D&D 5E Forgotten Realms 5th Edition - Which Campaign Setting?

[Talmek]

Greetings, EnWorlders!

I'm currently running HotDQ (and intend on running PotA) for my group and I had a question that I wanted to put out to the community at large - what version of the FR campaign setting is WotC using for these adventures? Is it the 4e "wild magic and weird stuff post-apocalyptic" Forgotten Realms? Is it the 3e version where Elminster, Artemis and Szass Tam (sp?) are all major players on the world stage? Is there some guidance on this from WotC that I'm not aware of and haven't found (yet)?

For those of you who are running these adventures, what do you use? 3e? 4e? Your own version of FR independent of what has been published?

 

[TheMadGent]

5E Forgotten Realms takes place after the 4e era, in the late 1480s to the 1490s. Another RSE called The Sundering caused Toril and Abeir to split apart again, and more or less rebooted the realms back to their 3e-era state. Some magic shenanigans have caused most of Drizzt's supporting cast to get brought back to life, and all the gods who died in the Spellplague are back (as well as some who died in 2e and 3e, like Bhaal). There's very little in the way of official guidance from WotC on the current state of the realms. I'd say it's pretty safe to use 3e lore over 4e lore for general stuff unless it's contradicted by anything in the 5e adventures. 4e lore may be more accurate for stuff like names of human rulers, as it's been over a century since the 3e lore, so most humans have died.

I'm not running any of the published stuff in FR, but the books contain pretty much all the information needed to run them. For information on gods and high-level information on nations, etc, I'd trust the 2e or 3e lore over the 4e lore.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

Unfortunately, nobody knows...
The last canon on FR is Sundering, but the AP you mention are not located in the same place described by Sundering product.
Now FR is quite suspended in a strange limbo. Nobody knows all the consequences (smonceguences) of the Sundering. The only thing well known is that with the Sundering, some of the mess done to Abeir Toril by 4th edition CS will be lessened in some way.

 

[Mephista]

It is absolutely set in post-Spellplague Forgotten Realms. Fortunately, however, much of the large sweeping changes have been reversed by the Sundering - Mystra's back, so's the Weave, no more Spellplague.

However, things like Neverwinter being mostly destroyed by a volcano and in the process of rebuilding is still around. The undead Thayans still hold power, but the more traditional Thayans of all magic schools are fighting back and are steadily gaining ground. Most of the gods killed have been restored to life. The lands lost in the Spellplague are back, but we're keeping the dragonborn country around as well.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

I would suggest Grey Box, ignore the Time of Troubles forward.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'm currently running HotDQ in the 3E era across the Silver Marches (using said 3E sourcebook). Haven't had any issues and the parties have had several fun diversions from the main path that the SM sourcebook has filled in with plot and encounters nicely.

 

[Nebulous]

I'm running it in the 3e era pre-spellplague, but i don't really follow canon much anyway and will just use whatever fits best. For PoA, i don't think they'll barely leave the area much for it to ever greatly matter, it will be self contained.

 

[Talmek]

It is absolutely set in post-Spellplague Forgotten Realms. Fortunately, however, much of the large sweeping changes have been reversed by the Sundering - Mystra's back, so's the Weave, no more Spellplague.

However, things like Neverwinter being mostly destroyed by a volcano and in the process of rebuilding is still around. The undead Thayans still hold power, but the more traditional Thayans of all magic schools are fighting back and are steadily gaining ground. Most of the gods killed have been restored to life. The lands lost in the Spellplague are back, but we're keeping the dragonborn country around as well.

Thanks for the clarification! Do you know where I can find information on this that has been published? Is it now no longer available? I can't seem to find anything that isn't a novel (literally) and I'd really like to learn more about the whole Spellplague/Sundering event.

Thanks again.

 

[Irennan]

Sadly, the novels are the only official source that I'm aware of, and they clarify very little about the Sundering, offering only a narrow perspective of a much larger event. The other offical source would be Ed Greenwood himself, you can ask him here, but you may run into a NDA as well as finding your answer (the fate of Halruaa and the gods Eilistraee and Vhaeraun after the Sundering, for example, have already been clarified).

 

[Parmandur]

We might get a product eventually, but WotC is on record for these Adventure Paths being era agnostic; doesn't change too much to run with the 1E grey box 3E book or 4E book.