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

[Parmandur]

So, we have 3 big Setting equivalence with the DMG here:

• 50 pages of 1 page low prep Adventures, spread across 10 regions, similar to the 5 sample Adventures in the DMG tied to the Greyhawk region
• 5 focused "mini-settings", which seem similar to the 11 page zoom in on the Free City of Greyhawk and the region around it in the Campaigns chapter
• and 50 pages in the PHB that sound like the same sort of material in the 11 page Greyhawk Gazateer covering the entire continent of the Flannaes, also in the Campaign chapter: of note here they divide the Flannaes into 5 regions of about 2 pages description each

Given that, a Faerûn Gazateer of about 50 pages could give each region a good 4 pages each, with room for more general information similar to what we see in the DMG Campaigns chapter.

 

[GarrettKP]

So, we have 3 big Setting equivalence with the DMG here:

• 50 pages of 1 page low prep Adventures, spread across 10 regions, similar to the 5 sample Adventures in the DMG tied to the Greyhawk region
• 5 focused "mini-settings", which seem similar to the 11 page zoom in on the Free City of Greyhawk and the region around it in the Campaigns chapter
• and 50 pages in the PHB that sound like the same sort of material in the 11 page Greyhawk Gazateer covering the entire continent of the Flannaes, also in the Campaign chapter: of note here they divide the Flannaes into 5 regions of about 2 pages description each

Given that, a Faerûn Gazateer of about 50 pages could give each region a good 4 pages each, with room for more general information similar to what we see in the DMG Campaigns chapter.

I really think the 50 pages in Heroes of Fearun won’t be as focused on regions or places, and just be more about the setting for a player as a whole. Here’s the factions and what they mean for you, here’s the gods of the world and how people worship them, here’s what gold is called, here’s any special equipment the setting uses, etc etc. At most I expect surface level overviews of stuff to help players with backstory, I really don’t expect them to put that much lore in the player focused book.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I really think the 50 pages in Heroes of Fearun won’t be as focused on regions or places, and just be more about the setting for a player as a whole. Here’s the factions and what they mean for you, here’s the gods of the world and how people worship them, here’s what gold is called, here’s any special equipment the setting uses, etc etc. At most I expect surface level overviews of stuff to help players with backstory, I really don’t expect them to put that much lore in the player focused book.

At most, it will be a very brief and macro-level overview of the setting and its various regions in the players' guide. Maybe a few pages at most. I expect the DM's book will have much fuller coverage.

I'm beginning to wonder if the DM's book will be somewhat larger than the player's guide, given that I'm struggling to think of enough things to fill 240 pages for the latter. 8 subclasses, even with an illustration for each, probably won't even fill 20 pages. No new species, and a discussion of FR-specific species lineages, even if some get substitute features, again will take up maybe 20 pages. We're getting more feats and backgrounds than in the PHB, but those only took up 24 pages in the PHB, so maybe 40 pages? 50 pages for the basic setting overview stuff as mentioned in the article. Spells? Even for a setting known for its magic, I can't see that going over 30 pages (which would be fully 1/3 of the length of the spell section of the PHB), and let's add on 10 pages for circle magic and the other setting-specific systems. That's 170 pages there, and even adding extra pages for some of what I mentioned and things I've overlooked, maybe we can push it to 200? I'm going to guess an approximate 200/280 page ratio for the two books. I do wish they had given the individual page counts so we could work out what might be in both a bit better...

 

[Demetrios1453]

Also, the bestiary (presumably in the DM's book) is almost certainly going to be 60 - 70 pages. Every recent book with a full bestiary - Spelljammer, Planescape, Fizban's, and Bigby's - all have bestiaries in that range.

 

[Mercurius]

It sounds like they're splitting up material to optimize chances that people buy both. "Most of X type of material is in this book, but some is in the other." Especially for those who want the setting/fluff stuff OR the splat/crunch stuff, but not both.

 

[Zaukrie]

Since there's 160 extra pages, there's plenty of room for a much expanded bestiary (and the 50 one-page adventures) without infringing on the page count for other things. The bestiaries for both Spelljammer and Planescape were 64 pages; I wouldn't be surprised to see the same here.

But the font is, thankfully, bigger I'd guess. And way more art.

In any event, I'll be buying these.

 

[Parmandur]

It sounds like they're splitting up material to optimize chances that people buy both. "Most of X type of material is in this book, but some is in the other." Especially for those who want the setting/fluff stuff OR the splat/crunch stuff, but not both.

Well, no, theybare splitting it up into DM only and player facing, which is probably designed to increase the odds that anyone buys at least the player's guide.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Well, no, theybare splitting it up into DM only and player facing, which is probably designed to increase the odds that anyone buys at least the player's guide.

This is intersting. The exact opposing reasoning than 5.14.

I actually do like it though. This qay, the DM guide will actually have adventures in it. And secrer information.
And players will get a gazetter with common knowledge.

 

[Parmandur]

This is intersting. The exact opposing reasoning than 5.14.

I actually do like it though. This qay, the DM guide will actually have adventures in it. And secrer information.
And players will get a gazetter with common knowledge.

Yeah, it is a different approach. It woudldsurprise me if they intended to do one book or a box set at one point, but found that they had too much stuff.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

At most, it will be a very brief and macro-level overview of the setting and its various regions in the players' guide. Maybe a few pages at most. I expect the DM's book will have much fuller coverage.

I'm beginning to wonder if the DM's book will be somewhat larger than the player's guide, given that I'm struggling to think of enough things to fill 240 pages for the latter. 8 subclasses, even with an illustration for each, probably won't even fill 20 pages. No new species, and a discussion of FR-specific species lineages, even if some get substitute features, again will take up maybe 20 pages. We're getting more feats and backgrounds than in the PHB, but those only took up 24 pages in the PHB, so maybe 40 pages? 50 pages for the basic setting overview stuff as mentioned in the article. Spells? Even for a setting known for its magic, I can't see that going over 30 pages (which would be fully 1/3 of the length of the spell section of the PHB), and let's add on 10 pages for circle magic and the other setting-specific systems. That's 170 pages there, and even adding extra pages for some of what I mentioned and things I've overlooked, maybe we can push it to 200? I'm going to guess an approximate 200/280 page ratio for the two books. I do wish they had given the individual page counts so we could work out what might be in both a bit better...

I think 8 subclasses, even with illustrations will take up 8 to 12 pages max, not 20, only Wild Magic Sorcerer takes up 2 pages never mind 2+ pages.

I think species section would probably max out at 1 page each except for maybe Humans, Dwarves, and Elves. Still it they have pages for say Gobliniods, Genasi, and a some other major FR species mentioned in Monsters of the Multiverse as well. So it could be shorter or longer depending if that is PHB Species only or MotM as well at all. Although if it's only setting lore for each species, it could be part of the 50 general lore pages as well. Hardest one to guess.

Feats really don't take up alot of room, nor do backgrounds, so 40 pages is really the high end, probably more like 30 pages, that's still room enough for a ton of backgrounds and feats.

I agree with on spells, except I think Circle Casting will be included in that 30 pages and outside of more basuc circle casting rules & universal alternations that can be applied to PHB and other spells, will mechanically be mostly contained with the books Spells themselves, So say Doomtide may have as part of the spell itself unique circle casting mechanic. That could push that up to 40 pages, but probably 30 pages like you said.

The one thing you may not know about, but which I heard about on reddit, is the Faction Section uses Faction Renown to grant new Bastion Options. That could take a fair size chunk of the book.

If I'm right and the species thing is part of the 50 pages of lore, then we have say 30 pages for feats and Backgrounds, 30 to 40 ,pages for spells/circle casting, 12 pages for Subclasses. Add a few more pages for odds & ends and you have roughly the same page count as the SCAG. 159 pages.

That would leave the rest of 480 pages to whatever they are calling the other book, I forget, 321 pages, about the size of Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, which is a big ass book, Undermountain basically being a big highly detailed mini setting in its own right as well as an adventure.