What is the Sundering?

[Baileyborough]

As in I know nothing about FR, but I'd like to know anything. I've heard talk of times of troubles, spell plagues, etc. is there a decent source book for getting a backround idea, like the (excellent) Pathfinder Inner Sea Guide?

 

[Traken]

As in I know nothing about FR, but I'd like to know anything. I've heard talk of times of troubles, spell plagues, etc. is there a decent source book for getting a backround idea, like the (excellent) Pathfinder Inner Sea Guide?

The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting is a pretty decent place to start.

The Forgotten Realms Wiki - Books, races, classes, and more and Candlekeep are decent free resources.

Short summary (not a big fan of FR myself, so probably getting some of this wrong):

In 2E, there were the Forgotten Realms. Everyone that played it liked it.

3E came around and the mechanics changed so they had the Time of Troubles as a catastrophic event. People died. Gods died. Generally everyone was pissed for a while.

4E came around and the mechanics changed so they had the Spellplague as a catastrophic event. People died. Gods died. Generally everyone was pissed for a while.

5E will come around and the mechanics will change so they... apparently won't destroy everything. Generally everyone will probably still be pissed for a while.

 

[slobster]

The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting is a pretty decent place to start.

The Forgotten Realms Wiki - Books, races, classes, and more and Candlekeep are decent free resources.

Short summary (not a big fan of FR myself, so probably getting some of this wrong):

In 2E, there were the Forgotten Realms. Everyone that played it liked it.

3E came around and the mechanics changed so they had the Time of Troubles as a catastrophic event. People died. Gods died. Generally everyone was pissed for a while.

4E came around and the mechanics changed so they had the Spellplague as a catastrophic event. People died. Gods died. Generally everyone was pissed for a while.

5E will come around and the mechanics will change so they... apparently won't destroy everything. Generally everyone will probably still be pissed for a while.

The Time of Troubles happened when AD&D came out, not 3E. 3E was relatively benign to the Realms (compared to what editions before and after did to it) but included a few significant events like the return of the Shades in their huge floating city, and the rise of the Red Wizards as a big mercantile-magic force.

And everyone was pissed for a while.

 

[Yora]

Yes, that's wrong. Time of Troubles was 1>2. Third edition actually didn't have any cataclysmic changes, just a moderate timeline advancement.

To learn about it, if you don't know anything...?

That's really not an easy question, as there are 25 years of material for a rather large world that got probably the most support of any D&D settings. But I think the 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting would probably be the best thing. It's not terribly in depth about the details, but it's a good overview, unlike the 4th Edition one, which isn't helpful at all.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Third edition actually didn't have any cataclysmic changes, just a moderate timeline advancement.

Tell that to the residents of Tilverton ...

 

[Yora]

Dead People of Tilverton: The destruction of your town was not a cosmic disaster affecting the lives of people everywhere in the world.

 

[Therise]

So, the Sundering...

It's going to be a novel series heralding the 5E Realms, as noted in the GenCon keynote seminar (and there's a video link floating around for that, if you missed it).

The information about "no reboot, gods are coming back, they're 'fixing' the Spellplague" and such, that was provided by Erik Scott de Bie over at the Candlekeep forum - and was undoubtedly some of what was discussed at the GenCon Candlekeep meetup which ran for hours.

As for the "What is the Sundering" seminar itself, it was 2 hours of mostly an advertisement about the novels being planned, and an interactive meet-up with some of the authors (Salvatore was absent, due to an illness in his family). Not a whole lot of additional detail was revealed there - honestly, they can't spoil their own books. But we do know that the books will involve both gods and mortals, feature some known heroes (Drizzt, Elminster, Farideh) and introduce some new heroes. The gist of it all is that there will be a war (which could be godly as well as mortal), and a world-ending event/cataclysmic thing that will prompt AO the overgod to re-forge the Tablets of Fate. This will somehow "morph" or change the Realms, resulting in the return of some dead or missing gods and the removal or diminishing of the Spellplague.

More than that hasn't really been revealed, and I could be wrong about a little bit of the above. The novels are probably not fully penned yet anyway, and plans for the Realms might still change a bit.

 

[HRG]

no reboot

The gist of it all is that there will be a war (which could be godly as well as mortal), and a world-ending event/cataclysmic thing that will prompt AO the overgod to re-forge the Tablets of Fate. This will somehow "morph" or change the Realms, resulting in the return of some dead or missing gods and the removal or diminishing of the Spellplague.

Heh. That sounds an awful lot like a reboot to me.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Heh. That sounds an awful lot like a reboot to me.

I know, right?

On the one hand they're saying "give us just one more RSE, then the world is yours" but then they say "this won't be like the Time of Troubles or the Spellplague."

I get the impression from watching the videos that some of what might be thought of as the best parts of the 4E Realms will get brushed aside (bringing back dead gods, bringing back the minutia of the Realms), but they're not going backwards in time to start over, which is what people are indicating when they say "reboot."

How long before the uberpessimists figure out that it's possible nobody will technically get what they were hoping for, so the real moaning can begin?

Can you call it a reboot if you move the setting forward in time?

 

[grimslade]

RSE, reboot, the Cycle is renewed, the wheel turns...

I liked 4E FR. Not as the Forgotten Realms, but as a setting there were a lot of fun elements. I hope there will be some (small) support of Abeir once Ao de-abeir-izes Toril.

So don't call it a comeback, but the Realms are getting reset. Myrkuul, Bane and Bhaal going to interact with the Usurper Cyric? Mystra being reborn again to do the lambada with a newly cialis-ed Elminster? Netheril, Jhaamdath, Narfell and Raumathar jockeying for Empire with the Zhents and Thay? How far will the reset go?