D&D General The D&D Cartoon is set in Faerun since when?

[Henadic Theologian]

"The Realm" of the D&D Cartoon can locate on the continent of Faerun.

The "Great Glaciers" at the N of the Realm, are the Great Glacier of Faerun, N of Vaasa, Damara, and Narfell.

Here, "Alicorn Sea" appears to be a local name for Mirror Lake, W from Vaasa. Sometimes freshwater bodies are called "seas". Mirror Lake is missing from some maps of Faerun that only depict a simplified Pelauvir River. In an earlier post I hypothesize the Icelace Lake as "Alicorn Sea", but having seen this recent 5e map below, Mirror Lake seems likelier to be the "Alicorn Sea" on the E of the Realm map.

Then the "Waste Lands" at the W of the Realm map is the Tortured Lands in Faerun.

The local "Fire Mountains" and other mountainous areas are parts of the mountain range of the West Galena Mountains.

The Abyss is some local phenomenon relating to the mountain range, perhaps a rift valley, or a sinkhole collapsed into the Underdark.

The "Sea of Sorrows" seems a shallow wetland, ambiguously mapped as land or water. Even Mirror Lake is ignored in some maps. These waterbodies may be seasonal, having more notable water levels when the icy areas of the Great Glacier thaw.

Thus the "Far West" is NW Faerun, including the Sword Coast and the elven High Forest that is part of the wider forest area that is "The Forest at the Edge of the [Known] World".

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Map from ForgottenRealms FandomCom, made by Mike Schley.
(static.wikia.nocookie .net/forgottenrealms/images/b/be/Vaasa_-1480_DR-_Mike_Schley.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20210523182845)
Mike Schley is the cartographer who did the official WotC map for NW Faerun for the 5e Sword Coast setting. So this map with Mirror Lake is either official or quasi official.

Note, even official maps of Faerun, across the D&D editions, have numerous discrepancies of terrain, watercourses, distortions of distance, and even alternate locations. Inworld, consider the discrepancies between maps as the result of medieval maps generally trying to make sense of multiple conflictive sources plus conjecture about the sources.

The maps of the Realm, such as the one below by Ian Johnson, are themselves fan creations that are piecing together information from the Cartoon. These fan maps are estimations and conjectures and conflict with each other. The Realm can easily be in Faerun and S from the Great Glacier.

View attachment 352560

No it can't because the sky doesn't match either, The Realm had no Selune with Selune's tears and it had like 5 moons or something.

Look I assumed before I watched the cartoon that it was either set in FR or generic enough to put it there, but after I watched it, it was clearly uncompatible.

Honestly this is the kind of lore slopiness I expect from the D&D team now, canon is just something they can steal memberries from for marketing, not something that they care about or see of value to a setting.

They choose to learn the hard way. Star Trek also took this approach with Discovery and we see what that did to the Star Trek fandom, massive splits. Now for Star Trek Academy they have canon police and deputy canon police, they are mostly more careful with canon having been burn badly by careless handling of canon previously (Klingons now look like Klingons again).

 

[Azzy]

Honestly this is the kind of lore slopiness I expect from the D&D team now, canon is just something they can steal memberries from for marketing, not something that they care about or see of value to a setting.

Is this the sloppiness that you'd expect from the TSR-era? Because the cartoon characters were retconned into the Forgotten Realms long before this and their appearance there was never consistent in time, place, or the fate of the characters. So this appears to me the same manufactured outrage that was on display about WotC using the multiverse to tie all the settings together just like 2e AD&D did.

 

[Mecheon]

Honestly this is the kind of lore slopiness I expect from the D&D team now, canon is just something they can steal memberries from for marketing, not something that they care about or see of value to a setting.

They're not going to make a whole new setting for the D&D cartoon, they'll just slot it in where it fits. Given Greyhawk and Mystara are, y'know. Dead, FR's the next best fit.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Some people are failing to get that it’s not they are IN Faerun, it’s that they are retconned to have ALWAYS been in Faerun.

It was always thought they took a portal or something to Faerun. WotC changing it to they have always been here is the issue.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I think it makes sense to put them in an actual D&D setting. Probably a small and obscure part of one.

It's not a big deal, given that the cartoon has been over for ages now.

 

[Storyteller Hero]

It's worth noting that the DnD cartoon realm doesn't actually have to be a region of Faerûn to be IN Faerûn.

A powerful wizard, deity, or godlike being might construct a realm inside a magic object, miniaturized so much it might even fit in the palm of one's hand.

 

[Azzy]

Some people are failing to get that it’s not they are IN Faerun, it’s that they are retconned to have ALWAYS been in Faerun.

So what? This is just another retcon in a long chain of inconsistencies in the previous presentations of the characters.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Is this the sloppiness that you'd expect from the TSR-era? Because the cartoon characters were retconned into the Forgotten Realms long before this and their appearance there was never consistent in time, place, or the fate of the characters. So this appears to me the same manufactured outrage that was on display about WotC using the multiverse to tie all the settings together just like 2e AD&D did.

The idea that at some time in the past D&D's owners, or the people who wrote the cartoon, cared about canon, is a child's fairy story.

 

[Yaarel]

No it can't because the sky doesn't match either, The Realm had no Selune with Selune's tears and it had like 5 moons or something.

As far as I can tell, the Animated world has three moons.

onestly this is the kind of lore slopiness I expect from the D&D team now, canon is just something they can steal memberries from for marketing, not something that they care about or see of value to a setting.

Officially, there is no 5e canon except the core books. Everything else is equivalent to the campaign of someones home game.

Regarding the canon of the 1980s Cartoon, no D&D product clearly mapped it out or systematized it into a playable setting.

For all we know, the extra two moons are part of the magic by Venger. Or the Realm is a demiplane. The landscapes seem too worldly, so probably not Feywild or Shadowfell. I would want to say a Feywild Border version of Toril, because the sky behaves differently in the Feywild. Some places are always twilight, some are always winter, some are always summer. In my head canon some regions of the Feywild are always day time with a bright sun. Some might be always night with three moons. It seems trival to explain away the moons, and figure out a way to explain how they were somehow on Toril the whole time.

Likely the Cartoon is on a planet different from Toril, but they eventually are on Toril, according to the recent 5e movie.

 

[Yaarel]

This is the comicbook from 1996 that locates the D&D Cartoon characters − Presto, Hank, Eric, Bobby, Diana, and Shiela − in Shadowdale on Toril, in the Forgotten Realms setting 1360s. Presto becomes an apprentice of Elminster, and the two adventure across across Faerun. The adventures are a too high level, and afterward Presto returns to his friends.