D&D General WotC: Novels & Non-5E Lore Are Officially Not Canon

At a media press briefing last week, WotC's Jeremey Crawford clarified what is and is not canon for D&D.

"For many years, we in the Dungeons & Dragons RPG studio have considered things like D&D novels, D&D video games, D&D comic books, as wonderful expressions of D&D storytelling and D&D lore, but they are not canonical for the D&D roleplaying game."

"If you’re looking for what’s official in the D&D roleplaying game, it’s what appears in the products for the roleplaying game. Basically, our stance is that if it has not appeared in a book since 2014, we don’t consider it canonical for the games."

2014 is the year that D&D 5th Edition launched.

He goes on to say that WotC takes inspiration from past lore and sometimes adds them into official lore.

Over the past five decades of D&D, there have been hundreds of novels, more than five editions of the game, about a hundred video games, and various other items such as comic books, and more. None of this is canon. Crawford explains that this is because they "don’t want DMs to feel that in order to run the game, they need to read a certain set of novels."

He cites the Dragonlance adventures, specifically.

 

[Reynard]

Not trying to yuck anyone's yum, but canon-enshrining is a gatekeeping tactic that has a toxic history in fandom.

"You're not a real fan" is definitely a thing that toxic people do, but I have not seen it in this thread.

 

[Parmandur]

They're not dumping it. They're saying they have the option of doing so. Which is, of course, obvious. They own it. Not you, not Ed Greenwood, them.

They also aren't likely to do so, since the last time they messed with the Forgotten Realms, during 4E, it didn't go great, to put it mildly.

The more fans who are truly invested in the canon of a setting, the less likely WotC is to use the nuclear option.

On the other hand, Jakandor could look entirely different next time it appears (narrator: it will never reappear), since almost no one has any emotional attachment to that setting.

And the big instigator here 8n my mind is Baldur's Gate 3: lots of people are playing it, many more will, they just want to make it clear the game's story is that...the game's story. Nothing more.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Dumping 50 years of stories is exactly what they are doing and treating long term FR fans with contempt.

No, they're saying they have the option to. There's no reason to believe they'd do so. I know you remember how the 4E changes were received.

 

[Remathilis]

We don't have context. It could also be an answer given in response to a question from the member of the press asking about the Ravenloft changes.

It's probably both an explanation of lore changes dating back as far as Tome of Foes and a foreshadowing of changes yet to come, esp those that will involve changes to races and monster lore.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

No!

Let my canon well alone!

Drizzt has balding pattern and huge sideburns! WotC is trying to steal that from me! Please god, make them lose their jobs, I cant stand my Drizzt with non-80' appearance!

This will all be addressed with the Extra Life PDF coming in early 2022: Elminister's Guide to Magical Hair Replacement.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

But it happened. It was part of the story (if bond had a meta plot, I don't know)

When they gender swap or change the lineage of the original Dragonlance characters, I'm walking away.

The James Bond movies are not in continuity with each other. Each time a new actor takes the role of Bond, everything is reset.

 

[Reynard]

And the big instigator here 8n my mind is Baldur's Gate 3: lots of people are playing it, many more will, they just want to make it clear the game's story is that...the game's story. Nothing more.

Is that a thing? I have never seen anyone express the opinion that any D&D video game is canon, even when they were actually popular.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

They're not dumping it. They're saying they have the option of doing so. Which is, of course, obvious. They own it. Not you, not Ed Greenwood, them.

They also aren't likely to do so, since the last time they messed with the Forgotten Realms, during 4E, it didn't go great, to put it mildly.

The more fans who are truly invested in the canon of a setting, the less likely WotC is to use the nuclear option.

On the other hand, Jakandor could look entirely different next time it appears (narrator: it will never reappear), since almost no one has any emotional attachment to that setting.

This is spellplague 2.0, but instead of visibly nuking the present, they invisible nuke the past and the works of authors 10 times more talented then they are.

 

[Morrus]

I hope they all get the firing they all so desperately deserve.

It's OK to have strong feelings about this. It is not OK to wish real-world harm on people. Dial it back a bit, please.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

This is spellplague 2.0, but instead of visibly nuking the present, they invisible nuke the past and the works of authors 10 times more talented then they are.

Can you point us to the damage made by this invisible nuke as of now?