D&D 5E Forgotten realms recent history

[twofalls]

Yeah, I picked up a couple of books recently (had them printed), one on the Boarderlands and one on Calimshan from Drive Thru RPG, both were very well done. I love the North setting, and I purchased all the 3.0 sourcebooks they produced back in the day. I'm disappointed that they are so, well for lack of a better term, recalcitrant to actually give us a history of the last century, but I already complained about that so no point in getting into it again.

 

[Weiley31]

As mentioned before, jacking stuff you like and using that for your own "version" of the Forgotten Realms, or whatever, is the best option.

I never played 4E but I use the Dawn War, Bahamut/Tiamat's origin, Tharizdun creating the Abyss/origin, Raven Queen background lore mixed with 5E's non stupid take parts on it, Gnome origin, Feywild, and a bunch of other crap in my 5E games which are more 3.0/3.5 Forgotten Realms feel/loreish when it comes to most races.

 

[pukunui]

Given that WotC purposefully advanced the timeline by 100 years during the 4e era, it’s highly unlikely we’re ever going to get much detail on that lost century.

That said, the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide includes a bit of a summary of the 5e era history (particularly the events of the Second Sundering), and makes 1489 DR more or less the default starting point.

While some of the 5e adventures are technically set before or after 1489 DR, it’s all rather nebulous, and I don’t actually think we’re going to get any more timeline advancements in the near future. I expect they want to make FR more like Eberron from here on out.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Also, any lore added by way of Adventurer's League products should all be 1489 or later, and a year passing in the real world is a year passing in the Realms.

 

[twofalls]

I never played 4E but I use the Dawn War, Bahamut/Tiamat's origin, Tharizdun creating the Abyss/origin, Raven Queen background lore mixed with 5E's non stupid take parts on it, Gnome origin, Feywild, and a bunch of other crap in my 5E games which are more 3.0/3.5 Forgotten Realms feel/loreish when it comes to most races.

I played 4e once, and decided I'd rather play WoW on the computer than using pen and paper. Since I had no exposure to the 4e material I'm entirely unfamiliar with it. I will hunt half price to see if I can find any of these volumes, thanks.

 

[Olrox17]

I usually advise anyone that wants to run the Realms to just use 137x as a start date. Plenty of lore material, even on the wikis.

 

[twofalls]

I usually advise anyone that wants to run the Realms to just use 137x as a start date. Plenty of lore material, even on the wikis.

That is good advice, unfortunately I had already set up the game with a date of 1491 because I hadn't really researched it enough. It's not a huge deal to my players, it's more for my own internal consistency. Once our SKT campaign is over and we start another I'll set the game before all the catastrophic garbage WotC put into the timeline (Time of Troubles, Spellplague, blah, blah).

 

[pukunui]

TSR did the Time of Troubles when switching from 1e to 2e.

For the switch to 3e, WotC just reversed the Tolkien-esque “decline” of the elves and dwarves.

With 4e, they advanced the timeline 100 years and made massive changes by having Abeir and Toril overlap.

Recognising how unpopular that move was, they introduced the Second Sundering to move FR into 5e. While the timeline advanced, the Sundering more or less reset things to a mix of 1-3e.

 

[Azzy]

TSR did the Time of Troubles when switching from 1e to 2e.

Honestly, this is when the FR jumped the shark for me. I'll play in the Realms and I'm currently DMing a Realms campaign, but the Time of Troubles started my hatred for the hamfisted "blowing up the world" that typically accompanied changes between editions of D&D. They did this with Dragonlance (probably the worst offended), Mystara, and to a lesser extent, Greyhawk. But there's no point in shaking my fist at the sky, so I just roll with it (except Dragonlance—War of the Lance era or bust).

 

[pukunui]

Honestly, this is when the FR jumped the shark for me. I'll play in the Realms and I'm currently DMing a Realms campaign, but the Time of Troubles started my hatred for the hamfisted "blowing up the world" that typically accompanied changes between editions of D&D. They did this with Dragonlance (probably the worst offended), Mystara, and to a lesser extent, Greyhawk. But there's no point in shaking my fist at the sky, so I just roll with it (except Dragonlance—War of the Lance era or bust).

I got my start with D&D in the early 90s, so the Time of Troubles was already a thing of the past. I read the books and enjoyed them and played in the 2e era Realms with no knowledge of what the 1e era was like. I've since purchased a used copy of the Grey Box but have only ever skimmed it.

I was fine with the changes WotC made to the Realms for 3e to make it less like Middle Earth.

Wasn't a big fan of the 4e changes, although I did like some of the more fantastical elements, like the earth motes and such.

I'm pretty satisfied with the state of the Realms in the 5e era.


As for Dragonlance, I stopped paying attention to that setting after Dragons of Summer Flame. For me, it's always been the setting for the War of the Lance, and that's it. I don't even really feel like it's a viable gaming setting. Ansalon feels too small and empty. (I did own the 2e box set back in the day, though.)