D&D 5E Forgotten Realms: No Campaign Something in the Catalog?

[Zaran]

It sounded to me that this will be the edition that focuses on the GM. So you can bet that there will be at least one setting book for Forgotten Realms and I expect there be to be a book on each area.

I'm really looking forward to the 5e products. 4e tried to sell to each player and that really doesn't work. Most players I know only have the PHB and maybe one other book. The person running the game is the one that tends to buy all the books. That's the person you need to sell products to.

 

[DMZ2112]

Now we know that the Forgotten Realms will be the central camapign setting of the upcoming version (again)

First of all, what do you mean 'again?' AD&D1 and AD&D2 had no core setting; D&D3 was Greyhawk, and D&D4 was Nentir Vale if it was in fact anywhere.

Aaand D&D4 also had Living Forgotten Realms. ...Sorry, Jan, I'm a big jerk.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

First of all, what do you mean 'again?' AD&D1 and AD&D2 had no core setting; D&D3 was Greyhawk, and D&D4 was Nentir Vale if it was in fact anywhere.

Second, it has never been stated that the Forgotten Realms is going to be the central setting of the new edition, only that it is the first key setting Wizards plans on developing.

That said, it would surprise me if there wasn't a major FR sourcebook released before April 2015 to coincide with the end of the Tyranny of Dragons arc. Because once Tyranny is over those characters are going to need a place to go.

'Central' not 'core'. 'Central' as in 'most supported with products'. This has been the case with 2e and 3e, hasn't it? And two out of four additions warrants an 'again'.

 

[DMZ2112]

'Central' not 'core'. 'Central' as in 'most supported with products'. This has been the case with 2e and 3e, hasn't it? And two out of four additions warrants an 'again'.

A quick review of @Echohawk 's checklists suggests that you are correct.

That said, I am not expecting to see large-scale FR support in D&D5 beyond 2016, so it remains to be seen if the use of "again" is indeed warranted.

 

[Hutchimus Prime]

That said, I am not expecting to see large-scale FR support in D&D5 beyond 2016, so it remains to be seen if the use of "again" is indeed warranted.

Just curious, what makes you say that?

 

[TarionzCousin]

IMO, the most important thing for WotC to do with the next version of FR is to make sure the world map is actually usable. I grew to like the 4E Realms but the map is inexcusably bad: it has very few details, and those details it has are often at odds with the text, and the "let's smudge baby poo on some paper"-technique used to create it resulted in a map which is functionally useless.

I believe this is an actual medieval map-making technique known as "craptography."

I prefer the original FR maps to the 4E ones--but I use the 3E maps.

 

[DMZ2112]

Just curious, what makes you say that?

I made a pretty big post about this here, but I'll recap the key point:

A few months ago I went back to listen to the 2012 GenCon keynote, and in it Mike Mearls says the following:

The key for us, though, comes down to focus. If we focus on one world at a time, that means we can bring it to life in a way that has never been done before. The Forgotten Realms is a focus on new material, but that doesn't mean we're ignoring our other settings. Let me make that very clear: we're focusing on the Realms to begin with, but that doesn't mean that's the only setting we're ever going to do.


We definitely have things in mind for what we want to do with our other settings. We just want to make sure that if we put all of our energy and focus... and really focus on making one great setting, for now, to avoid splintering our attention and giving you six mediocre ones.

All emphasis mine. I don't think it's a stretch to interpret these remarks as meaning that there is going to be a series of distinct campaign setting initiatives in D&D5.

Now, admittedly, 2012 was a long time ago, but hope springs eternal. At the PAX East seminar, Chris Perkins referred to FR as the "flagship" setting of D&D5. Flagship can mean a lot of things, but one of those things is just "first out of the gate."

 

[Thaumaturge]

\
All emphasis mine. I don't think it's a stretch to interpret these remarks as meaning that there is going to be a series of distinct campaign setting initiatives in D&D5.

Now, admittedly, 2012 was a long time ago, but hope springs eternal. At the PAX East seminar, Chris Perkins referred to FR as the "flagship" setting of D&D5. Flagship can mean a lot of things, but one of those things is just "first out of the gate."

I agree. I think that's why we didn't get "Living Forgotten Realms" again or "Living Moonsea" to replace it. Instead we got the more generic "Adventurers League". My guess is in 2016, when they roll out Eberron at Gencon (guess), the Adventurers League will shift settings.

Thaumaturge.

As an aside—every time I type "Eberron", I open another window and google it just to make sure I got the right number of "b"s and "r"s.

 

[Agamon]

As an aside—every time I type "Eberron", I open another window and google it just to make sure I got the right number of "b"s and "r"s.

For such a simple name, it is rather annoying, yes?

 

[Thaumaturge]

For such a simple name, it is rather annoying, yes?

I enjoy the setting, but the name is rough.

Thaumaturge.