D&D 5E Forgotton Realms Canon?

[GameDoc]

Drizzt and companions found Gauntelgrym, but they neither set up residence nor shared their discovery openly for reasons I'll not specify so as to avoid unwanted spoilers. So really anyone else bouncing around the Realms could also discover it for themselves. If you want to stay in canon and keep the events in the novels in play, you can get a synopsis at forgottenrealms.wikia.com

 

[Jester David]

My favourite bit of Realms update lore came from a Kobold Press seminar, when Wolfgang Baur and Steve Winter asked WotC to send over an update on the Realms, so they could write the Tyranny of the Dragons adventures. WotC said "oh, we don't have that written down." Half of it is exclusively in the heads of the various novelists and FR team. (And not that James Wyatt is working on MtG, likely in another division of WotC altogether.) They literally do not have a summary of the changes between the 4e and 5e Realms, and were completely surprised that Kobold Press wanted one.

Meanwhile, every FR fan wants the exact same thing: a breakdown of the current status quo of the Realms. Shockingly, gamers are finding it hard to write campaigns in the Realms without knowing what the Realms even looks like any more.

 

[Nivenus]

My favourite bit of Realms update lore came from a Kobold Press seminar, when Wolfgang Baur and Steve Winter asked WotC to send over an update on the Realms, so they could write the Tyranny of the Dragons adventures. WotC said "oh, we don't have that written down." Half of it is exclusively in the heads of the various novelists and FR team. (And not that James Wyatt is working on MtG, likely in another division of WotC altogether.) They literally do not have a summary of the changes between the 4e and 5e Realms, and were completely surprised that Kobold Press wanted one.

This matches what I've kind of surmised... that WotC hasn't actually decided what the changes to the Realms are yet (aside from a couple important details like Mystra's resurrection and the "unreturning" of Returned Abeir). Which to a certain degree makes sense... I think they're watching to see what players in the Realms want beyond the obvious. Waiting to see how the fans react to the Sundering novels, the Sundering adventures, and now Tyranny of Dragons gives them a baseline to work with when determining the full scope of changes: what people like about 5e the most, what they want to keep about the 4e Realms, and what they feel is still missing from the 2e/3e glory days (or even 1e).

That doesn't mean it isn't frustrating of course.

Meanwhile, every FR fan wants the exact same thing: a breakdown of the current status quo of the Realms. Shockingly, gamers are finding it hard to write campaigns in the Realms without knowing what the Realms even looks like any more.

Yeah, this was a problem for me at first too and gave me something of a headache trying to figure out exactly how to convert my current 4e campaign. The fact that the Sundering adventures can be played with 3e, 4e, or 5e, however gave me an idea, which was to basically just convert the campaign's mechanics and not worry about moving very far forward in the timeline or making a representative 5e campaign. If WotC releases new information on the timeline, I can incorporate it as I need/desire it, gradually as it occurs.

Obviously this wouldn't work for someone who wants to move all the way to the end of the Sundering, after all the 4e to 5e changes have been made, but in the short-term it's a solution that I think will work for my players and I.

 

[Agamon]

I don't understand the logic of having the Sundering series making great changes in the Realms but the FR not getting updated before WOTc started using it as backgrund for their first adventures. Makes no sense.

It seems like they should have at least provided a capstone or soemthing on the website to get Dungeons Masters (and PLayers) up to speed on the Realms so we are all on the same page.

Part of the post-Sundering confusion amongst the fans is a result of WOTC doing the Sundering, hyping it as an event and then going FR silent.

I don't understand it at all.

The idea is to present the setting through the adventures, presenting the information that is relevant instead of a "drink from the firehose" info overload of an entire setting book.

This is great for those that run the published adventures, not so good for those of us that do their own thing. I'm okay with it, I'm just running FR from the 3e timeline.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

I'm certainly frustrated. The biggest thing right now is that I want to introduce the gods, and we don't have an updated pantheon. I'm probably just going to stick with the 3E gods for now.

What I really want is a multiple book set that is as comprehensive about the Realms as possible so that I no longer have to hunt for anything. Say, one book with history, deities, and way of life, and optional rules, and then one or two that are just an in depth atlas of the setting.

 

[Bumamgar]

The FG pantheon is outlined in the back of the PHB. I would presume this is the updated post-Sundering pantheon. It certainly includes several formerly 'dead' gods such as Bane and Mystra.

Does it go into the detail that the 2e Faiths and Avatars + Powers and Pantheons, or the 3.5e Faiths and Pantheons do? Of course not, but I would think it is enough to 'introduce the gods' for a FG campaign.

 

[Nivenus]

It does leave a fair bit of things unclear though. Like what happened to some of the 4e gods like Asmodeus or whether the Mulhorandi pantheon is back. It's also somewhat unclear how Myrkul and Kelemvor are sharing their governance over death, seeing as both once claimed complete control of it and have very different approaches to the subject (sadistic fearmonger vs. evenhanded judgment).

 

[Agamon]

It does leave a fair bit of things unclear though. Like what happened to some of the 4e gods like Asmodeus or whether the Mulhorandi pantheon is back. It's also somewhat unclear how Myrkul and Kelemvor are sharing their governance over death, seeing as both once claimed complete control of it and have very different approaches to the subject (sadistic fearmonger vs. evenhanded judgment).

In the MM, it's mentioned that Asmodeus is still a minor god with cults in the PM plane.

As for the others, it could be cool to explain it that the followers of those gods don't know what's going on either. Kind of like when Lolth went dark on her drow priestesses. Once it's explained, it could have some interesting consequences in-game.

 

[rjfTrebor]

haven't they been 'working' on this Sundering transition thing for nearly 3 years now? so far, it seems like nothing but a whole lot of advertising for a set of hardcover books that are really just chunks of other series.

 

[Tzarevitch]

The FG pantheon is outlined in the back of the PHB. I would presume this is the updated post-Sundering pantheon. It certainly includes several formerly 'dead' gods such as Bane and Mystra.

Does it go into the detail that the 2e Faiths and Avatars + Powers and Pantheons, or the 3.5e Faiths and Pantheons do? Of course not, but I would think it is enough to 'introduce the gods' for a FG campaign.

I wouldn't presume that's the updated pantheon. I suspect they just listed all of the main FR gods.