caption birth_place influences nationality birth_date period genre image article_title name occupation
ed greenwood at gen con indy 2012 canada j. r. r. tolkien canadian 21 july 1959 1979 -- present role-playing games , fantasy ed-greenwood-at-gen-con . jpg ed greenwood
 ed greenwood writer , game designer
ed greenwood

ed greenwood -lrb- born july 21 , 1959 -rrb- is a canadian-born fantasy writer and the original creator of the forgotten realms game world .
he began writing articles about the forgotten realms for `` dragon '' magazine beginning in 1979 , and subsequently sold the rights to the setting to tsr , the creators of the `` dungeons & dragons '' roleplaying game , in 1986 .
he has written many forgotten realms novels , as well as numerous articles and `` d&d '' game supplement books .
