would you consider the Realms Master a proper skyship? Or was its flight capability really just due to the astrolabe? It's a proper skyship. Of the Halruaan sort (see my DRAGON article). Jeff and I discussed that, way back when.
It spent much of its time overloaded, though, so without the astrolabe it would glide downwards (crash landing if not steered to a suitable meadow or field).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 27, 2020

Beautiful. Thanks. My current campaign is a direct sequel to the comic, set in 1492. Dwalimar lives on, his soul trapped in the Astrolabe. The PCs are his new crew as they search for the Rod of Seven Parts. Heh. Hiding particular segments of the Rod was an in-house TSR joke for a bit (Asmodeus using one as a baton, a halfling king using another as a walking-stick, Lolth splinting one of her injured spider-legs with another…and then the locations got, ah, ruder.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 27, 2020

I had liches using segments of the Rod in place of missing bones, deliberately (with spell-links cast so that segment could power/boost various magics they hurled). And DCS III had a marilith wielding two parts among her other weapons DCSIII?

— NewbieDM (@newbiedm) May 27, 2020

Donald C. Sutherland the Third. TSR artist (many illos in the original Monster Manual and early modules, co-designer of Queen of the Demonweb Pits) and later head of the map department. Now, sadly, no longer with us.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 27, 2020

It’s funny how the Rod of Seven Parts is one of the foundations of the “seven whatevers” in modern gaming. From Paper Mario to World of Darkness’ “Book of Nod” It's just a built-in quest sequel-maker. In-game justification for "and now you have to go on this other adventure and get this other piece." And so, irresistible to so many designers.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 27, 2020

.Dear @TheEdVerse , can you help me with a situation that might happen in a future adventure?

My players’ characters will be hired to retrieve a magic item from an old, forgotten complex that once belonged to priests of Bhaal.

This subterranean complex has an underground.. ..temple and a crypt where assassins and Bhaalist priests were buried.

So, let's say that some PCs decide to oven the tombs. Some bodies have riches (jewelry, coins, a few +1 daggers) with them.

What if they pillage these tombs? What will be the consequences?

The campaign ⬇️

— Ricardo Williams (@rwgs76) June 3, 2020

Takes place in 1357 DR, and Bhaal is alive and kicking.

Will they incur the wrath of the Lord of Murder somehow? Will some kind of course befall on them?

Sorry for the long question and thanks for your help! No curse, but if all tomb weapons will be "murder blades" (once unsheathed, can't go into any scabbard until they've taken a life; if dispel magic is applied, they explode in a vicious shrapnel burst: shards carry fatal contact poison (that was INSIDE the weapons).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) June 3, 2020

You have a dark mind, Mr Greenwood. That's because it tries to keep company with what's left of my body. Most of the time.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) June 5, 2020

That raises another question I had. Netheril was an empire, and empires have emperors (or a ruling council, at least). I’d always fancied that to be Ioulaum – a single unconquered ruler, ruling for millennia from his original enclave (until he abandoned it). Is that correct? Like real-world Rome, Netheril has a long, complex history.
Ioulaum was a war-leader/innovator among the Netherese during the 500-year Mythallar Era, and was succeeded by the High Mages of Netheril ruling council in the Silver Age; see p97 of LOST EMPIRES OF FAERUN.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 10, 2020

@TheEdVerse1)
It’s normal, all right. He IS really annoying. Most annoying would depend on who you are; if he did something that enraged you, then whatever it is becomes his most annoying exploit, to you. I would say that among his most… is it normal to find Volo REALLY annoying? What's the most annoying thing he's done?

— Dr Andrew Duckworth (@optickled) March 1, 2020

3)
…scurrilous rumor about particular guilds, talk to disaffected or expelled guild members about said gossip, then publish the results in broadsheets, wait for incandescent-with-rage guildmasters to confront him about what he’d 4)
…published, and use what they said to worm “the truth” out of them (or their version of the truth), then publish that in subsequent broadsheets, wait for disgruntled citizens to protest that the guildmasters’ claims were…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2020

5)
…bumpf, and record their complaints as facts to be presented to the Masked Lord. Who was ridiculed by his fellow Lords in (closed) council, when he presented them as such and they decried them as falsehoods, and him as a fool. 6)
Enough annoyance to generously go around, wouldn’t you say?#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2020

@TheEdVerse Heya Ed, I've been reading up on yakfolk and I was wondering, is the yakfolk village on Mount Hamarhaast in the Ice Spires (as described in Storm King's Thunder) indicative of recent far-reaching northward Yikarian expansion, or are they there for some other reason?

— Belial Lyka (@TimeBust) January 19, 2020

1) The yikaria village on Mount Hamarhaast exists due to the near-exhaustion of metallic ores in the Zakharan mines traditionally worked by the miner genies of the yakfolk. Forced to seek iron, copper, nickel, and the like 2)
…elsewhere to fashion their best tools and weapons from, they prayed to their Forgotten God (Faceless God) for guidance, and the deity sent dream-visions to certain yikaria of where they might find such needed access: the…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 19, 2020

3)
…Mount Hamarhaast site of their village, which sits atop a particular natural cavern where they could gain access to mineral-rich ore veins without extensive digging—and without warfare with the dwarves of Citadel Adbar, as 4)
…the yakfolk don’t trade in metals in competition with the dwarves, nor take much (they mine and smelt only to supply all yikaria).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 19, 2020

You said, though, that one of the battles "resulted in over a hundred deaths, including neighbors and curious onlookers" and that there was also a carriage explosion… The Lords didn't do anything in response?

— Greysil (@Greysil_Tassyr) February 2, 2020

2)
…noble houses (which is, sadly, standard procedure in the city; nobles, like anyone else, who don't pay taxes in full get property seized in lieu).
When considering "justice" in Waterdeep, consider that the Masked Lords are largely drawn from the ranks of, …#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2020

4)
…that unfettered nobles will be leading, driving forces in local investment, sponsorship of the arts and social good efforts, and fashion/high society that will boost the image of the city). Add to that the thinking that prevails in Waterdeep and elsewhere: …#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2020

6)
…get suspicious, and wonder what they were REALLY up to, behind closed doors.
And on top of THAT, a lot of the violent feuding occurred in alleys by night after drinking at clubs, and at revels and feasts hosted by nobles, late at night, both settings in which…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2020

8)
…visit and trade, and feel safe in doing so. But for the very same reason, Waterdeep must also maintain a reputation for being tolerant. (One of the reasons adventurers are allowed to walk the streets armed.) Yes, it's a tightrope to walk, so the Lords do…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2020

10)
The average Waterdhavian gets irked or exasperated when "The Lords are silent." (In fact, that bitter sentence is a local complaint of yore.) So the Lords won't be silent. But they might not customarily do more than issue a proclamation and tweak local…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2020

12)
…with a new swindle that creates a loophole that in turn needs filling. Waterdeep is far from a tyranny.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2020