D&D 5E (2024) Next issue of Game Informer will have details on the two upcoming Forgotten Realms books

[GarrettKP]

The alternate covers with the product names added.

 

[Remathilis]

The alternate covers with the product names added.

Damn that's making me rethink the "I don't buy the special edition covers" thing I got going...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Damn that's making me rethink the "I don't buy the special edition covers" thing I got going...

If anyone is buying these books and has the choice to buy the alternative covers, it kind of feels crazy not to. Those may arguably be the best looking covers D&D has ever had.

 

[Demetrios1453]

The alternate covers with the product names added.

Oh, that vertical lettering is just the chef's kiss.

 

[pukunui]

Kara-Tur was mentioned in the Humans section of the 2014 PHB, specifically being east of Faerûn. The Shou ethnicity was stated to be the most powerful and numerous ethnicity from the region. Granted, that's pretty much all we have in 5e so far, athough in one of the adventures in Candlekeep Mysteries, there's a group who are mentioned as being Shou, but they very pointedly don't state the land they come from in the adventure (they just say "distant homeland to the east of Faerûn")

So it's not a reach to say that Kara-Tur is still there. The Shou being the largest ethnicity implies the continued existence of Shou Lung as a state or at least a concept. Beyond that, it's probably fair game to re-organize and reinterpret, although keeping the two "Japan" states (Wa and Kozakura) and the two "China" states (Shou Lung and T'u Lung - although potentially re-transliterated using Pinyin instead of Wade-Giles, so Shou Long and Tu Long), while updating and reinterpreting them, would probably be a useful base to keep.

There's a little bit more in the SCAG:

Lands to the East​

The Hordelands. Formerly known as the Endless Wastes, this land has gained a new name among Faerûnians, styled after the vast Tuigan horde that roared out of the east and rode against Faerûn more than a century ago. After these tribesfolk were defeated, some of the fierce, mounted warriors who survived the conflict gathered to form the small nation of Yaïmunnahar. Some others cling to the old ways, mastering the sword and the bow and riding across the steppes on their short-legged horses. Brave merchants still traverse the Golden Way to and from Kara-Tur, but those who return from such a voyage are fewer than they once were.

Kara-Tur​

Far to the east, past the wastes of the Hordelands, lie the empires of Shou Lung, Kozakura, Wa, and the other lands of the vast continent of Kara-Tur. To most people of Faerûn, Kara-Tur is like another world, and the tales told by travelers from its nations seem to confirm it. The gods that humans worship in Faerûn are unknown there, as are common peoples such as gnomes and orcs. Other dragons, neither chromatic nor metallic, dwell in its lands and fly its skies. And its mages practice forms of magic mysterious even to archwizards of Faerûn.

Stories of Kara-Tur tell of gold and jade in great abundance, rich spices, silks, and other goods rare or unknown in western lands — alongside tales of shapechanging spirit-people, horned giants, and nightmare monsters absent in Faerûn.

Zakhara also gets a little blurb:

Zakhara​

Far to the south of Faerûn, beyond Calimshan and even the jungles of Chult, are the Lands of Fate. Surrounded by waters thick with pirates and corsairs, Zakhara is a place less hospitable than most, but still braved by travelers who hope to profit from its exotic goods and strange magics. Like Kara-Tur, Zakhara seems a world away to Faerûnians. It is thought of as a vast desert, sprinkled with glittering cities like scattered gems. Romantic tales abound of scimitar-wielding rogues riding flying carpets and of genies bound in service to humans. Their mages, called sha’ir, practice their magic with the aid of genies and, it is said, might carry the lineage of these elemental beings in their blood.

Since the Realms have two Arabian themed areas, I've always taking to thinking of Calimshan as being more like Morocco while Zakhara is more like the Arabian peninsula.


Maztica did not get named in the SCAG:

Beyond the Trackless Sea​

Farther to the west, past even Evermeet, are untold, unknown lands beyond the Trackless Sea. Many explorers have visited such lands, and some have even returned, bearing tales that change from generation to generation about exotic locales, from island chains that are the sites of countless shipwrecks, to fearsome feather-clad warriors, and vast continents that suddenly appeared where nothing — or something very much different — had rested only seasons prior.

Maztica does get a few name drops in Tomb of Annihilation, however.

 

[Demetrios1453]

There's a little bit more in the SCAG:





Zakhara also gets a little blurb:


Since the Realms have two Arabian themed areas, I've always taking to thinking of Calimshan as being more like Morocco while Zakhara is more like the Arabian peninsula.


Maztica did not get named in the SCAG:


Maztica does get a few name drops in Tomb of Annihilation, however.

I totally forgot about that section in SCAG. So it would indicate that Shou Lung, Kozakura, and Wa are still extant; intriguingly, T'u Lung isn't mentioned. That might just be a rule of three thing, but still, it's a notable omission.

That section on "what is over the western seas" just screams "We totally don't know what to do about the hugely problematic setting we had there before the planet got scrambled, and so we're not sure if we're going to bring it back or not, so let's just assign everything to rumor." The mentions in ToA might indicate that they've settled on it being back, but still don't quite know what to do with it.

Hopefully we'll get a similar section in the new books about these outlying areas. Even as brief as these would be fine, but a few sentences more to give a bit more info wouldn't be amiss, in my opinion.

 

[Scribe]

I think the subject of human sacrifice will be much harder then the issue of Colonialism.

Doubtful, but best to not go there.

As a heads up, they revealed Calimshan has been heavily changed. It’s now a magic-tech setting.

Not surprising I guess, one look at the wiki says 'no way Wizards wants to go into that.'

 

[Parmandur]

I totally forgot about that section in SCAG. So it would indicate that Shou Lung, Kozakura, and Wa are still extant; intriguingly, T'u Lung isn't mentioned. That might just be a rule of three thing, but still, it's a notable omission.

That section on "what is over the western seas" just screams "We totally don't know what to do about the hugely problematic setting we had there before the planet got scrambled, and so we're not sure if we're going to bring it back or not, so let's just assign everything to rumor." The mentions in ToA might indicate that they've settled on it being back, but still don't quite know what to do with it.

Hopefully we'll get a similar section in the new books about these outlying areas. Even as brief as these would be fine, but a few sentences more to give a bit more info wouldn't be amiss, in my opinion.

There was also a general policy at the time of making all FR products work with any Edition of previous Setting booka, so keeping stuff vague.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Not surprising I guess, one look at the wiki says 'no way Wizards wants to go into that.'

This has gotten buried among all the posts, but to clarify on Calimshan:

"Calimshan was reworked with the help of Professor Shahreena Shahrani, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Culture at Ohio State University, to make a thoughtful new Middle Eastern version of the location. It is described as “tension between a city constructed on high magic and technology surrounded by desert filled with genies and their ilk.”"

So, it's still going to have the Arabian Nights flavor (but updated), but with the addition of magi-tech, presumably emanating from the capital of Calimport.

 

[bedir than]

This has gotten buried among all the posts, but to clarify on Calimshan:

"Calimshan was reworked with the help of Professor Shahreena Shahrani, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Culture at Ohio State University, to make a thoughtful new Middle Eastern version of the location. It is described as “tension between a city constructed on high magic and technology surrounded by desert filled with genies and their ilk.”"

So, it's still going to have the Arabian Nights flavor (but updated), but with the addition of magi-tech, presumably emanating from the capital of Calimport.

Likely some threads pulling out of times like the Golden Age of Baghdad, al-Andalus (Spain's Islamic empire with many universities), etc.