D&D 5E Is there a secret lore book WotC is hiding?

[Thirteenspades]

So I found this article on Polygon: Ask a simple question about the Dungeons & Dragons timeline, get a complicated answer

Spoiler

"“It’s rather interesting,” Vincke continued, searching for the words least likely to send Mearls, seated next to him, into a frenzy. “They ... have a lot more detail about everything that’s happening in the world and, as we started discovering that existed...”
It’s at that point that Mearls jumped in to save him. “That’s the super secret stuff,” he said, side-eyeing Vincke."
There was a long, somewhat uncomfortable pause before Mearls turned to me. “Well... I guess I can tell you a little bit.”

And it really makes sense. It's not like Wizards hasn't done something like this in the past. But, if this is true, does it mean that Mike and the other mad mages are just compiling all the lore from all editions of D&D? I think it's that AND fitting it in with other stuff. Keep in mind this was made July 4 of 2019, and a lot has happened since then. Anybody think we can bully WotC into releasing the book? Because to me, this is an invaluable resource.

 

[NotAYakk]

Almost all shared creative enterprises have a huge stock of "canon" and plans and documentation.

This stuff will be very rough, not edited for consumption, and subject to change.

Even your favorite fantasy author who writes series solo does this usually.

Raw unedited stuff isn't as fun to read as you seem to think, and releasing it can canabalizes more of their future polished stuff.

 

[Thirteenspades]

Almost all shared creative enterprises have a huge stock of "canon" and plans and documentation.

This stuff wilm be very rough, not edited for consumption, and subject to change.

Even your favorite fantasy author who writes series solo does this usually.

Raw unedited stuff isn't as fun to read as you seem to think, and releasing it can canabalizes more of their future polished stuff.

Most of it probably won't be published.

 

[Charlaquin]

I would be shocked if they didn’t have a setting bible. But such things aren’t really “lore books” like what you’re probably thinking of. Certainly it wouldn’t be in any kind of fit state for publication. More like a big ‘ol document of notes shared across the creative team.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

These days its probably some kind of internal wiki.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Most of it probably won't be published.

Most of it isn't worth reading. It's not like there's some D&D Silmarillion. It's just going to be an outline. Bullet points of major events, major characters, motivations, design notes, etc.

These days its probably some kind of internal wiki.

Word document. 99% chance it's just a Word document on a shared drive. Maybe several. Word is the epitome of "good enough".

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

It is possible. I have said lots of times the true project for the brand D&D isn't the TTRPG books really, but multimedia titles, as movies or teleseries.

Maybe that secret Bible tells how the metaplot of Ravenloft or Dark Sun should continue.

My doubts are about if the concept of "time spheres" (uchronies or parallel worlds) from AD&D Chronomancers can be still canon in D&D to allow players to write our own fan-fiction, for example Dragonlance with psionic manifesters, martial adepts and incarnum soulmelders classes.

 

[Thirteenspades]

Most of it isn't worth reading. It's not like there's some D&D Silmarillion. It's just going to be an outline. Bullet points of major events, major characters, motivations, design notes, etc.



Word document. 99% chance it's just a Word document on a shared drive. Maybe several. Word is the epitome of "good enough".

They said "actual, physical book" in the article.

 

[Charlaquin]

Maybe that secret Bible tells how the metaplot of Ravenloft or Dark Sun should continue.

It definitely wouldn’t. Setting bibles aren’t roadmaps of writers’ future plans, they’re more like collections of notes on what has been done that can be drawn from to come up with new ideas.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Most of it isn't worth reading. It's not like there's some D&D Silmarillion. It's just going to be an outline. Bullet points of major events, major characters, motivations, design notes, etc.



Word document. 99% chance it's just a Word document on a shared drive. Maybe several. Word is the epitome of "good enough".

How cool would it be if there was a D&D Silmarillion?