D&D 5E Check Out Planescape's Table of Contents & More!

Brandes Stoddard has received a copy of Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse (which come out in two weeks!) and is posting loads of photos over on Blue Sky. You can check out his feed for the whole treasure trove--here's a look at the table of contents.

 

[Parmandur]

You have to go pretty broad-strokes for that philosophy to apply to the Realms (retcons almost nothing, advances the setting while remaining inclusive of all previous editions' canon), Eberron (retcons very little, inclusive of all previous editions' canon), Ravenloft (reboots almost everything, intentionally contradicts previous editions' canon in many instances), Spelljammer (reboots cosmology, vaguely follows 2E canon otherwise), and Dragonlance (rolls back timeline, changes some largely rules-based things, prefers to hide trouble stuff rather than contradict it).

Considering the above, it's very hard to believe their philosophy has been consistent at all during the nine years of 5E. Especially considering the 2014 5E rulebooks (and some early adventures) clearly assumed you'd just directly work from older setting lore, to include novels and video games as canon.

Eberron didn't need a reboot because it never had a metaplot: the starting point in time for the 3E original Setting book and Riaing from the Last War is identical. Forgotten Realma.moved the clock forward from 4E...but events shook out such that the Sword Coast material can all be used in 1E, 2E, 3E, 4E or 5E timeframes. There is no canonical resolution or metaplor.kovement for any of the 5E APs, and they have specifically called out novels, movies, and so on as not canonical to the yimelime any more.

Spelljammer and Dragonlance have, yes, been rebooted to a starting point and smoothed over. As has Hreyhawk, Ghosts of Saltmarsh reset Greyhawk to the original Folio time-frame and geopolitical situation (which is relevant to the Adventure).

These all seem consistent with each other, moving Settings into evergreen products without a determined metaplot.

 

[JEB]

Eberron didn't need a reboot because it never had a metaplot: the starting point in time for the 3E original Setting book and Riaing from the Last War is identical.

I suspect there are some folks who would disagree that Eberron doesn't need a reboot (the drow of Xen'drik have been cited as problematic, for example). But Wizards didn't see an issue with such at the time, it appears.

Forgotten Realma.moved the clock forward from 4E...but events shook out such that the Sword Coast material can all be used in 1E, 2E, 3E, 4E or 5E timeframes.

Can be used, sure... if you avoid the parts of the world that were different from SCAG's version of the Realms during those timeframes. (That said, I do expect some kind of "evergreen" Realms reset next year, that vagues things up. Probably taking a page from how they handled Dragonlance. Or maybe Planescape will provide a hint.)

they have specifically called out novels, movies, and so on as not canonical to the yimelime any more.

Correct, the canon policy in 2021 was a change from the approach in the 2014 5E rulebooks (the DMG explicitly says novels and video games are assumed to take place in the official versions of settings like the Realms). One approach in 2014, a different approach as of 2021. By definition, that isn't consistent.

As has Hreyhawk, Ghosts of Saltmarsh reset Greyhawk to the original Folio time-frame and geopolitical situation (which is relevant to the Adventure).

True, Greyhawk also got this treatment. Though they tried to integrate some 5E-isms into the existing setting canon, such as having tieflings be from Iuz's kingdom (rather than just saying tieflings were a common, widespread species all along).

These all seem consistent with each other, moving Settings into evergreen products without a determined metaplot.

Again, you can only argue this approach has been consistent if you look at it in the broadest possible sense. Once you get into specifics it's clearly been a number of shifts over the course of the edition.

 

[Scribe]

But Wizards didn't see an issue with such at the time, it appears.

Published before the event horizon of 2020.

 

[JEB]

Besides Greyhawk, also forgot to mention 5E Spelljammer's "Doomspace", which was clearly intended to be a Dark Sun with a Ravenloft-scale reboot (since it was originally leaked as "Athasspace" and includes classic Dark Sun monsters and tropes). That it late in development became not Dark Sun also clearly indicates some rethinks on their setting philosophy along the way. (Note they've since admitted that they don't think they can do a 5E Dark Sun.)

 

[Remathilis]

You have to go pretty broad-strokes for that philosophy to apply to the Realms (retcons almost nothing, advances the setting while remaining inclusive of all previous editions' canon), Eberron (retcons very little, inclusive of all previous editions' canon), Ravenloft (reboots almost everything, intentionally contradicts previous editions' canon in many instances), Spelljammer (reboots cosmology, vaguely follows 2E canon otherwise), and Dragonlance (rolls back timeline, changes some largely rules-based things, prefers to hide trouble stuff rather than contradict it).

Considering the above, it's very hard to believe their philosophy has been consistent at all during the nine years of 5E. Especially considering the 2014 5E rulebooks (and some early adventures) clearly assumed you'd just directly work from older setting lore, to include novels and video games as canon.

Forgotten Realms is a reboot, they just did it via a vaguely defined RSE and then ignored everything else. Every character that should be dead due to the 100 year time jump is alive, even the humans. The continent is back to looking like pre-Spellplague. Every deity ever killed is alive. Every city, town or village destroyed is rebuilt. The lasting effects of the Spellplague and Returned Abeir can fill a sticky note. Just because they kept the calendar year in 1490 didn't mean they basically returned the status quo to 1380.

Eberron never needed any changes, it's basically the same setting with a few corner edge cases. They downplayed the eladrin due to them not being a PHB race anymore, returned the dragonmarks to their original races, and went back to the original Planar arrangement. And they still managed to retcon Mhor Holds dwarves and their relationship with the Daelkyr.

Spelljammer replaced the phlostigen with 4e's astral sea and it makes the Elven Imperium a particular subgroup of astral elves. Dragonlance is reset to the War of the Lance with exceptions made to allow 5e player options (and to make kender less troublesome at the table). Ravenloft was rebuilt to go back to the "Weekend in Hell" style rather than the nonsensical "we're a regular campaign setting, except when we're not" design, and Planescape is basically a reset that borrows ideas from later work (like the Minds Eye) and makes some adjustments to the Factions. And prior to all that, 4e Dark Sun was rebooted to the first box but with added player options.

The core design principle is the same:

1. Reset and/or stop the timeline to the particular fixed point and keep it there.
2. Open the setting to the maximum amount of PC options that don't directly contradict the setting.
3. Keep as many of the best things as possible.
4. Incorporate elements from prior editions, including 4e.
5. Change things that were problematic, disliked, or don't agree with the current design paradigm.
6. Do not be beholden to decades of metaplot.

If you think of this as a scale, where Eberron is on the "very little work needed to get it up to our current standard" and Ravenloft as "extensive rework needed to meet our current design philosophy" you'll see every setting falls somewhere on that line.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Forgotten Realms is a reboot, they just did it via a vaguely defined RSE and then ignored everything else. Every character that should be dead due to the 100 year time jump is alive, even the humans. The continent is back to looking like pre-Spellplague. Every deity ever killed is alive. Every city, town or village destroyed is rebuilt. The lasting effects of the Spellplague and Returned Abeir can fill a sticky note. Just because they kept the calendar year in 1490 didn't mean they basically returned the status quo to 1380.

Eberron never needed any changes, it's basically the same setting with a few corner edge cases. They downplayed the eladrin due to them not being a PHB race anymore, returned the dragonmarks to their original races, and went back to the original Planar arrangement. And they still managed to retcon Mhor Holds dwarves and their relationship with the Daelkyr.

Spelljammer replaced the phlostigen with 4e's astral sea and it makes the Elven Imperium a particular subgroup of astral elves. Dragonlance is reset to the War of the Lance with exceptions made to allow 5e player options (and to make kender less troublesome at the table). Ravenloft was rebuilt to go back to the "Weekend in Hell" style rather than the nonsensical "we're a regular campaign setting, except when we're not" design, and Planescape is basically a reset that borrows ideas from later work (like the Minds Eye) and makes some adjustments to the Factions. And prior to all that, 4e Dark Sun was rebooted to the first box but with added player options.

The core design principle is the same:

1. Reset and/or stop the timeline to the particular fixed point and keep it there.
2. Open the setting to the maximum amount of PC options that don't directly contradict the setting.
3. Keep as many of the best things as possible.
4. Incorporate elements from prior editions, including 4e.
5. Change things that were problematic, disliked, or don't agree with the current design paradigm.
6. Do not be beholden to decades of metaplot.

If you think of this as a scale, where Eberron is on the "very little work needed to get it up to our current standard" and Ravenloft as "extensive rework needed to meet our current design philosophy" you'll see every setting falls somewhere on that line.

As you say, as long as you re-define the question, my answer works. Good luck with that.

 

[Reynard]

The issue being of course, the 'doesnt work' is debatable.

I'm sure they debated plenty in development.

 

[Scribe]

I'm sure they debated plenty in development.

Wizards?!

 

[Reynard]

Wizards?!

Just because you don't like the results they came up with doesn't mean they didn't weigh their option with their actual target market in mind.

 

[Scribe]

Just because you don't like the results they came up with doesn't mean they didn't weigh their option with their actual target market in mind.