a friend of mine who’s not on Twitter wanted me to ask your opinion on something.
So one of the games introduce a small Gondsmen device that flies around you and rams into enemies – called a “doohickey.” My friend wonders, what would Gondsmen ACTUALLY call this?That's easy: a Fist of Gond.
In the "home" Realms campaign, clerics of Gond hurled caltrops like (non-explosive) stick grenades [a la wooden-handled German-issue "potato mashers"], and that's what they were called.
A Gondite orizon made them hover until disturbed.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 28, 2021

Thanks for the response Ed! 😁 My friend will be glad to hear about it. These are a fascinating little contraption, but “doohickey” just felt so undignified for a fine piece of Gondar artificing. Heh. It has a certain jaunty ring to it, but fails (for me) the test of "sounds modern real-world, not Realms." But hey, if it works for the PC party…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 28, 2021

@TheEdVerse are there detectives or something similar among the members of the City Watch of Waterdeep?

— hunter1828 (@RobertWThomson) September 5, 2021

1)
Yes. Here’s my reply to that same question, back on July 20/20:
The position of such Special Agents (currently 14 strong) in the chain of command has shifted. As they’ve so often had to investigate possible Watch corruption, they now report directly to the Open… 2)
…Lord first, and to the top two tiers of Watch command second. (Thanks to certain corrupt fellow officers, “accidents” befell several of them before the Watch learned how diligently Vajra investigates such mishaps. Now that Laeral’s on the scene—and Mirt!—no…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 5, 2021

3)
…more such accidents happen.
Best talent for a Special Agent: knowing citizens and city life well enough to understand WHY a crime was committed.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 5, 2021

Great Sage, @TheEdVerse
If there were a mage prodigy who could not afford registering with the Watchful Order, how would its members handle a such a youth living in the Deep?
I’ve need to burn this bridge as I stand on it!
Mystra keep you, as always. 😉

— Nicole Martinsen (@MissMartinsen) August 27, 2021

1)
It depends entirely on what the youth does, magically, in public. If they avoid working magic in the streets or before strangers, by daylight, they should be fine (there are SCORES of such folk living happily in the Deep, right now).
If they get arrested by the… 2)
…Watch for some magical activity, they'll get "interviewed" in private by the Watchful Order, who will firmly inform them of what's legal and polite in the way of spellcasting behaviour, and what's not. They will be shadowed (by a network of spies, not a lone…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 27, 2021

3)
…Order member) from that moment on, no matter what their response, unless they formally join the Order.
Individuals who lack coin to join are usually offered the opportunity to train, as novices, under an Order minder; the price for this is to participate in… 4)
…halfday/overnight missions with Order members, about once a month. (That way the Order gets to openly watch them, school them on how to behave, and get some work out of them.) If they perform well (eagerly but with discipline, not lazily or sullenly or…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 27, 2021

5)
…miscasting magic), they will usually get offered a cut rate annual fee (for the first three years) to join the Order.
What the Order and the Palace want to avoid is a resentful, willful, untrained adolescent using magic on folk around them. Exile is an option.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 27, 2021

Bits of them, YES.
Other bits have more rock outcrops/cliffs, and more scrub vegetation (bushes, low windswept trees).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 8, 2021

I got a question for you great sage. When you were first creating the realms, did you envision something like what @r_a_salvatore has done with the drow in Starlight Enclave, or is this purely new gen stuff? I know you’ve always said the realms were intended to be inclusive and welcoming to everyone, but when you put the drow in there, did you envision them as this multifaceted race with good and evil capacity, or did it come later that that was a thing?

— Lysbeth Raven (@LysbethRaven) August 6, 2021

When the Realms was just my setting, it had no drow or D&D-specific races in it (I had Norse svart alfar and dok alfar). As a D&D setting, the game races were added in as written in the rulebooks. But EVERY race had mavericks who didn't match the alignment dictates.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 6, 2021

Sure. I think Guy is Canada's greatest fantasy writer. I love the Fionavar trilogy, but A Song For Arbonne and Tigana are my faves. I re-read both, often.
Right now, I'm impatiently awaiting Guy's latest (delivered to the publisher, but months still to go).

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 7, 2021

If you homebrew or world build, respond to this, please. I’m trying to make a list. I build worlds for a living. ;} The Forgotten Realms is likely the best-known one.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 23, 2021

I just want to tell you, that years ago I walked into a creative writing class 2 weeks late (unavoidable issues), right before the first assignment was due. Assignment was to describe in detail a painting. I picked the cover of Spell fire, got an A & he let me stay in the class Wonderful!
Clyde sent me a b&w full-sized photobcopy for approval, with the words: "Hope you like it. I painted treasure for THREE FULL days."
And it's "forgotten" because we of Earth used to travel back and forth via gates all the time, but they've now been "forgotten."

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 24, 2021

I did not know that! TSR picked up the Realms in Satanic Panic/James Egbert time; they did NOT want real-life tragedies (and lawsuits), and so de-emphasized the MEANING of the name right away, but kept the name as it sounded cool.
When the Realms was just "mine" 10 years before D&D, gates were big.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 24, 2021

of all the deities you’ve created who is your favorite and why? Sorry, I don't have a favourite deity. There are deities I'd want to dine with more than others, but I don't play the favourites game.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 3, 2021

Who would you dine with? I'd go with Helm, Torm, Umberlee, and Eilistraee.

— Michael Barden (@Michael75535436) September 3, 2021

Can you give Eliastraee my number? Heh. By all means, but there's a long, long line. Most of them good dancers. ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 3, 2021

Conversely, who would be the absolute worst dinner partners? Moander. Malar, if you don't like everything tartare. And Loviatar, because I don't think we'd get around to the eating. ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 10, 2021

I have a follow up. How widespread is Thieves’ Cant within the Realms ? Can non thieves know it ? And how far is it spread across Faerun and other lands, continents, planes… Thieves' Cant is everywhere across the Realms. Many non-thieves (especially merchants who fence stolen goods, or just have to pay 'protection' $ to thieves) know a few words of it. However, it's hard to stay current in any language (or code) if you're an outsider.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 24, 2021