This book contains nearly everything you need to run a bare-bones version of Forgotten Realms: it details various regions, cities, people, world, cosmology, monsters, deities and other items of interest, such as NPCs people have learned to love and hate.

It also has new rules, prestige classes and feats that are Faerūn-specific, but which can be ported to other game worlds as well.

This totally new book replaced the first and second edition campaign set and was in turn replaced by the fourth edition guide.