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.

 

[Yaarel]

Why don't you just run realms adventures that have nothing to do with the gods? I know that without the gods realms isn't really realms per se but I'm pretty sure campaigns have been run without them being the only feature.

Something like that. I dont use the Forgotten Realms setting because the gods are too baked into it. But the Realms material often has some cool stuff that is setting-neutral enough to take out and import into the setting that I use.

 

[Corpsetaker]

THIS JUST IN....

.....WIZARDS ANNOUNCES A SETTING BOOK.....

.....PEOPLE STILL NOT SATISFIED......

...."It's not the exact thing I wanted," SAYS AREA MAN, "I wanted it [set in a different world/actually written by Wizards/to cover an entire continent in excruciating detail]"....

....FILM AT ELEVEN....

Actually this is what can happen when you have such a sparse release schedule. Every book that comes out is expected to be the best quality and to have everything in it. If you are going to increase the product load then prepare for this kind of behavior. You can't blame anyone for feeling this way.

 

[Staffan]

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.

You're right about 1e, but not 2e. The core books: Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monstrous Compendium were all published in 1989 (February, May, and June, with MC2 in August). The Monstrous Manual was a reprint of earlier releases, bringing the loose-leaf MC1+2 as well as some of the greater hits from other MCs into a hardback format, but the core product was originally the Monstrous Compendium.

Other books released within a year of the 2e PHB were:
Complete Fighter's Handbook
Complete Thief's Handbook
Character Sheets
DM Screen
Time of the Dragon (DL boxed set)
In Search of Dragons
Dragon Keep
Dragon Magic
The World of Krynn Trail Map
Forgotten Realms Adventures
MC3: Forgotten Realms
Dreams of the Red Wizards
Hall of Heroes
Cities of Mystery
The Bloodstone Lands
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Shadowdale
Tantras
Waterdeep
Gateway to Raven's Bluff, the Living City
Mad Monkey vs the Dragon Claw
The City of Greyhawk
Fate of Istus
Gargoyle
Child's Play
Puppets
Vale of the Mage
Test of the Samurai
Kara-Tur Trail Map
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
Wildspace

That's a total of 35 products released between February 1989 and January 1990. These include two setting-defining boxed sets, and one hardback updating another to the new edition. With 5e, we've had maybe a dozen, counting accessories (which I did above, to be fair).

 

[I'm A Banana]

Hopefully the "Purple Dragon Knight" is a warlord.

Actually given the history of the archetype, this would not be surprising to me. In fact, it'd be a little surprising to me if it wasn't.

 

[JeffB]

Yeah, AFAIC, core books don't count here.

In addition, 1977-1979 is a fAR different time in publishing then now.

TSR was booming and producing the very first hardback RPG books doing them on typewriters and such. This was a HUGE undertaking, far greater than today. And one guy had to oversee ALL of it.

Bottom line- even in the 1970s, post wood/white box- TSR was producing material at a faster rate for D&D than now. ALL the little brown book supplements were published in 1.5 years...Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry, Gods Demigods, and Heroes, and Swords & Spells. They were publishing things like Boot Hill, and Warriors of Mars, EPT, Dungeon, Tractics, etc etc etc.

They even did some licensing- Wee Warriors...Judges Guild...

 

[Wrathamon]

Maybe the storyline has to a bit to do with Purple Dragon Knights spreading out after Tyranny of Dragons?

 

[Blue]

I'm glad they are releasing something. But I wish it wasn't something as tired as the FR. There are so many suppliments out for it. It's also so heavily detailed that I won't run it. So sadly no matter how much I want an expansion, they have already turned me off to the majority of the book. Looks like the 3.5 business plan - include mechanics and setting int he same book so if you want one you need to pick up the other. I have two freaking shelves full of 3.0 and 3.5 I don't play anymore, I don't know if they will pull me into ordering with just the mechanics again.

 

[Fildrigar]

Actually this is what can happen when you have such a sparse release schedule. Every book that comes out is expected to be the best quality and to have everything in it. If you are going to increase the product load then prepare for this kind of behavior. You can't blame anyone for feeling this way.

We want a setting book. We want a setting book. Darn it, Wizards, we want a setting book.

Wizards announces a setting book.

That's not exactly what I wanted! I want the exact setting book that I'm picturing in my mind right now! I haven't even seen it yet, but I just know it's going to suck.

 

[TwoSix]

That's like "Colorado is just a little past the West coast. It should make the cut for a guide to the West coadt

If the only other books coming out were "Guide to the Deep South" and "Guide to New England", throw it in there. Hell, throw in everything past the 100th parallel.

 

[Mirtek]

Hasn't Cormyr been expanding to the west for the last hundred years (they apparently annexed Proskur in 1405 DR)? That might explain inclusion of the Dragon Knights.

Not that much. They managed to expand a little into Sembia (mostly thanks to Sembian cities welcoming them as liberators from Shade Enclave), but after some more wars with Sembia/Netheril they were forced to abandon most gains, leaving the cities as sort of demilitarized zone between them an Sembia. The latest war during the Sundering saw a large scale invasion by Sembia/Netheril deep into Cormyr that they were barely able to turn back