D&D 5E 5e isn't a Golden Age of D&D Lorewise, it's Silver at best.

[teitan]

If you don't treat fictional history seriously, it really is meaningless.

By definition fictional history IS meaningless.

 

[Parmandur]

He sure does use a lot of 4e lore though don’t he? Lol seamlessly.

He is a man of many interests, tis true, UT the Critical Role books are written in a very AD&D style, with dashes of 3E even.

 

[Weiley31]

At this point, my FR 5E lore is pretty much composed of the 3.0 Campaign Setting book, various 2E/3E stuff+video games, and a number of things from 4E. Events from previous editions can pretty much show up as current events. The Silence of Lolth (from 3.0/3.5) and Drizzt is pretty much the explanation for why non-evil, surface Drow are starting to appear in the Realms.

I've given up/not expecting us to return to the levels of lore/fluff that was present within older editions. Especially with WoTC's focus on the DM's world creation. So, at this point, the best things for dnd lore buffs would be to use previous editions for such things along with a combination of the Forgotten Realms/Greyhawk wikis+1d4Chan's various DND articles.

 

[MGibster]

Which demonstrates ignorance. They aren’t interchangeable at all. Greyhawk definitely has its own flavor as does FR and your assumption is based on a lack of knowledge (the definition of the word).

I know they're not exactly the same. But they're interchangeable to me in the same way Barqs and A&W root beer are. They both taste slightly different, but I don't particularly care which one you serve me.

 

[Maxperson]

Well, you know, cats. Sneaky little bastards, I didn't see him.

Still a pretty obscure reference, and just an example of skimpy lore. Basically boils down to "Created by a being that almost no one knows, tabaxi are humanoid cats. Except when they aren't."

Yet people don't care, they're just happy to play a purring furry.

I've seen him brought up on these forums from time to time and a lot of people seem to know about him. Now, he wasn't really used for much in the game other than in the Gord the Rogue books, but since he appeared in 1e MMII, most of those who played in the days of yore knew about him.

"The cat lord, or master cat, is the ruler of all forms of felines from domestic cats through the giant lynx to the largest of smilodons. Some believe the cat lord to be at least a deity of minor sort; others claim the cat lord to be a malign creature of evil. Those who truly understand felines know that the cat lord is neither good nor evil but concerned with cat-things alone. He roams the Prime Material, Astral, and Ethereal
Planes.

Rated in human terms, the cat lord has the following statistics: strength 20, intelligence 19, wisdom 17, dexterity 23, constitution 16, charisma
variable (25 with respect to all felines, 22 with respect to were-felines, 18 with respect to partial felines and ailurophiles, 13 with respect to those indifferent to the species, 7 with respect to ailurophobes)."

And probably my favorite paragraph because of the first sentence.

"The cat lord can lick his wounds 9 times per day, each such lick restoring 2d4 points of damage. The cat lord has hearing and vision 5 times that of human normal. He always moves with 99% silence. He possesses ultravision of 2 times normal power and infravision of 5 times normal (300 feet). The cat lord speaks the languages of all sorts of felines. He can also converse with caterwauls, chimeras, displacer beasts, dragonnes, sea lions, kamadans, tabaxi and weretigers of all sorts. In human form he speaks Common and the secret language of neutrals. The cat lord can communicate telepathically with nearly any creature, if necessary."

 

[GreyLord]

Best Lore book I ever bought for the FR....

Grand History of the Realms.

Second best one

3e Campaign Setting Book

 

[GreyLord]

I know they're not exactly the same. But they're interchangeable to me in the same way Barqs and A&W root beer are. They both taste slightly different, but I don't particularly care which one you serve me.

I DO!

A&W tastes decent, has a slight vanilla taste to it.

Barqs tastes completely like medicine. Several of the other types do as well, but none as strongly as Barqs does.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

There is also the possibility that at this point the vast majority of players have no other experience then 5e and others only have experience with 4e & 5e. So it's not a matter of preferring 5e's approach to, it's having too little experience with anything else, so they could be open to more lore, we just don't know.

This doesn’t really track, since 4e was absolutely chock full of lore.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

See... the thing is: All the old lore is still there.

And just like it has always been, it's there to pick and choose.

You wanna run a 5e game in the Time of Troubles? Go right ahead. No one's gonna stop you. Update Ruins of Myth Drannor for your home game while you're at it.

They certainly haven't ADDED a boatload to the body of lore that D&D has across it's various settings. And the changes made (Ravenloft for example) haven't always been met with resounding cheers... but it doesn't really matter.

Because it's all out there. Every book still exists. And WotC sells more and more of them every day on the DMs Guild and stuff.

You want the Dark Sun Boxed Set? Here y'go.

Dark Sun Boxed Set (2e) - Wizards of the Coast | AD&D 2nd Ed. | Dark Sun | AD&D 2nd Ed. | Dungeon Masters Guild

Dark Sun Boxed Set (2e) - Amid the barren wastelands of Athas lie the scattered city-states, each in the grip of its own, tyrannical sorcerer-king

www.dmsguild.com

PDF or soft-cover. Your choice. Shipped or downloaded however you like it. It's still there.

Does that mean they're not going to make more content for old settings? CLEARLY that's not the case as Ravenloft and Spelljammer and Forgotten Realms and more continue to trundle down the pipeline to us.

But it's a trimmed down version great for introducing new players and DMs to the setting, with old soldiers like ourselves able to say "You're wetting your toes, but if you look here you can swim." and hand them the old books.

They're just not -glutting- the market like they used to.

So you agree with the OP that 5e is not the Golden Age of lore generation?

 

[JiffyPopTart]

To contain all the lore that was vomited up in previous editions that would be a single book the size of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica.

No one new to D&D could possibly learn the Forgotten Realms. You either know it because you grew up with it, or you don't.

The 3e FRCS was perfectly cromulent for starting a person off getting their head wrapped around the Forgotten Realms. The 5e FRCS is not.