D&D 5E D&D Lore Changes: Multiversal Focus & Fey Goblins of Prehistory

WotC's Jeremy Crawford revealed a couple of the lore changes in Monsters of the Multiverse.

• The big shift is toward the multiverse as the game's main perspective rather than a specific setting. The game is shifting towards a multiversal focus, with a variety of worlds and settings.
• Universe-spanning mythical story beats, such as deep lore on goblinoids going back to 1st Edition, and the gods they had before Maglubiyet. Prior to Magulbiyet unifying them, goblinoids were folk of the feywild in keeping with 'real-world' folklore.
• Changelings aren't just Eberron, but they've been everywhere -- you just don't necessarily know it. Their origin is also in the realm of the fey.

D&D 5E - A Compilation of all the Race Changes in Monsters of the Multiverse

Over on Reddit, user KingJackel went through the video leak which came out a few days ago and manually compiled a list of all the changes to races in the book. The changes are quite extensive, with only the fairy and harengon remaining unchanged. The book contains 33 races in total, compiled and...

www.enworld.org

 

[Parmandur]

One can hope. Spelljammer is the worst of all the D&D setting, IMO. But, much of recent D&D is not my cuppa, so it doesn't matter either way other than a theoretical "Planejammer" setting would net WotC dollars from me for the first time in a couple years.

The tealeaves suggest that straight, gonzo Spelljammer is incoming.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Given the backlash against 4e this shouldn't surprise anyone.

Oh, I'm not surprised.

 

[Reynard]

The tealeaves suggest that straight, gonzo Spelljammer is incoming.

One more book I don't have to work too hard to convicne myself not to buy, then! i was close on Fizban's, considering how much I LOVE dragons, but I am taking a D&D break at the moment.

 

[Parmandur]

One more book I don't have to work too hard to convicne myself not to buy, then! i was close on Fizban's, considering how much I LOVE dragons, but I am taking a D&D break at the moment.

Which is fair enough. It's pretty close to the opposite for me: just about every time I resolve to cool it on book purchases, since I have a lifetimes worth of 5E material now, they come out with something awesome like Strixhaven or Spelljammer.

 

[Amrûnril]

It seems strange that they want to simultaneously broaden the available settings, and also enforce a universal lore. Isn't that counter productive? Is there anyone that wants a common prehistory for goblins between FR and Eberron? The only reason I can think this would be desirable is if WotC is planning a setting and/or an adventure that covers multiple worlds. "Planejammer" incoming?

Very much agree with the idea that this is counter productive. I suppose it makes some level of sense from a branding perspective, but it's a terrible choice in terms of storytelling.

A "multiverse" cosmology can provide an expansion of storytelling possibilities when starting from a single setting baseline. Combining existing settings into such a framework, though, does the opposite, reducing independent and unique settings to mere subparts of a single setting. This is especially important in D&D where differences in cosmology (and degree of certainty about such cosmology) can be some of the key features distinguishing settings from one another.

 

[Shardstone]

I'll tell you straight. You have the icon 'publisher' under your user name. The more you push back against other people's products, the less I'm inclided to look at your stuff. That is not a good marketing strategy for your business. You shouldn't be wasting precious time on forums bashing other companies. You should be busy writting, publishing and promoting your game products.

Who was I bashing? I literally said I wasn't commenting on the [quality of] the product. I LIKE the product. What????

 

[JThursby]

The only reason I want them to release more setting material is so non-WotC folks can produce products for those settings on DM's Guild.

Keith Baker still publishes original Eberron material on DMs Guild. I have a physical copy of Exploring Eberron, it's easily the best 5e setting book made thus far. If you want to support a creator that's actually passionate for their setting and a highly talented game designer I'd suggest trying out some of the stuff he's made for the system.

 

[Shardstone]

I don’t know what that means. Sorry.

I'll say it plainer then.

It being 66 paragraphs doesn't mean anything. You said it like it was a lot of text, but it isn't. I'm not commenting on if the 2 paragraph model is good or not, but you basically tried to spin it into being a lot of text, when it isn't.

 

[Parmandur]

Another video focusing on changes to the player Race options:

 

[Micah Sweet]

Keith Baker still publishes original Eberron material on DMs Guild. I have a physical copy of Exploring Eberron, it's easily the best 5e setting book made thus far. If you want to support a creator that's actually passionate for their setting and a highly talented game designer I'd suggest trying out some of the stuff he's made for the system.

I admire Keith Baker a great deal, and I respect Eberron, but it's not really my style. A little too noir for my tastes, and I don't like that the warforged have consumed the concept of a constructed heritage in the minds of many (although that's hardly Keith's fault).