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

[Jan van Leyden]

Now we know that the Forgotten Realms will be the central camapign setting of the upcoming version (again), and the first two adventures seem to take place there. But when will we see the *real* setting stuff?

Curious that this world, known for the Realms Shaking Events and mostly not by the fans in its last incarnation doesn't receive a timely release...

 

[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.

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.

 

[Hutchimus Prime]

I'm willing to bet they'll release something for the Realms (aside from the Tyranny adventures already announced) 1st Quarter 2015.

Plus we've gotten a few Realms Setting updates already with Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, Murder in Baldur's Gate, Legacy of the Crystal Shard, and Scourge of the Sword Coast. This Realms Fan ain't gonna complain.

 

[jodyjohnson]

It would be difficult for the play of the Sundering modules to help shape (or more likely just be mentioned) the Realms if the books were already written. Sundering IV won't finish until July.

 

[gyor]

The DMG is likely to have a forgotten realms module, along with an eberron, Raven loft, Planescape ect...

The fact that Warforged are in the DMG instead of in the PHB or MM made me realize this. This will be for holding setting fans until the setting gets released. The PHB may reference various settings as well.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

The DMG is likely to have a forgotten realms module, along with an eberron, Raven loft, Planescape ect...

The fact that Warforged are in the DMG instead of in the PHB or MM made me realize this. This will be for holding setting fans until the setting gets released. The PHB may reference various settings as well.

I agree that they definitely will at least mention various settings in the books. James Wyatt essentially said as much. I'm not sure how much detail they'll go into (or how much I'd want them to devote page space too).

The sad thing for me will be if the FR campaign book doesn't include multiple adventuring periods. I'd have to rewind the timeline 100+ years to use most new fluff--and I buy campaign settings primarily for the fluff. At least I have some 2e and 3e materials that should still allow me to run the Realms just fine when I feel like using them.

But I'd buy a new campaign setting book if they'd sell me one that let me play earlier in the timeline.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

(snip) The sad thing for me will be if the FR campaign book doesn't include multiple adventuring periods. I'd have to rewind the timeline 100+ years to use most new fluff--and I buy campaign settings primarily for the fluff. At least I have some 2e and 3e materials that should still allow me to run the Realms just fine when I feel like using them.

But I'd buy a new campaign setting book if they'd sell me one that let me play earlier in the timeline.

Um, that wouldn't be practical. At all. Even the maps would have to be different. And nothing is stopping anyone from using earlier material or play in an earlier time period: you just use the earlier campaign setting. Anything else is just a waste of limited resources.

Also, as a fan of FR, I'm not particularly looking forward to the 5E version of FR because of R A Salvatore's heavy involvement. That translates to brain-damaged dwarves with speech impediments, superfluous apostrophes, and a lot of crappy NPCs that make Ed's Chosen of Mystra look playable. Having RAS's stamp on earlier iterations of FR wouldn't be good. Even the Neverwinter Campaign Setting, as good as it is, feels better once RAS's contributions are excised.

(Don't get me wrong: I am grateful to RAS for keeping FR alive as a brand because of his phenomenally popular books, in the same way as I am grateful to George Lucas for creating Star Wars. It doesn't mean I want either involved with their respective creations, though....)

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 hope they get Mike Schley or someone else who is a competent cartographer to do the next world map, and not just let a baby with dysentery crawl over a blank sheet of paper before randomly slapping down place names as happened with the 4E world map.

 

[DMZ2112]

It would be difficult for the play of the Sundering modules to help shape (or more likely just be mentioned) the Realms if the books were already written. Sundering IV won't finish until July.

That doesn't seem right. Sundering I August-October, Sunderiing II October-December, Sundering III December-February, Sundering IV February-April -- no?

The DMG is likely to have a forgotten realms module, along with an eberron, Raven loft, Planescape ect...
The fact that Warforged are in the DMG instead of in the PHB or MM made me realize this. This will be for holding setting fans until the setting gets released. The PHB may reference various settings as well.

That would certainly explain the massive page count. The DMG is the only core book for which I'm balking at the $50 price tag, not because a 320-page book isn't worth $50, but because I'm not convinced a DMG could ever be crunchy enough to warrant 320 pages....

 

[jodyjohnson]

That doesn't seem right. Sundering I August-October, Sunderiing II October-December, Sundering III December-February, Sundering IV February-April -- no?

Sundering I was Murder in Baldur's Gate - released in August, in play from August to November
Sundering II was Legacy of the Crystal Shard - released in November, in play from November to February
Sundering III was Scourge of the Sword Coast - released in February, in play from February to May
Sundering IV is Dead in Thay - released a coule weeks ago, in play from May until July or August (length of the current encounters season varies by source).

Sundering V apparently got scrapped. All 6 novels will be out by June.

 

[DMZ2112]

Sundering I was Murder in Baldur's Gate - released in August, in play from August to November
Sundering II was Legacy of the Crystal Shard - released in November, in play from November to February
Sundering III was Scourge of the Sword Coast - released in February, in play from February to May
Sundering IV is Dead in Thay - released a coule weeks ago, in play from May until July or August (length of the current encounters season varies by source).

Sundering V apparently got scrapped. All 6 novels will be out by June.

Oh, blast, sorry, I'm in full-on Tyranny of Dragons mode. Sorry for the confusion. You are right, of course. July 2014.