What is the status of Cormyr in 5e?

[Ancalagon]

So erm... what happened during 4e? Is there a short synopsis somewhere?

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[Onslaught]

Except, most of the NPCs are long dead, and a lot of the political history of various places have changed.

You mean... the ones that didn't just survived, reincarnated or basically came back from wherever they were hiding?

And the political history might have changed, but the status came back to what it were in 3e.

I hate, hate that they advanced the timeline 100 years and made so many changes to the Forgotten Realms. That's why I just stick with the 1369 or 1372 time of the Realms. There's also tons of information on the realms from back then, and I don't think WOTC are interested in producing that kind of complete information on the realms again anytime soon.

Jokes aside...

I also hate the 100-years advance. They had to keep it moving instead of just retconning it because the Realms is a setting that always go forward... and that was kind of the major problem with the Realms back then, it must go forward so there's this ton of books, novels and Yearly Realms Shaking Events...

Nontheless, I just bought a 3e-era book collection of FR 'cos I didn't had the money back then hahahahaha

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

So erm... what happened during 4e? Is there a short synopsis somewhere?

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The free article linked to at the start of this thread (in the OP) includes a brief timeline to Cormyr over the century gap.

I believe the Scribes at the Candlekeep forums have put together a timeline for the Realms over the 100 year gap.

 

[machineelf]

You mean... the ones that didn't just survived, reincarnated or basically came back from wherever they were hiding?

Well, the elf NPCs and other long-lived races are still around. But yeah, a lot of classic human and other NPCs from across Faerun are gone. And I liked Mirt the Moneylender, Khelben Blackstaff, and others.

I don't think that just because books are written that alter the campaign universe, that that means the campaign universe in which table-top role-players play in has to be changed to match the books. I see no problem with having the books branch off an alternate reality of the Forgotten Realms, but the playable campaign setting always starts in a certain year with a certain history, so that your own campaign universe can branch off in whatever direction you and your players determine.

When they force the campaign setting to drastically change along with the books, they run into the problem we have now.

I would love them to reset the Realms back to 1369 or 1372 DR, and publish all-new modules that expand (not change) the old ones, so that all of Faerun is covered and we get all-new maps of every region. That will never, ever happen, so instead I just collect the classic modules and maps, and my Realms always start in the summer of 1372 DR.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Well, the elf NPCs and other long-lived races are still around. But yeah, a lot of classic human and other NPCs from across Faerun are gone. And I liked Mirt the Moneylender, Khelben Blackstaff, and others.

I don't think that just because books are written that alter the campaign universe, that that means the campaign universe in which table-top role-players play in has to be changed to match the books. I see no problem with having the books branch off an alternate reality of the Forgotten Realms, but the playable campaign setting always starts in a certain year with a certain history, so that your own campaign universe can branch off in whatever direction you and your players determine.

When they force the campaign setting to drastically change along with the books, they run into the problem we have now.

Actually, it was the other way round - when 4e came around, the game designers made the decision for the 100-year skip, and forced the novel writers to go along. From what I understand, when they told Greenwood and Salvatore, they were not pleased for the very reasons you mention - their human characters simply would die, by old age at the very least, as a result of the change.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So erm... what happened during 4e? Is there a short synopsis somewhere?

The world got rekt by a magical storm called the Spellplague, as a result of Mystra dying on her home plane, with no one to take her place and no backup plan, which caused magic to explode.

Anyway, 100 years passed, the Realms recovered, things were different (mostly better IMO, but others vehemently disagree), Netheril came back and established a new seat of power, and entered a sort of Cold War with Cormyr and her allies, and a ton of other stuff.

IMO, the 4e Realms is vastly better setting, but enough people lost their minds over the changes that for 5e, they brought in the "Sundering", rekt the Realms again, but this time every dumb change just "happened" to revert things back to the status quo before 4e. For example, 4e had "earth motes", which were floating islands in the sky, and they all fell down or disappeared in the sunderererering.
Another example: Netheril's floating cities got blown up, one conveniently crashing into Myth Drannor so that it could go back to being dangerous ruins, the desert magically went back to desert, and the Netherese scattered and just basically overnight stopped being a political entity of any kind.

Oh! and most of the Dragonborn and Genasi that were more populated in 4e disappeared. (there isn't even an emoji for this.)

And the Dragonborn that are left? Well, Unther came back (yeah, it was gone) and is now zealously dedicated to eradicating the Dragonborn of Tymanther, which is a nation that used to exist where Unther used to be, who believed that their coming to Toril had destroyed Unther, and thus named their new nation in honor of Unther, and their old homeland of Tymanchebar. A sliver of Tymanther is still around, so...thanks devs for that, I guess? (nope.) Only, this sliver is in constant threat of invasion from Unther, because the Unther..ians? want to wipe them out and take back what is "theirs".

But at least Helm and Mask are back, amirite? OK seriously, I am glad they're back. In my home Realms game they are now reluctant allies, because they came back in a series of events that didn't erase years of canon while insisting that it isn't a retcon, and the circumstances of those events pitted them and their followers against common enemies, on Abier, on Toril, and in the Mirror Planes.

Also, they both gained Draconic/dragonborn aspects in the process, and Abierians may have started worshipping them, which may or may not threaten the return of the to that world.

 

[machineelf]

IMO, the 4e Realms is vastly better setting

Opinions vary. But even if you do love the 4e Realms, there just isn't a lot of detailed info about the various regions of the world like there was with the older Realms modules and material.

I'm an older guy, but I'm not really a grognard because even though I played around with D&D a little bit as a kid, I didn't really get into it until about 5 years ago. I eventually wanted to get some more information about Waterdeep, because my players were going there to spend some time. So I got the old Waterdeep and the North module, as well as Volo's Guide to Waterdeep. That led me to get the gorgeous old map of Waterdeep and get it laminated. And I started to learn about these classic, interesting characters in the city.

From there, I began to collect older modules of the Realms. I learned that it's so big, but so diverse and interesting. So I've begun to collect all the information, and all the maps, I can of the entire continent. I'm getting pretty close to my goal. Maybe this does actually make me a grognard. I'll wear it proudly.

The beauty of it is the massive amount of information that's out there. So even though I wasn't really into D&D at the beginning of 4th edition, I completely understand the aggravation of someone who's collected and learned all that information about this classic campaign setting, to only have it completely upended by a 100-year move into the future, and big political and geographic changes.

And even if you wanted to collect detailed information about the current Realms and the various regions of the continent, you can't because they haven't produced new modules for all those various areas (as far as I know). You're only going to be left with the brief overviews of various areas you get in the general 4th Edition Campaign Guide.

For those reasons, I'm happy to stick to the classic Realms materials and maps. I'm just not interested in any of the changes they've made.

I think it largely depends on what you got into when you first got into the Realms, though. If you (and I don't know if this applies to you specifically or not) got into the Realms during 4th edition, and learned everything from that perspective, then that might be the version you really gravitate to and prefer. If someone has been playing since they were a kid and learned the Realms from all the AD&D modules, and that's the Realms they've learned to love, then obviously they wouldn't be happy to have that changed. That feeling you feel about how they changed 4th edition after the second sundering or whatever, is probably the same feeling older Realms fans felt when they first introduce the 4th edition changes. But really, all these changes over the years over-complicates the setting. Another reason I personally prefer the original material developed for AD&D.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I can say that for me, I got into the Realms by reading Elminster books, and played in the Realms during 2e, but didn't really get into it until 3.5 era, and got way more into it with 4e, because I just enjoys the world it presented more.

That said, in case you are ever curious, there is a fricken ton of 4e realmslore. It's spread around amongst the FR campaign guide and players guide, Neverwinter campaign guide, and a ton of Dragon mag and Dungeon mag articles. And novels.

The scholars at candlekeep can probably tell ya where specifically to look.

 

[Ancalagon]

So it sounds like if someone has a good collection of 2e and 3e stuff, it's a good alternative to 5e since it reverted a lot of changes...

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[dagger]

So it sounds like if someone has a good collection of 2e and 3e stuff, it's a good alternative to 5e since it reverted a lot of changes...

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Exactly....its easy to pretend the 4e change never happened AND you can still use the 5e FR stuff if you want.