Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide: The First Official D&D 5E Setting

Yes, it is new, I was just creating a thread for it myself.

 

[justinj3x3]

This book, by the way, is coming out less than a year from the final core book being released.

Can you please provide us with the exact months, weeks, days and possibly hours so we can get it right then?


I think it's safe to assume if someone is saying a year they are rounding to some extent.

 

[CrusaderX]

I'm not an expert in the Realms, but I assume Waterdeep is a city where folks from various parts of the Realms frequently visit. Maybe characters like Purple Dragon Knights are in this new book because they travel in and out of Waterdeep, and not because they're actually native to the Sword Coast itself. This would enable the book to feature all kinds of characters from different places.

 

[Queer Venger]

I can certainly see an Eberron one focused around the Five Nations or a Greyhawk one around the Free City and environs, or even a Guide to Sigil in the same vein. Not sure about Ravenloft (its too diverse to just focus on one region, unless you did Darkon/Necropolis but then you don't get Strahd as a draw.) or the other settings.

In my best fever dream though, a 5e Kingdom of Karameikos would come out. I'm not holding my breath.

Why not? Once the OGL is announced/released I bet you that a slew of campaign guides will come out, its inevitable. Primeval Thule is going on right now and its for 5e.

 

[Queer Venger]

I'm not an expert in the Realms, but I assume Waterdeep is a city where folks from various parts of the Realms frequently visit. Maybe characters like Purple Dragon Knights are in this new book because they travel in and out of Waterdeep, and not because they're actually native to the Sword Coast itself. This would enable the book to feature all kinds of characters from different places.

Not sure the Purple Dragon Knights would be frequently found in Waterdeep, but they would be seen around the Heartlands, which is the southern part of the Sword Coast, (Berdusk, Ireabor, Elturel, even Baldur's Gate).

 

[BrockBallingdark]

Good move. They've talked about being reluctant to release massive setting books, and I get their reasoning: it's a massive investment for them, new players will be overwhelmed and there's not enough space to go into much detail about anything. I'm totally with them - I'd much rather a detailed look at a small section of a world that's actually of some use than a massive tome I'll never read. I'm not massively interested in FR, but I'm running some of the published adventures. And the cities of the Sword Coast do appeal to me a little, if only because they have such great names. Greenwood was on fire when he named Baldur's Gate, Waterdeep and Neverwinter!

tldr: whatever the logic behind WotC's release schedule, it's working for me.

Even though I am not a FR fan at all, I do like WOTC's approach with these books. The massive setting books were always overwhelming, not just for the new players!

I applaud this approach. (Now get Eberron going!)

 

[JohnnyZemo]

Then people in those other threads never played AD&D 1e.

Exactly what I was thinking. The core books (MM, PHB, DMG) were spread out over three years (1977-1979), and for several years after there was only one new hardcover book per year.

I do miss the days when TSR was putting out lots of new modules, but it seems like modules don't sell well these days. Paizo still puts out a new adventure path installment every month, but they've drastically cut back their standalone module releases.

 

[Morrus]

Other threads have conclusively established that this is the most sparse D&D launch. By far.

Well, that's just demonstrably not true. The 1E core books came out one a year in 1977, 1978, and 1979. 2E core rulebooks were spread from 1989-1991, with the Monstrous Manual (replacing the Monstrous Compendium) not arriving until 1993. Not until 3E in 2000 did an edition release the core books in the first year.

 

[Pramas]

<<It's interesting that a product called "Adventurer's Handbook" was cancelled (or "not announced") earlier this year. Perhaps this is based on work done on that product?>>

Nope. This was our project from the ground up.

 

[Remathilis]

Why not? Once the OGL is announced/released I bet you that a slew of campaign guides will come out, its inevitable. Primeval Thule is going on right now and its for 5e.

My point about the Fever Dream is that I doubt Mystara is high on WorC's "to do" list of settings. Its probably up right there with Birthright.

Give me an Eberron book, a Sigil book, and a good Ravenloft/Barovia adventure and I'll be satisfied. Anything else is gravy.

 

[Nine Hands]

I'm not an expert in the Realms, but I assume Waterdeep is a city where folks from various parts of the Realms frequently visit. Maybe characters like Purple Dragon Knights are in this new book because they travel in and out of Waterdeep, and not because they're actually native to the Sword Coast itself. This would enable the book to feature all kinds of characters from different places.

I wonder if the inclusion of a Purple Dragon Knight is included because it is also in the Sword Coast Legends video game? Plus the fact that Cormyr is just over the mountains, it isn't very far from the Sword Cost, plus Sir Isteval, as someone already mentioned, is a Purple Dragon Knight and he is in Waterdeep during the Tyranny of Dragons campaign.

I also feel that Adventures League provides mini campaign settings for the cities of the Moonsea (Phlan, Mulmaster, and Hillsfar). It will be interesting to see where they end up in a few years and it will be awesome to have all those cities given some detail as well.