Mass Effect, Yennefer and Triss in The Witcher 3, or, for a more recent example, Blonde Blazer and Invisigal in Dispatch. (But woe betide the fool that ever goes for both.)

Ahem. "Epic Fantasy." Back to epic fantasy. 

In the short year between the Dungeon Master's Guide (2024) and these new Forgotten Realms player and Dungeon Master expansions, Epic Fantasy may have dropped the romance options, but it won't stop informing you of just how epic its epic fantasy is.

Which is to say, in case you never thought of the Forgotten Realms as epic, don't worry: It'll tell you.

"Heroes in Faerun come from...all walks of life. But they have one thing in common: their epic nature." - Pretty much the first thing the Heroes of Faerun book tells you.

But it doesn't stop there.

  • "Characters stand out among these adventurers as epic figures"
  • "Inspiration for your own character's epic nature"
  • "An epic character is distinguished by their destiny"
  • "Develop an epic destiny"
  • "Crafting epic characters"

In Adventures in Faerun (the Dungeon Master's Expansion), they push their epic agenda even further.

  • "Adventures in the Realms have one thing in common: their epic nature"
  • "Dozens of epic adventures"
  • "A world of epic characters and epic adventures"
  • "Making your Forgotten Realms games—and players!—feel epic"

I could go on. That's on page 4 alone. Turn the page to the chapter on Running the Realms, and it becomes endearingly comical.

  • "Epic campaigns require epic adversaries"
  • "Epic stories are distinguished by epic stakes"
  • "Epic threats and stakes can result in epic deaths"

At least you know publisher Wizards of the Coast is doing it on purpose. They literally say "epic" 47 times in the span of 7 pages. You kind of have to admire their dedication.

The tone of such wildly various adventures can be described by one word: epic.

And by golly they do. To be fair, they ease up off the "epic" gas after that. It's just kinda how they do things at D&D HQ nowadays. Like when the DM's Guide (2024) says the word "fun" so many times it stops making sense.

The Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun player expansion and Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerun Dungeon Master expansion came out November 11. While hammering on their epic nature, they do manage to expand 5e's known world to include the Moonshae Isles, The Dalelands, and Calimshan.