D&D 5E (2024) How excited are you for the 2 upcoming Forgotten Realms books?

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah, which also means they could fit in more unexplained retcons like the Purple Dragon Knights being associated with amethyst dragons. I'm honestly a bit surprised by how explicit that blog post was in saying that they're prioritizing the current fanbase of D&D in general over longtime Forgotten Realms diehards.

At least they're finally being honest. Lets you make an informed choice about taking or leaving them.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

You might want to read the first part of the blog post which I did not directly quote for context, because he is saying the opposite: he is intentionally working to make sure fans of older versions are not invalidated, even if the overwhelming majority of people playing D&D started with 5E and won't have any stake in obscure lore from the Bush administration. It is worth noting yhst he didn't pull the 95% number out of thin air: the overwhelming majority of D&D players started with 5E, so the customer for this product is newer players not invested into older stuff.

It sounds like he's avoiding landmines whereever possible, often by not exploring any part of the past not needed to make sense of things. So Sundeeing, ToT, Spellplague, and Sundering 2 are still canon, but not the focus of the book, the present is. I do think the Amethyst Dragon Multiverse thing for PDK will need to be explained, it just too big a change to ignore, with far ranging consequences. Curious how other factions compete with a freaking Dragon's Egg.

Honestly I found of that reassuring.

I feel like I'm going crazy about that Wyatt being design lead, buy I'm happy for Tondro.

Really I have books & the FR wiki for the gist of the History, need an update for the current day.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

At least they're finally being honest. Lets you make an informed choice about taking or leaving them.

Yeah, which also means they could fit in more unexplained retcons like the Purple Dragon Knights being associated with amethyst dragons. I'm honestly a bit surprised by how explicit that blog post was in saying that they're prioritizing the current fanbase of D&D in general over longtime Forgotten Realms diehards.

That excerpt really doesn't give me much of an idea what to expect. Is it that there will be retcons with no in-setting explanation given at all?

It sounds like the goal is as few retcons as possible by mostly focusing on the present. Any big changes like PDKs will likely be explained still, not retconned. It was pretty clear the only intended retcons would be stuff Tondro felt was particularly offensive and perhaps even then only when it was relevant to the current circumstances.

So not so much The Grand History of the Realms as a Current Events Faerun edition.

So probably only mentioning past major evens from before the past ten years when it's required to make sense of the current situation or organization, NPC.

This means most players, especially new players will the SCAG and if possible the Grand History of the Realms for a great grasp on the past.

I do expect somekind of explanation if say there is a new Ruler of a country from who ran it in the SCAG, so I'm not expecting a ton of cause less changes from the SCAG.

Example pretty sure Calim & Memmons basic history will get somekind of explanation because they effect Calimshan currently and are just too important to the setting current context (they are why it's a desert if I remember right).

Other stuff like King Azoun the past ruler of Cormyr probably won't get mentioned, it's not relevant to the current context.

 

[Parmandur]

It sounds like he's avoiding landmines whereever possible, often by not exploring any part of the past not needed to make sense of things. So Sundeeing, ToT, Spellplague, and Sundering 2 are still canon, but not the focus of the book, the present is. I do think the Amethyst Dragon Multiverse thing for PDK will need to be explained, it just too big a change to ignore, with far ranging consequences. Curious how other factions compete with a freaking Dragon's Egg.

I think it is more than possible for the other Factions to keep up, but of they do it is going to be nuts.

Honestly I found of that reassuring.

A very balanced and fair take, IMO.

I feel like I'm going crazy about that Wyatt being design lead, buy I'm happy for Tondro.

I love James Wyatt, I think he is a top 5 all time D&D designer, just haven't seen indication it is him.

Really I have books & the FR wiki for the gist of the History, need an update for the current day.

Yeah, the main point of a product like this had yo be gameplay potential: it's not possible to compete with the FR Wiki as a pure lore resource.