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I feel the need to post something here, so I figure, hey, why don't I post how all the D&D Forgotten Realms video games line up in the Forgotten Realms timeline? From Icewind Dale to Baldur's Gate 3? I won't include the tabletop adventure games or the novels. I mean, I could, but the list of the in-universe chronology of everything D&D Forgotten Realms related would get very long. Anyway, here is the list of D&D video games, who developed them, what systems they can be played on, and what their confirmed or estimated time period is set in the Forgotten Realms timeline.


"Icewind Dale" and "Heart of Winter" (By Black Isle Studios, the Enhanced Edition versions is developed by Overhaul Games of Beamdog, playable on PC, Android, PS4, XBOX One, Switch) (set in 1281 DR) so chronologically this is the first in the D&D FR game list, almost 88 years before Baldur's Gate

"Icewind Dale 2" (By Black Isle Studios) (set in 1312 DR)

"Pool of Radiance" (By Strategic Simulations Inc., playable on Amiga, Apple II, C64, MS-DOS, Apple Macintosh, Nintendo Entertainment System, and PC-9800) (set in 1340 DR)

"Pools of Darkness" (By Strategic Simulations Inc., playable on Amiga, MS-DOS, Apple Macintosh, and NEC PC-9801) (set in 1350 DR) To those of you who have played this game, I'm sure you are wondering "Why isn't "Curse Of The Azure Bonds" next? It is supposed to come after "Pools of Darkness!" The reason why is because even though the player characters from "Pool Of Radiance" can be sent over to "Curse Of The Azure Bonds", "Pools of Darkness" and "Secret Of The Silver Blades", the truth is the games are not canonically sequels. See, "Curse Of The Azure Bonds" should take place after The Finder's Stone Trilogy novels "Azure Bonds", "The Wyvern's Spur" and "Song of the Saurials" which take place from 1357 to 1358 DR. "Azure Bonds" tells the origin story of Alias and Dragonbait, and they appear in the "Curse of The Azure Bonds" game. Because of that, it doesn't make sense for "Curse of The Azure Bonds" to be set seven years before Alias was created!


"Eye Of The Beholder" (By Westwood Associates, playable on PC-9800, Super Nintendo and Sega CD) (Game's story begins in 5 Marpenoth, 1358 DR) Marpenoth is the October of the Forgotten Realms calendar.

"Curse of the Azure Bonds" (the game that ties in to The Finder's Stone Trilogy novels, the game was developed by Strategic Simulations Inc., playable on Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, C64, Macintosh and MS-DOS) (Marpenoth 1358 DR possibly during "Eye Of The Beholder")

"Eye Of The Beholder 2: The Legend of Darkmoon" (playable on DOS, Amiga, FM Towns and PC-9800) (Marpenoth 1358 DR, not long after "Eye Of The Beholder")

"Secret of the Silver Blades" (A PC game that is canonically the sequel to "Curse of the Azure Bonds" but non-canonically the prequel to the "Pools Of Darkness" game version, developed by Strategic Simulations Inc., playable on Amiga, C64, Macintosh and MS-DOS) (1358 DR, after "Eye Of The Beholder 2" but before "Eye Of The Beholder 3" because the final parts of the game is set in Myth Drannor, and the heroes of "Eye Of The Beholder 1 and 2" will be heading to Myth Drannor, and a crossover between them and the heroes of "Curse of the Azure Bonds" and "Secret of the Silver Blades" is not possible at all.

"Eye Of The Beholder 3: Assault on Myth Drannor" (playable on DOS, Amiga, FM Towns and PC-9800) (in 1358 DR, A few weeks or a month after the player heroes of "Curse of the Azure Bonds" and "Secret of the Silver Blades" defeated Tyranthraxus in Myth Drannor)

"The Black Pits" (Developed by Beamdog) (1368 DR, weeks or months before Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition) This mini game isn't canon to the original edition of Baldur's Gate

"Baldur's Gate" (Developed by BioWare, the Enhanced Edition version is developed by Overhaul Games of Beamdog, playable on PC, Android, and current gen consoles PS4, XBOX One and Switch) (game begins in 1 Mirtul 1368 DR, and canonically ends in Marpenoth 1368 DR) "Mirtul" is the month "May" in the Forgotten Realms

"Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear" (By Beamdog, available on PC, Android, and with the current gen console releases of BG1:EE/BG2:EE) (begins in the autumn of 1368 DR a few weeks after Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, ends sometime in the 1st quarter of 1369 DR)

"Pool of Radiance: The Ruins of Myth Drannor" (Developed by Stormfront Studios, playable on PC Windows) (1369 DR)

"The Black Pits 2: Gladiators of Thay" (A side game in Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition developed by Beamdog) (sometime before Mirtul 1369 DR, many months after The Black Pits and apparently after Siege of Dragonspear) The story will not make any sense if you are using a completely different group from the ones you used in the prequel.

"Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn" (The game was originally developed by BioWare, the Enhanced Edition version is developed by Overhaul Games of Beamdog, playable on PC, Android and with BG:EE in the console releases) (begins in Mirtul 1369 DR, supposed to end sometime in the 1st quarter of 1370 DR)

"Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal" (Developed by BioWare as an expansion story to Shadows of Amn, the Enhanced Edition version is made by Overhaul Games of Beamdog) (sometime in 1370 DR, after Shadows of Amn)

"Neverwinter Nights" (A PC game developed by BioWare, playable on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Enhanced Edition developed by Overhaul Games of Beamdog, playable on PC and current gen consoles) (1372 DR)

"Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide" (An expansion of NWN developed by Floodgate Entertainment and BioWare, Enhanced Edition developed by Overhaul Games of Beamdog) (1372 DR) (For story continuity purposes, the main character of this story should not be the one from the main campaign)

"Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark" (The third expansion for NWN developed by BioWare, Enhanced Edition developed by Overhaul Games of Beamdog) (1372 DR) For story continuity purposes, the main character in this expansion should be the same one from SoU, and this expansion's story takes place sometime during or possibly after the War of the Spider Queen novels since the Silence of Lolth period was still in effect

"Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast" NWN premium module (By BioWare) (Mirtul 1372 DR)

"Neverwinter Nights: Darkness Over Daggerford" (the first expansion for NWN Enhanced Edition developed by Ossian Studios) (Kythorn (June) 1372 DR)

"Demon Stone" (Developed by Stormfront Studios and Zono Inc., story written by R.A. Salvatore, playable on Windows PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox) (likely 1373 DR)

"Neverwinter Nights: Wyvern Crown of Cormyr" NWN premium module (By BioWare) (Kythorn 1373 DR)

"Neverwinter Nights 2" (A PC game developed by Obsidian Entertainment, playable on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X) (1374 DR)

"Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer" (An expansion for NWN 2 developed by Obsidian Entertainment) (1374 DR) For story continuity purposes, the hero character must be the same one from the main campaign, and the hero character must be either good or neutral aligned, or at least an evil rebel who has no intention of becoming an ally or servant of the King of Shadows so that the story can canonically progress to MotB

"Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir" (An expansion for NWN 2 developed by Obsidian Entertainment) (1374 DR)

"Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate" (The final expansion for NWN 2 developed by Ossian Studios) (1374 DR)

"Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance" (Developed by Snowblind Studios, playable on the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Game Boy Advance) (1374 DR) This was the very first D&D game I ever played. on the PS2, years before I even grew interested in D&D

"Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2" (A sequel game developed by Black Isle Studios, playable on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox) (Begins in 1374 DR after Dark Alliance 1, but ends sometime in 1375 DR)

"Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale" (A game developed by Bedlam Games, playable on PlayStation 3 (downloadable via PlayStation Network), Xbox 360 (downloadable via Xbox Live Arcade), and Microsoft Windows (downloadable via Steam)) (begins and ends in 1420 DR)

"Neverwinter" (The MMORPG game developed by Cryptic Studios, originally playable only on Microsoft Windows PC, but now playable on Xbox One and PlayStation 4) (Main module begins and ends in 1479 DR. Module 1: "Fury of the Feywild" begins in 1481 DR and ends in 1482 DR. Module 2: "Shadowmantle" begins and ends sometime in 1482 DR. Module 3: "Curse of Icewind Dale" begins and ends sometime after the month of Eleint (September) in 1485 DR. Module 4: "Tyranny of Dragons" begins and ends in 1489 DR. Module 5: "Rise of Tiamat" begins after "Tyranny of Dragons" and ends in 1489 DR. Module 6: "Elemental Evil" is set in 1491 DR)

"Sword Coast Legends" and the "Rage Of Demons DLC" (A game developed by N-Space and Digital Extremes, playable on Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) (1492 DR) https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/sword-coast-legends-ps4/

"Neverwinter" (MMORPG game) (Module 8: "Underdark", story written by R.A. Salvatore set in 1492 DR. Module 9: "The Maze Engine" is set afterwards in 1492 DR, including "Storm King's Thunder", "The Cloaked Ascendancy", "Tomb of Annihilation" and "Lost City of Omu". But "Ravenloft", "The Heart of Fire" and "Undermountain" are set in 1493 DR)

"Baldur's Gate 3" (By Larian Studios, playable on PC and Google Stadia) (Sometime after Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus, possibly 1493 or 1494 DR)

And that's it. Whew!





Last edited by BladeDancer; 29/06/19 09:50 AM.
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You missed a few, like the Al Qadim and Spelljammer Realmspace.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_computer_and_video_games

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Nice list.

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There are a few reasons why I left them out. Either because I can't narrow down what time they are set in, or because they contradict the overall canon of the Forgotten Realms. Even though Al Qadim is in the Forgotten Realms, it is hard to figure out what time it is set in. All I know is it is likely set sometime between Eye Of The Beholder 3 and Baldur's Gate. As for Spelljammer, Realmspace, it obviously takes place in Realmspace, not Faerun or any other place on the planet Toril. Trying to identify time in Realmspace is tricky.

The game "Menzoberranzan" is the only game I can say without a doubt that should not be considered canon because Drizzt's mom Malice is alive in that game and the final boss at the end even though she died during the second novel of The Dark Elf Trilogy, "Exile" in the year 1339 DR. Canonically speaking, she can't be alive, especially during a time when Drizzt is already known a famous hero above the Underdark.



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Can we pretend like Dragonspear didnt happen? Also The Eye of the Beholder trilogy was amazing. Crazy hard where you had to debate redoing hard parts of the game because you leveled up and rolled bad hitpoints and didnt have a recent save file. And then the wonder if all the loot and the medicore level up hp improvements from each game made characters worth importing into the next game for the magic items they had.

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Originally Posted by Sir Dent
Can we pretend like Dragonspear didnt happen?

We can, but Baldur's Gate 3 won't. If we ignored it, we would have to acknowledge the fact that it would mean the final boss of the Icewind Dale game is still alive in Avernus and likely to return in a future D&D game, which he already did, Siege of Dragonspear tied up that loose end. Besides, Larian confirmed last year that there will be some lore details hinting the events of Siege of Dragonspear in Baldur's Gate 3.

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Do people dislike SoD?
I never found it bad and just felt like something that made the transition between games smoother?

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I think there were a few points in the story that railroaded you into what they wanted to happen, otherwise I agree with you.

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Originally Posted by Sir Dent
Can we pretend like Dragonspear didnt happen? Also The Eye of the Beholder trilogy was amazing. Crazy hard where you had to debate redoing hard parts of the game because you leveled up and rolled bad hitpoints and didnt have a recent save file. And then the wonder if all the loot and the medicore level up hp improvements from each game made characters worth importing into the next game for the magic items they had.

You should see Kikoskia's LPs of those three games. They're great. His party was gnome rogue, human wizard, human paladin, and half-elf cleric. The paladin and cleric were sisters. But the grumpy gnome tends to come across as the center POV character.

Kiko has also done: Baldur's Gate 1&2 and Throne of Bhaal (doing an LE playthrough human fighter), Shadows of Amn/Hordes of the Underdark (human cleric), and NWN1 OC (half-orc druid).

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Originally Posted by Sozz
I think there were a few points in the story that railroaded you into what they wanted to happen, otherwise I agree with you.

What "they wanted to happen" was what was supposed to happen, I speak of how SoD ended. The intro of Shadows of Amn hinted that the main character of the Bhaalspawn Saga was forced to leave Baldur's Gate under some "dark circumstances", especially after the authorities figured out he/she is a Bhaalspawn like Sarevok. Beamdog could not betray that.

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Yes, I also vaguely remember a tutorial level that occurs before being kidnapped, was that an EE addition?. But there's having predetermined endpoint that you write around, and there's taking away your character's agency away because you don't spend enough time dealing with the possibilities of a narrative they take part in.

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What about the original Neverwinter MMO.... the one that used the Gold Box game engine. Yes there was one... it predated Ultima Online and Everquest.

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Originally Posted by Thrythlind
What about the original Neverwinter MMO.... the one that used the Gold Box game engine. Yes there was one... it predated Ultima Online and Everquest.

You mean the Gold Box game engine original Neverwinter Nights? The one most people don't know about? That game has no storyline when you are offline, it needs to be connected to AOL, and that doesn't exist anymore. Without AOL, the NPCs in that game cannot give you any quests, you're just in an open world with no objectives. Without a story, how can I figure out where it is in Forgotten Realms lore?

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So you're saying it's the sandbox game everyone's been clamoring for?

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Originally Posted by BladeDancer
Originally Posted by Thrythlind
What about the original Neverwinter MMO.... the one that used the Gold Box game engine. Yes there was one... it predated Ultima Online and Everquest.

You mean the Gold Box game engine original Neverwinter Nights? The one most people don't know about? That game has no storyline when you are offline, it needs to be connected to AOL, and that doesn't exist anymore. Without AOL, the NPCs in that game cannot give you any quests, you're just in an open world with no objectives. Without a story, how can I figure out where it is in Forgotten Realms lore?

That's the incredibly frustrating one, yup.

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Great job with that list! laugh

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Originally Posted by BladeDancer
Originally Posted by Sozz
I think there were a few points in the story that railroaded you into what they wanted to happen, otherwise I agree with you.

What "they wanted to happen" was what was supposed to happen, I speak of how SoD ended. The intro of Shadows of Amn hinted that the main character of the Bhaalspawn Saga was forced to leave Baldur's Gate under some "dark circumstances", especially after the authorities figured out he/she is a Bhaalspawn like Sarevok. Beamdog could not betray that.

Yes, that. It did feel railroaded at times because the events that unfolded after SoD were already written. We, the players, all know how SoA begins so we all knew how SoD was supposed to end before anyone played it. Beamdog had no choice but to put that story on rails and end it so SoA could begin properly. Given that, I think they did a good job and I really enjoyed playing one last IE game. I always include it in my BG saga playthroughs now.

Real nice job on the list BTW!

Edit: Where is Dungeon Hack?!

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Thank you for the information, interesting for me as non-DnD player.

BTW, was there a kind of development in clothing and armor style as same as in technology from 1281 to 1494 on Toril, like in our world, or are the dates just without any meaning out of story events, so that it's a totally static world?

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Originally Posted by geala
Thank you for the information, interesting for me as non-DnD player.

BTW, was there a kind of development in clothing and armor style as same as in technology from 1281 to 1494 on Toril, like in our world, or are the dates just without any meaning out of story events, so that it's a totally static world?

Wow, this is one of my old posts, I can't believe someone went so far back in this forum to bring it to the first page again. This is outdated, I need to make a new updated timeline. Anyways, technology stays the same in D&D, buddy. Though time progresses, people still use swords and bows and arrows in the past, present, and likely in the future. But why worry about the tools? The Forgotten Realms campaign setting's history is RICH with lore from millennia before 1281 to 1494, and not all of it is explained in Forgotten Realms D&D games like Baldur's Gate 3. There are novels like the Drizzt books, comic books, source books, etc.


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