Books!
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The elves and dwarves in Tolkien have been at odds with one another for many, many reasons. At its basest level the Elves love all living things, and the Dwarves love stone and earth, and cut down trees without regard to run their furnaces.
During the golden age of the world, the dwarves and elves worked together on marvellous feats of metal and stone, both sides learning much from one another. But they clashed over ownership of some jewellery (if memory serves) and betrayal went both ways.
Whilst the dwarves and elves are not at war, per se, they don't trust one another because of the difference in their worldview, and what has passed before. The elves were made for the moonlight, and for the living things… the dwarves were made for the darkness, and for the stone, metal, and gems.
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Well, most of the international conflict in FR is based around Thay being a belligerent creep. But yes, from what I have gathered (and in fact, I have asked this same question and my answer has been:), Dwarves and Elves don't have the same kind of rivalry in FR as they do in Middle Earth. The rivalry in Middle Earth was largely to do with historical events, whereas in FR it's more of a difference in culture - Dwarves appreciate hard work, loyalty, duty, clan, and Law, while Elves appreciate freedom, following one's heart, and Chaos. This difference in mindset causes some friction between the two races, I understand.
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But do they -hate- elves, and likewise?
Although I always interpreted the dwarven/elf hate in Tolkien as a kind of casual racism born out of two very VERY isolationist cultures with an old history of conflict and long memories, with Gimli subconsciously or consciously recognizing this as his friendship with Legolas grew. Plus the Elves of Mirkwood did hold Gimli's dad and the rest of Thorin's crew prisoner and later went to war (The War of Five Armies) with them about a century before. In the Realms on the otherhand almost any settlement larger than a 2bed/bath hut outside of Everska/Evermeet will have a mostly human population and then a good smattering of elves, dwarves, and whatever else used to be called a demihuman. And while they can isolate themselves within rural and urban environments like immigrants did in the US before the prevalence of mass transit, things are still very cosmopolitan.
Plus I don't think elves and dwarves ever fought any wars in the Realms, unlike Tolkien, where the old alliance was broken and both sides blamed the other.
Come to think of it, the Realms is kind of lacking on any meaningful conflict between nations. Everything's all "Oh no, Gods are doing stuff!" Say what you will about Kender, but at least Dragonlance had some good multinational wars. Not skirmishes. Not drow attacks on Silverymoon. War. 'I love the smell of bat guano in the morning' War.
Fffing Gods.
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Remember as well that the Dwarves in Dungeons and Dragons (and therefore Neverwinter Nights and Narfell) are based on the Dwarves in Tolkiens writings. If you read the Silmarillion, the Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings you'll get more ideas for roleplaying a dwarf.
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My favorite fantasy books are off the beaten path. Katherine Kerr's Deverry books. Feudal warbands, political intrigue, and a love rectangle reincarnation cycle. It's very low magic, to the point where there's actually no concrete evidence that magic is even real till the end of the first book, and it doesn't really increase in use from there.
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Races of Stone is the 3E version of a dwarf sourcebook.
I'm sure the novels featuring regular dwarven life will be useful too.
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I have 3.5 Players guide and 3.5 Dungeon Masters guide (given to me by a older friend after I bought NWN to scratch a RPG itch and had no idea what 1d8 meant) Unfortunately I bought the 4.0 monster manual..So Source books would be the most useful media for me rather than novels, as far as improving my role play on Narfell?
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Indeed, don't pick up 4.0 as it will confuse your understanding of FR lore. Also it's an abomination upon DND.
3.5 is probably played more in tabletop than 3.0, but 3.0 is what Narfell uses.
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I like them. But they don't help with FR lore.
Dwarves Deep (2E) for dwarves and nothing else
Races of Faerun (3E)But neither is a novel.
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"Wizard's First Rule" series by Terry Goodkind. Awesome books.
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The list of Forgotten Realms novels is very long i would suggest looking up the entirety of them on Wikipedia for the list of them…most all of them are decent and could give you a number or roleplaying ideas.
Others i would suggest:
Song of Fire and Ice series by George RR Martin
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (does drag a bit at times but some of the characters could give you ideas)
all the Midkemia books by Raymond Feist
All of David Edding's books
The Dresden File novles by Jim Butcher
The Shannara books by Terry Brooks
The various tolkein books
and the list goes on and onBasically anything fiction you read at all is like to have character's in it that inspire you when it comes to how to play characters or what kind of character you want to make. My sorcerer Zarius was inspired by the lich sorcerer Xykon from The Order of the Stick webcomic.
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If you want source books.
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Faiths and Pantheons
Champions of Valor
Champions of Valor
Unapproachable East
Players Handbook
Monster Manuals for DnD and FRThese are the ones I like myself. There are tons more though.
As for novels, its been so long since I read a FR novel, have no idea. Most of the source books give you a good feel for the different regions that help with lore and or how to roleplay certain types of characters from certain regions.
Stay away from 4.0 though.. haven't read it myself, though heard it's horrible. Go 3.0 or 3.5
