D&D 5E Question about 5e Forgotten Realms

[Coroc]

I'm out of my depth here as I don't use published settings. However, i personally like the Eberron approach and if I had the power at WotC to control these things I would do this:

1. Clarify there is no cannon.
2. Treat the novels as separate and their own thing. Not tied the events of the RPG
3. Treat Living Realms (if there is such a thing) as its own thing. Not tied to the events of the RPG
4. Set the RPG back to the beginning (is that the grey box?), say everything that came after "officially" was simply one version of the future events, not the version. Your version is "the" version. Now: go make your own!

Very good idea, but requires a pro DM, and will turn newbies of their best franchised brand don't you think?

Would be like a car dealer trying to sell you a twenty year old car without all those electronic gimmicks (you do not need) but with the option to build them in as desired.
Sure some (like me) would love that, and some would say perfectly I can configure my car with what I think is essential but 95% or so of the people would choose the modern car with all the useless gonzos.

 

[dave2008]

somehow quoted myself for no reason! DELETED

 

[dave2008]

Very good idea, but requires a pro DM, and will turn newbies of their best franchised brand don't you think?

I don't know that it makes a difference, but I meant a return to the original lore, but updated to the current edition (mechanics and such, possibly with suggestions on how to integrate races that didn't exist in the original, but would make sense for this edition). I've corrected my previous post to reflect this.

For that reason I don't think it would need a pro DM or turn off newbies.

Would be like a car dealer trying to sell you a twenty year old car without all those electronic gimmicks (you do not need) but with the option to build them in as desired.
Sure some (like me) would love that, and some would say perfectly I can configure my car with what I think is essential but 95% or so of the people would choose the modern car with all the useless gonzos.

As noted above, that is not an accurate analogy for what I was trying to suggest. A new car with retro style would be accurate.

 

[DEFCON 1]

"I play in FR since 30+ years and I use all the official stuff in its given order either as an adventure arc or at least as given lore up to a certain point in time"

If I had to guess, I imagine that most of the people who want the canon laid out in its entirety are probably more history buffs than people who want to make sure to play the game "in order". It's easier to read and comprehend the entire history of Faerun when its all in one place, rather than bits and pieces spread out over multitudes of books (many of which are adventures). That's why some people have spent a looooooooooong time putting together the timeline of the Forgotten Realms wiki, pulling and placing people and events from across all the media involving Faerun into one year-by-year website package.

And I get it. I really do. Faerun is no longer just a playground to set D&D in... it's now a world with a complete history. And when parts of that history have giants empty spots because nobody has wanted to write down what has happened in Turmish over the last 150 years... it feels broken to them.

But oh well. Before anything else... the Realms is first and foremost a place to play D&D, and thus the custodians have decided to put the players of D&D ahead of the historians of Faerun for once. Maybe eventually down the line the historians will get their wish and a new regime will show up in WotC and go back and fill in all the blanks. But until then... the historians will just have to make up their own history rather than rely on some other writer to do it for them.

 

[Coroc]

If I had to guess, I imagine that most of the people who want the canon laid out in its entirety are probably more history buffs than people who want to make sure to play the game "in order". It's easier to read and comprehend the entire history of Faerun when its all in one place, rather than bits and pieces spread out over multitudes of books (many of which are adventures). That's why some people have spent a looooooooooong time putting together the timeline of the Forgotten Realms wiki, pulling and placing people and events from across all the media involving Faerun into one year-by-year website package.

And I get it. I really do. Faerun is no longer just a playground to set D&D in... it's now a world with a complete history. And when parts of that history have giants empty spots because nobody has wanted to write down what has happened in Turmish over the last 150 years... it feels broken to them.

But oh well. Before anything else... the Realms is first and foremost a place to play D&D, and thus the custodians have decided to put the players of D&D ahead of the historians of Faerun for once. Maybe eventually down the line the historians will get their wish and a new regime will show up in WotC and go back and fill in all the blanks. But until then... the historians will just have to make up their own history rather than rely on some other writer to do it for them.

So if you want maximum versatility in your own ideas but inserted into official FR you have almost no choice but to place it into one of the few undocumented or lesser documented part of the realms.

 

[DEFCON 1]

So if you want maximum versatility in your own ideas but inserted into official FR you have almost no choice but to place it into one of the few undocumented or lesser documented part of the realms.

I mean, Turmish is RIGHT THERE! Turmish is waiting for us! Someone needs to jump on the Turmish train like NOW and let us know what's been happening!

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I don't know, do people really want all the details filled in? I just want the darn details that get filled in to stay put so I can work with them and not have to follow a constantly evolving timeline.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I don't know, do people really want all the details filled in? I just want the darn details that get filled in to stay put so I can work with them and not have to follow a constantly evolving timeline.

This.

I created my ''years 0'' Forgotten Realms with this idea in mind.
Chose your favorite era, decide which element you wanna keep then hit the brakes!

I put my year 0 right after the Times of Trouble. I love the Spellplague so I made it caused by the death of Mystra. Year 0 is the year after Midnight, Cyric and Kelemvor ascended as gods and Cyric went on trial for creating the Cyrynishad and was imprisoned. The gods can no longer interfere with mortals, prayers are answered by celestial instead of gods, the land is twisted by the remnant of the Spellplague (ala Eberron Mournland), entire population were annihilated, cities are ruined, old heroes are dead etc.

Since the gods are now distant (or dead, who knows? Maybe Ao took them behind the house and put a divine bullet through their thick divine skulls), is a perfect time for threat such as Demon Lords, Dragon Cults, Giants, Scheming Demi-Lich, Evil Elemental Princes etc to try to make their mark upon the world

 

[Eltab]

When I decided to locate my AP-a-writing in the Unapproachable East, the first backstory research I did was to write a timeline of events in the East, using the FRCGs, Grand History of the Realms, and other 3e hardcovers. I pinned down a half-dozen or so plot hooks, story locations, and side treks. Then I could sketch out the intended plot to interact with some of them, and use descriptions of others as local color.

The use of lore is intended to make this feel like a Forgotten Realms campaign, not a 'generic D&D world' campaign. (The research also has been the most fun part so far; I must have IRL proficiency in History. )