What year is it?

eainmonster · Jun 8, 2018

I've searched and searched, and I can't figure it out. When you take into account the most recent adventures and reference books, what year is 5e in, basically?

Context: I'm writing an adventure, and want to figure out where I want to set it, so I'm trying to figure out what cities are still around, because there was the spellplague, etc.

TiwazTyrsfist · Jun 8, 2018

First off, although the main setting in 5e is Forgotten Realms, it is always good to specify what setting when you ask for a year in D&D.

I did a google search using the terms "5e Date Forgotten Realms"

The first two results were the 1> Wikipedia Calendars in the Forgotten Realms page, which tells us that AS OF Princes of the Apocalypse, the date was 1491 DR, and that the second sundering (which started 5e) was in 1486/7 DR; 2> an RPG stack exchange question about exactly this which goes into more detail.

Short version, most models don't specify an exact year, BUT we know all 5e stuff is POST 1487 DR and probably not past 1495 DR.

Charlaquin · Jun 8, 2018

eainmonster said:
I've searched and searched, and I can't figure it out. When you take into account the most recent adventures and reference books, what year is 5e in, basically?

Context: I'm writing an adventure, and want to figure out where I want to set it, so I'm trying to figure out what cities are still around, because there was the spellplague, etc.

Hahaha oh, man.

So, here's the thing. 5e has been treating the forgotten realms as its default setting. And during 4th edition, there was a big time skip in the realms fiction, so all the characters people had gotten to know and love were dead and gone. They wanted to wipe the slate clean and start fresh, and the majority of forgotten realms fans hated it. So, they tried to walk that back a bit in 5e. There was this whole Sundering event that was supposed to undo all the major changes that happened to the realms in 4e. But that meant that chronologically speaking, the Sundering must have happened after the spellplague, which means after the time skip. None of the grand ideas WotC had promised with the Sundering event actually came to fruition, and since then, they've kept the adventures vague in terms of time. All the well-known characters are getting name-dropped all over the place again with no explanation of how that's possible, and WotC seems pretty intent to keep the Forgotten realms in a nebulous eternal now and never to acknowledge the Spellplague or the Sundering again.

Mistwell · Jun 8, 2018

2018.

Damn time travelers always getting lost.

eainmonster · Jun 8, 2018

TiwazTyrsfist said:
First off, although the main setting in 5e is Forgotten Realms, it is always good to specify what setting when you ask for a year in D&D.

Ah! Very useful, thank you!

TiwazTyrsfist said:
Short version, most models don't specify an exact year, BUT we know all 5e stuff is POST 1487 DR and probably not past 1495 DR.

Excellent! Thank you very much!

eainmonster · Jun 8, 2018

Charlaquin said:
Hahaha oh, man.

So, here's the thing. 5e has been treating the forgotten realms as its default setting. And during 4th edition, there was a big time skip in the realms fiction, so all the characters people had gotten to know and love were dead and gone. They wanted to wipe the slate clean and start fresh, and the majority of forgotten realms fans hated it. So, they tried to walk that back a bit in 5e. There was this whole Sundering event that was supposed to undo all the major changes that happened to the realms in 4e. But that meant that chronologically speaking, the Sundering must have happened after the spellplague, which means after the time skip. None of the grand ideas WotC had promised with the Sundering event actually came to fruition, and since then, they've kept the adventures vague in terms of time. All the well-known characters are getting name-dropped all over the place again with no explanation of how that's possible, and WotC seems pretty intent to keep the Forgotten realms in a nebulous eternal now and never to acknowledge the Spellplague or the Sundering again.

While kind of frustrating, this actually makes things easier. Thank you!

Twiggly the Gnome · Jun 8, 2018

[video=youtube_share;F-sm9r0_q5o]https://youtu.be/F-sm9r0_q5o[/video]

Charlaquin · Jun 8, 2018

eainmonster said:
While kind of frustrating, this actually makes things easier. Thank you!

No problem. It is worth noting that, as TiwazTyrsfist said, the canonical date is probably somewhere between 1487 DR and 1495 DR ish. But that raises some weird lore questions that WotC has been reticent to try and answer, so for the most part they seem to be keeping such things pretty lowkey.

Zardnaar · Jun 8, 2018

I'm in the 1990's. Its the music.

bmfrosty · Jun 8, 2018

From some of the podcasts it seems like they're no longer keeping an official canon and order of events. What is canon is on a campaign by campaign basis. Closes thing we have to an official canon right now is the AL in the Moonsea region.