Need to know info for a first time faerun player?

[Roninblack]

Basically what the title says. My gm is playing in forgotten realms, specifically faerun. We're starting in a little town called greenest just off the sword coast, but honestly all I know about the setting is some fuzzy memories of when I read a few drizzt books, so is there anything setting or world based you think I should know, or that might be different then my expectation of a "basic" and world?

[Foff]

ask your dm, it's his/her job to give you the required knowledge about lore and the universe your characters live in

[Falcon X]

Eh. It's a little higher in magic content, races, and apocalyptic scenarios that, say, Greyhawk. That's all I can think of for generalities.

Do you have specific questions?
I have an idea of the adventure you are playing and can avoid spoilers and stick to info everyone should know.

[Randomthom]

Hard to say without knowing when your GM is setting it and how true he is planning to be to the lore of Faerun.

Generally speaking, the sword coast is pretty standard high fantasy with a rather large abundance of powerful magic users all with their own agendas. The Gods of Faerun are pretty active and fast-changing in terms of personnel and portfolios.

The humans tend to dominate life along the coast, the Dwarves have the northern mountains and the Elves have the forests (duh!). The Drow are strong in the underdark but far from all-pervasive there.

There are some really interesting human nations in Faerun away from the Sword Coast (who are largely mediaeval european trope humans). Cormyr has a very backstabby political monarchy, Harulaa is an isolationist magocracy (think North Korea but with the person in charge being the most powerful Wizard). Far to the East you have Rashemen where you'll (funnily enough) find Far-Eastern (Chinese/Japanese) style culture.

In the middle you also have Thay which is essentially a nation of slavers (think Ancient Egyptian).

Hope that helps a little.

[Roninblack]

Thanks for the responses, things like drow are a monster race but also base races are useful to know, I'm laughing at the request for more specific questions, because i don't know enough to know the questions to ask. You've provided a better understanding of geography and structure, so thank you! And i will definitely ask my dm

[Sjappo]

Basically what the title says. My gm is playing in forgotten realms, specifically faerun. We're starting in a little town called greenest just off the sword coast, but honestly all I know about the setting is some fuzzy memories of when I read a few drizzt books, so is there anything setting or world based you think I should know, or that might be different then my expectation of a "basic" and world?

I've been in your situation and I decided to read up a bit. I did read some of the Drizz't books and the Times of Trouble books.

I think it highly depends not only on the DM but also the other players. In my case the other players (and DM) were avid FR fans. I was a bit overwhelmed by the FR trivia that went around the table and decided to read up.
It didn't really matter in the end, though. We played published modules which provide their own context and mostly played in parts of the FR that didn't feature prominently in the novels. Current modules even have downloadable player compendiums with background on the features places.

So, my advice, don't sweat it.

Unless your GM is homebrewing a FR campaign that demands you know a lot of FR lore.

So I guess this ends with "Ask your DM."

Damn.