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.

 

[Mirtek]

From Ed in 2007:

"This is indeed the Big Risk in all of this, the “roll of the dice” that I wish someone had never decided to make (because I personally value the ongoing development of a shared and unbroken imaginary Grand History of a fictional fantasy setting as something magnificent in itself, an achievement we should all continue to contribute to).
Yet it’s happening regardless of my personal wants, and I choose to be onboard trying to paddle and steer, rather than left behind swimming in the water, calling out that perhaps we should have set a different course."

"None of which means my arguments should be seen as quelling, denying, or belittling the personal anger and upset longtime Realms fans are feeling over this. Believe me, I know how you feel. :}"

"I understand and sympathize with all of your misgivings and raw emotions. I went through the same thing at a secret summit meeting at GenCon some years ago; believe me, heavy-hitter novelists and game designers who love the Realms have argued about this “change” over and over heatedly."

http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9905

Certainly, Ed and Bob decided to try to make the best of a bad situation, and worked within the system, rather than try to boycott. However, their misgivings were clear publicly very early on, even if they became less diplomatic in later years as it was clear that WotC was seeing the error in their ways.

I am not sure when you are referring to 4e being "done", but both of them were pretty clearly unhappy with it prior to the 5e playtest, even if they weren't full on bashing 4e realms.

Note that he doesn't say he's feeling "personal anger and upset" but merely that he doesn't say others who may feel it are fine to do so. He says the spellplague wasn't his choice, but that he'll stay onboard.

This is vastly different to inverviews after 4e was done and 5e and the Sundering already in the pipeline. The interviews they gave then were much different, talking about how Ed was almost in tears after leaving the meeting where WotC announced the Spellplague and how they were all the time plotting to undo it in the long run. They didn't ever say anything that negative until after 4e was written off by WotC

 

[Valus]

Note that he doesn't say he's feeling "personal anger and upset" but merely that he doesn't say others who may feel it are fine to do so. He says the spellplague wasn't his choice, but that he'll stay onboard.

This is vastly different to inverviews after 4e was done and 5e and the Sundering already in the pipeline. The interviews they gave then were much different, talking about how Ed was almost in tears after leaving the meeting where WotC announced the Spellplague and how they were all the time plotting to undo it in the long run. They didn't ever say anything that negative until after 4e was written off by WotC

I agree that they were much more directly critical after WotC decided it was a mistake, but their displeasure was there beforehand if you read between the lines a bit. In the above quote, the "Believe me, I know how you feel. :}" line tells me he also felt those things.

You're right that they made the decision to stay onboard with 4e and ride out the storm, which meant they had to be guarded, but they also had an interest in maintaining credibility with the longtime fans who knew them well enough to guess their thoughts, and whom they were hoping would wait it out with them. Hence statements like my previous post and the grimaces and *wink wink* hints of displeasure in public, if more obscure, places like the Candlekeep forums and Gen Con seminars. My DM and I have been going to Gen Con on and off since its first year in Indy, and we've personally seen Ed and Bob respond to this situation even before the writing was on the wall for 4e. They did their duty as WotC affiliated authors by trying to make the best of it, but it was clear that they weren't pleased by the scope of the changes and especially the 100 year jump.

 

[Aviose]

And so the "bigger, better, badder" race begins.

The fact that they have waited this long to release ANY new content of this nature (save a couple of races) says a lot about this edition and their desire to avoid excessive bloat. I take it as a positive.

 

[psychophipps]

Bladesingers be Ba-roken!