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

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I think campaign worlds should be as isolated and distinct as possible, with their own gods, races and even classes. The 2E way, essentially. Groups that want to cross pollinate, whether by stealing a class or having full on Sliders style adventures, are going to do so anyway. But when it comes to fantasy worlds, more unique is better IMO.

That approach nearly killed D&D... I don't know if it would kill D&D today, but would you really risk it?
Then of course, in 2e it was not uncommon to travel between different material worlds so I really don't see how one can be offended by calling all the world mutliversum. How much different worlds interact with each other has always been up to DM and players.

And as I see FR as default as a bit outdated and a completely setting agnostic approach without fluff as boring, looking at the game from a multiversal point of view seems appropriate. And as mentioned above, this is how the game is shaping up for 7 years as proven by the Crawford tweet and the approach taken in some of the newer books.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

A lot depends on whether or not Monsters of the Multiverse is thinner on inspirational lore because it's trying to pack two books' worth of material into one... or if it's thinner on inspirational lore because that's what a multiverse-first approach looks like to Wizards.

Is this book's approach a step along the path to something deeper and more expansive: a lean core with multiple other paths, to inspire players both casual and experienced? Or is the path being laid out directly as is: a few really general ideas combined with "go buy some $50 setting books if you want more" or "make it up yourself!" I guess the next two years will tell us.

While the last paragraph sound s quite sarcastic, I think a lean core with fluff in one extra setting book is a good approach.
I mean: if you want to play tal'dorai (or how it is called), you could say: "why is so much space wasted on fluff for forgotten realms in the phb when races are totally different in the setting we want to play in?"
And D&D is a very cheap hobby. So spending 50 bucks for 6 people having fun for years is cheaper than watching a single movie.

 

[Reynard]

That approach nearly killed D&D... I don't know if it would kill D&D today, but would you really risk it?
.

No it didn't. Mismanagement and hubris, not to mention something just on the legal side of embezzlement via Buck Rogers, collided with the collectible games fad to kill TSR. Having multiple settings was not the problem.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

You are right. I assumed a tone that wasn't present. So to answer your question: it doesn't necessarily affect gameplay, but it can still be unpalatable relative to the original conception of Eberron, which was a wholly separate and unique universe, not just another world in the vast Great Wheel cosmology.

Keith said it was always part of the whole D&D cosmology since the beginning in 3e. It can be treated as separate (as any of the settings can), but it is part the whole D&D multiverse.

Settings have always been that way. I thought it was GG, but definitely someone at TSR, said the even our home games are part of that multiverse.

 

[Hussar]

No it didn't. Mismanagement and hubris, not to mention something just on the legal side of embezzlement via Buck Rogers, collided with the collectible games fad to kill TSR. Having multiple settings was not the problem.

Fair enough and all true.

But, it's not true that 2e worlds were distinct from each other. That's the opposite of how it was. In 2e, everything was 100% Planescape Compatible all the time. Every single setting got dragged, kicking and screaming under the same umbrella of Planescape. Gods from different settings all inhabited the same planes depending on alignment. Other than Dark Sun, and even then, not really, all settings were part of the Great Wheel and were shoehorned into a single meta-setting.

Where are you getting this notion that settings were meant to be distinct from each other?

Heck, that was one of the biggest complaints about 4e was that settings were actually being made distinct from each other and not interdependent. How did you come to the conclusion that the 2e settings were meant to be distinct?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Honestly this is all just another reason to bring in parts of Planescape, specifically Sigil, and make it a linking-place between the multiverse's realms. I don't think you could have the whole of Planescape, you'd have to reshape it a bit so it could encompass all realms (rather than being Great Wheel-specific), but Sigil could work with that, and the Factions (or revised versions thereof) could fit really well with that. You could also modernize and expand Sigil.


I mean, we did that for decades with various beings, so I'm not really feeling like this is a very effective argument.

If you are linking alternative prime material planes, to use 1st edition terminology, The Rock of Bral makes for a better hub.

Sigil is a more interesting location in it's own right, but it's outer planes focus makes it a less useful hub for modern D&D.

 

[guachi]

This is definitely a sign for me to tap out of WotC D&D products. I don't care much for the multiverse or generic D&D lore or the changes. I'm just not that invested in any of it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

To me, if feels like a return to 1st edition. As they say, fashion is cyclic.

 

[Reynard]

Fair enough and all true.

But, it's not true that 2e worlds were distinct from each other. That's the opposite of how it was. In 2e, everything was 100% Planescape Compatible all the time.

Planescape was the last major setting, being published 8n 1994. It drew in the other worlds but 2E and TSR were already heading toward their end.

 

[Bolares]

especially since many of these races were originally published with a page or two of lore each, sometimes more.

Didn't the race options in Volo's have basicaly no Lore in them?