D&D 5E Whatever "lore" is, it isn't "rules."

[Maxperson]

Bluey Smurf is more blue if I am following Smurf naming conventions correctly.

I respond to posts before I move to the next one. Great minds think alike!

 

[Hussar]

If you are talking about a game at the table then there is no such beast as a 100% canon game. Personally I dont even know how that is supposed to work.

On the other hand if you were colouring in a blank part of the Forgotten Realms then I would expect as a Player that I could wander out of that part and go to Waterdeep for example. If I instead found Greyhawk City then I would be wondering if this was based in Forgotten Realms or not and then if there were Towers of High Sorcery with three moons affecting magic then I would know this was actually a mash up montage.

Hang on though.

According to the accepted definition, only one of those is actually change. If you've replaced Waterdeep with Greyhawk, you've removed canon and substituted new canon. Ok, change.

But, addition =/= change. How does adding Towers of High Sorcery and a third moon result in a mash up montage setting when, according to the rules laid out, you haven't actually changed anything?

 

[Shasarak]

Hang on though.

According to the accepted definition, only one of those is actually change. If you've replaced Waterdeep with Greyhawk, you've removed canon and substituted new canon. Ok, change.

But, addition =/= change. How does adding Towers of High Sorcery and a third moon result in a mash up montage setting when, according to the rules laid out, you haven't actually changed anything?

If you just add a third Moon then that must be an addition.

However if you change the magic system by adding Moons then that must be a change, right?

 

[Hussar]

If you just add a third Moon then that must be an addition.

However if you change the magic system by adding Moons then that must be a change, right?

But how is the magic system changing. It's not like all magic users become WoHS. It's just an added on magic system that only affects WoHS. None of the established lore is changed.

 

[Shasarak]

But how is the magic system changing. It's not like all magic users become WoHS. It's just an added on magic system that only affects WoHS. None of the established lore is changed.

Ok, so now its totally confusing. Is the magic system like DL or not? If it is now an opt in or opt out choice then did I get that choice when I created my Wizard? Is there some Wizards guild hunting me down because I am casting spells wrong or not? Is it just another separate Faction or can you be a Harper White Robe or a Zhent Black Robe? Is this normal magic using the weave or is it something else and if something else is it controlled by Mystra or is there another God now? If it is another God then do they have Clerics? Can I play one? There are so many questions over this "addition".

 

[Lanefan]

Did you have any comment on the comparison of the Wizard in Forgotten Realms vs Dark Sun?

No, as I know nothing about Dark Sun other than it happens in a desert.

Lanefan

 

[Lanefan]

Ok, so now its totally confusing. Is the magic system like DL or not?

If I'm reading it right, only for that particular cabal of wizards...which may (I'm not sure if we know this yet for sure) be NPC only.

If it is now an opt in or opt out choice then did I get that choice when I created my Wizard?

Uncertain, and I agree that it might make a significant difference.

Is there some Wizards guild hunting me down because I am casting spells wrong or not?

That would be cool!

Lanefan

 

[Mirtek]

If you are not the official publisher of the setting, none of your additions are canon.

You're in a grey zone in that they're not contradicting any canon, but they're not real either

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[ProgBard]

Obviously I disagree. Take two different settings Forgotten Realms and Dark Sun. Each setting has a different lore and also each setting as different rules to reflect that lore. A Wizard in FR does not have to worry when casting a spell but that same Wizard in DS does. Anyone who claims that "whatever lore is, it isnt rules" is just playing a different thing then DnD.

I still hold that they're different dials (and insist that what I'm playing is very much D&D, thankyoukindly ). That lore and rules influence each other is non-controversial. But consider that a Greyhawk wizard and a Realmsian wizard both use the default casting rules striaght out of the PHB; the lore provides flavor, but not extra mechanics (with, perhaps, some notable exceptions that are in practice optional add-ons). A wizard in Athas gets extra mechanics that come out of the lore, yes - but it's also trivially easy to take those mechanics and file off the serial numbers - i.e., strip away the lore - to port that into another setting. (Just as we've seen it's possible to do with the extra magic rules for wizards from Krynn.)

That said, I think we're getting at something like the same idea - that rules and lore are intertwined with each other (as, I would argue, they probably should be). I just look at it from a perspective that sees them as distinct streams, and that conflating them may produce undesirable results (like calling foul when a monster appears outside one of its listed environments). But if treating them as the same thing results in the game you most enjoy playing, then more power to you.