D&D 5E 1st time in FR questions for my character

[RichCsigs]

My brother used to take adventures and adapt them to his world, but now with a family and more responsibility at work, he doesn't have the time anymore. So he's just going to run us through Out Of The Abyss as is. So this will be my first time playing in the Forgotten Realms.

One of the things I love about my brother's games is that he's usually very open to the idiosyncrasies I like my characters to have. So there is a story built into my new character where she has been away/missing for almost 200 years. I really want to play this up with this character but don't know FR too well.

What is the current year in 5e? Has that been revealed yet? I've tried using Google-Fu but can't seem to come up with an answer. Just that 4e took play around 147x (I'm intentionally not looking at OOTA to avoid spoilers, so I don't know if it says in there).
What would be things that my character wouldn't know about that happened over the past 200 years? New Gods around/old Gods gone? Wars? Things like that.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Demetrios1453]

My brother used to take adventures and adapt them to his world, but now with a family and more responsibility at work, he doesn't have the time anymore. So he's just going to run us through Out Of The Abyss as is. So this will be my first time playing in the Forgotten Realms.

One of the things I love about my brother's games is that he's usually very open to the idiosyncrasies I like my characters to have. So there is a story built into my new character where she has been away/missing for almost 200 years. I really want to play this up with this character but don't know FR too well.

What is the current year in 5e? Has that been revealed yet? I've tried using Google-Fu but can't seem to come up with an answer. Just that 4e took play around 147x (I'm intentionally not looking at OOTA to avoid spoilers, so I don't know if it says in there).
What would be things that my character wouldn't know about that happened over the past 200 years? New Gods around/old Gods gone? Wars? Things like that.

Any help would be appreciated.

Although SCAG (Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide) doesn't specifically say so, it's very probable the current year is 1489 DR. It's definitely no earlier than that and no later than 1491 DR (as the upcoming Shieldmeet is in 1492 DR).

And yes, a lot has happened. In regards to deities, the Time of Troubles in 1358 DR caused some gods go die and others to ascend, then some came back afterwards, the the Spellplague in 1372 DR destroyed some more, and then pretty much all of them came back in the last few years. The main additions that your character wouldn't know about would be Cyric and Kelemvor, although Mystra is no longer the same being as she was before.

Basically, if you want a good overview, just get or borrow SCAG and read the section on "The Present Age" on pages 17 and 18, which will cover the era in question.

 

[Ezequielramone]

The setting originally was set up in the year 1359, so yes, at least tree world shacking events occurred. Almost all FR products happened donde 1359 but those labeled as Arcane Age.
First the time of troubles, the goods walked on toril as mortals (the earth), some of them died, and some changed their portfolio.
Then the spellplague, abeirl the "other" earth merge with the actual earth. New islands appeared (so they can introduce dragonborns). Mystra died.
The sundering, still don't know what this is. But abeil came back to wherever it was before, mystra came back. Some old deities came back.

 

[Irennan]

According to the SCAG, your character would experience something not *that* different from when she left Toril. That's because the Sundering has restored a lot of what was destroyed in the 200 years.

Nearly every deity that has fallen at some point, has now been restored, and their follower-base is reforming/has reformed (this is true even for the deities that have falled during the Avatar Crisis). As Demetrios1453 has already said, Cyric and Kelemvor are new, and Mystra has changed, although all her previous incarnations basically coexist in the new one (and that's not something any character is likely to know anyway). Some relationships among deities have changed (Eilistraee and Vhaeraun, Lolth's children, are no longer enemies for example), but they're pretty niche and won't have impact on your character unless she is directly involved.

The Spellplague caused Abeir and Toril to cross each other, only to separate again after the Sundering. So, the swapped continents are now back to their place (except a part of Tymanther, the dragonborn's nation, which has remained and is now at war with returned Unther), destroyed cities are being rebuilt (many of them are looking more and more like they did in the past) and so on.

As for people, the only major difference would be an increased number of surface drow and of tieflings, and the dragonborn, who come from Abeir.

You could pick the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and get a good idea of how Faerun, its people, and its gods currently look like--the book was meant to make the FR easily accessible to newcomers, aside from updating the setting to the present time.

 

[Satyrn]

I think it would work out well enough of you read the original (AD&D) FR stuff and considered that the stuff you know. So whatever was introduced in 3e and 4e was what your character slept through an me what's in 5e is what you've awoken to and are now just learning.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, I'd say base everything your character knows on the old Grey Box. Spellplague, what? Who the heck is Cyric? What do you mean there's no more Myth Drannor?