D&D General Who's in the Who's Who of D&D

[The Glen]

The latest announcement for the updated DMG stated they are going to have a glossary of famous characters from the settings of Dungeons and Dragons, and I would assume this would include at least people from every previous setting. But the question is, who should be in it? Obviously, the money makers like Drizzt, Warduke, or Hank the Ranger, but how deep of a dive should they make? Who do you include from Birthright? Where do you stop with Faerun? What about past hotness like Alias and Dragonbait? What about one-shot wonders like Duchess and Candella? Or maybe even Gord the Rogue? Bargle and Aleena should be obvious but would little known but critical to the setting characters like Emperor Thincol Torion of Thyatis have a chance?

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I would be very, very surprised if any mention of Birthright is included in the DMG in any way. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the original 5e DMG even mentioned the setting. I also doubt that they would include every D&D setting, as many of them have faded so much into obscurity that only a fraction of the existing fanbase even remembers them, much fewer still actually plays in them. I can't imagine that obscure setings like Ghostwalk, Birthright, Mystara, or Pelinore would be included.

They're probably just going to include the more popular/historically relevant settings, like the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Eberron, Planescape, Dark Sun, Dragonlance, and maybe even Exandria (given CR's massive popularity and previous official tie-ins). And those settings would probably only mention the more famous characters from them (Drizzt, Volo, Mordenkainen, Vecna, Acererak, Tasha, Van Richten, Strahd, the Heroes of the Lance, Lord Soth, and maybe people like The Lord of Blades, Lady Illmarrow, Mordain the Fleshweaver, and Borys the Dragon of Tyr, etc). I wouldn't be surprised if characters from the D&D movie or old cartoon were mentioned, given recent (and upcoming) cameos in official D&D stuff.

But characters that aren't hugely relevant to people that don't know much about D&D and aren't super important about explaining the settings will almost definitely not feature. Like Dragonbait or Mirt.

 

[GuyBoy]

Gutboy Barrelhouse should be there!
Even if only to cause havoc with spell check and my username.

 

[GuyBoy]

On the serious side: The three giant leaders (Nosnra, Grugnur and Snurre) and Eclavdra carry a lot of history in the game.

 

[payn]

I would be very, very surprised if any mention of Birthright is included in the DMG in any way. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the original 5e DMG even mentioned the setting. I also doubt that they would include every D&D setting, as many of them have faded so much into obscurity that only a fraction of the existing fanbase even remembers them, much fewer still actually plays in them. I can't imagine that obscure setings like Ghostwalk, Birthright, Mystara, or Pelinore would be included.

They're probably just going to include the more popular/historically relevant settings, like the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Eberron, Planescape, Dark Sun, and maybe even Exandria (given CR's massive popularity and previous official tie-ins). And those settings would probably only mention the more famous characters from them (Drizzt, Volo, Mordenkainen, Vecna, Acererak, Tasha, Van Richten, Strahd, and maybe people like The Lord of Blades, Lady Illmarrow, Mordain the Fleshweaver, and Borys the Dragon of Tyr, etc). I wouldn't be surprised if characters from the D&D movie or old cartoon were mentioned, given recent (and upcoming) cameos in official D&D stuff.

But characters that aren't hugely relevant to people that don't know much about D&D and aren't super important about explaining the settings will almost definitely not feature. Like Dragonbait or Mirt.

Probably right, but hope you are wrong.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

I predict that if a proper name appears in any of the 3 books, it could easily get an entry in a Lore glossary. Below are some examples:

• Any spellcaster that has a named spell: Mordenkainen, Bigby, Otiluke, Tasha, etc.
• Any character mentioned in class or species entries as examples or sidebars, or if they use quotes like in they have in the Everything books: Will Bruenor or Drizzt be used in a sidebar? Elminster? Tanis Half-Elven? (Ooh, spicy topic.)
• Villains that have been important to the story so far, and those they want to focus on in the next 5 years: Acererak, Strahd, Lord Soth, Venger, Warduke, the League of Malevolence, etc.
• Any location mentioned in the books: Waterdeep, Greyhawk City, Sigil, the different planes of existence and their main cities (Elemental Plane of Fire and the City of Brass)
• D&D setting-specific Gods used as examples, or will they place them in their own section?: Lolth, Vecna, Bahamut, Tiamat, Corellon Larethian, though I'm not sure about different settings. Will Pelor and Lathander both be in the glossary?

 

[Lidgar]

Meepo.

 

[bedir than]

I'm more interested in what kind of information is included.

Name, species, class, background, NPC stats to use -- what else?

 

[beta-ray]

Boo

 

[Orius]

Here's my short list:

Greyhawk
Mordenkainen
Bigby
Robilar
Tenser
Other members of the Circle of Eight
Rary the Traitor
Iuz the Old
Iggwilv
Eclavdra
Vecna
Acererak

Forgotten Realms
Elminster
Volothamp Geddarm
Mirt the Moneylender
Drizzt Do'Urden
Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun
The Seven Sisters
Halaster Blackcloak
Szass Tam
Fzoul Chembryl
Minsc and Boo

Mystara
Bargle the Infamous
Aleena
Stefan Karameikos
Baron Ludwig von Hendricks
Etienne d'Amberville
Haldemar of Haaken

Dragonlance
The Heroes of the Lance
Kitiara uth Matar
Lord Ariakus
Lord Soth
Fistandantilus
Palin Majere
The Kingpriest of Istar

Ravenloft
Count Strahd von Zarovich
Rudolph van Richten
Azalin

Dark Sun
Rajaat
Borys
The Sorcerer-kings
Maybe that dude from the Prism Pentad

Planescape
The Lady of Pain
Duke Rowan Darkwood
Erin Darkflame Montgomery
Rule-of-Three
Shemeshka the Marauder
Tarsheva Longreach
Xanxost

Birthright
The Gorgon

Other
The Egg of Coot
Emirikol the Chaotic
Warduke
Venger
Strongheart
Hank and the other cartoon characters
The 3e iconics, except for that loser Regdar

Interestingly, I can't recall any sort of memorable character from Spelljammer. I don't know Ravenloft or Dark Sun very well, but they both have a handful of memorable names. And the various subsettings of the Realms don't really have anyone who sticks out either. I don't know any of the newer stuff, except maybe that child cleric from Eberron (aka the Lolipope).