D&D 5E WotC Announces An Impending Announcement: New Setting, Storyline

Early this week, WotC announced on Twitter that today there would be some kind of announcement on their Twitch channel. Those who heard that announcement and tuned in were treated to an announcement that the new storyline will be announced at a live event in June.

The press release announcing the impending announcement also mentions a new setting, as well as the storyline, so it sounds like it might not be set in the Forgotten Realms (or maybe is in a new region - to 5E - of the Realms, such as Icewind Dale). The adventure and the setting might be the same thing, or they might be completely different things. Recently, WotC has released a bunch of settings: Eberron, Ravnica, Wildemount, and the upcoming Theros.

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline

The new storyline specifically will be revealed at 12pm PST (8pm GMT) on Thursday, June 18th.

The June event will raise money for Comic Relief, and will feature celebrities including Brandon Routh (Superman), and will preview the brand new storyline. It takes place June 18th-20th. Other names involved include Felicia Day, Deborah Ann Woll, Amy Acker, David Harbour, Matthew Lillard, and more.

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 PRESS RELEASE

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RENTON, WA – May 21, 2020 – People all over the world continue to stay safe by staying home, but that doesn’t mean the adventuring has to stop. Dungeons & Dragons is more popular than ever because it allows people to weave compelling stories together even when they’re physically apart through online videoconferencing. Now, Wizards of the Coast brings the stars to this virtual table with D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage. An amazing cast of characters led by expert storytellers preview the latest D&D storyline with live gaming sessions, all while raising money for Red Nose Day to help the most vulnerable children across the US and around the world, who have been so affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.The adventure begins 10:00am PT on June 18, 2020 and will run through June 20, 2020 at dungeonsanddragons.com.

D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage features big personalities playing elves, wizards and fighters to accomplish quests using their imaginations. Funny people like Brian Posehn, Kevin Sussman and Thomas Middleditch will work together to solve problems or, more likely, cause some hilarious new ones. WWE ® Superstars Xavier Woods ®, Tyler Breeze ®, Ember Moon ®, Alexa Bliss ® and Dio Maddin ® will contend with beefcake destroyer Jeremy Crawford, a.k.a. Principal Rules Designer for D&D. Deborah Ann Woll will lead a group of actors in improvising a way to help people in a fantasy world not that different from ours. And principal D&D writer Chris Perkins takes players

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline as well as accompanying new products plus tons of unique gameplay available on June 18, 2020. D&D Adventurers League has four new short adventures everyone can enjoy. By donating a small amount to Red Nose Day, fans will have access to sign up for D&D sessions with players around the world! During #DnDLive2020, fans will also be able to choose the character best suited to help the region through Reality RP, a mashup of fantasy storytelling, community engagement, and reality television.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

In that case it is literally true.

Which is why Eberron >> Forgotten Realms.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Which is why Eberron >> Forgotten Realms.

Okay. Great.

 

[dalisprime]

In that case it is literally true. You can of course change it for your home game.

Magic. It does not have to explain anything.

Not that literal if there are different accounts of what the exact source of the Great Glacier is. GHotR states Ulutiu exiled himself to the astral plane but left his necklace behind which created the glacier.
FR wiki states that Ulutiu's only avatar (so still not the diety itself) is trapped under the ice.
Bearing in mind Ed Greenwood stated that historical accounts have been written by unreliable authors for the precise reason of allowing DMs to go against canon (because canon nazis were too much apparently), it's possible that neither version is correct, especially since the Great Glacier is dated back to -2550 DR so around 4k years away from current time.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

especially since the Great Glacier is dated back to -2550 DR so around 4k years away from current time.

Which, if correct, means it dates to before the fall of Netheril.

And FR wiki seems pretty certain is was Karsus who caused the fall, not the phaerimm. Netheril: Empire of magic (1996) seams to be the primary source.

So, either historical uncertainty is a thing in the FR, or there was a pretty major retcon. In which case, there are two, equally canon, versions of "absolute literal truth".

 

[Xenonnonex]

Not that literal if there are different accounts of what the exact source of the Great Glacier is. GHotR states Ulutiu exiled himself to the astral plane but left his necklace behind which created the glacier.
FR wiki states that Ulutiu's only avatar (so still not the diety itself) is trapped under the ice.
Bearing in mind Ed Greenwood stated that historical accounts have been written by unreliable authors for the precise reason of allowing DMs to go against canon (because canon nazis were too much apparently), it's possible that neither version is correct, especially since the Great Glacier is dated back to -2550 DR so around 4k years away from current time.

Your choice if you want that as your canon.

"Beneath the Great Glacier buried below tons of ice and snow lay the corpse of Ulutiu. The glowing necklace still drapped around his neck. He lies today. Undisturbed. Forgotten. For the sake of the people of the Great Glacier as well as those in the Lands to the south it is hoped that his rest continues. If the necklace of Ulutiu were removed the enchantment would be broken. And the Great Glacier would surely begin to melt."
From FR14 The Great Glacier.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

"Beneath the Great Glacier buried below tons of ice and snow lay the corpse of Ulutiu. The glowing necklace still drapped around his neck. He lies today. Undisturbed. Forgotten. For the sake of the people of the Great Glacier as well as those in the Lands to the south it is hoped that his rest continues. If the necklace of Ulutiu were removed the enchantment would be broken. And the Great Glacier would surely begin to melt."
From FR14 The Great Glacier.

Look at the wording there. It doesn't say "would begin to melt", is says "surely would begin to melt". The addition of the word "surely" changes the text from plain fact to the opinion of the author.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Look at the wording there. It doesn't say "would begin to melt", is says "surely would begin to melt". The addition of the word "surely" changes the text from plain fact to the opinion of the author.

Better than a wiki. Whatever makes you feel better.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Which, if correct, means it dates to before the fall of Netheril.

And FR wiki seems pretty certain is was Karsus who caused the fall, not the phaerimm. Netheril: Empire of magic (1996) seams to be the primary source.

So, either historical uncertainty is a thing in the FR, or there was a pretty major retcon. In which case, there are two, equally canon, versions of "absolute literal truth".

The fall of Netheril was a complex situation. The magic use of the mages of Netheril was wrecking the underground caverns where the phaerimm lived, so they retaliated by creating a spell on a massive level that slowly made the lands above more arid, eventually resulting in the Anauroch Desert. This, among other things, caused the mages in their floating citadels to panic, driving them to more and more extreme measures, eventually leading to Karsus' Folly.

The FR wiki article on the phaerimm goes over this in more detail, as does The Grand History of the Realms.

 

[Mirtek]

Which, if correct, means it dates to before the fall of Netheril.

And FR wiki seems pretty certain is was Karsus who caused the fall, not the phaerimm. Netheril: Empire of magic (1996) seams to be the primary source.

So, either historical uncertainty is a thing in the FR, or there was a pretty major retcon. In which case, there are two, equally canon, versions of "absolute literal truth".

The phaerimm caused the desert, Karsus caused the fall of Netheril. Or rather he causes the premature fall of Netheril.

The phaerimm were winning their war against Netheril and creating the desert as part of their war effort. Karsus then dealt the deathblow to the already dying Netheril by firing his doomsday weapon (Karsus Avatar spell) to wipe out the phaerimm and win the war for Netheril. Unfortunately this failed spectacularly and destroyed Netheril while the phaerimm escaped mostly unscathed.

So Karsus destroyed Netheril then and there when he cast his spell. At this point the phaerimm have already been winning their war and would have eventually continued to do if nothing else had changed. The desert is a result of their effort.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The fall of Netheril was a complex situation. The magic use of the mages of Netheril was wrecking the underground caverns where the phaerimm lived, so they retaliated by creating a spell on a massive level that slowly made the lands above more arid, eventually resulting in the Anauroch Desert. This, among other things, caused the mages in their floating citadels to panic, driving them to more and more extreme measures, eventually leading to Karsus' Folly.

Yup, that's version of the story I was familiar with. But then I had a bunch of FR fanatics jumping down my neck telling me Karsus was innocent. It proves the point, history is simply a matter of perspective.