D&D (2024) Wargamer Takes Shot At WotC for Not Respecting Forgotten Realms Canon.

[DarkCrisis]

Anyone who complains about retconning FR canon doesn't really know much about the setting.

WotC has often retconned FR canon.

TSR often retconned FR canon.

Heck, even Ed Greenwood often retconned FR canon.

Yeah but there is only one time he and Salvatore begged the owners “Please don’t do this.”

(It was the 100 year leap btw)

 

[el-remmen]

I often find that complaints of this kind come down to “Please update the setting, just don’t change anything at all. Thanks.”

 

[ECMO3]

Anyone who complains about retconning FR canon doesn't really know much about the setting.

With the PDK, the problem is they have not retconned the cannon to match the new subclass and I think it is unlikely that they will.

 

[Zardnaar]

@DEFCON 1 We already had the 4e FR campaign guide for the 100 year leap, 5e book would update another ~15 year after that.

But regarding a 100 year leap... Sure things happened... But were they that earth shattering? Let's take 1900 to 2000: Two world wars, cold war, atomics, flight, automobile in general use, coastlines have changed, large pandemics... OK, nevermind!

No the issue isn't that things change in a 100+ years, the issue is the 100 year leap in the first place imho.

1987 - FR1 boxed set [DR1357]
1993 - FR2 boxed set [DR1367] 6 years RL => 10 years in game
2001 - FR3 campaign book [DR1372] 8 years RL => 5 years in game
2008 - FR4 campaign book [DR1479] 7 years RL => 107 years in game
2025 - FR5 campaign book [DR1494?] 17 years RL => 15? years in game

Honestly, the progress from 2e to 3e was best for me.

Same. Bane came back along with shades. Both were kind of logical build ups and had minimal disruption.

 

[TiQuinn]

With the PDK, the problem is they have not retconned the cannon to match the new subclass and I think it is unlikely that they will.

Why is that a problem?

 

[ECMO3]

Why is that a problem?

Because the subclass does not match the fiction.

 

[TiQuinn]

Because the subclass does not match the fiction.

The fiction shifts every edition. That's been a problem since the setting debuted. I think we had one year of Forgotten Realms before it shifted dramatically in canon from its first box set. Anyone who had already started a campaign with a particular canon was forced to deal with this issue almost immediately.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I often find that complaints of this kind come down to “Please update the setting, just don’t change anything at all. Thanks.”

That is neither far nor accurate.

It's don't retcon events to protect casuality. In a living setting like FR, you add further developments, in the spirit of the setting, you don't just change to past, especially without time travel. It's about protecting beloved elements and logical casuality, while adding new stories and new hooks, in a way that keeps the over arching setting making sense with what came before so if you do make a change, it's not out of nowhere, you can point to a chain of in setting events that caused it.

 

[ECMO3]

The fiction shifts every edition.

Yes, but in this case the fiction has not shifted and it is unlikely they will revisit Cormyr in any product in the near future.

 

[Bae'zel]

When I was a kid, Dragonlance was the first setting that I read books about from D&D lore. I loved the idea of dragon riders.

I've never even heard of purple dragon knights before.

Now that I've learned about their origin (tied with Cormyr) it all makes sense.

I'll just make a mental retcon adjustment that in "current year in Torial", this order of Paladins have started riding good-aligned dragons (not just "amethyst" ones. There, done, I'll just ignore the fluff descriptions. These paladins make pacts with good dragons. I like that.

I guess I can live with this.